Atlas Sinclair parked briefly by the side of the road, and grabbed his phone that had just beeped.
He began to read through his message when the door opened, and Theo slid in.
Atlas didn't acknowledge Theo's presence, until he was done reading.
"Bastard," he muttered under his breath, and started the car again.
"What made you so upset?" Theo asked, putting on his seatbelt.
"Here." Atlas tossed his phone into Theo's lap, before driving off.
Complete silence ensued as Theo read through the text. When he was done, he whistled.
"That's where we're headed now? And here I was thinking we're going to pick up your suit for the wedding."
Atlas rolled his eyes. "I wish I was that jobless," he replied.
"Bro?"
"Forget about the wedding for now. We have to tackle that. If we don't, there could be a scandal."
Theo looked at the text again. "How did you even get this?" He asked, shaking his head.
"I told you she's hiding a lot of things. I just didn't think she would also hide something like this. At least until it dawned on me that she could also just be clueless. The bastard might be that sneaky." His eyes grew intense, as he drove round a bend, and into a rough road.
Theo swallowed his words as the car stopped before a rowdy crowd.
"You ready?" Atlas turned briefly to Theo.
"I am." Theo nodded.
The door swung open, and Atlas stepped out of the car. He was immediately swarmed by the tens of angry protesters.
"The Sinclair's are not as nice as they're portrayed in the media. You all are wicked! You can't just evacuate us from the land without giving us time to find an alternative. You just can't!" One of the aggrieved protesters screamed in pain.
Atlas took off his sunglasses, and leaned on his car. He had sighted his bodyguards who had arrived in another car.
The protesters didn't worry him. He was too irritated with one person in particular to be worried by them.
"You won't even talk to us? Who do you think you are, Atlas Sinclair?"
Atlas shifted his gaze. "Talk about the devil," he thought.
The man he wanted to see in the flesh. He also had the nerve to speak directly to him as if he wasn't beneath him.
"He's a scammer and a thief! That's what he is!" A woman screamed at the top of her voice.
Atlas still didn't say a word, waiting for the chaos to subside before he addressed the crowd.
A few minutes later, the bodyguards managed to get everyone to behave. Everyone except the man who sounded like he had a personal vendetta against Atlas.
"I don't know why we have to be nice to the man threatening our source of income. Go away, and leave us alone!" His voice rang loud and angry, despite everyone else going silent..
Theo gave the man a once-over, and then looked at Atlas.
The look he saw in Atlas' eyes, gave him the response he needed. That was their guy.
Unfortunately for the bastard, he didn't know what was about to hit him.
"Do I have all of your attention now?" Atlas asked in a bored tone.
They grumbled their responses, their faces stiff as a rock.
"Great. If you all had checked the emails sent to you at about midnight, you would have seen a worthy compensation for the abrupt evacuation. Now, I didn't have to give you anything. It is my land after all. It has been my land for the fifty years some of you, and your elders have been here. Anyway, I—"
"Oh my God! It's true!" Someone suddenly screamed.
They all turned to the person. "Check your phones. Ther-ther— oh my God!" They screamed again in excitement.
Everyone quickly whipped out their phones and began to check for the email.
"It's true. It's real!" The woman from before jumped into the air, her face covered in smiles.
All of their reactions aligned, and before long, they were all screaming in excitement.
Theo leaned closer to Atlas beside him. "How much exactly did you give these people to get them so excited to the point they're ready to let go of the land where all of the businesses reside?" He asked with an amused voice.
Atlas whipped out his phone, and searched for the email.
"Look," he said.
Theo's eyes widened, and he let out another whistle. "Shit, I would be excited too," he laughed.
In the midst of the people's joy, one man had a look of horror on his face.
Just as they all began to sing the Sinclair praise, the man cried out sorrowfully.
Everyone instantly went silent.
"You bastard! I didn't get an email. Why didn't I get an email too? This is my business. I built it from the ground up. Okay, I inherited the cleaning agency from my parents, but I stabilized it. How dare you pass over me? How am I supposed to compensate my staff?" Charles cried out.
Murmurs instantly began to fly within the people in the crowd. Some wondered why he had been skipped. Others clutched their phones to their chest in fear that he would make their own payment be revoked.
"Take him," Atlas ordered his bodyguards, as he turned to enter into his car.
"God bless you, Atlas Sinclair!" The woman screamed at the top of her voice, ignoring the others who were now loudly asking what Charles had done.
Not wanting to be left out, everyone else joined her in heaping praises on Atlas.
He didn't respond, as he waited for Theo to enter the car first, before starting it.
"Damn! People are so easy. The things money can do," Theo laughed.
Atlas still didn't say a word, but his eyes said everything. His grip on the steering hardened, as he stared at Charles through his window, being dragged into the bodyguard's car.
"Bastard," he muttered again, before driving off.
Theo's eyes scanned Atlas. It was unusual to see him this heavily irritated. Although he knew part of the story already, he was curious to see what Atlas was going to do next.
He opened his mouth to ask some questions, but immediately closed it back on realising that Atlas wasn't in the mood to speak.
His eyes were glued to the road, and he was almost driving above speed range.
"Damn," Theo muttered.
Atlas drove the twenty minute journey in ten, and as he stopped the car, he turned his head behind, fully expecting his bodyguards to be behind him.
They didn't disappoint him. Their car was just a few paces behind.
He stepped out of his car, and walked straight into the unfinished building project.
Theo, who was still in the dark about what he was going to do, followed after him.
He walked into the empty room, and found Atlas pacing back and forth with his hands in his pocket.
"Atlas, I'm actually getting worried now. What the hell is going on?" He asked.
Atlas didn't reply, he only waited patiently, with his back turned against the entrance.
"At–"
The footsteps of the bodyguard silenced him. He whipped his head behind to see them drag the man to the center of the room, and pushed him to the ground.
Without saying another word, they walked out of the room.
"Why the hell am I here?! This is kidnapping. Let me go!" The man hysterically yelled.
Atlas took a deep breath, before slowly turning around.
"Oh no," The words slipped out of Theo's mouth at the same time the man went completely still.
"Glad I have your attention now, Mr Charles," Atlas said, the gun in his hand swaying from side to side, as he approached him.