Chapter 14 Sterling's past

It’s been days yet those words kept ringing in his ears

“Baby, congratulations; you were magnificent,”

Just who was that guy anyway? Here he was, trying to make amends and here was this other guy, ruining his chances of that ever happening. I know that I blew my chances with Phoenix because I was too blinded by power, power that I thought she couldn’t offer me but now, the reverse is the case. I think it is better I call her and congratulate her on the success of her show’s first competition; I mean, the show keeps getting better and better.

I dialed her number and her number wasn’t connecting instead, it was being answered by a service provider.

‘What the hell just happened’

I see what’s going on here, if I don’t have her, no one else will

Allen was becoming a mess as the days went by; obsessing over Phoenix.

*****************************

Sterling knew who Allen was and the part he played in Phoenix’s life.

I mean, this bloody idiot was probably one of the reasons why Phoenix wasn’t ready to get into another relationship. Tsk, some guys really don’t know what they have until they lose it just like my dad didn’t know what he had until he lost it..

STERLING’S FLASHBACK (to when he was a teen)

I thought we were one big happy family; devoid of quarrels, parents’ squabbles and what not but little did I know that a lot had been going on. One day, I noticed that my dad wasn’t so loving anymore but they both tried to act like a picture perfect couple whenever they were around me. My dad got distant over time and my mum began to look pale.

As a teenager, I knew what was going on but pretended like I didn’t, hoping that one of them would explain or they would go back to being how they were.

Tragedy befell me when one weekend, my dad had traveled out on one of his so called business trip, leaving me, my mum and some helps at home. I was in my room when I heard a crash in the room next to mine. I went there with hurried steps only to find my mum on the floor; unconscious. I became terrified and started calling for help.

“Mum, mum, please wake up,” I shook her head but got no response. I immediately rushed to my room, picked up my phone and called 911. I explained the situation and they said an ambulance was on its way to my house.

“Please hurry. Mum, don’t worry; help is on the way,”

I spent days in the hospital and refused to move. The helps tried to persuade me to go home but I didn’t listen. As long as my dad wasn’t around, as long as my mother was still unconscious, I couldn’t leave; I wanted to be the first person she saw when she woke up. I didn’t want her to feel alone when she woke up.

When she finally woke up, she wasn’t normal after she was discharged. My dad no longer cared about us and my anger and hatred for him started growing. The only help I had was from the helps at home. I couldn’t focus completely in school and my grades flunked a bit.

One day, when my mother noticed that I was having troubles coping, she called for me

“Sterling, I know that you know that mummy isn’t feeling well and that I may or may not live. I have a heart condition and it’s gotten worse. I’m telling you this because I believe you’re old enough to know this,”

“I know mum and I’m really trying but I can’t lose you too; I’m scared,”

“Lose me too, who else have you lost?”

“Dad, of course; he no longer acts like my dad, neither does he acts like your husband. He’s hardly ever around; and when he is; he doesn’t care about neither one of us,”

“Shhhhh, don’t say that. I assure you that your father still loves you. He probably has a hard time dealing with all this as well. You can’t entirely fault him for everything, Sterling,”

“Yeah, right; you really have no idea what he’s doing right now, do you? And don’t say he is working because he is not and you know that. You know why he acts the way he does and yet here you are, defending him and being the good wife as always,”

“Well it is my job as a dutiful wife to always love him no matter what happens and leaving him now won’t change anything, would it? Because I won’t be around for much longer anyway but here is one thing I want you to know, that as long as I live, for the remainder of my days, I’ll spend it showering you with all the love I can give,”

My heart was broken hearing her talk like that and it intensified the hate I already had for my dad. What kind of a father was he?

Weeks turned into days and days into minutes and minutes into seconds and like a wilting white rose, I held my mothers’ hands and watched as she took her last breath in that hospital ward. I didn’t wail or scream my lungs out as expected of a teenager who has lost a parent. I looked at my mum’s body one last time and left her hospital ward. I met a nurse outside and gave her some information to pass

“Call the Tyrell’s family house and inform them about the passing of my mother. Tell them that I’ll be home before midnight,”

“Okay but do you need anything?”

“No, I have everything I need,”

I left the hospital and headed straight to the hotel I knew my dad was in. I paid for a room in that hotel but left my room and went to that of my dads’. I knew about every move he made and that’s how I knew he was there. I knocked on the door and as expected, he probably thought it was room service. A lady opened the door in her lingerie and was surprised by who was at the door because it definitely wasn’t room service.

“I’m sorry but strangers aren’t allowed in here and as you can see, this is a private room,”

“I’m here to see my dad and I expect you to get out of my way or else you’ll regret it,”

“Babe, who is it?” I heard my dad say

“Some kid that says he is your son. You didn’t tell me about a son,”

“My son; that’s impossible, how does he know that I am here?”

“I always know where you are father, always,” I walked more into the room so he’d see that I really was there in the flesh.

“Son, what are you doing here?”

“You killed her and for that, I will never forgive you and to think that she always tried to convince me that you were a loving and caring father and shit. I bet you didn’t know that I knew about the divorce, that I know about all your sexcapades with different girls too. I just came to let you know that she’s dead but know this, you not only lost a wife, you lost a son too,”

I left there with a vow never to depend on him or his money.

When I got back to the mansion, all the helps greeted me with solemn faces. I didn’t need their pity because it wouldn’t bring her back. All my heart and soul craved for was revenge and revenge they say is always best served cold.

I went into my room with a deep hole in my heart, created by the loss of a rare gem.

FLASHBACK ENDS

Sterling smashed the wine glass on the wall and looked at the broken shards scattered everywhere. That was how his life was, broken and scattered. Ever since his mother died, he has never been the same again but who would have thought that he’d finally be able to breathe again after so many years and it was all thanks to Phoenix. She didn’t know it yet but I was going to make her mine.

“Master Sterling, are you alright? I heard a crash sound,”

“I’m alright Edward, I’m alright; in fact, I have never been better and you know that,”

“Of course sir. Well, if you won’t need any of my services, I’ll be in the library,”

“Okay,”

I employed Edward after I left my father’s house and started staying alone. I moved out of the house a week after my mother’s funeral. Fortunately enough, I think my mother kind of predicted the future because she left me a huge sum of money and that money sort of multiplied into STERLING INC.

I’m a genius; that’s obviously how I trained myself through the remainder of high school and university in business. Yeah, anyone could call me a narcissist but I am what everyone would call BEAUTY AND BRAINS.