A Rainbow in Your Eyes

Chapter 8

*15 years later*

Brian was seething. Stalking over to the cabinet in the corner of his office, he pulled out the whiskey bottle and a tumbler, poring himself a stiff drink before moving over to the window. Staring out and down to the street eight stories below. Traffic was as always busy, moving like ants over the pavement, where the people were going about their day to day lives, unaware of his scrutiny as his eyes didn’t miss a thing.

His mind was in turmoil, but the anger was stirring just below the surface of the dark-skinned man. His eyes went to his table taking in the newspaper article that had him rolling with a fury that surpassed much else. An article that was telling the whole world his history.

In the past fifteen years he had done everything possible to hide the link between him and that man. After the so-called adoption had gone through within days from the talk at the hospital and then the stem cell transplant that followed, he had been sent overseas to complete his schooling.

He had returned to South Africa five years ago and, even though he had been inundated in work offers due to the name he had built for himself in the States, he had refused every single one of them. Instead, he had built this company, his own computer programming security company and had become as close to a billionaire as anyone in the country of SA can become, without committing fraud or any illegal s**t like most. In all that time, he had made very sure not to mention his origins or any link with the ex-millionaire Allen Burgess.

And now this!! Someone had found out about their link. A link he had worked damn hard to keep hidden. Not only that, but they had drawn Irielle into the story as well. His eyes picked out the words on the article “adopted father”, “lifesaving blood donor”, “brother and sister” were just some of the words jumping out to him and further fueling his anger. At the bottom there was a photo of the little girl that he knew years ago. A girl he hadn’t seen in fifteen f*****g years and then someone wants to tell the world she’s his sister!

When his eyes skimmed over the photo of an older, more grown version of her, he had to admit that he did not feel very brotherly over a photo like that. And why he wasn’t even sure. It wasn’t a provocative photo. Instead, it showed a possibly eighteen-year-old Irielle in a blue gown at her school matric prom. The dress hugged all the right parts of her body, but the slip scarcely reached her past her knee, and it was clear that she wasn’t showing much body. But what got him even more hyped was the way the boy next to her was clearly feeling her up in the photo.

If he was her brother he should have been there to prevent that! Instead, he had been shipped off to boarding school, the unknown stain on the family honor, the one that was hidden and had to stay hidden. An all expenses paid trip that even her mother had not known about. Because she was never told about his adoption.

What they hadn’t expected was all the other experiences that he would rack up. Having hated each minute of it and hating being dependent on the bastard of his fake-adopted father, he had made damn sure not to ask for more than his due. But life was hard and expensive, and he had learned that the hard way. So instead of living a life of luxury he had been forced to keep his head above the waters.

He had early on decided that he was going to get back at the bastard who had taken advantage of a scared young boy and he had done everything possible to achieve his goal. Joining an underground fight club, he had started earning his own money outside of the boarding school. But the skills he learned helped him against those that thought themselves better than the dark-skinned adoptive son of a South African millionaire. Because how can that ever even compare against the money in a country like the USA?

The experiences, however, had shaped him to become who he was. He knew he was goodlooking, in a ruggedly handsome way, his dark coconut colored skin accentuated by the short-trimmed pencil beard. And, as working out and staying in shape was still very high on his priority lists, especially in the type of work he was in, he knew full well that he was well built.

Now he was almost a billionaire in not one but two countries and having spent so much time overseas, he even has citizenship in both. The building he was in, was one of the most luxurious in Sandton City and he owned the top floor where his consulting services was situated. But it was days like today, that he wondered, why the hell did he come back? And the answer might seem simple, but it wasn’t. Because of that girl in the newspaper, a girl that even after all these years, still kept him up at night.

It was the one sentence in the newspaper that had the anger that some one dared to invade his privacy, bubbling over “Irielle haven’t been seen in over a year”. What the hell had he DONE to her? Why was she missing? He wouldn’t put it past her father to actually manhandle her. He was the classic controlling asshole that believed he had the right to make decisions for everyone involved.

Brian had the scars to show for it from when he had refused to come home after finishing his degree in the USA. The memories of being waylaid in shadowing streets after having told the man that adopted him, to go to hell when he had demanded first over the phone and later in person, that Brian return and start working menial labor jobs in his own company. Instead, Brian had wanted to prove his worth and stand on his own two feet. And today was going to be the day. Payback was a b***h.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts. Looking up, he found Gus standing just inside the door.

“He’s here.” Just one simple sentence, but it had his heart rate skyrocketing and the barely suppressed fury rages back to life.

Putting the glass tumbler down, he nodded towards his now head of security and previous best friend and waited for the face of his enemy to appear.

“Allan.”