Brandon crashed his knees on the floor as soon as Ferdinand was dragged away, his strength failing him at the point when he needed it mostly. He was panting heavily as he struggled to catch and steady his breath.
"You did well, uncle Brandon." Ciara commended him with a small smile on her face. "I was thinking you would lose to uncle Ferdinand since he's much younger than you are, but he turns out to be weaker instead -I'm amazed at your prowess, uncle."
If Brandon had tried to be more attentive or observing, he would have noticed the sarcasm laced in her voice when she praised him, but Brandon, on the other hand, was feeling proud of himself and patiently waiting for his stomach to be filled up in no time.
Brandon forced out an impressive smile, seeing this as an opportunity to seek Ciara's good side. "I always hit the gym when I was younger, I'm this good because I mostly get involved in fights and I defend my brothers too when they are being cross laid." He uttered in response, still wearing his forced smile.
"Ah -I see." She nodded knowingly as she mouthed her reply. "The fact that you used to do this is impressive, I must say."
Brandon was tempted to ask her when the breakfast was arriving since he couldn't hold it in anymore. "I'm starving, Ciara, let's leave the talk for later. Can we?" He pleaded, a growling sound from his stomach supporting his speech.
"You must be really famished than I thought!" Ciara mumbled sympathetically but audible enough to his hearing. "You should hang in there a little while, Gerald is almost here with your meal."
Minutes later, as said, Gerald came in with a tray and a covered plate on it, coupled with a glass of water. The forced smile on Brandon was starting to fade away but was revived as soon as he saw Gerald come in, this time, the smile was genuine.
Gerald placed the food on the floor before him as usual, maintaining several feet away from him. Brandon's wide smile soon turned sore when he saw what was on the plate he was served.
"What's this, Ciara?" He asked, his brows creased tightly and his face clouded in anger.
"Your breakfast!" She answered simply with a slight shoulders shrug. "Is something wrong with it?"
"A dead lizard as my breakfast? How can you be so inconsiderate?" He bluffed, gritting his teeth angrily as he used his left leg to kick it away.
"Oh, looks like someone just lost his breakfast, huh?" Ciara enunciated, earning a scoff from Brandon. "-and since you aren't interested in the breakfast, shall we get down to business then?"
Brandon, at that point, feels like he can't hold in his anger any longer. "What business are you talking about?" He was almost yelling at Ciara. "Look here, young lady! Enough with your sneaky games, I'm done with you playing on my intelligence. I demand to leave here this very minute!"
"I'm afraid you can't leave without my permission, uncle Brandon. You should have thought twice before cutting my parents' lives short and planning on putting an end to me and my son's lives." She enounced, her voice was far from friendly. "Gerald, put him on a seat."
Without wasting another second, Gerald forced Brandon into a seat, tying him afterward despite his cries, threats, and struggles. Ciara walked up to him after Gerald was done with him, a stoic expression on her face.
"We are already in the last phase here -this is important as I ask too, but not as nearly as the previous ones. As usual, uncle Brandon, I want an honest answer else..."
"I wouldn't want what would happen next?" Brandon asked in completion to the statement on her behalfwith a scoff. "Do you think I like being tied either?"
Ciara ignored his rants and decided to be quick with her interrogation, she needed to go to work-even if she's going to be late, her presence is still needed. "How did you know about my company's private affairs?" She asked, straightforward with her question. "Who is feeding you with its information?"
"You've got a lot of nerve, asking me questions when you've got me tied up like this." Brandon said, his voice a mix of anger and resignation. "But I guess I'm not in a position to argue, so I'll answer your questions. Butfirst, let me ask you something. How did you know about me? How did you find out about everything we've been keeping secret for years?"
Ciara looked at him with cold eyes. "I have my sources, uncle Brandon, you are the delusional one who thought I wouldn't find out." She said, her voice ice -cold and her face was as hard as steel. "Well, my source also told me that you and my secretary, Sheila, were seeing each other." Ciara continued, a note of accusation in her voice.
Brandon was shocked at the new revelation, forgetting the fact that he had this argued with Ferdinand a while ago -and Ciara was only using it on him to see how true the accusation was since she wasn't sure about it yet, but his reaction gave her the response she was looking out for.
"I supposed you've been dating her, and that she's been telling you confidential information about my company. Now, you're going to tell me the truth, and then I will decide what to do with you." Ciara enounced, with no trail of emotion in her voice.
Brandon's eyes widened, his face turning pale. "I, uh...I..."he stammered, unable to find the right words to defend himselfwith -what was he going to say anyway?
"I can see you're going to need a little more convincing." Ciara said, stepping closer to the chair. "Let's see if we can jog your memory. Where is the information that Sheila's been passing to you? The reports and documents she's given you?"
Ciara did not know if Sheila had been providing him any documents, it was only a test, but it turns out she was right and at this, a flash of fear crossed Brandon's face. "I ...I can't tell you that." he said, his voice shaking. "I_I can't. I made a promise."
"I don't care about your promises, uncle Brandon!" Ciara lilted, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. "I care about the fact that you've betrayed my trust and that of your brother, who trusted you all so much as his siblings. And now you're going to tell me where that information is. Or else."
The fear in her uncle was growing wild and Ciara, on the other hand, was beginning to love how things were turning out between herself and her uncle...