Death Do Us Part

Grudges

“Uncle Ben! Is this how I’m to be welcomed at your home from now on?” Aron asked the distraught and now shocked old man standing at the porch of the massive, mansion style house.

***

Benjamin Artines is the husband of the only sister of Edward Korlin, the late Emilia Artines. The Artines family was one of the most prominent families in the gambling business in the 80s, then with time, they turned to more legal forms of business and ended up settling permanently in the J city. Initially they settled there to smuggle raw materials for the energy business, just like the Korlin family but later they ended up establishing Artines Corp. that supplies crude oil and coal to all the non-renewable power plants of the Korlin Energies.

His eldest son, Donato, was the first-born child of that generation in both the families, hence received unprecedented love and adoration, which he returned in ten folds. He excelled in everything that he did and took responsibilities as is expected of the eldest son. He was the one who supported Aron the most in his decision to expand and truly legalize the family business.

His youngest, Aden, on the other hand, did not take it kindly when Aron ended up being the new leader of the Korlin family. He was always a little shortsighted and had been in constant conflict with Aron and any family member that argue in support of leaving the older ways of the families behind. He still engaged in reckless smuggling deals, earning quick and risky money. That was one of the reasons, why Aron did not allow the merger of Artines Corp. with Corlin Group, because he wanted Corlin Group to stay clear from any illegal endeavours. He also was in constant conflict with Aron because he deemed his brother, Donato, as the true heir of the Korlin family and did not hide his dissatisfaction when no one but him, not even his brother, supported that claim.

***

This wasn’t Aden’s first attempt on Aron’s life so when Benjamin Artines saw Benroy fall on the ground and heard Aron ask the question he could imagine what must have happened. He could also imagine the purpose behind Aron dragging the unconscious man to his house and putting on such a show. He wanted to end this once and for all.

It was a warning wrapped in the complaint that Aron had put forth before him. He had to tread carefully now or he might lose his son forever, cause he knew it very well how dangerous and absolute Aron’s measures can be once he is pushed far enough. He neither acknowledged not refuted Aron’s complaints, instead made a fuss about Aron standing at the porch. Like a loving uncle, he insisted on Aron to get inside the house and take some rest before discussing this matter and despite his repeated refusal pulled him inside the house.

After a few steps towards the house, Aron stopped and went back to the car and knocked on the window of the back seat. This entire time Rhea remained seated in the car. She wasn’t sure whether she should step outside or remain hidden inside the car, so finally, she left the decision to Aron. After all, it was his family, so he should be the one taking that call. As she heard the knock on the window, she pulled down the glass. Aron with a faint smile said, “Come.” She nodded and stepped out of the car and went inside the house with Aron and his uncle. Benjamin Artines did not even acknowledge the presence of the snivelling man that was lying in front of his porch until Aron and Rhea had accepted the refreshments that he had arranged for them. He might have ignored that matter for the rest of their stay in his house too had Aron not brought it up again.

“Uncle Ben, You know that this isn’t the first time that Aden has done something like this.”

Benjamin Artines was thoroughly uncomfortable that Aron had brought this up in front of an outsider. In fact, he was a bit relieved when he saw Aron bring Rhea in because he expected that Aron would not discuss family matters before outsiders. But now that he did, he had nowhere to escape so he took his time before replying. However, Aron had other plans. He leaned forward, reducing the distance between him and Benjamin and continued,

“In fact, you are not the only one who knows about this.”

He paused for a little to stand up and walk towards the bookshelves then added, “Half the family knows how many times he had made an attempt on my life, because, half the family has helped him in it. None of them dares to oppose me openly, but the more he gets away with this the braver they get. It breaks my heart to think that I might not be able to show as much kindness to them as I did to Aden.” Then he turned, with a book in his hand, leaned carelessly against the shelf and said, “And you know how much I hate having blood on my hands.”

A cold wave ran through Rhea’s spine covering her in cold sweats. At that moment, she was terrified of Aron. He was talking about his family and did not blink once before threatening his uncle with his son’s life. She would have liked nothing better than to get out of that room and run. Run as far away from Aron as possible. Nevertheless, she could not avert her eyes from the scene that was unfolding in front of her. She raised her eyes to find Benjamin Artines pale with fear. Although she knew who he was and could imagine what all he might have done to build such a life for himself, at that moment she felt pity for the old man. Then her eyes lingered around the book that Aron was holding for a while before finally stopping on his face. It was Macbeth; he was turning the pages and smiling at them, giving away the impression of being without a single thing to worry about. He tore his eyes away from the pages and with a bright smile approached Benjamin Artines,

“Do you remember this book uncle ben?” then sat right beside his foot and tried to remind him, “Gran used to read it to us,” he turned to Rhea and explained, “all of us used to spend the summer vacations at Gran’s house. Every afternoon, Gran would make lemonade, sit with us in the garden where we would drink lemonade and listen to her tell us the story of Macbeth, as a cautionary tale about how greed destroys us.” He said the last few words looking at the ground and then looked up at Benjamin Artines. The man looked a decade older than how he looked when Aron and Rhea arrived at his porch. Aron took his hand in his own. Held it with both his hands and said, “Talk to him. Make him understand. Or, I might not be left with any choice but to do what I have been avoiding for all these years.” He was about to stand up when Benjamin Artines pulled him to sit beside him. Benjamin with a faint voice said “Send him to the Q country. Ask him to handle your operations there. Let him do what he does well and have your men keep an eye on him.” The man was pleading him for his son’s life.

Q country was known for its lenient jurisdiction for criminal activities. Therefore, the major organized crime rackets, all over the world, were run from that country. Rhea knew that the Korlin family still had its parts that were involved in crime but never imagined that the head of those operations would also be Aron Korlin. Aron leaned closer to Benjamin and said “You know that I can’t do that. He is too messy and has no ethics. I don’t function that way.” Rhea inwardly smirked at the mention of ethics. Then he took a deep breath, held Benjamin’s hands firmly with his left hand, patted them with his right, and repeated, “Talk to him.” Then got up, helped Rhea to get up and left.

As they walked out of the house, Rhea noticed that Benroy was nowhere to be seen. She anxiously looked at Aron and found that he was completely at ease. He opened the door of the passenger seat for her, offered his hand to help her climb onto the seat then closed the door. Then he walked to the other side. Before getting into the car, he went to the back seat door, opened it, picked something up from the floor then boarded the driver’s seat. Once both their seatbelts were clasped he, handed her the phone that was dropped during the commission with the assailants. While handing her the phone, he said to her with a generous smile, “You did me a solid today, Ray.”

She replied with a curt smile, “My pleasure Mr Korlin.”