Chapter 9 - Uncle Alexander“Alexander.”
Maxwell's voice was steady.
His uncle smiled.
“You've grown.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Alexander looked almost amused.
“Because your father took everything.”
“What was yours?”
Alexander's smile disappeared.
“Half.”
Maxwell stared.
“The original company belonged to three men.”
“Yes.”
“Samuel, Chief, and you.”
“No.”
Alexander's face became cold.
“It belonged to Samuel, Chief, and me.”
Clara stepped forward.
“You lied.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Clara.”
She froze.
“You know my name.”
“I know everything about you.”
Maxwell moved in front of her.
Alexander laughed.
“You still think you can protect people.”
Then he looked at Maxwell.
“Your mother forged documents for me.”
“No.”
“She did.”
“You're lying.”
Alexander took a document from his jacket.
“This is her signature.”
Maxwell looked at it.
It matched the copies.
Alexander continued.
“She transferred millions.”
“She would never.”
“She did it because I threatened you.”
Maxwell became silent.
Alexander smiled.
“Now you understand.”
“You threatened my mother.”
“I threatened everyone.”
Clara looked at him.
“What did you do to my father?”
For the first time, Alexander stopped smiling.
“Your father was careless.”
“Did you kill him?”
He said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Clara's eyes filled with tears.
Maxwell stepped closer.
“You killed Samuel.”
Alexander raised the gun.
“Don't test me.”
Security alarms suddenly sounded.
Alexander looked toward the entrance.
“Someone is coming.”
He backed away.
“Take the folder.”
He pointed at Maxwell.
“But understand something.”
He smiled.
“This empire will never belong to you.”
Then he disappeared through the stairwell.
Maxwell ran after him.
But by the time he reached the next floor, Alexander was gone.
Minutes later, police arrived.
Esther survived.
She was rushed to hospital.
The documents were secured.
But Maxwell knew Alexander had left them with something far more dangerous than a threat.
Proof.
That night, Maxwell went to see his mother.
Lolo opened the door.
She saw him.
Then Clara.
Her face broke.
“Maxi.”
Maxwell walked in.
“Mum.”
She began crying.
“I am sorry.”
“Did you sign the transfers?”
Lolo lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
Maxwell's heart sank.
“Why?”
“To save you.”
“How?”
“Alexander told me if I didn't cooperate, you would disappear forever.”
“Did you know he was stealing?”
“No.”
“Then why did you sign?”
“Because your father told me never to question the documents.”
Maxwell stared.
“And Dad?”
Lolo wiped her tears.
“Your father knew something was wrong.”
“What?”
“He suspected Alexander.”
“Then why didn't he stop him?”
“Because he didn't know where the evidence was.”
Maxwell looked at Clara.
Lolo continued.
“Samuel hid the evidence inside the trust.”
Clara spoke.
“Then the trust is the key.”
Lolo nodded.
“Yes.”
Maxwell asked:
“Why did Dad send me away?”
Lolo's voice broke.
“Because Alexander had ordered your kidnapping.”
Silence.
Maxwell stared.
“When?”
“Six months before you left.”
“So Dad sacrificed everything to protect me?”
“He wanted you to disappear.”
Maxwell sat down.
For years, he had believed his father hated him.
Now he didn't know what to believe.
Lolo reached into a drawer.
She removed a small envelope.
“Your father told me to give this to you only when you were ready.”
Maxwell opened it.
Inside was a photograph of him as a child.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
THE DAY YOU RETURN, TRUST NO ONE WHO CALLS YOU FAMILY.
Maxwell read it twice.
Then he noticed something else.
A second line beneath the first.
ESPECIALLY THE ONE WHO STILL WEARS YOUR FATHER'S RING.
He looked up.
His mother's eyes widened.
Because Chief Onochie always wore his father's old ring.
And suddenly Maxwell wondered:
May you like
What if his father was never the man protecting him?
What if he had been part of the plan all along?
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