The painting was burnt. Almost all of it. When Hugo saw it, he went ballistic. The blonde man's face became so red that his butler was worried. Benjamin, his butler, tried to reach the young man who was walking to the painting. Yet, the young man refused. Unfortunately, that young man had no idea of how wrong he was.
"Benjamin, who did this?" Hugo asked in a strangely calm tone, causing Benjamin to be alarmed.
Hugo had never talked like this. The butler knew something would happen. Then, the young man suddenly fell to his knees. Without saying anything, the butler acted extremely fast by supporting his master. Benjamin looked so broken-hearted when he saw Hugo's expression. The heir of the Newell Co. was crying softly.
It was a very unfamiliar side of Hugo that an extremely rare number of people could see. After all, the young man almost never showed his weakness. Everyone might think that Hugo's life was easy. Getting fed by a silver spoon. Surrounded by endless amounts of money. Never had to do any work.
No one knew the pain behind it. Families vied for each other. Greediness that knew no bounds. A fake glittering gold of a life because people only wanted to get close for power. Was that truly a blessed life?
Little Hugo had to bear the pain with cost. The kind little boy had turned into a cruel man. Benjamin often found himself regretting not intervening enough. If only the old man intervened more in Hugo's childhood, the blonde man would be a better man than he ever was. He didn't have to lose that person after his parents. But the world was cruel. It had to, it seemed.
"I have checked the CCTV, Sir. There's something wrong. The timeline from you and Mr. Black were at the library until the party started was cut off," Benjamin said carefully.
When Hugo heard it, he gritted as he asked angrily, "How could that happen?"
The butler nodded in shame as he said, "The guards and I are trying to see if there's something that can be done, Sir. It'll take a while. But Mr. Black seems to be someone that we can't trust."
Hugo looked angrily at his butler and said as the younger man pointed his finger to the older man, "That is none of your business, Benjamin! Just do your job!"
As Hugo was preparing to leave, the butler talked again, "Do you feel the resemblance of Mr. Black with that person, Sir?"
Soon enough, the blonde man stopped dead at his track. His odd eyes were looking at someone whom he had considered to be a father figure for years differently for the very first time. Even the butler was shocked to see this kind of expression from his master.
Then, Hugo coolly told the old man, "Be careful with your words, Benjamin. You're nothing but a butler. My life has nothing to do with yours. Let's keep it that way, shall we?"
After that, the blonde man left the library, leaving the butler alone.
***
Hugo's speech was super terrible for his standard. Frankly, the man had no idea of how many times he stuttered like an idiot. The painting really took his mind. And more questions that Hugo had kept to himself. Who did that? Why the CCTV was cut off? What if X truly did it? Why was he so attracted to X? Was it because of that person?
'I need to find X,' he thought to himself.
Unfortunately, it was proven to be difficult. Everyone was talking to him here and there. The man wished to tell all of them to fuck off, but it was impossible. The moment he saw X, the blonde man wasted no time. As Hugo was about to bring X to be asked about the painting, something unexpected happened.
One of the Newell Co.'s stockholders, Scott Davies, was laughing out loud. Scott was known to rarely laugh. How X was able to make that man laugh like crazy?
"Gosh, my belly hurts because of your joke! We should play golf sometimes or even go to Bahama with my yacht," Mr. Davies said.
"Certainly. With Mr. Newell too," X said as he looked at Hugo who was eyeing the former like crazy.
"Oh, yes. Mr. Newell, I must say that you really impressed me. I wish that the Newell Co. will flourish more and more under your rule," the old man said as he raised his glass of champagne, followed by others, including X.
Although Hugo seemed to be surprised, the man kept his cool as he said, "Thank you so much, Mr. Davies. I hope this will be a wonderful beginning."
Still, Hugo became even more curious. That old man was known to be Hugo's staunchest opponent. Hugo had no idea how many times Scott was trying to dismiss him just because the blonde man was young. While Hugo himself wished to kick that jerk of a stakeholder, Scott was never a nobody.
The Davieses might not be as powerful as the Newells, but it didn't mean they weren't unimportant. The Davieses were one of the oldest families that went to America on the famous Mayflower. Not to mention, they were also known for being abolitionists and supporters of social justice for a long time. It would be hard to mess with the Davieses with such a formidable reputation.
When Hugo finally was able to get alone time with X, the blonde man quickly took the escort to the garden.
"You seem to like teasing me, huh? Trying to flirt with an old man," Hugo said as he lit up his Arturo Fuente Opus X cigar.
'Mr. Black' just smiled calmly as he said, "I'm an escort. I'm good at making people like me."
"Hmm. I can put that to good use," the blonde man remarked in a not-so-sarcastic tone.
"But let's cut to the chase. Where the fuck are you after we fucked until the party started?" Hugo asked the auburn-haired man intensely.
X answered calmly, "I was at the hall, helping your servants to move things here and there."
"Really?" Hugo asked as he grabbed X by his collar forcefully.
Yet, X didn't lose his cool and responded, "You can ask them."
The blonde man gritted his teeth as he said, "If I find out that you're lying, I'll hunt you and your family down, X. Do you hear me?"
As soon as he said that, Hugo left. Little did he know that the calm escort was now laughing like a maniac.