Chapter 449 - 445: No Control
The helper opened the door but didn't step inside. He greeted Alem from outside before he gestured for Ryder to step inside.
Ryder walked inside the room and walked over to the table of Alem.
He reached out his hand for a handshake that was a normal custom in situations like these.
Alem gazed at Ryder's hand, but he didn't reach out his hand.
"Please sit," he said boringly.
It seemed awkward as Ryder's gesture was rejected. He pulled back his hand and sat on the chair.
'What an arrogant man. Was he always like this?' Ryder thought while observing the face of Alem.
"So, what brought you here, Mr. Flynn," Alem asked casually. His eyes kept their focus on the screen of his laptop, not even focusing on Ryder.
'If this guy weren't the one who had helped me before, I would be so annoyed at this ignorance. But I'm giving him some leeway since he helped me before,' Ryder thought as he ignored the negligence.
"I am here to talk about Shu. He left the mansion saying that he's coming here for a meeting. He was supposed to return in one day at most, but it has been much longer than that. His number isn't on. The number of people who were with him is also out of reach. I came here for some answers. I am concerned about him," Ryder explained his purpose in coming here before he asked, "Just where exactly is he?"
"So you're here for him," Alem muttered as he finally looked at Ryder again. He closed his laptop before he pulled his drawer.
He brought a piece of paper out of the drawer and placed it before Ryder.
"Here, sign it," he said. He also slid his pan towards Ryder.
Ryder looked down at the paper and picked it up. He started reading the paper line by line.
"A non-disclosure agreement? What do you mean? I'm not asking about some corporate secret that I'll leak. Tell me where he is," Ryder asked as he smashed the paper with his hand on the table.
"Calm down. It's just an NDA. I'm not asking you to give me all your property. If you want an answer from me, you must sign it. It is just a precautionary measure. If any conversation that happens here is leaked out, I will sue you. This is all," Alem answered lazily.
He sat comfortably on the chair as he continued, "To sign or lot to sign, I leave that choice on you. However, if you don't wish to sign, you can leave my office as we have nothing to talk about. I am not free to talk about my life, and I won't talk about stuff related to the company as long as you don't sign the NDA."
Ryder gazed at the paper once again before he started wondering. Were Shu's whereabouts a corporate secret? Or was this how Alem naturally was? Having people sign NDA that came here?
"Fine. I am signing it." Having no choice, Ryder picked up the pen and signed the paper before sliding it back to Alem.
Alem took the paper and observed the sign.
"Good." he nodded as he placed the paper inside a file which was again kept in the drawer.
"Now tell me, where he is?' Ryder asked. "And when will he come back home?"
"Schumacher Maxwell... Will not come back home," Alem answered softly.
"What do you mean? Why won't he return?" Ryder asked, seemingly confused. "Is he out of the country?"
Alem shook his head before he started answering, "He is not out of the country but out of this world. He is dead. A few days ago, he was going back home after finishing the meeting with us. That's when his helicopter crashed because of some technical malfunction."
He continued, "In the crash, Schumacher Maxwell and all the people who were accompanying him died."
Ryder looked at the man blankly, not believing a word. His heart did skip a beat, though, as he heard about it. Shu was nothing less than a real brother for him. His death news was something he couldn't believe.
"Stop lying," Ryder replied. Disbelief was evident on his face.
"I am not lying," Alarm answered vaguely.
Ryder stood up as he smashed his hand on the table in anger. He forgets to control his strength in anger. "How could this be? What kind of joke is this?"
His power was so much that the table broke apart instantly. Its legs also broke as it fell down. The laptop and all other stuff which was placed on the table also fell down on the ground.
Intimidated by the sudden change, Alem reacted subconsciously as he pushed his chair backward, getting away from the table.
Ryder ignored the table that he had broken—instead, continuing with his statement.
"You expect me to believe that Shu is dead? He is dead, and this news is not all over the world? He wasn't a homeless beggar whose death won't be out in the media or public. He was the king of one of the biggest companies in the country! Stop messing with me. This joke is not fun!"
Alem was somewhat intimidated by what he saw. He felt like Ryder had lost his mind in anger. He was also worried that he might be beaten if he said something wrong.
He couldn't even call for security as the only way to call for security was to use the phone. He could also scream loudly and hope that someone would be outside his room to hear his screams, but he didn't do it. It might only anger Ryder more.
'If I scream, he might smash my head like he smashed the table. He is angry. I need to calm him down first before doing anything else. I can't make things worse,' Alem thought as he gazed at Ryder.
"Ryder, calm down. Listen to me first. This is not in the news because the other executives decided to keep this information hidden. They paid the people who know about it not to leak it outside. They don't want the prices of shares to fall because of this news right now. That's why this news is not in the media," he explained gently.
"And I am also sad and shocked with this news. It's as bad for you as it is for me. You know that I cared for him as well. I wish it were a lie as well, albeit it isn't. Schumacher Maxwell is dead," he continued.
Ryder clenched his fist as he felt a pain in his chest. This felt like a pair all too familiar. It felt similar to how he felt when he had heard the news of his parent's death. It wasn't as painful as that time, but it was close.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself.
Seeing Ryder standing with his eyes closed, Alem wondered if he should try to get to the phone to call security or he should try leaving the office itself.
Alem was still to decide what to do when Ryder opened his eyes.
His eyes were slightly red as if someone whose eyes were in pain.
"I'm sorry for overreacting," he said softly. "Where is Shu's body? Is it intact, or was it burned entirely?"
A thought did come into his mind about using the pill of Life that he had just received from Janus as a reward, but he soon realized that it wasn't possible.
According to the limitation, the pill only worked when it was used under five minutes of death. It had been much longer than five minutes. In fact, it had been even longer than a day, so he couldn't even think about going back in time through death since he could only go back in time by one day through death.
Even if he was to ignore the risk of bringing the wrath of God of Time on himself, he still couldn't do it since it had been much longer than he could handle using his power.
"His body, ah, it's already buried by us. He didn't have any family members or any close relatives. And the people who were closer to him died in the helicopter with him. So we all managed the burial ourselves. His body is buried in Saint Alea Graveyard near this place. If you want to see his grave, you can reach there in ten minutes." Alem answered.
"You people buried the body of my brother without letting me know?" Ryder asked grimly. He seemed to be getting even angrier.
Alem once again started feeling worried.
"I'm sorry. We had no choice," Alem answered as he took a step back.
"You had no choice? You didn't think about calling the mansion to let others know? You didn't think about letting me know? Don't tell me you didn't know us," Ryder let out as he stepped closer to Alen slowly.
"This... I wanted to tell you about it but I couldn't. We couldn't let this information about his death get out." Alem kept stepping back slowly.