Cry For Me

Chapter 25

Humberto slowly removed the shades from the bridge of his nose, eyes dark as bottomless pits of fury. “I never thought I’d be hearing the name of that stupid hijo de puta ever again but alas; you show up at my doorstep and utter it. Follow me,” he said gruffly and disappeared into the house, which was just as large and exotic looking on the inside. One would have thought that after the falling out he had with his son and the Dos Ramos family he’d have been reduced to a mere shadow of himself, but that wasn’t the case here. This man was living large.

“Quite the abode you have here, Mr. Dos Santos,” Navid commented, eyeing the lavish décor as Humberto continued to lead him to wherever it is he was headed.

“I’m still a billionaire, Pedrad. I worked for my billions and I could at least enjoy them, even if I have to do it alone,” he said with slight sadness before opening the door to a spacious office that had an awesome view of the backyard sporting a large kidney shaped pool, a barbecue area, a roomy patio and a golf course. 

Humberto took a seat behind the glass desk and motioned for Navid to follow suit at the visitor’s chairs. “So, Navid. Tell me how Emilio has gotten on your shit list.”

“Not on my shit list per se, but on my father’s. I’m aware that your son and the eldest Dos Ramos daughter are married but the nature is contractual. This is of particular interest to my father, who has set out to destroy Emilio. Forgive me for putting it so bluntly,” he explained and Humberto blinked.

He burst out into a boisterous round of laughter, even wiping some of the tears away. “Dios mio, that is the funniest thing I’ve heard in the last couple of months. Someone wants to destroy the Dos Ramos family. Well, I already tried that pal, it didn’t work out well. You’re wasting your time,” he told him levelly and dismissively.

“Mr. Humberto,” Navid began, “You might think this is a joke but if the world were to find out about the extent of the greed of Mr. Dos Ramos, his record will never be clean again. We will carefully handcraft it in such a manner that people will have no choice but to doubt his integrity.”

Humberto reclined in his seat. The offer was interesting enough and after that debacle that had occurred not too long ago, it would be nice to see the Dos Ramos name dragged in the mud. Wordlessly, he took out a key from his pocket and used to unlock a compartment beneath his desk. Bringing out a folder, he placed it before him and opened it. It was the original contract that he and Emilio had signed nearly a year ago. He slid it over to Navid.

“This is the agreement we had. Whatever you choose to do with it is up to you, but I want to make it clear that I will play no further part in this. Once you leave my compound, I never want to hear from you or anyone else who is associated with Adriano,” he declared with animosity and waved him off.

Smiling in triumph, Navid took the folder and stood from his seat. “Thank you for your time. I hope that you enjoy your time in exile. Ciao,” he voiced with a smirk and left the room.

It was done and now the plan they had set into motion was closer to its end.

                                                                                           ***

On the day that Omar and Andrea had been on their way to the airport, Amir had them followed. In fact, he had stationed his men to follow them both even when they were together and apart which hadn’t gotten him anywhere. That is until he found out that there were other people who had been doing the exact same thing, and they were doing a good job of it too.

It couldn’t have been Emilio’s people, Amir doubted that he’d have the need to have them closely watched so it had to be someone who wanted to gather dirt on them, and it also meant it was someone he could team up with. This was a part of his plan that he had kept hidden to himself because at the end of the day, there was nobody that Amir completed trusted, not even his own children and wife.

A little digging and he’d found out that they were employed by two teenagers named Sydney Reale and Rhett Saunders. Both had affluent backgrounds and from what he’d been told, they also had an axe to grind with one Andrea Dos Ramos. She must have done something very upsetting to these two if they’re having her followed, he surmised, playing with the stress ball he always had lying on his office desk. The thought of finding more and more potential allies in this intricate game of ruin was becoming more and more exciting, to the point that it was addictive.

Amir considered everyone around him to all be just mere pawns that needed to be moved around until they were deemed useless. For example, Navid and Hakim were doing his bidding currently, and whether they knew it or not, he was just giving them false hope that they’d someday take over his empire, but they were both mistaken. He knew that they somehow wanted to usurp him from his position as CEO using clandestine means which they thought he wasn’t aware of.

But as usual, Amir is always several steps ahead of everyone and knows how to place things in order, even if it means getting his hands dirty. If it meant his sons would end up taking the blame for what his grand scheme, then so be it. Somebody had to take the fall anyways, and better them than him, those backstabbing bastards. After all, he still had another son, one whom he knew would never stab him in the back.

Omar knew that his father had something to do with Andrea’s poisoning and yet he decided to keep his mouth shut about the ordeal and turn a blind eye to it. Whether he knew it or not, Omar was loyal to his father but with the Dos Ramos girl getting in the way, his fidelity was becoming increasingly questionable. He was falling in love with her, that much Amir knew, but what existed between them could never last.

Amir made it personal mandate to live one eligible heir to all he had built and the only person whom he saw fit was Omar. Of course, he had been disappointed by his behavior over the past couple of years, but he’d understood that he had just been acting out to get his attention. All the boy ever wanted was attention, but he’d been far too busy to give him much time and his wife, Nasim, wasn’t exactly a sterling parent either.

All he wanted was for Omar to focus on his mandate, that is, to expand the family business but impregnating that little girl was getting in the way of that, and she had become a nuisance. Which is why Amir had decided to get her out of the way, permanently.

Not in the literal sense, but he’d make sure that whatever ties that existed between Andrea and Omar would be severed for good and he was willing to use every weapon in his legion, and no lie was too exaggerated. If Navid and Hakim really wanted to betray their own father and destroy the image of their brother, then Amir had no choice but to deal with them too.

Picking up his land line, he dialed the number belonging to his secretary. “Kiara, have Fitz gather more information on Sydney Reale and Rhett Saunders. I want everything there is to know about them and their connection to Andrea Dos Ramos. I also want their personal contacts.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied almost immediately before he placed the receiver back down. 

A few minutes later, he was receiving a call from Navid, which he picked up with an eye roll. “I hope you’re calling me with good news, son,” he droned in boredom.

“Well, father. I have acquired much on my short trip to Madrid. I found Humberto and he gave me the original contract of the marriage agreement between Ximena and Adriano. I think I’ll be flying back in over the next couple of days,” he said in satisfaction. I bet you feel good about yourself, you ungrateful son of a bitch.

“Okay, Navid. Just don’t take too long to come back, yeah? I have plans that I need to execute soon and the longer you delay, the less time I have,” he said indifferently, propping his legs up on his desk.

Navid sighed. “Sure, dad. I just think I need some time to take a break from everything that has been happening lately. But I will be back before the weekend,” he replied before ending the call.

Finally, it will be time to put my plan into motion.

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Hi guys. I know this is a little late but better late than never, right? 😂
I would have updated yesterday but there were some technical issues on my part and I do wholeheartedly apologise.

Anyways, how did you like this chapter? Thoughts on Amir's plan?

Vote, comment and share!

Best,

~Deetronite ❤️