The Last Option
Chapter Fifty: New Times, New Plans

The following year was one of relative calm. As there was no sign of Duncan, West and Bernard thought he had left the country, generating frustration in the former for having had him so close and not catching him, and suspicion in the latter in the expectation that at any moment, in the future, he could appear again in his life seeking revenge.

"It's funny," Bernard said to himself mentally when he thought of him, "we both want to take revenge on each other, each with his own reasons, but mine are stronger than his."

Little Nathan had been walking since he was ten months old and playing all over the house, getting into mischief with old Thomas and Laura after him all the time to keep him from hurting himself.

Anthony, for his part, and seeing Bernard was apparently not in danger and had put the assassin out of his head, resumed his life as a volunteer for the charities he was involved in, and went back into the bowels of Africa. Despite Bernard's insistence that he stay, he didn't want to, feeling he had to do something good with his life. His participation in that opportunity as a volunteer would be somewhat limited, for because of his age, he could no longer do many of the things he used to do.

"I will die doing the things I love, and helping people who need me," he said to Bernard as he was about to leave, by way of farewell. Bernard felt that he would never see him again, and hugged him tightly.

"You know you don't have to go," Bernard insisted again. "You can help me with little Nathan. In any way, he is your grandson."

"I would like to, but I can't. You know I adore that little boy, but I can't risk Thomas waking up one day jealous and challenging me to fight with him to see who is the better grandpa," Anthony said, laughing like a child. "You've already got his help. I'd just be in the way."

"You know you're not in the way at all, Anthony. I want you to stay with me! Please!"

The old man looked at his son-in-law tenderly.

"I can't. I can't put you through the pain of another loss, Bernard. You wouldn't deserve it. Please don't burden me and let me go. I'd be better off." Bernard had no choice but to let him go, knowing he wouldn't stay anyway.

"Take care of yourself," he said, his eyes watering. "Remember to send me a letter once in a while to let me know how you are doing."

"Of course I will!" Anthony said, taking his suitcase and preparing to enter the customs area of the airport. "You're a good man, Bernard. I'm very proud of you, as I was of my dear Margaret. Take care of yourself, and take care of Nathan and Camila."

With that said, he handed his passport and ticket to the customs gate attendant and, when he was cleared, he waved goodbye to his son-in-law again, then turned and walked out of sight. Bernard felt that Margaret was leaving for the second time in his life with his father-in-law, and his heart crumpled.

As time passed, Bernard and Camila strengthened their relationship, sharing as much time as possible. They organized outings, sometimes alone, sometimes with little Nathan, who was growing strong and healthy.

She did not mind at all that he had the child's commitment, and gladly collaborated with him in his upbringing.

For his part, he admired her devotion to both him and the child, and also liked him. He felt that with her he might be giving himself a new chance at love, without having forgotten Margaret at all, and without pretending that Camilla would take her place in his heart.

Seeing that the relationship was already taking on a more serious air, one day he proposed that they live together. Although he expected it in some way, she wanted to take some more time to think about it, and he preferred not to pressure her. They agreed to go on with their lives, and that was enough for them to be close to each other while they decided to live together.

Everything was moving on. However, there was one thing Bernard had not yet forgotten, and that was the promise he had made to Nathan. He needed to devise a way to make the boy inherit what belonged to him; it was almost an obsession for him. He owed it to everyone: to Nathan and Norma, to Margaret, and especially to the child. He would replace a way, he was sure, and he would not stop until he did.

Seeing that for now he could do nothing against Louis Randall because of Duncan Smith's disappearance, he decided to focus on the goal of recovering everything from little Nathan and momentarily put aside his goal of proving his guilt and bringing him to justice. He thought for days about how to achieve this goal.

And he thought he had found it.

At Southern Hilltop Gold, things continued with Louis Randall at the helm, but his lack of experience and some bad decisions caused it to shake its foundations, running the risk of losing many of its assets in the short term if the mistakes made were not corrected in time. In several sessions of the Board of Shareholders, he was summoned to correct his management style, but his prepotency and arrogance caused him to ignore the suggestions made to him, so now he was being targeted and the necessary changes were being proposed to allow that, apart from the members of the founding family, others could have access to the management of the company to contribute to its good management. Alerted by one of the shareholders, who contacted her to notify her of the situation, Rebecca Hicks immediately contacted her cousin to urge him not to let the company fall into ruin because of his arrogance. At that moment she was in the city of Prague, enjoying it and her new lover, a boy of barely twenty-two.

"Have they already told you the gossip?" Louis said to her, angry at the way she was talking to him.

"And what did you want?” she answered him, also angry at having to meddle in the company's affairs, which never interested her. "That the partners would be left alone while you destroy the company? You must leave your arrogance aside and assume you have screwed up to the bottom! Accept the suggestions of the shareholders and pull the company out of the precipice you are leading it to! They are already making the necessary moves to replace you, and we don't want that, do we? If you make me come back to take care of the company myself, you'll regret it! And remember, I'm not the soft Nathan!

That said, Rebecca cut him off, throwing the phone angrily onto the hotel room bed where she was at the time, which bounced several times before falling to the floor. Her young lover, who was on the balcony admiring the city, quickly returned alerted by her screams and the clatter of the device against the floor.

"What's wrong, darling?"

The young man tried to grab her by the waist, but she slapped him hard and pushed him away, going to the bathroom to take a shower to calm down. She was really furious.

"Do me a favor, get dressed and wait for me downstairs!" she ordered him as she entered the shower. Seeing her annoyed, the young man shrugged and began to get dressed.