"...A wild animal in heat..."
Tempest mumbled as he squinted his eyes with disgust at the boy in the video, partying among several pretty girls dancing at the club, covered with tattoos, clothes, and accessories that were themselves worth millions.
"My stepson, exactly."
The woman sitting in front of him in the most sophisticated clothes and an elegant posture had said that the boy in the video was her only child, merely 17 years old, still in high school.
"Your STEPson is actually much wilder than I thought he would be, Ms. Garden."
He scrunched his eyebrows with plain disgust as the boy started making out with the girl, sliding his sneaky hands inside her skirt.
Tempest shifted his gaze upwards and glanced at Ms. Garden. She sighed as she witnessed the pretty, pale boy in front of her utterly disgusted at her son.
"He's much worse in person."
"Much worse? What's worse than an 18-year-old sneaking away during exams on a cruise ship just for partying and making out with some 10-ish girls with barely some shreds on in the name of clothing?"
He glanced at the ipad in his hand, swiping as fast as he could, "and getting a blow—ugh-"
He scrunched his face in utter disgust; a cold shiver ran down his body. "From 2, no... 3 girls at a time? In broad daylight?" he gasped at the video.
"...Not a problem, no offense...but on the rooftop of the cruise, out in open space? No decency? Doesn't that look kinda illegal?"
He swiped and swiped and swiped."And he knows that he's being watched?"
"Yes."
"And still doing all that?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
He swiped again and again and again. The ipad was full of photos and videos of the guy himself, giving the evidence of his wildness out in private and public. Making out in public places, breaking laws, going wild with multiple girls every single night, different girls every day, and whatnot.
He played the next video of what appeared to be a highway. It was a normal video of some traffic; everything seemed normal.
"What's wrong with this?"
"I assume you are quite intelligent.Look at it carefully."
He rewatched it again, and the video looked normal until there was a split second of boom on the screen.
"What was that?"
"It's Orchid."
"It's him? Where, you mean that small black thingy that moved at the speed of light?"
"Yes, it's orchid."
Tempest looked utterly baffled. "Heh, no way he's driving at THIS speed on THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY!"
"He does that all the time." Annoyance crept over the exquisitely elegant face of the woman dressed in a dark shade of sage green. She clenched her pearl bracelet and took a deep breath.
"I think the lack of a father figure in his life made him like this. If his father were present today, he would have taught him to be a better person."
She looked straight into Tempest's eyes and spoke, "So, do you dare to take this mission?"
There was a deafening silence for some seconds.
"Tell me, can you do it?" She was getting impatient.
"How many more people have you hired before me?"
"Lost count."
"Did any one of them show any progress?"
"None. He is not only wild but also very aware of the people around him. He very quickly understands other people's intention towards him"
"Towards you?"
"Towards his stepmother? The one who took place of his mother? Contempt obviously."
Silence.
Tempest fiddled with his phone, holding it from the top between his thumb and index, swinging it back and forth in the air.
"The new session starts after two months, right?"
"Yes."
"How much time can you give me?"
"At the very most, before he turns nineteen. He'll get the inheritance of the whole business empire after the age of nineteen. His father signed the will on his deathbed."
She scrunched her perfectly trimmed eyebrows as she gave a quick glance to her name plate.
Ms. Garden
Ceo of Garden group of corporation.
Another streak of silence.
The woman was getting visibly impatient.
"Miss Garden, do you know who I am and what kind of jobs I actually take?"
The words that departed the plump pink lips were not actually arrogant but out of concern.
The woman shifted in her seat and placed her hands on the marble tabletop gently.
"Tempest Rippler, who goes by the name of Tempest for his assassination missions, a nickname in the underworld. Nobody knows your real name. Both, The Most difficult and the most important missions in the world are given to you. Out of the total 78 missions given to you by; the FBI, mafia, underworld, top 13 societies, and the unknowns, there was not a single mission in your life that went wrong a bit. You always win, and most importantly, you're honest. You don't care for money but the difficulty level of the missions you take. The more difficult the task, the more excited you get for the mission. Spying. Stealing secrets, information, and documents. And especially assassinations. The president of the world's most affluent country that went into a coma for 2 months; it was you who paralyzed him. The ringleader of the mafia group who controlled the drug trade in the east, you killed him. The scariest serial hunter who went on a killing spree every new moon, 'the hunter,' it was you who hunted him down and killed him.
You guised as a girl and stole the info from the dictator Jim Kong wun.
You always disguise yourself as a girl, a pretty, frail one, to put them off guard, Amirite?"
"You did your research, Ms. Garden. I must say, you have quite a good hold of top information even in the underworld." Tempest smiled subtly.
"So, even though you do know my tactics and my line of job, you still arranged this one-on-one meeting with me, knowing very well that any person who has seen my face without any disguise as Tempest never goes on to live another day."
Tempest picked up the file and raised it to his eye level , blocking Ms. Garden's view, and grinned at the picture.
A brat, huh?
I wanna see if I can tame him.
"But I am kind of happy today. A challenge! Maybe I'll accept."
Tempest picked up one of the several pictures scattered on the table. He looked at it and chuckled.
"He's handsome."
She scoffed at the words,
"More like feral."
"Any rules? Demands?"
"You know what, at this point I don't even care. Just get rid of him, and I'll be satisfied."
"You are all on it now? Guess you really do love your company and your elite rich world," Tempest chuckled sarcastically.
He looked at the table and stared at the scattered pictures. He then raised his hand to his chest level and stared at the pale, delicate hands with pink fingertips and nails which were the nightmare of thousands, maybe, millions.
He glanced back at the table, raised his hand again, and then rubbed each of his his collarbones with his index and thumb and then glanced at Ms. Garden, her face twisted in impatience and a hint of vulnerability under the facade.
"You're quite desperate, aren't you?"
"Well, yeah, I am. I have my own reasons. My husband is dead; they say it was a car accident, but it was a murder, and I guess, with your level of intelligence, you already guessed who planned all this." She smiled sadly looking at her nameplate.
She continued, "And Orchid is the sole heir of the company. The moment he turns nineteen, he will inherit not only the company but everything the Garden family owns, which is divided into bits and pieces by many friends and foes.
I need you to TAKE CARE of this feral animal; otherwise, he'll take over and destroy everything."
Tempest leaned back, clearly seeing through the facade she portrayed.
"The seat of the head of this company," she gripped the chair's arm tightly, a hint of anger clearly visible in her tone, "The seat of the owner of this garden empire, deserves" she looked at tempest, straight in his eyes "someone capable, and not…a feral animal."
"Trying to hold onto an elite fantasy? Greediness may be a bit scary."
She looked at her nameplate on the desk and wrinkled her eyebrows.
She was.
Desperate indeed.
Tempest chuckled again. "I don't think this job is either important enough or difficult enough for me. Give me at least one reason I should take this job."
"I'll give you two."
Tempest looked intrigued."Your name, Tempest, who gave it to you?"
His eyes widened. "What do you know about this?"
Ms. Garden turned a photo frame in his direction.
Tempest jumped from his seat and lunged towards the picture, a family of three.
Likely, Ms. Garden, her husband, and their son.
"Mr. Moon! Is- Is he Orchid's father?Well, well, well! I have a very good reason to take care of this brat now. He ain't gettin' his big ol' inheritance soon."
"You seem quite interested now."
She smiled.
"Let's start the conversation all over again."
After about half an hour later, Tempest stood up and collected all the pictures and the material and tucked them in a file holder and put it in his school bag.
He then strode towards the door.
"This boy is now my target. Don't worry, I'll take care of your spoiled little brat.
I'll take really good care of him." Tempest grinned a devilish smile, standing at the door.
Ms. Garden returned the favor with a smile and a little bow.
~~~
Tempest sat on a bench in a park. He was still for a while. A fluffy orange cat came and sat on his lap. He looked at it, getting comfortable on his lap, licking its paw.
He fiddled with his left earlobe and chuckled.
Seriously!
He fumbled his pocket and took out that picture of Orchid.
Well, a new toy to play with.
Tempest leaned back and laughed.
He raised his hand up in the air, arm straight, and stared at the picture as the sunlight shone around the boundary of the picture, reflecting colorful beams of light.
He stared for quite a bit. As the cat cozied up its face flat on his tummy, Tempest slid long strands of his hair behind his ear, shining silver under the sun, and as the clouds overtook, a purple undertone showed up under the purple hue.
Handsome indeed.
I'll tame this brat no matter what.
The devil's at work!