The Royal Contract

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It was hard to stand between her friend and her brother. She had no idea whether she should take the side of Marcus or Gerald in this case.

Of course, she believed that both had a point. Marcus had a right to know where his sister was. But Gerald seemed convinced it was better to keep that knowledge to himself.

"Can't we reach a compromise where you can share where you are keeping her safe?" Dani turned to Gerald, imploring him to cooperate.

The last thing she wanted was for another fight to spark between the two if her brother was adamant about keeping the information to himself.

She could already see the flaring anger on Marcus's face. He was about to explode any minute if Gerald continued to refuse to give up Haley's whereabouts.

"I swear if you don't stop talking, I will not just beat your ass. But I will kill you." Marcus stood up with fists tightly clenched on both sides, ready to strike again.

He was like a bull as his nose flared up, eyes full of rage, ready to charge the man that carried the red cape. Fortunately, Alex held him before he could take another step.

Dani could not blame Marcus. She knew how much her friend valued his sister. He had protected her all this time.

"Please, Gerald. Why can't you tell us where she is? We are her family and friends. We also want to keep her safe." Dani pleaded with her brother, hoping to resolve this conflict without bloodshed.

She could see how much Marcus wished to extract the information from Gerald. She did not doubt that Marcus was a match, at least physically, to go toe to toe with her brother.

And Marcus would never hesitate to exchange blows with Gerald if he had to, knowing how much he loathed her brother.

He even warned Haley to stay away from Gerald because he always considered him dangerous. He could not see a bright future if she ended with him.

"There is a reason why I never told you about Haley. And why I refuse to tell you where she is right now." Gerald calmly spoke despite being aware of the growing tension in the room.

"I swear to you with my life that she is safe, and I intend to keep it that way until all of this is over." Gerald continued, explaining his situation.

"I have many enemies who will want to hurt her, people who will use her to get to me once they learn that I am alive.

And my enemies are just lurking around, finding the opportunity to get to me. I have to hide her while I deal with them." Gerald reasoned.

It somehow made sense to her. She could see that her brother seemed sincere in protecting her friend, Haley. However, she believed it would be best if Gerald allowed them to help.

"You can't trust me to protect my sister." Suddenly, Marcus exploded, then he hilariously laughed, finding Gerald's statement insulting. "How dare you?"

Marcus pointed his finger at her brother as if to make a point. "Who do you think you are? If there is someone here who is not trustworthy, it is you."

She slightly agreed with her friend. Truthfully, she still had her doubts about her brother's intentions. Unless her brother divulged everything, what happened, and his plans, she would find it hard to trust him.

"And if my sister needs protecting, it is from you." Marcus continued angrily as he finally moved away, unable to sit still or look at Gerald.

She watched him pace the floor, barely controlling his temper. But she could see Alex was alert, ready to stop him if he suddenly pounced at her brother.

"That is not true." The man who had been silent for a while had suddenly intervened on his friend's behalf. Mike stood up, making his presence felt.

In truth, she had no idea of his role in her brother's life. But admittedly, what did she know about Gerald? Nothing much.

Except for the fact that he had lived a double life, one acting like a saint and another living in the dark shadows, she barely knew much about him.

"Gerald loves Haley very much. Don't you see? He is doing all of this for her." Mike went on. "He gave up everything for her."

"Mike, that is enough." Gerald abruptly interrupted his friend, stopping him from saying more.

"No. I had enough of this." Mike shouted. "They have to hear this." He would not allow his friend to put a zip on his lips.

Mike turned to her, looking like he was ready to fight for his friend if he had to. "He risked his life to save her. He had to die to keep her safe."

Frankly, she was not expecting Mike would say that. But in a way, she knew she believed him. She thought that maybe her brother was capable of caring. It was surprising but not impossible.

She was an optimist, believing that everyone was capable of changing. And it would seem that her brother had finally grown a heart. He might have learned how to love.

"If what you are saying is true. Then let us help." Dani wanted to mediate between her brother and her friend.

She wanted an amicable agreement where both parties would feel satisfied. After all, they both wanted the same thing.

She was sure that with their combined resources, they could better protect Haley from whoever wanted to exact revenge on her brother.

"This is total bullshit. We should not let these two fool us." Marcus responded, still unconvinced. "If you don't tell me where my sister is, I will guarantee you don't see the light of day again."

She knew those were empty threats. Marcus could not even hurt a fly, much less intentionally harm another human being.

However, in his current state, she could be wrong. Any man was capable of doing anything when a loved one was involved.

"If you can't trust us. Then, there is no point in this meeting." Alex finally spoke up. "The door is open. You are welcome to leave."

Dani could see that her husband had had enough. She could see that they were all frustrated with the situation.

At any moment, their son could wake up to the noise they were making. And that was not another crisis she wanted to add to her plate.

"Alex is right. We can only help you if we can trust you." She turned to her brother, requesting his cooperation.

She wanted to help him, but her brother had to prove he deserved it. Admittedly, she was still skeptical about his plans.

"Fine. You made your point." Gerald finally accepted that he needed to win them over before he could ask for any assistance.

"But I assure you, you will not like what I have to reveal." Gerald shifted his look to Marcus as if directing his words to him.

"That's not new. I doubt I will ever like anything that comes out of that mouth of yours." Marcus responded with sarcasm.

"Let us just listen to what he had to say." Dani intervened again, giving his brother a chance to reveal his secrets. "Why don't we just all sit down."

She thought that nothing would ever happen if he let the testosterone in the room dominate the conversation. They would only end up in circles.

The men seemed to calm down when she spoke, seemingly respecting her wishes. Her husband and her friend finally returned to their seats, and her brother and his friend settled on theirs.

"Let me start at the very beginning." Gerald sharply inhaled air before continuing. "As you all know, my father, Joaquin, left his business to me.

But my business associates did not like the way I ran the business. They thought that, unlike my father, they could manipulate me to do their bidding.

However, my father had already warned me against the people who would try to take the business from me.

Still, unlike my father, I have a weakness." Gerald shook his head as if he regretted something.

"You mean Haley." Dani could only assume that her brother was talking about her friend.

It somehow made sense to her if that was the case. But there were still a lot of questions that her brother needed to answer.

"Yes. And somehow, my enemies figured it out. Haley became a target. Therefore, I had to do something to protect her." Gerald shrugged his shoulder as if he had no other choice.

"Was that the reason why you had to stage your death?" Alex appeared curious as he joined with an inquiry.

"Yes." He answered. "When I learned the bounty on my head, I asked Mike to stage my death. If they thought they succeeded, they would divert their attention away from Haley."

"Then, what happened? If they already think you are dead. Then why is my sister's life still in danger." Marcus finally asked with a frown on his face.

Dani could not determine if Marcus finally believed Gerald's story or just biding his time to get to him and exact the information from her brother.

"This time, her life is not in danger because of me," Gerald claimed, which caught their attention.

"What are you saying? Who would want to harm my sister?" Marcus appeared furious as his voice rose an octave higher.

Gerald did not answer right away but looked at his friend instead. But the expression on his face was not promising.

She could tell from experience that whatever Gerald had to say was not something they would expect. It would be mind-blowing.

"Your father." Gerald finally spoke up, looking directly into Marcus's eyes.

As she had suspected, it was an explosive turn of events.