Ultimatum
The Ultimatum
Eric’s eyes shifted towards me, his eyes sharp, accusing and hostile.
“You,” he hissed, “humiliating me, using him against me!”
“Eric, you need to calm down,” I said, trying to maintain composure as he began. walking toward me.
His movements were tense, deliberate. There was something dangerous in the way he carried himself, something that told me he wasn’t thinking clearly and he might do something he would later regret.
“Eric, stop going after her,” Emerson’s voice interrupted, still controlled, but I could see a slight irritation or maybe fear in his eyes.
But Eric wasn’t listening. He was in too deep. “You’re telling me you can’t see. through her? You can’t see through what she’s doing to you?” His voice rose with desperation.
“She doesn’t love you. She married you to hurt me!”
Eric’s voice cracked. Betrayal and disbelief in his words. “You are my father. I can’t believe you’re standing with this woman to get revenge on your own son, to hurt your own son.” He pointed to himself, his hand shaking slightly. “I am your son. Me! I’m the one with your name. I’m the one that you raised, Your own flesh and blood, but you’re choosing this woman to hurt me!”
Emerson stood his ground, his face filled with disappointment.
“No, Eric, I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“Then why did you marry her?” Eric shouted. “Why did you marry her when you know she’s not in love with you? You know this is revenge for her! She’s trying to take everything from me and leave me with nothing.”
Emerson sighed deeply as if carrying the weight of years of strained relations. between them. “As much as it pains me to say this, I have to tell you the truth. My decision to Marry her had nothing to do with you.”
“Nothing to do with me?” Eric’s face twisted in disbelief, his voice rising.
“Yes,” Emerson said confidently. “My decision to marry Mina has nothing to do with you. Believe it or not, but it doesn’t.”
Eric’s eyes blazed with frustration as he demanded, “Then why are you marrying
+25 BONUS
The Uhimatum
her? Can you even tell me why you’re actually marrying her?”
The tension in the room was high. I watched as Emerson looked into Eric’s eyes, then glanced behind us, around the hallway. People were beginning to gather, curiosity getting the better of them.
Faces peeked around corners, some whispering, others wide–eyed, watching the drama between Eric and his father. Someone might even take a video and post it online I feared.
“Do you want to come into the office and talk, you and me, like father and son?” Emerson asked, extending an olive branch towards Eric.
“No!” Eric shouted. His refusal was final, his pride too wounded. “I’ve already been humiliated enough in front of everyone here. Let’s finish this conversation right here so the whole office can see and know what kind of father you really are.”
I could feel the situation slipping out of control. The last thing this company needed. was a family scandal played out for everyone to see. I moved toward the gathering crowd, their eager eyes focused on the confrontation.
“Enough!” I called out sharply, my voice cutting through the onlookers.
“Go back to work, or lose your jobs.” The firmness in my voice gave them pause.
They hesitated, unsure whether to listen to me or stay. But as I glared at them, one by one, they began to retreat, casting glances over their shoulders, clearly unwilling to lose their jobs and livelihoods over family drama.
I turned to the security guards nearby. “If I see anybody lingering on the stairs or in this hallway again, they can consider themselves fired. This is a place of work, we don’t pay you to sit around.”
The guards nodded, their faces serious as they moved to clear any remaining stragglers.
Once I was sure the crowd had disappeared, I turned back towards the lobby where Eric and Emerson still stood.
”
I found them still talking, while Eric was shouting, You’re not going to tell me why you married her, are you?”
“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this, Eric. When you’ve calmed down, ready to sit and ready to listen to me. Maybe then, we can talk as civilized adults, and I can tell you the reason why. But not like this.”
+25 BONUS
The Liltimatum
“You’re not going to tell me why because there is n
and you know that I’m right. She doesn’t want to marry you because she loves you, she wants to marry you for your money. And you’ve been so lonely for so long since Mom left. I don’t know if it’s because you’re going through a dry spell or just plain needy that you can’t see it, that you can’t even read the signs from being away from the game for so long.” Eric’s voice cracked with anger as he shook his head with what should have been mock pity.
“So now she’s controlling you, doing everything she wants with you. The next thing I know, you will have us out in the streets while she controls everything!”
“Eric, I think it’s high time you go and think about what you’re doing. Relax. You just got married; you didn’t even go on a honeymoon. Why don’t you go on a honeymoon with your wife, relax, and when you get back, we can talk.”
“I do not want a honeymoon. I do not want romance. What I want is Mina,” he said, turning back and glaring at his father. “Out of your company and out of my life. I do not want to see her.”
“Eric, I’m sorry, but that’s nothing I can help you with. I can’t do it. Mina is my
fiancée; she’s going to be my wife. There is no way I can kick her out of the company. You’re the one who doesn’t want to be in my life. But if you want to be in my life, you’re going to have to come to terms with the changes.”
“Have you chosen her over me?” Eric interrupted, his voice filled with disbelief. “Are you telling me that you’ve chosen her, this woman, over your own son? The man you raised by yourself to be an example of you? You’re choosing this woman over me?” Eric narrowed his eyes towards his Father.
“I didn’t raise you to be the man you are right now. I thought you knew loyalty, I thought you knew love, but what you’ve done to her…” Emerson shook his head in disappointment and continued,
“I’ve seen the way you’ve changed, and how you’ve changed her. Making the happiness and love in her eyes disappear, day after day. I had hopes that you two would learn to get back to each other. Because I didn’t want you to end un like me and Mom. But you… you came out to be just like her, didn’t you? Even though I tried. so hard so you wouldn’t turn out like her.”
D
“So now you’re comparing me to her? Look, I don’t care if you’re comparing me to her. Maybe I turned out just like her. She’s my mother, after all. But she…” Eric’s voice trembled as he pointed his finger at me, filled with a fit of anger. “I want her out of this company.”
The Ultimation
+25 BONUS
Emerson refused. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“If she can’t leave,” Eric muttered bitterly. “Well, I think it’s high time you chose. whether you want your son with you in this company, or you’re choosing her. You’re choosing pussy….. your son’s ex–wife….over me, your son.
He paused, waiting for a response that didn’t come.
“You don’t have to choose me. And if you choose her, you are dead to me. I will not want anything from you, ever. Ever.” Eric’s words cut through the room like sharp knives. “Are you going to lose the only family you have left on this earth? The only person that carries your blood and name over her.”
He pointed toward me, his eyes hard. And then, he stood still fixing himself, waiting for his father’s response and decision.
