The time flew by like it was nobody's business and once again met a random Saturday of my weekend. Usually, I spent my only day off coped-up in my cozy apartment but today I decided a change was needed in my gloomy monotony. And so, when the clock hit seven sharp, I grabbed my beige jacket and shut the front door close behind me.

The morning air in the park was crisp against my cold cheeks. Orange leaves crunched beneath my cream boots. My loose waves fluttered behind me as I walked through the wide, iron-fenced, concrete path ahead of me. Large trees stood guard on both sides of the fences, offering both the soft sway of the wind and the flickering golden rays of the gentle morning sun.

For a moment, I closed my eyes and breathed in the soon-arriving Autumn around me.

A rare moment of peace consumed my soul and bathed me in a soothing sense of calm, something I didn't realize I needed until this very moment.

Sawyer would have spread his arms wide and grinned like a goof had he been here with me.

The thought tilted my lips up as I sighed, fluttering my lashes open to greet the waiting world.

"Lovely morning, isn't it?"

I looked on my right and found an old man in a pale blue sweater smiling at me.

A stray leaf flew my way at the moment and stuck to my pale red blouse. I smiled back at him, flicking the leaf away. "It is. It's like nature is throwing a pre-Autumn banquet for us to enjoy today."

He offered a soft laugh in response, his silver eyes crinkled with mirth. "Well said. It's good to see youngsters like you look up from your devices and appreciate what our earth has to offer once in a while. We should share the joy, what do you say?"

I shook my head with a smile. "I don't wish to impose."

He scoffed. "I'm inviting you, aren't I? Come join this old man for a moment, unless you don't want to."

I chuckled, walking to sit beside him on the bench. "You are very persistent."

He grinned. "I'd say persuasive."

"To-may-to, to-mah-to."

He laughed. "Good sense of humor right there. What's your name?"

"Mirasol."

"Trevor."

"Goodwill?"

He smirked. "The one and only. What gave it away?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. That golden wristwatch with diamond encrusted rim is a good guess if not the rich neighborhood around."

His eyes gleamed with sparkle as his smirk widened. "Sounds awfully stalkerish to me, Miss Hayes."

"And it goes both ways, doesn't it, Mr. Goodwill?" I said, without missing a beat.

"Trevor is fine. Or you can use Sawyer's route and call me Uncle Trevor."

"Thank you, Trevor, for coming here on such notice." I stretched my arm.

He smiled, taking it and offering a firm shake. "I wouldn't say short. You took your time to know my schedule, I did mine."

"And that's why you suddenly reached out to me out of the blue three days ago, didn't you?"

He shrugged. "The time seemed convenient."

I hummed, leaning back to cross my jean-clad legs. "I wonder one thing, though. How come you agreed to meet me without much provocation and yet didn't respond to Sawyer's mail once when he sought you out?"

"Who knows, maybe I wanted to meet the esteemed partner of Sawyer."

"I thought you valued Sawyer more? He's your friend's son."

At that, the twinkle in his eyes dimmed as he looked away. "One of the reasons I don't want to meet him."

"Because he almost killed your friend?"

"No," He met my eyes with a hint of sad calmness in them. "Because I couldn't stop my friend from killing his wife and making a boy mourn his mother."

I stilled.

Wow. So, all this time he abandoned Sawyer because he was too coward to soothe a broken boy's heart just because he couldn't deal with his guilt. This put the spotlight on another matter as well.

"You knew Benjamin Ronnes was planning to murder his wife, didn't you?"

Goodwill remained silent.

A mirthless snort escaped my lips as I stared hard at the tree bark ahead of me. "So, you let a woman die and didn't do anything? Not only that but you put her orphaned son in a blind spot for all these years. Impressive, Mr. Goodwill."

He looked down, clasping his hands together. "I know you think I'm the bad guy for standing by and letting things happen. And you're right. I am just as much of a culprit as Ben. However, I want to tell you that I tried to stop him from killing his wife. Many times. But I failed. And I have no excuse for that."

I frowned. "Why?"

His lips twitched for a second before he looked up with a sigh. "You know Sawyer. You know how stubborn he is. Imagine Ben being the same, only ten times worse. The last time I made him promise he wouldn't do anything stupid. He went and arranged a honeymoon for him and Hatherine and..." Goodwill forced out a breath, meeting my eyes. "I failed her. I failed Sawyer. That's why I remained silent as he destroyed his father's company by bringing in outer forces, just so he could watch Ben suffer the loss of losing something precious, just like he did when he lost his mother. I let him brew storm and wreck havoc in his life because I had no right to intervene, not when I was responsible for the way he had become."

The air refused to fill my lungs and I forgot to breathe. My nerves felt numb as I forgot to react.

This...

I gulped a hard lump and bit my lips, gathering my frazzled thoughts. When I did, I breathed, finally getting some air to my strained chest.

"So, that means you know he has been persuing shareholders."

He smiled. "I even provided him the best of my cyber tech industry to cover his tracks, though, he has no idea it's me. I've been using the alias of my brother-in-law's company so Sawyer wouldn't suspect. I'm lucky one of his friends worked there too it all worked out smoothly."

"But- Why? You voted for Devon's company at the acquisition!" I spoke aghast, my head spinning with questions.

"Because I wanted Sawyer to get what he wanted."

"Even after knowing how much he'd suffer for this later on?" I glared at him.

"He needed that at the moment. You haven't seen the destructive force, the hunger for revenge in his eyes back then. He'd have ruined everything had he not avenged his mother and punished Ben the way he did. And frankly, Ben deserved it too."

I gritted my teeth, neither being able to agree or deny with his logic. But that didn't change one thing.

"He's still suffering, Mr. Goodwill."

"I know. But he won't. Not for long."

"It's been two damn months!" I all but yelled, not being able to contain myself anymore.

"Calm down, Miss Hayes. Have faith in me."

"Like how Sawyer might have in hope you'd watch his back?" I scoffed.

"Who do you think planted the idea of buying out shares in the company in secret?"

My head snapped toward him. "You already talked to him?"

He shrugged. "He considers me his uncle. We share drinks from time to time."

"But I've never seen him mention you in our talks that way like ever."

He smirked. "You know his every schedule, Miss Hayes?"

That clamped my mouth shut.

"It still doesn't make sense. If you put the idea of buying shares in his head, why didn't you sell yours first?"

"And make Devon suspect me and ruin my plan?"

I didn't respond.

Goodwill smiled. "Miss Hayes, I have been planning to save this company even before Sawyer sold it to the vultures. Do you think I'd let him ruin away his career without thinking of a backup plan?"

"What is your plan?"

"Simple. They throw the sharks out of the pool the same way Sawyer dumped them into it. Through conspiracy of buying out shares and an acquisition event."

"But it failed!" I huffed. "Now, no one will vote for Sawyer even if he holds an acquisition with the current cases running on."

"Not when the top shareholder holds the major card in this game. If nothing else works, I trust my years of experience and persuasion skills could come in handy when I need to sway the wind my way."

This man was strange.

"And what about the charges of murder on Sawyer? Even if you may bail him out from the business storm, Sawyer still has to face court regarding that matter and no one will support him."

At that, he gave me a weird smile and looked up to breathe in the fresh air.

"Don't worry. Leave that up to me as well. Now, when are we setting the trap to lure in our Devon again?"

❤ Aaand with this ends the triple update special! How was it? Yay or nay? Don't forget to let me know your thoughts!

See you guys in the next update next week. Till then, take care of your mind, body, and soul.

Love,
Sabrina ❤