13. Mr Hamilton.

[Mr. Hamilton]
A few months back,
Boston, Massachusetts,
The USA.
My past, the past that I had buried more than twenty years ago was coming to bite me in the a**.
"Where did she go?" I screamed in anger at the staff.
"How could you have let her leave without informing me, pray, pray nothing bad happens to my daughter or you'll pay the consequences."
Claire was my everything and I loved her more than I loved my businesses which was a lot because her mother had often complained that I could never love anyone more than my company.
She was a great child, the best any father could ever ask for, she had a good character, good temperament, even in her teenage years, she never rebelled or gave me any cause for concern.
She was very obedient and she always did as she was told.
She had a lot of my traits even though she looked more and more like her mother every day. She was a whiz in business just as I was and I was confident in handing over the company to her when I wanted to retire.
But I never showed her all of these feelings, I showed her love of course by buying her whatever she wanted in this world because I couldn't always be around for her and about the confidence, I wanted her to do better and not really on me to do everything for her and she turned out great.
The one thing she lacked was her socialization skills. She liked to relate with people she shouldn't but she'd managed to refrain from that and before she brought home a wretched man to get married to, I decided to get her the best of them.
Ivan.
The son of my friend and business partner, he was as brilliant as my daughter but she had a better approach than she did while he was stronger and more verbal than she was.
They complimented each other and that was why I wanted to get them married, my friend agreed obviously and I knew Claire would agree as long as I told her to but the issue was Ivan.
I may have wanted him for my daughter but I'd never let him maltreat her or make her feel sad or unloved because she couldn't really fight for herself.
And so the stipulations were born, Ivan would get controlling interest of both companies after they got married, there would be a merger after their first child was born and he would be in charge of the companies forever after ten years of marriage.
Pretty sweet hun?
I'd secured my daughter's future, if she refused to get married or if she ever asked for a divorce, Ivan would not get those things I mentioned and that was why I knew he would do his best to win her over and make her happy as well as their marriage work.
I knew an ambitious man when I saw one, he reminded me of myself when I was his age, and let's just say I'd also been in his shoes once upon a time and I'd done the best thing for my family.
But now it was all going to pot.
Why had Claire found those damn letters and why hadn't I thrown them out a long time ago.
Claire's mother's story is a story for a later time.
First I had to figure out how to get my daughter back to America of her own free will and also without finding her mother.
I knew that I couldn't do it alone and so I called up my future son-in-law and told him the situation. Of course, he looked at me with judging eyes for lying to Claire and everyone that her mother was dead but I ignored it.
When he had a child, he would understand, all I did, I did for the benefit of Claire.
I hoped he would not follow my footsteps though, and that was why I didn't tell him the full story because that would mean hurting my child and I would never stand for it.
***
"Sir, Mr. Ivan is here to see you." Linda, my assistant said through the intercom.
"Send him in." I pressed the button and replied.
A while later, I heard a knock on my door and I stopped looking through the papers on my desk.
"Come in."
"Good afternoon sir." Ivan greeted me.
What a respectful and responsible young man.
"Welcome, please sit down." I gestured to the couch. "Would you like a glass of whiskey?" I asked as I stood up from my chair.
Without waiting for his reply, I walked to the bar and poured two glasses of whiskey.
I loosened my tie as I took a seat on the couch opposite him and I passed him a glass.
"I came to talk to you about Claire." He said and I nodded.
"Yes Claire, my runaway daughter, she has been found," I announced and he looked relieved.
It did not take a genius to know where she had gone, she was very careful not to leave any traces though.
Very smart girl.
Since she left because she was mad at me for hiding the truth about her mother from her and she had taken the letters with her, it meant that she had gone to Denmark to try and find her.
I used my contacts at the airport to confirm this and she indeed had boarded a flight, economic ticket, silly girl, to Denmark.
She even avoided luxurious hotels and it had been very hard to find her.
I'd only managed to find her because she'd gone to the police station, someone there had recognized her and contacted me without her knowledge and that was how I had gotten to know her exact location.
I knew about the private detective and I also knew about the job she'd gotten.
It hurt me to let my child live like she was now but I couldn't do anything about it.
I could only manipulate the detective's findings and that's what I had done. I paid him not to search for Eva because I didn't want her to be found, I wanted her to remain dead.
I hoped Claire would tire of searching for her and would return to the states, I also would've had her believe that her mother was dead, but the police had already checked the hospital records, she was not dead.
"She's been found, that's great," Ivan said. "When will she be back?"
"I can't force her back, I can only manipulate her into coming back herself and that would certainly take time."
"Okay, that's the better plan, if you were to force her back, she will try to run away again."
"She's a very smart woman." I gulped my whiskey.
"I would like to contact her though, show my support so that it'll be easier to win her over when she comes back." He said.
"Nah," I said and shook my head. "Claire would call your bullshit."
It was a good strategy though, but I knew that she wouldn't believe it, Ivan and I were far too close and he was also in the business of pleasing me.
"Patience then." He placed his empty glass on the table.
"Patience," I responded and also dropped my glass.
The conversation then drifted from Claire to other business matters.
***
Present-day
"I've already transferred the money to the account, you keep doing such a great job, then you'll receive more money."
Without wasting much time, I had contacted the detective and had begun the manipulation, for now, my strategy was to tire her, but in a few months if it still wasn't working, then I would need to apply more drastic plans.
"Thank you very much, sir, she was just here and I told her everything you asked me to."
"Great, she cannot suspect anything and you make sure not to charge her so much, I'm already paying you," I warned him, I did not like the idea of Claire having to work so hard to pay the detective.
If she ever found out about this, her hopes would be crushed and she would probably hate me forever but this was a risk I had to take.
If I tried to apologize, she would forgive me, but then she would still want to find her mother, and finding her mother would unearth a lot of secrets, secrets I'd buried many years ago and secrets that I wasn't proud of.
"Keep me informed." I ended the call and spun around to see Nana staring at me with dark eyes.
"When are you going to tell the truth? She asked me.
"Never." I spat back at her, I intended to take this secret to the grave.
"I'll say something." She threatened me.
I laughed for a long while before I responded.
"You forget the path you played, you're as responsible for this mess as I am." I shook my head at the petite woman trying to threaten me.
"I stayed and stayed silent because of the child, she's the innocent one here, don't you dare hurt her." She looked at me like a rabbit with claws.
"I'd never hurt our child, you have my word."