CHAPTER NINETEEN

*SOPHIA'S POV*

I suddenly realized that he had been hugging me for quite some time, and that made me uncomfortable, so I broke away from him first.

"Can we not get physical?" I quietly asked as I took two steps away from him slowly.

"I am sorry, I got carried away," he said as she adjusted his stance and his suit.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"You did not show up at the office and that had me worried, I figured I would check up on you, only to find out that you are here…..are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I am fine, I was not the one who got hurt. One of my staff got injured at the facility…. I had to escort her to the hospital."

"Oh, I am sorry about that. I hope it was not a serious injury?"

"No, she got some stitches already."

"I would have handed over the documents to you here, but I was in a haste and didn't bring them with me, I didn't even think you'd be here."

"No, it's fine."

Just then, Pierre came closer to Bran and whispered something to him.

"I have to get back to the office now."

Bran said this, turned and left the hospital with Pierre without any further words.

*BRAN'S POV*

"He is planning to supply us with fake drugs?" I asked Pierre as I got into the backseat of the car while he got into the driver's seat.

"Yes, sir, that is the information I got from the man I asked to tail him. He overheard him mention Mrs Jane's name."

"Take me to the office...tell the tailer to get Nate with every little evidence possible, and you bring him to my office."

"Okay, sir."

Pierre drove me straight to the office and drove back to get Nate.

I got into the office and pulled off my suit, I was furious yet satisfied that Jane actually sought to do this with Nate, because with this, I am getting closer to exposing my Uncle Tom and his wife, Jane's dealings.

It was late noon, and finally Pierre returned to the office with Nate, a couple of the fake drugs and pictures of them loading them up.

Pierre pushed Nate into the office the moment he opened the door. Nate fell to his knees, and immediately he saw me, he started pleading.

"You have to listen to me, Mr Bran, it was never my intention to do this," Nate pleaded while on his knees.

I walked away from my desk and towards Nate, where he knelt.

"Then whose intention was it?" I asked as I bent to his level.

Nate suddenly remembered who put him to it and became scared to mention any name.

"What? Not a name you can mention?"

Nate looked at me and shook his head.

"Then you would leave me no choice but to punish you as I see fit."

I raised his face and punched him in the face at first as he cried out in pain.

I did this about three to four times until his nose and cheek were a little bit swollen and bloody.

"Still don't want to talk?"

Nate finally struggled to speak with his injured and swollen cheeks.

"It—it was Mrs Jane…..she—she—-she told me to do it, I was scared Mr Bran….please—please be—believe me"

Nate pleaded while on his knees.

"I see, had I not ordered you to be followed, you would have sold us fake drugs, and then what next? Run back to Jane for her to find a means to remove me from my position?"

"I am really sorry, Mr Bran, I only did what she told me to do…. She threatened to end my life like Mr Brown, I am really sorry."

Pierre looked at me and I at him at the same time, which confirmed our assumptions about Jane and Tom being responsible for Mr Brown's death, but there was no evidence.

"And you didn't think that if I found out, I would do worse to you?"

"I don't know what came over me, I swear, I was never planning to do this before Mr Bran."

A sudden knock on the door, and Pierre hurried off to the door. He became surprised the moment he opened the door and saw Sophia standing right there, with the documents in her hands.

"Ma'am?"

"Hi Pierre, I came to drop the…."

She then noticed Nate, who was on his knees and all beaten up, as she walked in, past Pierre.

"What is going on?" She asked, shocked to find a beaten and bloodied man on his knees, pleading in front of me.

"Sophia, I didn't realize you would still bring the documents."

"Bran, what is going on here?"

"Think of it as negotiations going on between two businessmen men" I said and took a seat on the couch.

"This is nothing close to negotiations, Bran."

Nate noticed how calm I became the moment Sophia walked in and figured she was someone I held dear.

"Ma'am, please help me! Help me beg Mr Bran not to kill me, I never did it intentionally, please," he said and moved towards Sophia.

"Kill? You don't really plan to kill this man here, do you, Bran?" she asked, with a little bit of fear.

"Is that the kind of man you think I am?….what kind of man do you think I am, Sophia?" I asked this as I stood from the couch, ignored Nate, who was still on his knees and walked close to Sophia.

"Hmm? What kind of man am I to you?" I asked again as I gently brushed the strands of her hair away from her face with my finger.

*SOPHIA'S POV*

I felt a sudden kind of feeling and tension all over my body the moment he brushed my hair away from my face.

I was nervous and scared at the same time, I couldn't decipher or give an accurate answer to what Bran asked.

I had cut off communication with him for six years, so I don't know what kind of man he must have turned out to be.

"Does it matter? Does it matter what kind of man I think you are to me?" I asked and tried to cover up my nervousness.

"Would you believe me if I told you it does matter, Sophia?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Bran. There is a man here, all covered in blood and injuries. What do you want to do to him?"

I took a deep breath.

"Do you have any idea why he is here? In this state?"

I looked at the man, and it occurred to me that I did not bother to know what his crime was in the first place.

"Well, he planned to supply me with fake drugs. Imagine what would happen if I didn't see through his scheme."

I was equally surprised to hear Bran say this. How could a man think of supplying fake drugs?

"Fake—fake drugs?" I asked.

Nate quickly picked up the pace.

"It was never my plan…..it was all Mrs Jane, she threatened me"

There were a lot of things said that kept surprising me the more.

"Mrs Jane? Jane Garner? Your uncle's wife?" I asked immediately I heard the name.

"Yes, yes, yes, she threatened to kill me if I didn't do as she said," Nate pleaded.

Bran walked up to me in my shocked state and raised my chin with his left hand, closer to himself.

"Now that you know, how do you think I should take care of him?"

I didn't know when I took a step back. He was getting me involved in his dispute with this man.

"Me?"

"Yes, you, Sophia."

"I—I-I don't think my opinion would matter. You have always made your decisions without me."

"Take him away," Bran said to Pierre.

Pierre went close and lifted Nate from the floor, and took him outside the office while Nate still pleaded.

"Please, Mr Bran, spare me, please!"

"Are you really going to kill him?" I asked.

"He would have died either way, pretty sure Jane would have silenced him one way or another," he said and reached for a bottle of whiskey.

"What? That doesn't give you the right to take someone else's life."

"Just kidding, I am not going to kill him. I am pretty sure I have warned him well enough," he said and poured himself a cup of whiskey.

I let out a sigh of relief, else I would have indirectly witnessed the death of a man.

"Jane mustn't know you heard her name today."

"What?"

"I know you are smart, and you can deduce what happened here today."

"Jane tried to sabotage the supply of drugs for your new pharmaceutical facility."

"You're on track."

"But why? Why do they seem so eager to take your place?" I asked, forgetting that it is the same man whom I've disliked and forgotten about was standing in front of me.

"This is what happens when you're the only one fighting for what is right and rightfully yours," he said and gulped down the whiskey.

I could clearly see behind the tough and hardened eyes, a man who has been tirelessly fighting and needed a hug, but I was too overwhelmed by my dislike and unforgiveness for him.