I Am An Illegitimate Child With A Legitimate Reason For Revenge-Chapter 119: The mighty Raymond Stein was sinking in despair
Raymond was just a few meters away from their targeted building. The sound of his heart beating against his ribcage, resounded in his ears like a drum and he couldn’t stop worrying.
He hit the gear and drove as fast as he could but he couldn’t make it. The alarm for the new year hit off and people yelled, inviting the new year into their lives with cheers and joyful glee but in front of him, in front of his eyes, was a massive explosion that was capable of demolishing an entire building in seconds.
Struck with disbelief, fear and despair, Raymond stopped the car and got down, charging straight for the collapsing building.
"Stop. It’s dangerous." Skylar called out and went after him. The building was still exploding and its parts could fly towards them any moment.
"No, this isn’t real, right?"
The guards, who had been following steadily from behind the entire time, got to them and aided in stopping Raymond from charging any further.
"Get your hands off me. I need to save her." he yelled and once again, the building exploded, as if reminding him that whatever was in it had been reduced to ash.
Raymond looked at the crumbling building. He didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t believe it.
Tears gradually rolled down his eyes. They finally let him go and he fell to his knees. He couldn’t believe it.
His family... He was going to have a family. He was going to love Ariel with all his heart, all his life. They were going to have a baby too. What went wrong? Why did things lead to this?
What was the use of living now? What was the use of striving to make it when his motivation was already blown to bits?
Raymond got up and charged for the building once more but they held him down. He still struggled and didn’t care. He wanted to be with Ariel even if it meant death.
Skylar got mad and punched him across the face, shocking him.
"Get a hold of yourself." He yelled. "I understand you’re depressed. We all lost her and to you she ..." his own tears rolled down as he sympathized with the feeling of loss. "...she was a ray of sunshine, I know. But she would definitely not want you to ruin your life after her death. She’s your wife and it must be hard but charging into that building is not the answer. It’s never the answer."
"She’s not dead. She’s in there."
"She’s dead. Does your heart deceive you so much that you cannot see what is in front of you?" He asked.
What was in front of him...? The collapsing building.
"The sooner you face it, the sooner you get back up." Skylar said so courageously but his tears just had to ruin the moment and fall even more heavily.
He threw his face aside and cried, covering his eyes. He didn’t know Ariel for too long but he knew her long enough to like her. She reminded him so much of the aunt he cherished and she, in her own way, had a way of getting into people’s hearts.
Now she is dead. They couldn’t change that fact.
As unbelievable as it was, they decided to make sure that this was the building Ariel was in before it exploded. Once the smoke died down, excavators were brought in to search through every single pile of rubble.
It took two days and underneath that pile of rubble, they found Ariel’s ring as well as burnt pieces of the dress she wore. It should’ve all been blown into ash but those pieces managed to stay intact.
Also, they found pieces of a human body which was tested to be Theo’s. All were Theo’s and so, they concluded that Ariel had no remains because the bomb was tied to her.
Still, Raymond didn’t want to believe it.
He asked for the surroundings to be checked. This could all be a deceptive trick. He said, but no matter how much they looked, they couldn’t find any trace of a car leaving the area and even if there was, the explosion had already put everything in disarray.
There was also no CCTV in that area so there was no way to find out if this was indeed Ariel’s fate or a deception.
All in all, everyone concluded she was dead. Theo wasn’t so foolish that he would kill himself and let her off.
Everything seemed like a nightmare to Raymond. A black, torturous nightmare and he did not want to acknowledge it. He wanted to wake up.
That’s it, if he just woke up, it would all be over. So why wasn’t he waking up? What was keeping him in this forsaken nightmare?
The new year started with such a tragedy and he ended up drinking himself to stupor every night. It didn’t stop there, he also started drinking in the day.
There were times when he almost jumped off the balcony while chasing an imaginary Ariel. They had to use everything in their power to knock him down without hurting him.
He was extremely unstable.
Sometimes, he would go to Ariel’s room, bury himself in her clothes and imagine that all this was a nightmare that he would eventually wake up from. He’d remember her smile and drown in the sweetness of her voice, whispering the words ’I love you’ to him. And when he came back to himself, he would get mad and start throwing things.
He left her room untouched and destroyed every other thing in his path. He yelled, screamed and cried but all that couldn’t bring Ariel back. Nothing could bring her back.
The mighty Raymond Stein was sinking in despair because of the wife he lost on his wedding day. Many sympathized while others saw him as weak and mocked him.
Why would he fall into despair over one woman? It wasn’t like the world was short of beauties.
Those comments definitely did not reach Raymond’s ears; if not, they would have found themselves in their graves and the words would’ve been rephrased.
’The world isn’t short of scumbags like you. It wouldn’t make a difference if you died early.’
Nevertheless, his reputation was in jeopardy and Philip was already rethinking his decision in making him the head of the family.
Steve watched all this happen and knew he couldn’t stay quiet and watch his friend fall into darkness any longer so, he paid him a visit.
The moment he opened Raymond’s room door, he was hit hard by the hard stench of alcohol and cigarettes. When did he start to smoke?
"Raymond." He called and Raymonds eyes widened. He got up and looked, expecting to see Ariel but it wasn’t her.
"Go away." He said and sat back on the floor.
"Don’t be like that. I just want to talk to you." He said and invited himself in. "I know you’re suffering and I know it hurts. I can’t even begin to think how much it hurts but I know, it hurts." He said. "It’s not easy. After keeping your heart and mind clear from any form of affection for so long, you finally find the perfect source of happiness. Only for it to be taken away in a flash. It’s unfair."
"I love Ariel." Raymond said and Steve knelt beside him.
"I know you do and she loves you too. She...’’ he bit down on his lip. It was hard to console Raymond when he also felt pain from her death. "... She always wanted you to be at the top. She wanted you to smile proudly and crush your enemies with that air of arrogance you always put up. She once said, ’I love it when he looks down on his enemies and destroys them’. I wondered at the time if you had taught her to say that but I guess it was what she felt. What she wanted."
