THE MAN WHO IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME
The city glittered like it had something to prove in determining all the goodies and lots more and from the top floor of Atmosphere Towers, beneath sheets of thick layered glass and beautiful lights gave a view of a stretched endless city, alive, restless and unrelenting even at night the city refused to sleep. Traffic lines burned like veins of fire, voices echoed from streets too far below to hear clearly, and somewhere in that chaos, life went on as if nothing in the world was ending. Adrian Vale watched it all in silence. Once upon a time in the past that view had felt like victory and conquest but now, it felt like distance and defeat. Behind him in the penthouse was an unnaturally still silence. The kind money bought, it was thick, clouded, controlled and very artificial. No laughter, no conversation, not even a soul to speak with Just the low, steady hum of machines that surrounded him sounded like an orchestra of inevitability had quietly replaced everything human as tubes, wires and a monitor blinked beside him Steadily, Relentless and Unforgiving and reminding that his own body had betrayed him long before his empire would and that the times are coming to a gradual end.
Are you feeling better sir? The nurse asked?
Alive, for now Adrian responded with disgust.
"You should rest, sir."
The voice came from behind him, soft but cautious like stepping and speaking too loudly might break something already fragile and shattered.
Adrian didn't turn. "
I'll rest when I'm dead."
These words weren't bitter. They were simply… true but sounded harsh and unsettling.
A deep pause followed with a stare of pity for a puppy drenched in rain remarked in her gaze. The kind that meant the nurse was deciding whether to say more or retreat while she still could do
"They've adjusted your medication," she said carefully and calmly too. That was enough to pull his attention.
Adrian turned his head slightly, just enough for his gaze to find her reflection in the glass.
"How much adjustment did they make? "Just a minor increase sir." she said carefully and cautiously "There's no such thing as minor anymore he replied as his voice sharpening just enough to cut.
"Not with this condition." The nurse hesitated. it was subtle
But… Adrian noticed something was strangely off.
"How much?" he repeated a he caught a glimpse of how her fingers tightened around the tablet in her hands. "Five milligrams sir."
That response was too fast, too automatic and seemed Practiced. Adrian's expression didn't change but something behind his eyes did but there was little or no strength nor time to begin to look into that.
"Who approved it? "Dr. Abigail did sir," she answered as quickly as possible like there was something to hide. "It was done as part of your updated care plan and routine.
Updated? Everything was always being updated, adjusted, refined and yet I'm not getting any better he muttered
"Get out! leave me alone he let out in a low voice," he said not with anger, no raised voice, just finality and conclusion of some sort. The nurse nodded almost immediately, as relief flickering across her face before she turned and walked out.
The quiet click of the door sealing the room back into silence was more painful than what he felt in his body because this meant he was being defeated by what he was going through.
Adrian exhaled slowly but it came out tighter than he intended but breathing these days had become deliberate like something that required attention, effort and control. Everything required control now the same control he was losing his grip of. His hand shifted slightly against the armrest of the wheelchair and the tremor followed a little, barely visible, but it was there, always there he thought as his jaw tightened.
In times past these same hands had signed deals worth billions without hesitation, they pointed his business in the direction of growth and success, these same hands had built an empire from instinct and calculation, from risk and precision, from brilliance and ruthlessness to the peak of the industry. They had never betrayed him before but now they couldn't be moved at will except with precision and intention as they shook, not violently but dramatically, just enough to remind him nothing was permanent and that he could no longer have absolute control over not just his body but over everything around him now.
The door opened again. Adrian didn't need to look this time.
Hassan, he said.
"Still perceptive," Hassan replied smoothly as he stepped inside.
He was looking impeccable as always, dressed in a dark suit, perfect posture, calm eyes that captured even the smallest details, they never missed anything but revealed even less than what it had captured. Adrian turned slightly, enough to face him.
"If you're here, it's not a social visit."
Hassan allowed himself the faintest hint of a smile.
"No sir. It rarely is and you know already."
He moved further into the room to put himself a chair to sit and placing a thin black file on the glass table nearby, the sound it made was soft, heavy, controlled and felt louder than it should have been.
"They're preparing for a hostile takeover," Hassan said.
Adrian's gaze drifted briefly from the glass to the file briefly before returning to the view of city through the thick layered glass.
"How long?"
Not long, Hassan replied.
"Your condition is progressing faster than expected.
"I'm aware." they are also aware too; I wonder how this information always gets to them so fast and accurately. I think they have a man or somebody inside this tower who sell information to them, sir and we need to find who that person is before they do more damage Hassan said carefully.
A faint smile touched Adrian's lips humorless but sharp.
"Of course, there is someone inside this towers that give out information
I know but that is the least of my worries, I would sort it out when I have the liberty of time but for now let them be. I know they are." Predators don't wait for weakness; they sense it and quickly move towards it and also feed on it.
Hassan opened the file, revealing pages of vital documents, legal structures, projections, contingencies, financial reports, business transactions and off shore accounts balances.
You need to see this sir, the quarterly reports from the management team, but I can see through this mirror of a report that there a lot of inconsistent numbers and an undetailed financial report.
That's not the issue at hand right now he said, money stole can always be recovered or made but control lost could end a man's life abruptly.
He signed a lit…with a brief pause waving of that issue
And my future? Or what would be left of it.
"I'm sorry sir but the clause still stands," he said. "If you pass unmarried, absolute control of the estate and all business transfers to shared trusteeship."
Adrian said nothing but the silence shifted and darkened.
"Victor will assume primary influence and control," Hassan added.
That name lingered in the air like something unwelcome. Adrian's eyes narrowed slightly.
Victor couldn't run a small business due to his recklessness and indiscipline. How would he run an empire that was built from blood and sweat, alone?
"He won't need to," Hassan replied quietly. "He'll dismantle it bit by bit and sell it off gradually to the highest bidder or better still your foes because he has no idea or whatsoever going on in that place but he wants to live off whatever the place produces so when he's done running it into the ground, he sells it off piece by piece.
That got his full attention as Adrian turned completely now, fixing Hassan with a sharp, unwavering stare.
"Say it properly."
Hassan held his gaze.
"They will divide the assets without themselves, divide your holdings too and they begin to sell it bit by bit for a living there by striping your company into parts and eventually selling it off to the highest bidder in a heartbeat. "Everything you have built with dignity, blood, sweat, intellect and hard labor over the years would instantly disappear in the twinkle of an eye or at the snap of a finger from these predators"
A heavy, measured and final silence settled between them.
Adrian leaned back slightly; his expression unreadable but something behind it had hardened… "I didn't labor so hard to build all of this throughout my life just to watch it die prematurely with me Adrian said in a painful low voice. Hassan didn't respond.
Outside the thick layered glass, the city continued its restless movement, unaware, unconcerned of the gradual passing away of one very important elite life in it.
Adrian's gaze returned to the glass, to the reflection staring back at him to seeing a difference not the man he used to be but, in the man, he had turned into.
I am still very much around and alive, I am not gone yet either. "They won't get the chance to perform their enterprise, I wouldn't allow that not on my watch" he said quietly.
Hassan's eyes flickered just briefly.
"You've considered your options?" no, "I've eliminated most of them. "And what remains?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately because what remained was not something he had ever thought he would choose, getting married. I knew it was going to come to this but I didn't know it would be this bad , I ignored it when I had the time and opportunity to saying I would do that when I had the time, look now this is no more time to form a real bond with anyone not even now when I'm at the verge of losing control of all I have worked for and moreover who would want to get married to a dying disable man? he whispered in a low voice to himself expressing regret facing the city.
"Prepare the offer," he said at last.
Hassan stood stilled slightly but enough.
"You're certain?"
Adrian's reflection in the glass didn't hesitate it was certain, absolute and final. It made a statement of there's no turning back made from a resolute mind.
You should know by now that I don't repeat decisions once they are made especially the ones made at a point of no return like this.
Hassan nodded immediately in agreement and obedience.
"Very well then I would get to work."
He closed the file and turned as he walked towards the door--Just before he could reach it,
Adrian spoke again. "Hassan." He stopped. "
This should stay contained, controlled and it should be made to maintain a low profile, I do not want the public having knowledge of this because if they do the predators too would and my plans would be aborted even before they were conceived.
Of course, sir. "No leaks, no speculation, no mistakes."
Hassan inclined his head. "Clearly understood sir." The door closed behind him.
And once again Adrian was left alone with the view of the city stretched endlessly before him, bright, alive, glowing and untouchable for the first time in his life Adrian Vale was not planning expansion, not planning conquest, not planning dominance, not planning hostile take overs or negotiating business deals, He was simply planning survival not just for himself but for his empire and all he had built but somewhere far below in the city life continued as if nothing had changed but everything had because a final and risky decision had just been made by him, One that would alter more than just his future but his entire existence by bringing some strange woman into his world especially someone who did not belong or fit there, someone who could change everything.
Adrian exhaled slowly, his grip tightening slightly against the armrest as another tremor passed through his hand.
Six months. That was what they had given him.
Six months to lose everything or rewrite his end entirely.
His gaze hardened toward the city like it was some man standing in front of him.
"I'm not done yet and I can't be done or die like this, he said to the empty space and to the city as if it had ears to listen to him but the city didn't respond, it didn't need to, because soon it would, definitely He thought to himself.