Chapter 4

With his clothes wet and the rain still pouring heavily, Alex left the Sutton mansion with nothing except for a few of his clothes that he came in with two years ago when he joined the Sutton family. He went all the way on foot to the Anderson mansion and when he arrived there. He stood before the large mansion, his heart pounding so loud from his chest, that he fiddled with his finger trying not to look tense and after a while, he started walking towards the gate.

The security were all surprised to see him and immediately alerted Mrs Cara who rushed out as soon as she received the news of his arrival. Cara who was in her mid-fifties dressed in a red silk gown that drew down to her legs, her fair skin was radiating even under the light that shone in the darkness, and no doubt she was a beauty to behold in her youthful days.

"What are you doing here? Do you have a death wish?" She asked as soon as she hurried outside with the guard hovering an umbrella over her head. No doubt she was surprised as soon as she heard that he was here and wanted to see for herself because after he and his mother were thrown away from the mansion three years ago, she never expected him to ever step foot there again.

"Death will be better than this life that I am living right now"

"Why do you have those looks, have you also been rejected by the Sutton family?" she asked as her eyes scanned his drenched clothes from head to toe.

"That is none of your business! This mansion belongs to my father, you must have succeeded in driving away my mother but I have full right here and I have come to claim my inheritance!" He requested in a loud tone that she could not help but scoffed.

"Your inheritance indeed! Seth my son has worked for everything that he has today, but what about you, what have you done for this family and the company, you turned yourself into a live-in son-in-law for the Sutton family while you were used as a slave and now that they have no use for you, you want to claim a delusional inheritance"

He was going to speak back to her but kicked against it. Alex was exhausted and famished, if there was anything he needed was a good night's rest. He started walking inside but the guards immediately stopped him.

"What do you think you are doing?" she asked, puzzled at his actions.

"This is the Anderson mansion and the last time that I checked, I am part of the family, so I have every right to come and go as I wish"

"I see you have lost some part of your memory, well let me jerk it up for you, you were disowned by your father on his sick bed that same day your wretched mother was sent packing. You have no right to be here and I am only been lenient with you, now leave"

"I am not leaving this place! I might not be entitled to any inheritance since you and your son have taken everything away from me, but this house still belongs to my father and I will be spending the night here, you can try for all you want, but I am not giving up!"

"Seems like you have grown some wings and a sharp tongue that you forgot your place. Well I am going to remind you of your place today and that is in the trash is where you belong! Take him outside and beat him up until there is nothing left of him"

She ordered as she glanced at him one last time with a disdainful smirk on her red lips before walking back fashionably into the mansion.

Alex immediately tried to dash away from them but the guards had outnumbered him and they began to pounce on him. Although he tried his effort to struggle away from them but was overpowered as they kept smacking him hard.

Blood splattered around, his face filled with bruises and his heart fueled with so much rage. Alex desperately wanted to take his revenge on these people that had taken away everything that gave meaning to his life but even while he was on the floor fighting for his life, he knew that he was a nobody and there was nothing that he could do.

Alex was beaten beyond recognition to the extent that he could barely breathe except for the rising and falling of his heart. The guards hauled him outside and threw him away without minding if he survived or not.

He kept groaning in pain as he struggled to get on his feet for a long time but it felt so impossible to him until he fell asleep.

After what felt like forever to him, Alex opened his eyes again as he struggled to get on his feet, with the aid of the money Karen gave to him, Alex hopped into a cab and drove over to Forte Street.

He stood right before a small apartment at the end of the street, his mother Felicia has lived there since the death of her husband. Felicia was thrown out of the Anderson mansion after the death of her husband with nothing to her name and yet she still managed to find herself a small home and survived.

A loud bang came through the door, Alex was weak and barely holding up and all he wanted was some water and a place to rest his head for the night because it had been a long night for him.

There was no response from within, but he kept on banging on the door until the middle-aged woman strolled over to the door.

Felicia wiped her bleary eyes twice as soon as she saw her son standing before her with bruises all over his body, she needed to be certain that this indeed was her son who she hadn't seen in months standing before her.

"Alex?"

" Yes Mom, get off the way, I need to sleep" He was almost falling off the ground but she held him up and assisted him inside, the middle-aged woman in her late fifties still had lots of questions that she wanted to ask, but more than anything, she needed her son to survive.

Felicia treated his wounds and fed him some medications, seeing that he was better than he previously was when he got in here, she asked.

"What happened to you Alex, why are you here this late at night?"

"I had nowhere else to go"

"What do you mean you had nowhere to go, don't you have a family, where is your wife?" She narrowed her gaze at him more confused than she previously was and could not comprehend why her son would be in such a situation.

"We're you attacked on your way back home from work?" She asked again, trying to get a grasp of the situation.

"Anna and I got divorced today, she found a better partner in Seth and chose to let me go" The pain that lingered in his eyes could be seen by his mother, she sighed lightly knowing what was going on now.

"Did they do this to you?"

"Anna might not have been the one who beat me up, but she hurt me more than any beat I could get" He lowered his head as he tried not to sob, but she could see the pain written on his face.

"I told you from the onset that this marriage was not going to last, Anna was only interested in the fact that you were from the Anderson family, she never cared about who you were in person" She shook her head and sighed.

"I wish that you had listened to me from the onset, then all this wouldn't have happened, you just have to move on with your life, you never belonged with them and it is high time that you figured that out, but who gave you all these bruises, I can take all the insults that they give to my son but what I can't endure is then laying those filthy hands on my son!!"

Her voice was loud this time, she was boiling in so much rage and there were regrets that she felt, as she wished that there were so many decisions she had made, like not marrying into the Anderson family.

"It is alright Mom, none of this matters again, I am so exhausted and need some rest"

"Yeah, you go ahead!" She ordered and he laid his head on the soft wooden bed there, but just then, he quickly jerked up again like he had been chased in his dream.

"Mother, do you perceive the smell of smoke?"

"Smoke, why would there be smoke around here, you worry too much, you should go ahead and rest"

"No, I can also perceive some gasoline!!" he exclaimed and this time, he rose to his feet. Felicia sniffs through her nose and also gets on her feet.

"You are right, I think that I perceive it! Look through the window Alex, I think that the house is on fire!!"

Her voice was consumed with panic and she instantly knew that there was trouble.