Chapter Eight
Larry stepped into the pitch-black basement. The lift closed behind him.
All the worries left his mind. He was Nickolas Gene Carter again. He needed not hide behind a disguise here,
This place was more than a little basement. Behind these three-inches-thick walls was an underground world.
The empire of the Carter clan.
Nick didn't know what happened to his father. Bob Carter borrowed some money from his son, then with his own savings, he started a business. hell knows what business it was. All Nick knew was, his father's company started out small; after a year, that tiny company transformed into an empire.
An underground empire.
Nick was really ecstatic for his father.
'Maybe a bit too ecstatic,' he though grimly. 'Look what he's got me into now.' He clenched his fist.
Nick heard footsteps coming. Then the lights came on.
"Nick, is that you?" Nick's heart skipped a beat. It was his mom's voice. He cried.
"Sshh!" Jane Carter took her son in an embrace and hushed him.
"Oh mom!" Nick held on tightly, breathing in all the time he had missed. He suddenly let go. He felt bones beneath his arms.
He pulled back and examined her carefully.
His mother had aged, without doubt. These five years had been cruel, Nick knew that, but he never thought she would age so much. 'Mom is way to young to be looking this old,' he thought. Her hair was streaked with grey strands, she didn't bother to dye them blonde or brown. The bags beneath her eyes couldn't be ignored, they were marks of tears from hardships and sufferings. Her eyes lost their shines as her face drooped in exhaustion. She dressed slobbery, gone were the glamorous clothes and the days Jane would spend her time over fashion magazines. Pain stab Nick's heart-- this wasn't the mom he used to knew.
"Oh mom! Are you tired?" Nick blurted.
"Tireness comes and goes, I am not sure anymore," Jane's voice was languid.
Nick carefully hold his fragile mom and escorted her into the empire.
It was a ritual during the last five years to come here and visit his mom once every month. Nick would update her on his life, Jane would give him advices on his life. This was a moment which Nick treasured, but also despised, because of the place. But he did it for his mother.
He stretched out on the couch. It was from Italy's finest, he could see. Jane brought him coke and some snacks. He left them cold. His mother waved the guards away.
"So how have you been?" she enquired.
"Fine, nothing much, same old." But his voice gave him away. She knew about his miserable university life.
"You can tell me."
"Well..."
"Well?"
"There's this girl I like--"
"I told you to stay away from girls. You sure have enough of them in the older days."
"That was then, this is now. And left the old days alone, you don't want me to start it up again, do you? Please, mom."
"I give you my words--"
"Try to be ecstatic, mom. I know your lectures. Tanya is different. She is trustworthy."
"In this world, no one can be trusted."
"Is this what dad believes?"
"No-- Well, yeah. Nick, you know, why do you corner me always?"
"Blame it on dad." Jane gave up.
"Fine, tell me about it, about her," she waited.
"Her name is Tanya Winter-Sager. She is a genius. She is stunningly beautiful. She has a kind heart. No one is more perfect."
"Not the best description," Jane raised an eyebrow.
"Simplicity has its beauty. And we are not going out, at least not officially." Nick replied curtly.
"How long have you known her?"
"She's new here."
"I see..." Jane said slowly.
"Mom!" Nick exasperated. "She said she loves me, today, when I cancelled a date with her."
"How impressive." Nick waited for the 'but', Jane knew what he was expecting. "Nick, I would have been happy for you if we weren't in this situation. You can even marry her for all I care. If we weren't here."
"Screw dad," he muttered under his breath.
"Nick!" Jane stared at him shocked. "I do NOT allow you to speak of your father that way!"
"Look at where we are now!" he raged on. "We're on the run! Nick Carter's on the the run! And who's that bastard on the TV acting like me?"
Jane tugged at his sleeve at pleaded, "Nick, please, for goodness's sake"
"Hell to it!" he puffed and sat down, catching his breath. "Where is Aaron and others?"
"Not here."
"I want to see them."
"You can't. I'm sorry," Sorrow washed over Jane's eyes, it's love and pity from a mother's heart. "Your father's order."
"Dad again, isn't it?" Nick spat. "Dad this, Dad that!" He slammed his fist onto the table in frustration. "That freaking old man has got us into enough trouble already. Damn Dad!"
"Did someone called me?" A steel voice cut Nick's words from behind. He swished around in alert. His eyebrows crossed at the arriver.
He stormed over to Bob, and grabbed him by the collar.
"You bet, you barstard! I want my old life back! I want to see my siblings. You hell--" Bob's hand slapped across Nick's face. Jane's gasped.
"I want you dead," Nick finished icily and walked out of the door.
"Nick!" Jane called after him.
But Nick was gone already.