Although Bruno was CEO of his company, he wouldn't let the board remove him from the engineering team. After all, it was the reason he started his company anyway. The board reluctantly let him keep his engineering job, despite it being both a security issue and a bit overbearing to other engineers on his team -what with having your boss literally breathing down your neck every day.
And breath down their necks he did, their work was never good enough for him. Bruno was a visionary in the engineering field, and being trapped in a field such as appliance and AI development, he felt his talents were a bit wasted. Feeling underwhelmed, Bruno began exploring the field of weapons engineering. Designing weapons had been something of a hobby since his nuclear engineering days, and now that he was rich it could easily become a full time thing.
He handed his first batch of designs to the government for approval -as he deemed that was where he would be able to get the most money without putting his empire in any danger- and they ate it up. After several tests, a few government officials came to his house to discuss a contract. Already the defense ministry deemed his works confidential, and although they didn't outright say that he wasn't allowed to sell to other countries, it was an unspoken fact.
He was willing to sign a deal with them, that is until they showed him a video of how 'successful' his weapons were in war-stricken 3-rd world countries. His weapons caused deaths on a major scale, the problem was that a few of those 'rebels' were children and innocents who had nothing to do with it. His weapons were being used to kill, and ironically enough death was what was crippling his mind in the first place.
After realizing the true horrors of his weaponry, he called it off. He dropped the project and allowed the government to keep what he had already designed, though he would sell no more. He continued designing weapons but their schematics never saw the light of day, and after a few restless nights he began a charity operation to send food and clothing to the people struggling in the war-stricken countries.
It was around this time that Bruno discovered Marcus, a visionary much like himself that had dropped out of college to join as an intern at his business. Marcus proved himself reliable after designing a workaround one the many bugs that the engineering team was struggling with. After that Bruno took him under his wing, it helped him cope with his mental issues having someone around him often. And seeing as how Bruno was probably among the greatest minds in the engineering field, Marcus clinged to him instantly.
He would follow him everywhere, reading all his works and working closely with him on all his projects. However, after a few years of being so close to Bruno, Marcus discovered a few things about him. For one, that the rumors about him being mentally unstable were true. And just like Marcus discovered things about Bruno, Bruno discovered things about Marcus.
Marcus had a... radical approach to things. He would often suggest they collect information on clients and sell them to advertising companies, or add additional... features to their appliances. Where people saw humanness in technology, Marcus saw inefficiencies that had to be cleaned out. But that was nothing 'time couldn't fix' Bruno would often think.
***
Bruno often worked late and would head home after everyone had already knocked off. It was sort of a routine, he would stop work at 21:00, after closing up he would say goodnight to the security guards before heading back to his mansion. Funny enough, it was the final part he hated the most, heading back to his mansion. At least at work he was surrounded by others, it hurt going home to nobody... well usually nobody.
As Bruno's driver parked the car, he noticed that the door to his house was open. Seeing this, his personal bodyguard went in to check what was going on, while Bruno waited in the car. Once his bodyguard was out of view, three figures appeared from the other side of the garage.
"Behind us!" shouted Bruno, trying to warn his driver, however his driver remained calm, as if nothing was out of place. Bruno tried opening the door to run away, but the driver locked them instantly, before gripping the steering wheel firmly with his black gloves.
"What is this about?" asked Bruno, realizing that he had been set up.
"You're a smart man, I knew you'd understand," said one of the masked figures that had appeared from the other side of the window.
"Open up," said the figure, gesturing to the driver before the doors unlocked with a click. The figures calmly opened the doors and sat in the car before the driver locked it again.
"Let's go someplace more... comfortable," ordered the figure that seemed to be the leader.
"Is this about money? If you want money then I can give you as much as you want, just let me go," said Bruno impatiently before trying to open the door. The prospect of dying triggered a panic attack, his body was shaking uncontrollably and he could hardly suppress the thumping in his chest.
"This isn't just about money, well of course it's a big part of it. You see, our client isn't too happy with you Mr. Desiren," said the figure, fiddling with the knife in his hand as the driver pulled out of the driveway.
"An unstable drug addict who refuses to sell his other... more interesting works," said another one of the figures.
"D-D-Drug addict? L-Lies, I'm not a- wait, what do you mean 'more interesting works'?"
"Did you think I wouldn't find out about the weapons you design on your free time? If only you'd just sell them, can't you see what wonders yo-"
"Marcus?" Bruno instantly recognized the voice of the third masked figure.
"You blew it," whispered one of the figures once his comrade's identity was revealed.
"Well it doesn't matter anyway, we're almost there."
"Almost where?"
"Your final resting place."
Bruno's panic attack worsened, causing him to double over in his seat as he fought back the illogical urge to cry. Marcus pulled out a single pill from the canister, before placing it on his foot.
"Lick it off."
"M-Marcus, why?"
"Why what? Why did someone like you get all this luck? Why was it you born so brilliantly? A drug addict? Someone who takes his gifts for granted? You don't know how much I had to work to get here, and every day you come to work and act like you weren't lucky to be born with your brains while saying that nothing we do is ever good enough for you."
"S-So what's your plan?" Bruno understood what this was about, he would sometimes see it in Marcus's eyes when he explained something that Marcus couldn't understand. Envy.
"We're going to have you overdose, and make it seem like an accident," smiled Marcus, his voice full of spite.
"H-Huh, so that's h-how I'm going out, huh?" stuttered Bruno as he bent over to lick the pill off Marcus's shoe. But right before Bruno's tongue touched the pill, he threw a punch at Marcus, before wildly throwing punches around the car.
"Fuck, just kill him n-" The figure's voice was brought to a halt when the headlights from an approaching car blared his vision.
The driver had been knocked unconscious, and the car swerved into another lane. It felt as if everything was happening in slow motion. Bruno could see the driver in the car in front of him trying to swerve out of the way, but it was too late. The two of them would collide, and at this speed...
{A kid.} It was a single thought, but it was what made him let go of it all. If the kid was lucky, he would die in this accident as well. If he ended up surviving without any parents he might end up like Bruno, after all that's where all his problems began... wait, perhaps it began even before that.
A split second later blunt pain radiated from every pore in his body, before finally he felt nothing.