Chapter 148 - No Heart

Adken Parry tended to his flowers slowly and carefully snipped away at the pesky thorns that surrounded the pretty flowers. Behind him, stood a man who was dressed impeccably in a black suit and white shirt. He was waiting for instructions and dare not interrupt his boss after the multiple bad news had been relayed by him. It was a wonder that the boss had not thrown one of the many flower pots at his head. 

The boss had started a smear campaign against his own son which had been shocking enough for the young man who was filial towards his family and could hardly imagine his parents doing something like this with him, but then his own sons had retaliated against him by exposing the past newspaper clippings as well as showing their boss's callousness towards his family. The reaction had been swift and brutal without hiding anything. Adam's agency had already filed a case against the magazine also! 

To add insult to injury, a few of their most profitable ventures had been obstructed by the Faye Group and the properties under their name had been called into property dispute cases by some previous owners. Even though their legal department was good, it was clear that they were being attacked from all sides and somewhere along the way, the legal department had either been bribed or been extremely careless so that the no objection certificates and tax certificates were somehow missing.

As if this was not enough, the thousands of 'water army' that they had hired had failed to make a negative impact on Adam Parry and instead the past that the man had shared had soared to the trending topics. If the man were asked to be honest, he would say that the fault lay entirely with his boss for having ignored his children all these years. But honesty would not help him earn any money so he stood quietly and kept his opinions to himself.

Lost in his own musings, the young man almost missed the instructions that the boss was giving," Arrange an ambulance. And talk to the doctors that I want the best treatment there is. Also make sure to tell them not to leak the news. That way the news will be leaked immediately.."

The young man had a confused look on his face. Arrange what ambulance and what treatment? Seeing that the man did not move, Adken Parry directed a fierce look in the young man's direction making the man shiver. 

Adken Parry shook his head and ordered disdainfully," You don't need to understand what is being done. You are paid to follow instructions and that is what you must do! Call my doctor at the Provincial General Hospital and he will know what to do." The young man nodded and hurriedly left the place to call the doctor. They were not allowed to bring their phones in this place as it's radiations might hurt the boss' plants. The young man once again moved his head from side to side. If the boss had paid one percent of that care for his family this would not have been the case. 

Adken Parry had a very clear goal in mind. He was out to destroy Adam's public image. It did not matter in what was the boy retaliated, the mud that was thrown at him would always leave a stain. The more the boy wanted to keep a clean reputation the more he would smear him. And unlike James Faye who had tried to hold a press conference to achieve his goal, he was going to manipulate the media indirectly.

Those boys thought they could suppress him. Ha! They were his sons and were cunning enough like him but he had more experience in this than them. Let them try and rebel. He would suppress them in the end.. He had done so with Lucas had he not. While Adam and Alice had been the reason why the things had been blown out of proportion but he was the one who had fanned the waves that had ultimately burned down Lucas and thrown him to the bottom of the sea.

Lucas had thought that he had been very sly in maintaining and creating his own web of social connections who would later help him to overthrow him. The boy had forgotten that he had learnt everything from him and he was a master who had not taught all his tricks to the same person. Poor Lucas still believed that his people had abandoned him because of the scandal. He would not even guess that those people had never been his to begin with.

It was now time to handle Alice and Adam. Until  now, Adam and his so called brothers had been standing together and thus anyone who suffered damage meant that everyone was forced to suffer. But now everything changed. What would happen when they all suffered but the only reason for their suffering was Adam? Slowly they would try to get away from him until finally Adam would be left alone with only his dear wife accompanying him. And then he would start on Alice Faye. The woman might be loyal to her husband but she was also loyal to her business and ambitions. And when Adam would be an obstruction to her goals, she would also abandon him finally.

Soon, the show started and Adken Parry was admitted into the hospital. A few reputable photographers from national newshouses were able to click pictures of the ambulance roaring away from the man's residence and immediately sent them to the networks for broadcast. 

And the news of him having hurt his family and ignored them was taken down with new headlines,"  Business Tyoon, Adken Parry admitted into the hospital." "Adken Parry hospitalized amid row with family."

Following the headlines a news was leaked from the hospital sourced that Adken Parry had suffered a major heart attack due to high blood pressure and stress. There was even news that he had to be revived from the death's door and all anyone could hear from his lips were the call for his son Adam..

This resulted in a debate being sparked online about whether Adam should forgive his father and make amends. After all, in their country, filial piety was of utmost importance. To add oil to the already raging fire, a few directors from orphanages and mental health institutes came forward to testify how Adken Parry was a good man and how he had supported the causes that plagued the society. Some also mentioned that he had always repented his mistake and loved his wife so much which was why he had never remarried while someone pointed out that seeing Adam would have reminded him of his mistake which would have caused him even more agony.

All in all, Adken Parry's set up was slowly succeeding as people who believed in offering second chances tried to urge Adam to let go of the past and forgive his father. They wanted for them to have a happy ending. 

When Adam failed to reply to the people who urged him to forgive and forget at the same time reminding him that his father had not really abandoned him but instead placed him in his own mother's care for which Adam should be thankful. Finally, the result that he wanted happened and the water armys, trouble makers and haters started to call out to boycott SKY for being people with no heart. They were told off for being too much on their high horse and questioned whether they had never made any mistakes. 

The STARS who always supported the group were at a loss. After all most of them were inexperienced students or youngsters who were no match for the cunning society. Their voice which was powerful was suppressed thoroughly as they dare not support their idol. The effect caused many brands who were supporting SKY as their brand ambassadors to call for emergency meetings and discuss whether they needed to change their ambassadors.

To add icing to this cake, finally a video was released of an old interview of Adken Parry where he had been asked what he regretted the most as he climbed the business ladder of success and the man had emotionally answered," I regret not paying attention to my family. When I go home and the emptiness eats at me. My wife used to greet me with a smile and my little son used to come running to me when I entered my home. I miss that now. And that would be the biggest and only  regret that I have.." A few tears had then be shed as the camera had then focused on the man trying to valiantly smile through the tears. As this video was made viral, Adam saw it and snorted.

The man deserved to receive an Oscar for his acting skills. He could fool the world but he could not fool him! A tiger could not change it's stripes!