Gayle crossed her room and kept the black leather bag he was carrying on a table in the corner.

Daryn stared at his father's back as he crossed his hands across his chest. On the inside her was nervous even though his façade was not showing any emotion. Suddenly the door opened and he turned his face sharply to see Cole striding in. Cole dragged a chair out and sat on it near Dawn. Muscles of his face were tight. Tension was palpable in the atmosphere.

​​

Dawn's back was stiff as she watched Gayle slowly turning to face her. He scrubbed his stub and then lifted his eyes to see the siblings. They were staring at him with so many questions in their eyes that it made his heart heavy. He didn't know where to start.

"What would you like to hear Dawn?" he asked. He was looking very tired. "Where would you like me to start with?"

"Start with the beginning," said Cole in an ice-cold voice.

Gayle sucked in air and then exhaled heavily. "I had a small Firm, which was coming up steadily. We were a small circle of five investors who created it. It was a brainchild of one of my close friends, Terry. Whatever investments we did, grew ten times within a span of one year. The firm showed a lot of promise and we were planning to float its shares in the market after seeing another year's performance."

"What has it got to do with my father?" asked Dawn, becoming impatient as hell. Why wasn't he coming to the point?

"You have to be patient if you want to know everything Dawn," said Gayle. He wasn't going to leave any detail. After that she could do whatever she liked. Over the last few months, he had come to like her a lot and now that she was pregnant, he was looking forward to having a grandchild.

Dawn puffed her cheeks and became quiet.

"The news about the Company's profits traveled faster than we anticipated. And this is where Luke comes. He had set eyes on that Company."

Gayle looked back at his bag and took out a thick folder of papers. "For me, it was a small investment, insignificant—like a drop in the ocean." He waved his hands on both sides and said, "As you can already see that Silver are filthy rich."

Dawn had to give that. Yes, the Silvers were very rich, perhaps hundred times richer than the Wyatts. Then why would Gayle have anything to do with her father? She suppressed another pang of impatience.

"He befriended me and I liked his company. He was astute, clever and very calculating. I found him a genius of the sorts. Soon, we became good friends and I opened up to him. I revealed all my secrets about my new Company and asked him for his advice. He gave me terrific advices." Gayle stared in her green eyes. "And I can see that you have got a part of his intelligence."

Dawn felt proud inside, but she didn't cave in to his admiration.

Gayle sighed. He looked down at the papers and took one out. Handing it to her, he said, "Those are the ownership papers of my Firm. You can see that it was mine."

'What was he getting at?' Dawn mused as she took the papers.

"It was the biggest mistake of my life." Gayle looked out towards the garden. The path was lit with dim lamps. "I took Luke's advice and the Company did even better."

"If the Company did better, then how could it be your biggest mistake?" Dawn asked. This was getting preposterous. Her father helped him and he was saying that it was a blunder? How selfish!

"You see, the performance was so good that we went ahead and floated its shares in the market. Your father, Luke Wyatt bought a lot of shares under various names. And I only knew about the bunch that was allotted to him in his real name. Other names? Nada, zilch! None of us knew. Six months later, the Company was doing pretty well, when suddenly someone offloaded tons of shares in the market. The size was so huge that we were shocked. We didn't understand who was doing it. Obviously the market price fell. It was a new Company and investors' sentiment kind of wavered."

Cole watched Gayle with rapt attention. "Are you trying to say that Papa sold all those shares?"

Gayle smirked. "No, he sold only the ones which were in different names. He kept the ones that belonged to him."

Cole stiffened.

"I was supposed to go out for a political meeting for a week and it happened at my back. All the shares he had in his possession were sold. The share prices fell heavily. Terry was at his wits end. He tried to contact me but I wasn't available. Rest of the three investors pulled out. They joined hands with Luke Wyatt or you can say that Luke Wyatt approached them and they formed a pact. Our Company tanked and Terry got a heart attack. He died that night."

Gayle pinched his forehead between his eyebrows. He looked pained. "Terry was my childhood friend."

Dawn and Cole were aghast. They shifted in their places looking so flustered that they didn't know how to react. Even Daryn didn't know what to say. He remembered Terry pretty well. His skin lined with goose bumps. He so hated Luke at this point of time.

"Few days later, the Company belonged to Luke Wyatt," he said and took out more papers to give it to her. "Read those papers carefully when I am gone."

"I was enraged, furious and wanted revenge. No one had ever deceived me as Luke had. He had the guts and he was greedy."

"So you killed him?" Dawn said, eyes narrowing at him.

"No, I didn't kill him. What was the point of killing someone, when I wanted to taste my revenge when the man was alive? I tried to beat him to his game," said Gayle in a menacing voice. "I approached Helena, a top model in Hollywood in those days. I asked her to charm Luke and get the information about my Company that was now under him. I played with his weakness—of having multiple affairs even though he had a lovely wife at home. And Luke walked right into the trap."

Dawn and Cole looked at him with hatred. He was the one who planted Helena in their house for his revenge. All he focused was revenge and not the family? He was so mean. Or was Luke mean?

"I won't deny that I didn't want him destroyed."

"Do you know what Helena has done to us?" said Dawn in a hoarse voice stopping her tears, her hatred for this man. "She killed my mother. She has shredded the only family I had!" Dawn almost screamed.

Daryn rushed to her and stroked her back. "Shsh… Baby, calm down!" He disliked his father at this point. Why was revenge so important to him?

Dawn jerked him away. She pointed at Daryn and asked, "Was he also a part of your vengeance?"

Daryn stared at her incredulously. "No! I wasn't," he barked.

Gayle said, "I told you to listen to me." Dawn gulped. What was there to listen to now? But Gayle continued, "A pact was made between Helena and me. Once the information was extracted, once I got my Company back, she would leave. Unfortunately, her gluttony took over."

Cole frowned.