Hollywood Zenith

Fourteen years ago--

" Mother, I am scared. Why are those people acting like that?" the teenage boy asked his mother.

" Don't worry, baby, the mother is here. I will protect you. You see these people outside our room; they will take us to safety." women pointed toward a few guards outside their room.

The room was messy; everyone arrived for the simple meeting, but a sudden protest erupted. No warnings were given, but the security inside the building was very tight. Everyone holed up inside the meeting room, waiting for everything to die down.

A few minutes passed without an end in sight, the noise went up a notch now, and people inside were beginning to worry; the mother and child duo decided to move out of the crowded room. It would be bad if people began to run frantically.

" Roger, take us to another location. I must keep my son safe." the woman ordered the guard.

Roger complied, and they followed him toward the different building sections; it was a big facility separated by sections depending on the department.

Suddenly huge noise erupted downstairs, frightening the group. Several sounds of glass shattering accompanied by horrible chants resounded. It was getting closer and closer, so the group decided to head deeper inside the compound, and the only exit would surely be blocked by the protesters.

Women and boys were huffing as they ran to safety; Roger and one other guard formed a suitable formation to cover the front and back to protect them from entrances. A gunshot resounded as soon as they reached the different wing, and Roger fell to the floor. The woman felt the ringing in her ears; it came from behind.

They turned back to see the person there to protect, pointing the gun toward the mother. She knew right then that everything was a setup, and she could guess the instigators, but that was unimportant.

" I need to protect Daniel." she thought. She scrambled her brain for any solution, but time was running out, so she decided to stall.

" Why? WHY GREY!" She shouted, hoping someone would notice.

" No hard feeling Olivia, You treated me well, but they paid more. It's simple as that." Grey showed a devilish smile; greed was plastered all over his face.

" B-but you have been my side for so long; doesn't that mean something to you." Olivia tried to reason with him, but it was in vain to expect something from people like him.

" Like I said, it's not personal. They paid something hard to ignore. I know everything about you; you are buying time for others to catch up. But before I finished, this whole place would be burned to ashes. Those people don't play without knowing of their victory. Sorry." He said and began pointing at the target.

As he was aiming for a clean shot, by some miracle,, the glass window broke, after a brick landed on it. After which another one followed after it which passed through the window and hit him on the head. It was a direct hit to his temple.

Grey, as he watched everything unfold, could only utter a single word-

" SHIT"

Olivia was shocked and elated, but it was not well-lived. She witnessed several more projectiles on the way, and in the nick of time, she rushed toward Daniel to shield him.

Dozen of small and large stones hit both Olivia and Grey, who were lying on the ground; it was not enough to kill them, but if any of them hit their vital would be bad news.

By the time it stopped, Olivia had bruises all over her back, and she was bleeding profusely, but that moment she saw smoke rising from several sections of the building.

" They must have set this on fire. I am losing consciousness." She thought as she put her hand on her head; she could feel the wet spots at the top of her head.

" I am bleeding too much; shit--" she almost blacked out; she was still holding Daniel, shaking in fear.

" Daniel listen to me; you have to run. " she musters whatever power remains inside her to send his son away.

" N-no, I w-will not leave you behind. I-i---" Daniel was sobbing but looking at the bloody figure of his mother, he decided to converge his little courage.

" DANIEL, YOU WILL AS I TOLD YOU; RUN and don't look back. Promise me." Olivia shouted at the top of her lungs; hearing that primal scream made Daniel shudder, but he nodded.

She touched his cheeks with her bloody hand to say her final words.

" Please live on and always remember that Mother loves you," she uttered and fell to the floor. Daniel started crying ugly; tears were running down his cheeks along with other bodily fluids, but he decided to run, the fire was getting closer, but somehow he made his way toward the back entrance of the building.

He saw his way out, but sudden heat stopped him from going. Further, the entrance was blocked from both sides by raging fire emanating from both sides. He weighs his option but still remembers his mother's words and Grey's betrayal. A huge amount of smoke was collecting inside the corridor, which started giving him trouble breathing.

" I can't die here; I have to find the people responsible. I have to take--" his vision started getting blurry; he started to run back, but everything started to get darker; only bright, vivid flames remained in front of him as he fell to the floor.

He clawed at the floor, starting to heat up, trying to crawl his way to safety, but it was all in vain. He soon lost consciousness.

" Mother, I am sorry," he thought as he accepted his fate.

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Several days later--

Daniel woke up, but his body hurt like hell; there was a slight ringing in his ear, but he slowly opened his eyes to see his grandfather sitting across the room.

" I survived," He thought; he became happy, but memories flooded as he remembered what happened.

" Mother! Mother! where is she?" he screamed.

Gerald Hanson, his grandfather, rushed to his side.

" Calm down, boy! Don't shout; you will make it worse." He said.

" Grandpa, Mother, where is the mother?" Daniel asked again.

" Olivia-- We didn't find her. I am sorry." He muttered.

Daniel began to cry and scream; Gerald had to call nurses, who swiftly gave sedatives to calm the patient. Daniel slowly lost consciousness while still reciting his mother's name.

" Nurse, please call the doctor; I want a full progress report," Gerald ordered in a commanding tone. He was feeling so helpless about the situation. The family's heir is hospitalized, and his daughter-in-law dies in an accident. The situation could not get any worse than this.

But It became worse; Kester surged the whole family and decided to take hold of the throne while discarding Gerald and ending his rule. Gerald has not informed Kester about his son, nor does he plan to do it. The threat is too much right now; nobody knows the real perpetrator behind the incident.

" It is highly unlike Rothschild to do something like this; it has to be someone from our side." Gerald thought.

He has been in the seat for decades now and knows the ins and out of his enemies. Although the Rothschild family is cutthroat, they are not that ruthless to murder a guest in their own house. He has been dealing with the family and judged them to be at least respectable. They would never do something dirty like this.

"Besides, everything was going smoothly. But now, there will be a lot of bloodsheds. With my stupid son at the helm of everything, I can't risk Daniel to present beside him. After Olivia, he will surely be next." He thought.

After several more hours, it was almost night when Daniel opened his eyes again. His grandfather was sleeping beside him, leaning slightly to the side at the edge of his chair.

Daniel supported himself as he sat up to look toward everything inside the hospital room, he remembered his previous episode, but the reality had begun to sink.

" She is gone, alright." He thought. He kept staring at the setting sun; he still remembered his mother's bloody face when she gave him a warm smile. Those were her final words repeating over and over inside his head.

Tears began to flow again, but he controlled himself this time.

" I have to live on like my mother said. Mother, I promise you, I will make them pay. I will surely MAKE THEM PAY FOR EVERYTHING!" He steeled himself. Previously, he was cowering in fear in front of any adversity, but something broke inside him.

For his whole life, he has been living in luxury, not caring about anything other than enjoying all that world has to offer; he who has wasted his teenage years resented himself.

He remembered how his mother protected him from the hailing stones, if only he was strong enough, if only---

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