Chapter 16

I was angry at Duncan and let Him know it and said" Damn it Duncan, You have known for months that she was alive. You could have at least warned Me!"

Duncan looked at Me sadly and took a deep breath and said. " Actually, David I've known she has been alive since about a month after You had told Me what You had believed You had done after You beat her and left her for dead. I'm sorry David... God I'm truly sorry."

I sat there stunned as I heard His words. My God! He had known all along and now My kimberly was dead because of Him and His keeping Rachels secret. I then said to Him. " How could You do that to Me?"

Duncan took a deep breath and then said to Me. " David, please let Me explain... there is so much You do not know."

I looked at Duncan as I sat and listened feeling totally disillusioned and I said to Him. " Just what the hell do You think You could tell Me that would fix this? My God! kimberly is dead! You knew she was alive and never told Me and kimberly paid the price! Nothing will bring her back! Nothing You bastard!!!

I then looked at Roy and said to Him. " Stop the car and let Me out!"

Roy looked at Me as He pulled the car over and said. " David wait a minute. Let's go to Your place and the three of us talk it out."

I looked at Roy then Duncan and then back at Roy again and then said" No! I have nothing more to say to either of Y/you. As of now Duncan is dead to Me!"

I then got out of the car and started walking out into the night walking blindly not even knowing or caring where I was going but I knew right now I couldnt deal with A/anyone and I just continued walking, My eyes blinded with tears as I walked further and further into the night...

I walked for hours not even paying attention to where I was going. I felt like I couldn't breathe at all and all I could think of doing was running from this nightmare. As the night slowly turned into morning, I felt Myself finally start to feel tired and weary. I then started walking towards My house. As I had walked most of the night, I had thought about a lot of things. I thought about My own actions that had led Me to the showdown with Rachel and I also thought about how many P/people such as kimberly and Duncan had paid a heavy price for My actions. I was hurt by Duncan's keeping the secret of the fact that Rachel was alive from Me. I felt betrayed. However, I asked Myself, if I had been in His shoes, what would I have done? I thought of how Duncan had taken Me in and had treated Me like His own son. He gave Me a chance despite My arrogance and taught Me so much not only about the business but about life itself and most of all, He taught Me to believe in Myself again. I wasnt happy about what Duncan did. I wasnt ready to talk to Him about it because I knew I was still hurt and angry. However, I also knew that I loved Duncan and remembered the hurtful words I said. "Duncan is dead to Me!" I knew that I would have to deal with Duncan, but now was not the time and until I could let go of My anger at Him, I couldnt face Him at least for now.

When I finally crawled into bed at about 7am, I slept a deep sleep and had no dreams that I could recall and at about 2pm, I awoke to the repeated ringing of the telephone. When I picked it up, it was Dale Saunders, my finacial advisor. He said to Me" David, I'm sorry. I don't mean to intrude on your grief. I know right now its not an easy time for you, but the shareholders want answers. Have you read this morning's paper?"

I was still trying to wake up and said. " No! I have not. I was actually up late last night and didnt get home till late this morning. Why?"

Dale said to Me. " Look, I talked to Roy. He told me about your conversation with Duncan and I know you are angry with Him and I won't intrude on that... thats between you and him. However, we have a bigger problem. Someone from the press got wind that you were at the police station and they also have a story about your past with Rachel and how you left her for dead years ago and the story is now on the front pages of the paper. The shareholders are demanding answers and they are insisting for you to step down until this mess is cleaned up. They want a meeting with you to discuss it and they are asking for it now or some of the shareholders are going to put their shares up for sale and you know what that will mean. Bad enough we have a mess with Rachel Diamond trying to take over but if someone else were to do it, we might as well kiss the clubs goodbye."

I looked at My watch and saw it was after 2pm and I then said to Him, " tell the shareholders that I will meet them at 4pm and that I will be handing in My resignation from the Clubs and that I will also be handing My shares over to Duncan. That should satisfy them until they talk to Me this afternoon."

Dale said, " David, wait a minute. There is no reason to go that far. Just come in and answer the questions the shareholders have and then things should be fine. Surely once they hear your side everything will be ok."

I immediately cut him off and said. " Look, I will see you and the rest of the shareholders this afternoon. I am done and thats that... I will see you then." With that I hung up the phone.

I was in no mood to fight with A/anyone nor did I want to deal with Duncan and in truth with things the way they were with Duncan and I, I was actually relieved to do this as it gave Me the excuse I needed to walk away which I had already intended to do anyway.

Two hours later, the meeting of the shareholders convened with everyone present including Duncan. I stood at the head of the table and spoke" Look, I won't try and explain My actions. It doesn't take a genius to see that because of My past, I'm not welcome here and because of My mistakes, it may cause us to lose money in the clubs so I am resigning as CEO and handing My remaining shares over to Duncan."

All the shareholders sat there shocked and one of them a man in his late sixties said. " Well David, I'm sorry but its probably for the best. We know you have done a wonderful job but because we all have a lot to lose, it would probably be best if you stepped down until the dust settles. Perhaps Ted Niven can run things now with you gone until this blows over. I know about your loss and I'm sorry so perhaps this works to your advantage." The mans name was Albert Wallace.

Albert Wallace was a man that had never been happy about Me being Duncan's protigee. When Duncan made Me His partner, Albert was very vocal at the time because He had believed that Duncan would make Him His partner and eventually turn the clubs over to Him to run for the shareholders. Albert knew that Ted's position wasnt obtained legally and his crack about Ted Niven taking control of the company was a shot at Me and I knew it. However, I said to Albert. " Frankly Albert, I don't give a damn what you think nor do I care what anyone else thinks. If you all want Ted Niven back you can all have Him. As far as I'm concerned, I no longer care what any of you do."