Part of your World

Moving Forward

Fiero spent minutes telling Gobert everything from the moment he found him to what happened last night. When the break-in was mentioned, Gobert looked worried and started making hand gestures, even tried to voice out his worry but was too weak to do so.

Fiero calmed him down and assured him that he was fine and that everything was alright and in order.

“Don’t worry, they are in custody, and lawsuits have been filed. I will make sure that they will get what they deserve,” he told him.

Then there was a knock. When they looked towards the door, they saw Aleo there holding a balloon with a get well soon design on it. He came in and placed the balloon next to the flowers.

“How are you?” Aleo asked Gobert, who just gave him a curt nod.

“He is still too weak to speak,” Fiero told Aleo, who nodded in understanding.

“How were things?” he asked.

Fiero sighed and put his leather bag down on the coffee table before taking a seat on the couch.

“Well, those men who attacked you last night admitted that it was Mr. Gillory who ordered them to tail you and attack you. They claim that their order was to give you a scare, but the use of a weapon against you says otherwise,” Aleo spoke.

Gobert reacted; his breathing grew rapidly but shallow. His eyes were wide as he looked at Fiero with worry. Fiero looked at him and patted his arm.

“I was fine. I wasn’t hurt,” he told him and then he looked at Aleo again.

“What about those old men? Did they admit to it?” he asked, and Aleo shook his head.

“Not yet, I heard,” Aleo answered, and Fiero scoffed, shaking his head.

“Stubborn as a mule. I bet they tried to intimidate you, too?”

Fiero said, and Aleo nodded.

“But, of course, it did not work. I met worse people than them, and I never wavered. I met their lawyer, though,” Aleo said.

“Was he as stubborn and arrogant as his clients?”

Fiero asked, and Aleo shook his head.

“I think he is sensible enough to tell his clients to do the right thing, especially when I showed him my business card,” Aleo said, and Fiero smiled.

“I figured your black and gold business card could speak thousands of words and make them understand how deep of a hole they are in,” Fiero said.

“With all the evidence we have, the case will roll in our favor, and I don’t think Gobert’s testimony will be needed,”

Aleo said, looking at Gobert.

“He doesn’t need to subject himself to such a stressful situation. I trust you can get a verdict without us showing up in the court,” Fiero said as he leaned back.

“Yes. I will make sure that everything will be over before Gobert is discharged. I think we are looking for a few years here or they will be deported back to the US and serve their time there while they face a ton of lawsuits from their previous victims,” Aleo replied.

“If that is the case, continue helping their other victims and make sure all their cases will win against the accused. I will shoulder every expense,”

When Fiero said that, Gobert looked at him and started making hand gestures and groaning. Fiero looked at him.

“Are you worried that I am so invested in this that I am wasting money?”

Fiero spoke, voicing out what he thought Gobert was talking about. Gobert then nodded, and Fiero sighed, smiling at him.

“Don’t worry about anything. The only thing you can do is to get better. I am not doing this just for you but for all the victims of their wickedness. Also, they pissed me off, so I had to get even by bringing them down,” Fiero told him.

Gobert still looked unconvinced as he gave Fiero a disapproving look. It's like he is telling him not to go overboard or something. Fiero just smiled at him and turned to Aleo.

“Just inform us of any development,” he told him.

“Got it, boss,”

The case rolls out with just Aleo attending the court hearings. He has enough evidence against the accused fathers and sons, for the judge no longer requires any testimonies from Fiero and Gobert.

The list of the things that Sean, Ethan, and Leonard surprised the judge includes the time they accused Gobert of assaulting them when they were high and likely did that to themselves, and they just accused an innocent person for the sake of bullying him.

The judge was even more surprised at how their parents turned a blind eye and buried everything with money and that they even used violence, like ordering some thugs to attack Fiero in his home.

The real surprise came from the accused’s lawyer. He made them plead guilty and did not even put up a fight and just accepted everything. The judge was disgusted by how the accused acted based on all the documents and evidence and immediately ruled out guilty.

They will serve three years in prison there, with Sean and his friends with an additional two years in rehab, and after that, they will be shipped back to the US to face the other charges filed by their other victims. Aleo smirked after the judge hit the gavel and glanced at the enemies. The old men all sport that scowl but are quiet while Sean and his friends are all voicing out their dissatisfaction from the result.

As the hearing was over and the people inside started to leave, Aleo approached the other lawyer as his clients were being handcuffed.

“I hope this is the start of you turning a new leaf,” Aleo told them.

The older men just avoided his gaze while they were being escorted out, but Sean and his friends were all screaming and being held back by authorities as they tried to attack Aleo.

Aleo stood there triumphantly as he watched them being dragged away in handcuffs, their lawyer walked out with his head hanging low, avoiding everyone’s eyes.

After the culprits were sentenced, Fiero and Gobert were relieved, and now all they needed to focus on was moving forward and getting better. In three days, Gobert was discharged from the hospital, and his parents were there to take care of him.

As it turned out, when Fiero informed Gobert’s parents about what happened to their son, they wanted to fly to the UK that instant but Fiero convinced them not to, at least not yet since, he knew that they would be crushed if they see his state that time. Instead, he promised them that he would update them, take care of them, and then make the one responsible for what happened pay.

Now that he has done what he promised them, he asked Aleo to arrange a flight for them. Now, the couple are in the UK and Gobert’s apartment. When Fiero finally met them, the old couple was nothing but grateful to him for everything he did for their son.

For Gobert, having his parents there after months to a year of being away from them was a relief, and he also had a very good friend in Fiero who not only did not leave him in times of need but also fought for him when he couldn’t be heaven sent.

Since then, Gobert see Fiero not just as a friend but as a brother. They were inseparable and were with and for each other in good and bad times.

*********************************.

Years passed, and Fiero was able to graduate earlier than his peers and he flew to Massachusetts to attend his sister’s graduation, and then they went back to Russia.

Before starting work, Fiero and Lysandra left to travel, a little gift for themselves, and they went to Malta. The twins enjoyed their little vacation there because when they got back, they started with their work.

Fiero focuses on his Alpha training and working as the pack’s finance department head, while his sister started working for their fathers in Stanford Security and Stanford Motors.

Fiero also started a business with Gobert. Just a small financial consultation and auditing firm that has Gobert sit as the CEO and Fiero as more of a financier and the behind-the-scenes boss.

At first, Gobert was hesitant to agree with Fiero’s offer since he didn’t want to be the CEO, but Fiero told him he could do it since he needed to focus on his training with their family business, which was actually the Alpha training but Fiero couldn’t tell Gobert that.

In the end, Gobert was the CEO overseeing everything while he reported everything to Fiero, with their headquarters in a small building in downtown Manhattan.

Their small business started to flourish and in their third year, when Fiero finally inherited the Alpha position from his fathers, they landed a huge deal with two small companies that are planning on merging but having problems with numbers.

Gobert was set to meet with representatives of both companies. He was excited and nervous at the same time so he asked Fiero to come too. At that time, Fiero was busy strengthening the structure of the pack, and making new rules that will benefit the whole pack in the long run. With the help of his Shadow Alpha, and his sister, they got all the plans approved by their father and the pack council.

Also, he and his sister worked on developing new security systems that would help protect the packs in their country from the rogues. Since there was an increase in their sightings around all packs under the rule of the Twin High Alphas, Fiero and Lysandra figured they would need an additional and more efficient security system.

After wrapping up everything about his work in the pack and delegating all the non-important tasks to his Beta, Fiero flew to New York. He landed in JFK around six in the evening, and instead of going to his hotel, he immediately went to their headquarters to see Gobert.

“How was the deal going?” Fiero asked as soon as he entered Gobert’s office, surprising the owner of the office.

Gobert looked more mature now with his tailored suit, bigger body build and thin stubble growing on his face, let out a sigh as he approaches Fiero. They shook hands and hugged each other.

Then, the two of them sat on a couch.

“How was the deal coming?” Fiero asked as he leaned back and crossed his legs.

Gobert groaned and slumped back on the couch.

“Two days. It's been two days since the negotiations started, and I feel like I have been caught up between the Montagues and the Capulets,” Gobert said, and Fiero arched his eyebrow.

“Huh?”

Gobert narrowed his eyes on his friend.

“Did you not read the background of the two parties I sent you?” he asked.

Fiero looked away as he scratched his head. Since he was preoccupied with his meeting with the River Ash Pack and their Alpha’s pathetic advances towards his sister and the surprise that the Alpha turned out to be his aunt’s second chance mate, he did not have time to read the documents that Gobert sent him.

“I read it, but I forgot, so can you refresh my mind?”

Fiero reasoned, making Gobert groan.

“Okay, listen. The two companies turned out to be owned by ex-husband and wife. The ex-husband manages his company with his new wife who was the mistress and the reason for the divorce, while the ex-wife who remained single owns the other company,” Gobert started and Fiero nodded.

“Now, the ex-husband’s partner, aka the new wife, wanted her son to sit as the CEO after the merging, but of course, the ex-wife doesn’t want that. She wanted her son to be the CEO since the new wife’s son was not actually her ex-husband’s child,” he continued, and Fiero frowned.

“Why do they want to merge if they are this messed up?” he asked.

“The ex-husband’s company is on the brink of going down, and the ex-wife’s company was the only one who could help and proposed a merging. As their legal and only biological son, he is the one who should be the CEO, but the new wife doesn’t like that and has been arguing that her son deserved the position more,” Gobert answered.

“I don’t think that is our problem anymore. I thought they are having number problems,” Fiero said and Gobert sat straight.

“That is where this gets even more difficult. Their son did the audit, and he saw a lot of discrepancies in his father’s company. The in-house audit team shows different data. That’s why we were contacted as the third party, and boy, discrepancy is an understatement. It’s a fvcking mess,” Gobert told him.

Fiero crossed his arms over his chest.

“It will be settled once we uncover everything. Don’t worry, I have a couple of days off from my work at home, I’ll help,” Fiero told him and Gobert obviously looked relieved.

“Thanks,” Gobert mumbled, making Fiero chuckle.

Then he remembered something and looked at his friend.

“By the way, where is the girlfriend that you were talking about nonstop for the past three months?” he asked.

Then he watched as the stress look on Gobert’s face disappeared and was replaced by a dreamy smile. Fiero figured that his friend is in love, like he found the love of his life.

“Well, Melissa is busy with her work since New York fashion week is just right around the corner,” Gobert told him.

From what Gobert told him, his girlfriend’s name is Melissa Carter. She is a junior fashion designer in a local boutique around Fifth Avenue. He met her in a café one rainy afternoon. They shared a table, and that was the start of it.

The way Gobert told him about her is like he fell in love with her at first sight. Fiero was happy for his friend but somehow annoyed at the same time. Not because Gobert was over the top but because he somehow felt a pang of jealousy. His best friend is in love and his sister has her mate whilst he is buried with work.

Despite that, Fiero was genuinely happy for Gobert, especially when he saw him radiating with happiness.

“So, when can I meet her?” Fiero asked.

“Well…” Gobert trailed as he looked at his watch.

“She will be here any minute since it's her turn to treat me to dinner,” he continued, smiling.

“Oh, so you two have plans. Now, I feel left out,” Fiero joked, and Gobert gave him a deadpan look.

“To be fair, you did not tell me that you were coming earlier. I thought you’d be here by tomorrow morning,”

Gobert told him, and then Fiero chuckled.

“Dude, chill. It’s fine. It's on me for coming without telling you. I feel like resting tonight anyway, but if she is coming here, might as well wait and meet her,” Fiero said, and Gobert narrowed his eyes on his friend.

“Are you not shitting me?” he asked, and Fiero snorted.

“Come on, Gobert. We are bros, and I am happy that you are happy with your girlfriend. I won’t be jealous or something, but I do wish I also had someone,”

Fiero said the last part of his sentence grew softer, almost like a whisper, and yet Gobert heard him.

“Then why don’t you get yourself a girlfriend? You are handsome as hell, hot, and rich. Ladies, drop on your feet without any effort,” Gobert said, and Fiero frowned at him.

“The way you said that doesn’t sit well with me. It’s bothering me,” Fiero responded, and Gobert laughed out loud when he realized what his friend was talking about. Then he cleared his throat and spoke.

“Erase, erase, but what I said is true. Why can’t you just date those girls who throw themselves at your feet?”

Fiero shook his head.

“Getting a girlfriend isn’t just that easy, especially when it comes to my case,”

Gobert furrowed his eyebrows after Fiero said that.

“Your case? Why are you gay, and you are in love with me instead?”

Gobert asked, and Fiero looked at him with round, surprised eyes.

“What the hell?” Fiero blurted as he uncrossed his arms and leaned forward as Gobert started laughing.

While Gobert was laughing like a dying hyena, Fiero was scowling. Then he froze when he smelled something.

‘I smell and sense a lone one,’

Fiero heard Cassius tell him.

“Why are you laughing so hard?”

A sweet voice from the doorway made Gobet stop laughing. He then cleared his throat and got up to walk over to the doorway. Fiero was frozen in his seat as he found an overwhelming scent of blood.

Fiero slowly turned and saw Gobert hugging a tall blonde girl, and the scent of blood was coming from her. As he stared at the girl next to Gobert, the latter turned to him with a bright smile and spoke.

“Dude, come and meet my girlfriend,”