THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 60: The Evilness Of Human Nature

Director Robin took Kathleen’s hands in his, his amber coloured eyes staring deep into Kathleen’s.

"You know I love you, and would not deliberately do anything that will hurt or make you sad."

Kathleen’s heart skipped a bit at her father’s words, coupled with the seriousness on his face she couldn’t help but ask, "Did something happen Dad?"

There was a brief silence before Director Robin spoke again. "You must be familiar with my good friend, Fredrick Hunter?"

Kathleen’s brows quirked up. "Is he not the Chairman of Hunnis Group of Companies? Did anything happen to him?"

"No, nothing happened to him."

"Then something must have happened to his company." She knew her guess was wrong again from the way her father shook his head.

At that moment, a slight knock was heard on the door and soon after Ariel came in with a steaming cup of coffee.

"Here’s your coffee, sir, please enjoy." she placed the coffee on the side table beside the couch where they were seated.

"Thanks Ariel, I’ll contact you when I’m done with my dad."

"Yes Ma’am. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my office."

Noticing the serious atmosphere in the office, after exiting the office, Ariel took the initiative to inform the secretary when she passed by him not to allow anyone into the President’s office.

Director Robin took a sip from the coffee. "Hmmm...," he could taste the perfect cut of espresso through the vanilla milk flavor. It was just the way he liked his coffee latte.

Kathleen’s gaze was fixed on him as he took another sip. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"What do you think?" She finally asked, an expectant look on her face as she waited for his comment.

"He’s good," was all he said, but didn’t put back the cup until he had taken more than half of the content.

Kathleen smiled knowingly.

"Where were we?" With the napkin on the small tray, he wiped his mouth, and crossed his legs over each other resuming the previous topic.

"Mr Hunter," reminded Kathleen.

"For so many years Mr Hunter has been developing abroad and was recently planning to return and settle down in Baltimore."

"Do they have a branch office here in Baltimore?"

"Before he left for abroad, he had a very prominent company here in Baltimore. In fact it was the leading company in Baltimore and no other company could compare to it."

"Although it was followed by the Hudson Corporations, the gap between them was still huge."

That means Hudson Corporations was never a threat to them and only became number one after Hunnis Group was out of the equation, Kathleen was able to put two and two together.

"Why then did he leave?" Kathleen sensed an interesting revelation was on the way.

"Twenty years ago, something terrible happened that made him flee the country with his family of four." A brooding look settled on Director Wyatt’s face.

"Hunnis Group of Companies was the largest investment establishment in Baltimore then. From the funds they pooled from investors and some loans from banks they made a huge investment in Real Estate.

"Not up to a year into the project, housing prices drastically plummeted resulting in a mortgage crisis all over the United States."

"The investors and banks were after him when they didn’t get the agreed returns on their investment."

"In order to settle his debts, he entered into a collaboration with his uncle who was doing very well in business at the time."

"Unknown to him, his uncle was secretly involved with an underground organization involved in illegal transactions, including production of sophisticated weapons and explosives and selling them to terrorist organizations."

"Who would have imagined that the leather factory he fronted was just a cover up to divert attention from his illegal activities." A sigh escaped Director Wyatt’s mouth when he thought of the deception.

"Somehow, my friend was traced to that organization and the government came after him."

"In the blink of an eye, his company went bankrupt, with the bankruptcy he couldn’t pay up the loan he had collected to fund the failed project. On top of that, he found himself being hunted by the same organization. So he decided to leave the country with his family."

"But at that time his wife was heavily pregnant and couldn’t travel abroad so he arranged for her to be taken to a village not far from Baltimore to hide in a secret friend’s home until she puts to bed and was safe to travel."

"Coincidentally, she went into labor on her way but by then they had gone too far from where they could get any medical help."

"The nanny who was also traveling with her, assisted in the delivery when they couldn’t access any medical facility. Unfortunately after the delivery, Mrs Hunter did not survive and died there."

"It was later he realized that the series of events were all orchestrated by his uncle who had always believed that the company should have belonged to him and not Mr Hunter."

Director Wyatt shook his head at the evilness of human nature, as he finished his narration.

"That’s a terrible blow for anyone to handle." Kathleen sympathized with Mr Hunter from the depth of her heart.

It almost sounded like her own story in the past.

From being set up, to the divorce, to the plane crash, all followed sequentially at the same time but fortunately in her own case, it led her to her family.

"Yeah. Although he had been doing well abroad, the experience of the past has left a toll on him over the years."

Taking a look at Kathleen’s frowning face, Director Wyatt added, "I’m sure you must be wondering where I’m going with all these long winding stories."

"Uh huh," agreed Kathleen.

"Two days ago, I received news that he was sick and I went to see him in the hospital."

"What’s the nature of his sickness?"

"It’s a brain tumor and he needs surgery as soon as possible."

Kathleen became alert. "But you said nothing was wrong with him when I asked earlier on," Kathleen scolded.