Immaculate Spirit 21 :

"You know that you are the only one who talk at him like that in a long time?" Said Diane with a shake of her head, smiling wryly.

"This is one of the reason i did it. It's the job of his family to keep him on his toes and if i don't he would start to think that i am easily malleable, we would not want that." Nathaniel said with a chuckle.

"You know sweetie, when negotiating you should use the stick but the carrot too. That worked just because you are his only grandson, he would never have give up if you weren't. " Said Karine.

"I didn't need the carrot because he was smart enough to know what the carrot was".

"What do you mean sweetie?" Ask Mary this time.

"Well that's easy enough to figure it out if i manage to make a song on the spot that he value so highly, he could easily guess the quality of something i would write over time. He think that if he grant me this one, he could more easily reap the rest with minimum effort. That is willful thinking." He clarified with a laugh.

"Outmaneuvered by his very own teenager grandson, if he knew i don't even know if he would be proud or horrified." Said Diane, clearly impressed.

"A little bit of both i would say, that's why it's better if he don't come to know about it. He would learn soon enough."

"Everything you want dear, i can't wait to see the look on his face when he would realise it."

"So Taylor, Mom, want to play some more before going back?"

The women's nodded vigorously and they ended playing for another hour before going back to the party. Taylor choose to call it a night at that as she was tired and they said their goodbye to each other. Taylor and his moms hugging in the process which surprised him. Before parting way they exchanged phone number to reach each other tomorrow, they were hyped to start working on the song. Once she was gone, Nathaniel ended with his grandma and Karine while Mary was talking with an old lady in the yard.

"Dear, you mentioned giving to charity before, i could introduce you again to Mister Cadwell. He could help you find a suitable one." Said Diane casually.

Jolting awake, Nathaniel remember that name very well. He belong to the person with the darkest aura he had seen since he woke up. Looking around him to verify that person was looking at them, he signaled them to keep quiet and following him back to the music room. He closed the door upon entering. The wall was specifically isolate from noise to not bother the people in the mansion when practicing, the door closed, he was confident that n.o.body would hear them talking here.

Seeing the curious looked that he was getting, he could not help to sigh softly.

"Mom, what do you know about that Caldwell guy?" Ask gravely Nathaniel.

"Philanthropist, famous and with a lot of political ties. He was in the top fifteen Forbes people most influential in the planet. He got a lot of awards for his charity that help feed and house people from Africa and in the Middle East where he help reconstruct after the war. Amazing reputation and extremely wealthy. I read an article a while ago saying that he was from an orphanage and he was a self made man. Why do you ask sweetie?" Ask his mom with a curious expression on her face.

"Do you remember when i was ten what happen in the grocery store?"

At that, Karine could not help but jumped when what he was saying hit her. Yes, she remember very much that moment. She had that memory very much embed in her mind.

"Of course i do, what does that have to do with what we are talking about?" Her expression a little pale and guarded.

"Wait, stop! Can you please tell me what he's talking about?" Interrupt Diane with her hand raised.

Her mom looked at him with an interrogative stare whom he respond with a slight nod.

"Like he said, when he was ten we were shopping in a small store after school. At one moment we were talking when someone pa.s.sed close to us. It was a man, i didn't think much of it but Nathaniel i notice was scared out of his wit. He insist we needed to live because he was bad. I looked at him and i noticed nothing wrong that i could see. I try to reason him but he would not listen and start pulling at me. That was the first time that he was acting like that so i start to panic. We quickly exited the store but he was not done. He spotted cop patrolling not that far and insist we needed them. He kept repeating the same thing. 'Mommy we need to stop him, he's a bad man, if we don't he would do bad thing, please hurry". He start begging and crying at that point i was beyond panicked so i did. I say to the cop that i think i saw that guy was carrying a gun. Luckily they take me seriously when they saw me freaked out and Nathaniel crying. They manage to take him by surprise and start to search him." Recall Karine her voice emotional, clearly reliving the situation.

"What did they found on him?" Ask Diane.

"They found a gun, a knife and five kilo of Heroin on him. It turned out that he was using that groceries store as a dropping location for his clients. Once we were done with my testimony we got back home and tell everything to Mary."

"Mom, do you remember what i tell you when you asked me how did i know?"

"Yes sweetie, you said that you could feel nothing from him. No love, no empathy, nothing and that scared you. That was like that you knew he was bad."

"Well, when i shake hands with Mister Caldwell, i feel the same thing with only one difference."

"What was it Dear?" Ask Diane, almost dreading to ask.

"It was a thousand times worst."