Chapter 50: Oniomania
Flashback
"I want to go to Italy," I told my grandfather when he asked me for my present. I was going to be ten and I knew what I wanted for this party.
"Fine….but the venue is here. Why don't you go to Italy after this party? I will call Christian and…"
"No, I want to have the party there." I tried to give him my pissed look. I wonder why he can't agree to this. I am the one who should be listened to.
"Matteo, I talked to you about that. Didn't I? Now you are causing a nuisance."
"Either you will arrange this party in Italy or we won't have any conversation ever." I looked at him and he huffed before motioning his assistant to walk closer.
"Talk to the event manager. We are going to Italy. Things have to be moved." I smiled and walked to my room. I knew I will be able to manage it. There was a time when I used to be impressed by my grandfather. He had the solution for everything but now I liked to make things impossible for him. I guess I now understood how everything in this family should be about me. If I won't maintain it this way things will mess up for sure.
I called for assistance to prepare my suitcase and stood to notice that all my favourite clothes get to be packed. I now knew why Italy always attracted me. It was always meant to be Italy.
"Mr Lucca, I have got all the things packed. You have your socks in there and…"
"I was standing here all this time. I know." I replied and moved to show the maid the way out. As if I needed to know about this all. I had servants there too.
My grandfather had a meeting and couldn't join me on our private plane. And, I couldn't believe things were going just as I planned.
I called for all the servants the moment I reached my grandfather's mansion in Italy and asked, "Who is the newest recruit among you?" My question made one of the drivers take a step ahead and I looked at the others. "The rest can leave." I looked at the man who was about in his late twenties.
"I want you to drive me to an address." The man seemed puzzled but I was quick to add. "I want to drop this birthday card in person…to one of my teachers." I don't think he doubted because he seemed far less tense in the rest of the drive. The address was quite far. But I couldn't complain.
I was going to see Heather Parker today. I wonder if she would care about me the same as my friends' mother do. I know she had taken money to give birth to me. It was a job for her. My grandfather had told me that woman want nothing more than a secured future. Instead, Mrs Lucca is supposed to be my mother. But I had never liked her.
But this woman I was going to see was my real mother. I was her flesh. She was bound to care about me. And, even if she needed money I could give a lot to her. "How much is your salary?" I asked the driver and he was reluctant before answering. "It's around thirty thousand dollars per year and I have other benefits of…"
"Enough." I wonder how much would be enough for my mother. Well, it was a matter of later concern. Right now I wanted to observe how much she cares about me.
Our car was pulled in front of a small house. It wasn't dirty and had a beautiful fence. I can say they were not doing very badly. But I could make this place in my backyard just for the fun of having to build something. I pushed the gate and got in to give a knock on the door. I could hear some people talking and waited for a little. A red hair boy came to open the door for me.
"I am here to see Mrs Heather Parker," I said without losing a minute. Well, now I noticed his body and I could tell he must be in his early twenties.
"She is my mother. Who are you?" The guy asked but I couldn't help but look at him. There was nothing that we had in common at the first glance. But maybe his mouth was a lot…
"Who is there?" A feminine voice broke the chain of my thoughts and the moment that boy turned to say, "I am talking, mom." My throat got dry. I was going to look at her.
"I will see. Guests are waiting for you." The guy left and no one came. I was about to get into the home when I saw a woman appearing at the door. She smiled looking at me before asking, "Hello, young boy, what's the matter?" I inhaled her scent. She was baking for sure.
"You don't know me?" I looked at her apron. Though my grandfather hates it when I try to get to the kitchen to know how the food is made, he punishes the staff every time I sneak into the kitchen. But I wasn't dumb to not realize it was baking. I have spent good hours giving gifts to the students who are in cooking class. They always let me sit around to see the process.
I looked at her face and with each passing second her smile got smaller and this time her voice came out in a whisper. "Who are you?" I don't know the last time when I was this clueless. I always say whatever comes into my mind.
"Are you Heather Parker?" I asked and she quickly got the door behind her close.
"What are you doing here? Who brought you here?" She tried to look at the gate but I passed the birthday card to her.
"I want to show you to my friends. I would like to invite you to…" She snatched the card from my hand and got my arm in her hand before pulling me to the gate. "Leave me!" I shouted as the pain rose from my arm but she only stopped when she reached my car.
"You are no one to me. Do you get me? You have no one here!"
I looked at her eyes that were going large before she hissed. "You are no one but the reminder of the worst time in my life. I never ever want to see you, Matteo. You will never come here. You get me?"
I looked at my arm and she left it before looking at the driver. "You better answer this to Mr Lucca." She said and looked at me.
"How can you not love me? You are my mother. I have read books on mothers." I said louder because I knew she didn't want anyone else to know about this. And, my action was met by some passerby's stopping to look at her. She came closer to me before hissing. "Mothers can do hate their kids. If not I have very good books I can recommend you to broaden your view on the topic."
No one ever looked at me the way she looked at me that day. She looked at me the same way I look at smelly homeless people. But I was no bagger.
I wonder why she did all of this at that moment. I walked back to my estate and didn't ask the driver to keep this moment a secret. At this point, I didn't care if my grandfather comes to know that I went to see my biological mother.
The more I think about it the more it became clearer. Not every mother loves their kids. And, the ones who do they must do it for a reason. And, then one day I realize that on a divorce if a woman has a kid and that kid decided to live with their mother they get to have child support. And, things kept on becoming clearer. But one day I wanted her to regret treating me bad. One day she will look me at the screen thinking she missed the opportunity to cash the wealthiest man ever lived.
I woke up and the first thing in my mind was to find Julie. Because there was no way in the world that I will let a woman take advantage of me. I was the man in control.
I looked at the file of my investment plans and Heather Parker was all my mind could think of whenever I looked at it. What if she doesn't know how good I am doing? I dialled for Peter. "Hey, Peter? Give me a reason why we should stay in the US." I waited for his reply but what comes from his mouth was, "Why we would do that? We are doing great…"
"I think you didn't listen to my question. I said give me a reason that I live in the US." There was a silence for a few seconds before he said, "Well, you are the sixteenth richest man in the world. And, most of the people up above are from the US. I guess this land does have a kind of charm for riches." I exhaled smiling and ordered, "Good, I want you to buy a property here for me because the US have to know that Matteo De Lucca is now living in the US."
I was doing fine in my life. Lost in the pleasure of having it all. Somewhere in the line I completely forgot that I ever came across a woman named Heather Parker. And, though I tried to bury myself in looking into the companies here. Two women never left my mind. My wife and my biological mother. Both living their life in pure joy thinking they can avoid me? Huh.
But then in the next three days, a very amazing idea popped up in my mind. I asked Peter to spread the news that I was living with my wife here in the US. I wanted her to stay restless. All the time making assumptions about what I am up to. And, if someone is helping her for being my wife they too will lose their interest.
I fired the man in charge of finding Julie after a month. He kept on wasting the time on mundane things but the next agent I hired after had the same pattern to look into the things. At this point, I wasn't much restless.
After making sure that she is not living with any of my friend's I wasn't much edgy. I even shared my hidden search with the president of Italy to have the support if we needed it anywhere. Of course, he couldn't deny it. I was the reason that he won the election.
There were a lot of people who still didn't know my intention of staying in the US. And, I had a comfortable office at my place from where I was looking at the operations. I didn't want to remove my trading company from Italy. But I did want to see what was so wrong with our cosmetics, estate and oil refinery companies here. There was a time in my grandfather's day that this company was soaring high.
It's been five months that I couldn't locate Julie. The cosmetic company started going up and we hired all new staff, and building to have a fresh start. The company hired the most famous models in the US to shoot for our makeup ads, which is when I met Jackie.
She was the one model who never loses a chance to show her face to me. As if it wasn't enough she bought a property not far from my place. She knew I was a good married man and my wife was suffering from a condition and don't come to parties but that too wasn't enough for her to get a clue.
One night I came to attend the party at the invitation of Jeong. She was the C.E.O of our cosmetic brand. She recently closed a deal worth eight hundred million. It was a huge day for everyone. I couldn't help but come up with perfect words before I retired to my chair and looked at the recent report on the development of my Riverland project. If everything went this smooth we were going to start the official functioning in the next half year.
Not going to lie, I spent a lot more and used far more connections to finish it this sooner. I look up to notice Jackie who came to sit beside me. "Hello, Mr Lucca." I gave her a raised brow ignoring her sultry brows.
Of course, I remember her name is Jackie. She has told me for a zillionth time until now. But I always show her I forgot.
"I am Jackie. The ambassador of shades?" And, I narrowed my brows even more.
"It is one of the products in this company." She said getting her hand on the table. I nodded my head and finally offered her a smile.
"Good to know you." I nodded.
"My car broke down and I live quite close in the area you are staying. Will you please…" And, this is when she dared to touch my hand. I looked at her intently giving her all my attention.
"Of course, Peter?..." Peter arrived in a few seconds. "I want you to see what's wrong with her car…"
"I can show you things at my home. Things your wife with a terrible health can never…" She whispered coming quite close. The thing was everyone knew she had a condition. Nobody knows exactly what.
"Believe me, I have seen far better things. You have started to irk me. Don't do that…or the next thing you would know you are sold off to one of my Arab friends. I am not the man you should come close to."
Her smile was rubbed off from her place. She looked around before walking away and I kind of missed having her trying.
Surprisingly I was living without any woman here. I still had slaves and keeps just in case but I never invited them to the US. The Riverland project was coming into being. It was getting a lot of attention in the media now.
I was buying properties in the US every other day. One day Peter beware me of it but my one look was enough to make him silent. I too didn't know why I was buying a lot of shares, islands and estates. It was as if I wanted to make a purchase every day. We rented out many mansions for shooting films. And, had shares in five more conglomerates now. It made me more money and I used it to buy even more things. At this point, I read a book on impulse purchase but that was shit. I wasn't wasting money. I was buying things to make more money that buys more things. I was the third person who owned most of the land in the US now.
Though I know once my project will start everyone will get to know who I am in this whole world. But even at that time, I wanted to own a worthy profile.
It was almost after seven months when I read how Mrs Russo got widowed. Not only this, but she also had owned a lot more fortune now. And, though I wasn't expecting her to reach me she did. I didn't attend her call though. But I couldn't keep her out of my mind.
Julie for now was the first thought in the morning. I have hate for her like never before. And, this fire doesn't lessen until I make my purchase of the day. She hadn't given me anything. Heck, I expected her to respect me but she ran away.
"This is…completely unnecessary. There is no way I can tell you why we should be buying this." I looked at the projector where six acres of land stood somewhere on the top of hills. The attraction was the small Italian built one storey home there with an extravagant swimming pool.
"You have to. It's your job." I said making Peter run the line he had been using almost every day.
"Well, it's a land. And, we can buy it to make our land profile better."
"We are picking this place," I said before leaving in my Mercedes.
I almost found an obedient and convenient life partner in her. After all, I did for her she couldn't give up on the thought of having a child. On the other hand, my nexus with Ms Russo could make both of us the wealthiest couple ever lived. She was very direct to inform Peter of her plans to marry me. She didn't have a problem with my lifestyle too. And, this marriage could bring both of us publicity like never before. And, if I use my brain I should marry her. But one thing stood between us, my ego. Ms Russo was the women who believed my father's word more than me. She made me lose my face in the past.
Peter denied her offer saying I am a married man and off the market. And, Julie was again residing my thoughts alone. I wonder if I still had time to look for her and made her go through an abortion. But I couldn't make my hopes high. If I had gotten my hands on her I would have already caught her. She was somewhere I could never expect. Somewhere she knew I will never look for her. So far, I had run the background check on all the staff that talked to her. But it was in vain too. Sometimes I couldn't help but give Peter suspicious looks. But then I knew he was aware of how impulsive I can be to even kill him.
Other times, I couldn't help but wonder what to do if this child comes into this world. It was going to be a complete disaster. Or, I will make Julie brought this kid all by herself. Then, she would know how stupid she was to ever think that she can use my child to manipulate me. Seriously? She took this step like she doesn't know me. I will never be moved by this baby. In fact, you Julie...you will have to bring up this curse all by yourself. Then…then you will know how wrong you were to ever pull this trick on me. This child was nothing but a weapon for her. And, I sure will make Julie regret it. This will make her hate that baby too. When she will see she didn't get anything out of this baby…she will hate it too.
It was eleven at the midnight. I had already told my staff to get my suitcase ready. I was leaving because my Riverland Project was almost finishing and we were looking for the inauguration dates. Sitting at my bed, I was looking for the properties on sales on my laptop when my cell phone rang. It was Mr Martinez. I picked up and was ready to hear about any of his campaign coming up.
"Yes?" I said narrowing my eyes on a very expensive penthouse in L.A.
"I think my wife met your wife today. She…still had the bump."
"Where?" I shouted.
"At the hospital, my wife works and I had the tapes on her right now. She entered a university and didn't leave…"
"Send me everything," I said before dialling for Peter.
"We are leaving for Italy. Right now…this very moment."
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