Ten

DAVE'S POV

Adrenaline pumped in my vein as I dashed through the woods, letting the dirt under my shoes fly behind me. The music playing from my headphone gave me the drive to continue jogging for more than thirty minutes before I stopped at the edge of the waterfall at the end of the woods.

My chest heaved up and down as I stared at the water pouring down, making me remember the times that my brother and I spent together.

FOUR YEARS AGO

"Dave, come on," Daniel shouted as he ran ahead of him with the wind blowing his shoulder-length raven hair behind him.

I picked up my pace to catch up with him but he was too fast. He stopped at the edge of the with his back turned to me while I caught up with him, squatting beside him. His amber eyes looked at me with a smile on his face and his breathing regulated while I was still struggling to catch my breath.

"How are you not out of breath?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Because I'm not a weakling like you," he spat.

Rolling my eyes at him, I stood to my feet and watched the water pouring down. I always found the action fascinating. "Let's go back," I said.

"Not yet." Daniel held me as I turned to leave. "Let's go for a swim."

"I don't want to, let's just go back."

"Fine, I'll go. You stay here and wait for me." He took off his shirt and jumped into the river where the water was falling into.

Looking down from the edge of the cliff, I waited for his head to come up but he didn't. "Daniel, Daniel," I called but I got no response still. I waited for more minutes but he didn't appear on the surface of the water.

Without any more hesitation, I took off my shirt and jumped into the water. "Daniel," I shouted as soon as my head came up.

It was the sound of his laughter that made me turn my head to find him hiding under the cliff. "You should have seen your face." He swam to me.

"What was that for? You scared the shit out of me, do you know that?" I shouted at him.

"I just wanted you to join me, that's all." He shrugged. "Don't worry, I can't die anytime soon. I still have a lot of work to do, like protecting you."

"I'm not a baby, I can protect myself." I scoffed.

"Oh really?" He raised his eyebrows at me. "If anything happens to me, who is going to stop Dad from dragging you into the company?"

He was right. My parent has been trying to drag me into their Fashion company since I graduated as a business administrator but my brother knew I wasn't interested in it, so he convinced my parents to let me be. They were still not over it but Daniel was the one suppressing them from pressuring me into it.

"Then you better not let anything happen to you," I warned as I got out of the water.

BACK TO REALITY.

Little did I know that he was going to leave a year later, breaking his promise to me and leaving my parents with no choice but to pressure me into taking over their company.

I turned away from the water and walked back to my cabin when my phone began to ring through my headphone that was connected to it.

Clicking on a button on the headphone, I answered, "Hello."

"Dave, where are you?" Nixon's anxious voice came through. "You need to get to the State Hospital now."

"State Hospital?" My eyebrow furrowed in confusion. "Why? What happened?"

"It's your dad. He collapsed."

My heart stopped as my brain tried to process the information. "What?!" I replied when I recovered from my shock.

"You need to get here as soon as possible." He hung up.

My feet flew off the ground as I made my way back into the cabin. Still, in my jogging outfit, I picked up my car key and ran out of the woods. I entered Nixon's car and drove to the hospital at an insane speed. It came as a shock to me that I wasn't stopped by any officer on the way.

Parking my car outside the State Hospital which was the nearest hospital to my parent's company, I barged in and ran to the reception desk. "Please, which room is Darrell Mendez admitted in?" I asked the nurse behind the desk.

"I'm sorry, I can only give that information to family members." She looked away from me.

"I'm his son, Dave Mendez," I revealed out of desperation.

There was a feeling of deja vú coursing through my system and I prayed in my mind that history doesn't repeat itself.

She glanced at me from head to toe. "Yeah, right. I will advise you to leave before I tell security to kick you out."

I checked out my current state and I couldn't blame her for not believing that I was a billionaire's son. It didn't even help that nobody knew me as his son except my close friends and relatives.

"Please, you have to believe and tell me his room number. I need to see my dad."

"Sir..." She started but she got cut off by a voice calling my name from behind me.

"Mr. Mendez."

I turned to see one of the men who came to pick me up from the hotel standing behind me. Rushing to him, I asked, "Where's my dad? Is he okay?"

"This way, Mr. Mendez."

I didn't bother to look at the nurse to see her reaction as I followed the guard into the hospital. When I got to the waiting room, I saw my mother crying with Nixon and Lena comforting her.

"Mom." I rushed toward her and she stood up to meet me halfway. "Where is Dad? Please tell me he's okay."

"The doctor is not telling me anything." She sobbed into my shoulder.

Nixon approached me with a solemn look on his face. "The doctors are still attending to him. We should get some information soon."

"What exactly happened?" I asked as I rubbed my mother's back.

"Since you refused to accept the company, the shareholders decided to make your father step down and select a new president."