A Nobody to a Trillionaire: The $100 Trillion Vault Changed Everything-Chapter 31: Our Last Respects

Kieran snickered. "What?"

But Mrs Jackson didn’t say anything else. She wasn’t going to explain herself any further. She rose from her seat, and before she left, she asked Kieran to give his all in protecting his father’s empire. Or it would be led by her soon.

In business, a family that owns an organisation from scratch remains the CEO until an influential shareholder decides to buy more shares than the CEO’s, leading to the transfer of the ownership title. Someone attempting such a hostile takeover is often expected to own 50% of the entire shares; then they announce it to the public and the board of shareholders... And like that, the original CEO becomes the second-largest stakeholder.

So, Amanda having explained all this to Kieran a month ago, he knew the woman wasn’t bluffing or here to play if she said that. If she used to be his father’s close competitor, then who was he when it comes to wealth? She would literally be as wealthy as he was, if not more.

As Mrs Jackson took a step forward, she looked back at Kieran with a pitying look. She asked, "Do you even have any idea the kind of person your father is?" She shook her head as he couldn’t provide answers, earnestly staring at her with an undeniable hope she would explain further.

But she wasn’t going to – he was literally pathetic though, because him knowing the nature of his father, Robert Holland, would change his perspective on her personality, and why she would want to take over the empire. "Tsk, tsk... you’re clueless, aren’t you? I might actually not be the evillest person here after all." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

Then she walked away. Yet, Kieran couldn’t give a response. He assumed he had got what he wanted today, and it was enough for him. Before some guys escorted the woman out of the warehouse, she whispered something to the captain, who bowed afterwards.

The captain then ordered the other guys to untie everyone but Aria. He himself soon went to Kieran and said, "You should leave now."

Kieran shifted his glance from the brazier he had been staring at for ages to the only tied person – Aria – whom he recognised as the lady who had tried to assassinate him recently.

He got the message behind why they would leave her tied like that, when others had been released. But he wasn’t letting that happen. Rising from his seat, he paced closer to the captain and said to him,

"Tell her I am taking this one with me. She wants us to stay out of each other’s businesses after all."

The captain only looked at him for some moments, actually not giving Kieran the vibe of someone truly loyal even in the face of utter wickedness. Kieran himself could see it in his eyes – he was a tough guy, definitely had killed a lot and done lots of bad deeds, but again, he seemed to be laid-back considering this situation.

The guy finally spoke, "What are you going to do with her? Hand her over to..."

"No... What are you going to do with her?" Kieran cut in, diverting the question back to him. "If I don’t take her now, what are you going to do? Kill her?"

The warehouse fell silent.

Soon, the captain nodded. "Correct."

But Kieran stood against that. He untied Aria by himself and bent on a knee beside her... Then told her just to follow him. That he was trying to help her. And Aria nodded back – Kieran held her by an arm and walked her past the captain. He had said,

"Tell Mrs Jackson I took her away."

Then they moved on.

His gang members followed suit. The captain watched them go, together with the two other friends. He could sense Aria’s silent relief over freedom. Besides, it was what everyone in their crew ever wanted. To be free from the shackles of the woman who forced them to kill anyone she wanted out of existence.

They had no choice, since if they declined or ran away, their close relatives’ lives would be at stake. And for the past years that Aria had been here too, her friends had been the reason why she kept going.

Freedom was what the captain wanted for her as well. But as much as he did so, he couldn’t afford to lose himself either. He was an orphan who had a sister back then, and when he declined an order from Mrs Jackson, they killed her. Now, his hospitalised grandmother was the next target if he failed to execute her order.

She had given him the instruction, "Kill Aria and silence her friends later. I can’t afford to let them go free after knowing about everything."

The captain’s heart ached... as he raised his gun and aimed at Aria’s head in the distance. The other crew members lowered their heads, unable to brace themselves to watch such a tragic sight.

The captain mumbled, "Forgive me," then he pulled the trigger.

By Aria’s side, Kieran said, "You can rest..."

Then – bang!

Blood splattered all over his face in the next moment, and he froze right away. His jaw dropped. A massive figure began to shift from the corner of his eye, and before he knew it, a loud crashing sound echoed through the warehouse...

"Aria!"

Kieran heard the cries as the other two ladies rushed past his front. And then, he looked left... There she was, the female hired killer lying motionless in a pool of blood, her clothes soaked and skin tinted red.

Kieran’s chest tightened. He glanced back ahead, and those guys turned their backs to leave. He saw the gun in the captain’s hand.

’So... you finally did it?’

Tiffany and Eve wailed, shaking Aria’s corpse as though that would bring her back to life.

But she was gone forever.

***

Five days later, they held her funeral. Kieran, clad overly in black alongside Amanda and Jaxon, funded everything for the funeral. The wide stretch of green grass in the field carried the mourning cries of Aria’s friends, teachers from high school, and Kieran’s thugs who decided to come pay their last respects as well.

Tiffany read the final notes for her dear friend, sobs breaking her flow mid-statement, her heart aching so much she wanted to run off to a corner and rip it out. Eve, on the other hand, held her tears back as much as she could.

Because what right did she have to cry at the funeral of the same friend she almost killed with a gun? Was it because she was worthless to begin with? Did she deserve to die the most horrible way?

Eve’s heart ached remembering their jokes back then. That was whenever they were returning from the cram school they would force Aria to attend, having ice cream by the side of the road.

Eve herself would have said, "If I am going to die anytime soon, it must be from drowning in a pool of vanilla." Because that was her favourite.

Tiffany would have laughed and added, "Me? Just tell me a joke that makes me laugh to death."

Aria would have just chuckled and said nothing, only slowly licking her ice cream. And when Eve pesters her to say hers, she would have shrugged and said, "I just want to die fighting."

They had thought she was weird, but now, having experienced everything at the warehouse, everything has become clear.

Eve finally let the tears out, and Mrs Edwards, their science teacher, drew her closer to console her.

At the end of the gathering, Amanda checked her phone and then said to Kieran, "Sir... Mr Gregory’s team has sent a new message..."

Kieran sighed. "Everything else can wait. Let’s give Aria our last respects first."

"Of course, sir."

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to check author’s note!