Chapter Text
Another week flew by before Tom returned. He walked into the building, grinning and slicking his black hair back. He dusted his inky suit jacket, making sure there was no lint. The charcoal tie, pants, and shiny shoes were slim fitted. He glanced at his phone at a notification.
Major meeting at 2:00 pm.
He grinned. This was the day. Two weeks in Mexico did wonders for him, relaxing from all the stress of dealing with Argo and making sure Mrs. Ruffian stepped in line. "I'm sure the old bat won't have any problems. Hm. Maybe I should just tell the old man anyway after she gives me the title. Pay her back for sticking that annoying blondie over me." This wasn't true. Chris was co-head with Tom, but Chris's work ethic contrasted hugely with Tom's dealings.
The black-haired man rode the elevator up and found his floor in the similar disarray that he had left it in. His smile widened as a thought burrowed into his head.
Why not have some fun with Ricky?
But his smile left for a moment. Ricky had asked some weird questions about his mother, his finances, and other stuff. "Maybe I should have the old lady fire him. Heh, nah, I'll just do that when I'm in charge," He smirked. His black shoes walked over the cubicles like he was a king. He might as well be at this point. He turned and expected a hunched-over, shorter man with brown hair, worriedly staring at his computer.
Instead, he found something else.
"And you pull this file over and... there you go! I'll tell Bernie you're a natural."
"Thank you," said a feminine voice.
Ricky turned and saw Tom standing there with his jaw slightly open. "Oh, hey Tom. This is Susan. She prefers to be called Susie. She's our new accountant. She came just last week."
"Susie," Tom echoed. He shook his head and returned his charming smile, stretching out his hand. "Well, it's good to see you, Susie."
But the woman stared at Tom and shrank a bit. She had Asian features, Chinese maybe. Long straight black hair and charcoal eyes behind a pair of glasses. Contrary to the stereotype, she actually had big eyes, though the characteristic slant and squint were still there. A slim body with a flat chest underneath a white blouse. Nothing for Tom's radar.
Ricky noticed her hesitation when she shook his hand and said nothing. "Well, I hope you're liking your new position. I'm... glad that you'll have some help, Ricky."
"Oh, I'm leaving."
"What?" Susie and Tom blurted out.
"I'm leaving the company. I got a new job offer at Mapco."
Tom narrowed his eyes. "When was this?!"
"I gave Mrs. Ruffian my resignation shortly after you left. Today's actually my last day," Ricky smiled, gently placing a hand on Susie's shoulder. "And I've been teaching Susie everything I know."
"Well, I didn't know they needed a new accountant over there," Tom muttered. This pissed him off, but he figured he could work around it. Ricky was the best accountant they had, and the mistakes of a new accountant would actually raise enough flags to make people look into his dealings. He'd have to be careful for a while.
"Ex... excuse me," Susie rushed out and left.
"What's wrong with her?"
"I... don't know. Why don't you check in with Mrs. Ruffian? Chris mentioned something about a special meeting coming up," Ricky replied.
"Heh, that I will. And I think Susie and I will work very well together," Tom smiled wickedly.
"By the way, I met up with your mom while you were gone," Ricky smiled.
Tom's grin vanished. "What? Why?"
"Just to talk. Like I said, she was nice to me."
"I didn't get a notification on the doorbell."
"Oh I just knocked," Ricky grinned a little wider than he intended.
Tom narrowed his eyes. "What did you talk about?"
"Nothing important. You, her work, she told me a bit about the divorce... What you did," Ricky glared and hissed.
Tom scoffed, "You're really an idiot if you believe her. She's a woman scorned. They'll come up with anything to avoid blame."
"Avoid blame. Ironic," Ricky grinned as if he were watching an arrogant man walking foolishly into a bear trap. "But she was... nice to be with."
"Whatever," Tom grumbled. As he left the cubicle, Ricky ran over to where Susie had escaped. She was panting heavily over the water fountain, gripping it tightly.
"Susie? What's wrong?"
"I can't work here."
"Because of Tom?"
"I... yes," She whispered in her small voice.
Ricky smiled, "Don't worry. He's not working here for long. But how do you know him?"
"He mistreated my friend. Then I met him at a bar one time, and he was just... really uncomfortable to be around."
"I get it. Don't worry. He won't hurt you. I'll make sure of that," Ricky said, gently grabbing her hand. "I don't mean to be the knight in shining armor, but you deserve to feel safe here. I'll see to it that he's dealt with. I promise."
"I... thank you," The woman said with widening eyes. "I... I didn't expect such kindness from someone like you."
Ricky smiled, "I may be on the shorter side, but I'm full of surprises." Of course, Susie was shorter than Ricky. She was 5'6" while he was... well, he didn't know how tall he was now. Everything was muddled with magic involved.
Meanwhile, Tom strolled over to Mrs. Ruffian's office, confidently swaying his arms. He opened the door and was mildly surprised to see Chris there, along with Mr. Ruffian's glaring face. When he turned to look at Mrs. Ruffian, his eyes widened. "Ah! Mrs. Ruffian. It's good to see you. Did you... do something with your hair? It's red."
Sure enough, the woman's hair was almost fully red. She mentioned she was a redhead before everything started turning gray, but it made the 50-year-old look 20 years younger. Not only that, but most of the wrinkles in her face were gone. Tom knew she liked make-up a lot, but this looked too natural. Maybe Botox? Or injections. No, her lips didn't have that overly plump look to them. They looked naturally brighter. He glanced at her hands. Even they looked plumper, free of liver spots and blemishes. What did she do?
He sat down next to the blond rival. Della took a deep breath. "I've called you both here because I'm going to be leaving the company. I've decided to retire early."
"Oh? We'll deeply miss you," Tom said with perfect performance.
"I'm sure you will," She hissed quietly. "With that in mind, I've made my decision in who will replace me. AND since there's nothing in the company policy against this, I've decided to have Christopher Hansen succeed me."
"What?" Tom said, shocked. Chris rose and shook Mrs. Ruffian's hand with a smile.
"Thank you, I accept the role."
"I hope that you and Susan will get along nicely," Mrs. Ruffian smiled. "Now, if you could excuse me, I have a couple of... choice words for Mr. Trott."
"Oh ho ho! Of course," Chris smiled widely. Tom's eyes narrowed. Did he know what was going on? As Chris closed the door, two surprisingly strong hands lifted him by the collar. He was face-to-face with a growling old man with unexpected strength.
"So you think you can blackmail my wife, huh?!"
"Wh-Wh-What?! I don't know what she told you! But she-"
"What? That she cheated on me with you? She told me everything. So you have no leverage. So I'm gonna give you your resignation personally."
"Paul, please," Della called. The man threw Tom into the chair, disheveled and surprised. "Thomas, we know everything about your mishandling of funds. The company has decided not to press charges, but you are terminated."
"What?! Who-"
"We contacted Bernie, he told us about your forgery of my handwriting. And though you should be charged just for that!" Della practically roared, greatly surprising the taller weasel. "We've decided to simply let you go. Now I advise you to leave the premises before I have you escorted out. Do you understand?"
Before he could even think to defend himself, Paul balled his fist, ready to break another hip for his wife. Tom nodded quickly and practically ran out of the room.
"FUUCK!" He shouted, storming over to the elevator. The shiny doors closed as he smashed his fist against the wall. "What the fuck is happening?!" As the door opened up to his floor, he quickly marched to his office, scrambling to cover his tracks. "She can't do this to me. How DARE she do this to me! I'll pin her for the money. Wait... where is," He tried to put in his information through his computer, but it kept reading a terrifying note.
You are no longer able to access this due to violation of private information.
"DAMN IT!" He grabbed his things, raging out of the place like a rhino charging for the kill. What would he do? He schemed for every single possible idea he could muster, but each one came up bad. He'd have to live with his parents for a while until he could figure something out. Hopefully, the money through Argo would settle things. Tom breathed a little easier when he remembered his investments. As long as they were there, he could live easily. In fact, he could just push all of his assets into Argo. It wasn't wise, but he could do it. At least to survive.
A small rebellious grin stretched onto his lips as he went downstairs to his car. He was confident he could work something out with Peter.
That was until he got a ding on his phone.
It was a news article:
Argo tech company gets shut down for illegal testing. Some shareholders denied any money.
"What?!" He dialed up a number. "Peter? PETER!"
"Hello, Mr. Trott," Peter said with a tone that was foreign to Tom. Peter was more timid whenever he called.
"Peter, what the hell happened to my investments! Where's my money?!"
"Your money? With Argo? Well, I don't work there anymore, thanks to you. Mrs. Ruffian called me and told me she knew about your blackmailing tactics. So she advised me to be a whistleblower, and I've been looking for a new job. Fortunately, Mapco has a position. And it seems like your money was illegally obtained by some other company, which isn't any better for you. All money will be sent to other shareholders except you since, well you were just a blackmailer. If you have any issue, you can appeal in court, but I'd love to see you try. Thank you, have a nice day."
Peter had to explain all of this while Tom was yelling at him. The poor man was so happy to hang up the phone. Tom's dark eyes widened in horror. He scrambled through his numbers and called up the one person he thought he never had to call.
"Hello?"
"Dad, hey, I know that-"
"What did you do?" Said the man's voice.
"Nothing! I'm innocent."
"I've heard that lie before. What do you want?"
"I need to crash by your place for a while. I just-"
"Absolutely not. I'm not letting you around my wife or her kids."
"Come on, Dad. I'm your son!"
"My BLACKMAILING SON! It's because of you that I lost your mom! You're lucky that we parted on good terms, or else I'd kill you myself. I don't want to have any part of you! From now on, you're not my son! So you can forget about being in the will!"
"DAD!" But the man hung up before he could say anything more. "No, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening!" He quickly dialed the next number, feeling his throat tighten. This would be highly unbearable, but maybe he could coax his way out of this and-
"Hello?"
"Mom."
"Tom," She said with an even voice. "Let me guess. This is about you losing your job?"
His eyes went wide as he stepped out of the office building. "Ho-Ho-How did you know?! That just happened!"
"Who's that dear?"
"Don't worry, baby."
"Baby?! Who are you with?!"
"You probably know him. Preston. Cedric's father. He and I got together after I met up with Ricky."
Tom's eyes widened like blooming hydrangeas. What Ricky said before came flying into his mind. "What did you and Ricky do?" Tom demanded.
"What I do in my private life is none of your-"
"You slept with him!? You let him fuck you! He's my-"
"Your what, Thomas? Your friend? I don't think you've been a friend to him since the day you met him," Rebecca answered harshly. "If you're trying to stay with me, the answer is no. I don't want you coming to the house."
"I'M YOUR SON!"
"A son who never learned how to tell the truth, and destroyed everyone's life around him," Rebecca said. "I'm sorry, Tommy. This is for your own good."
"Mom! MOOM!" But the phone went dead. Tom gripped his hair and gnashed his teeth. He scanned everywhere, trying desperately to find a way out.
Then he saw someone with a calm smile walking out with a coffee cup in his hand, talking to Susie. They walked out of the building's parking lot and towards the sidewalk.
Tom's eyes darkened. He ran up to Ricky, trying to catch him by surprise. The zooming cars along the busy street would cover his footsteps.
At least he thought they would. Ricky turned and saw Tom trying to approach. "YOU! You did this to me!"
"Did what?" Ricky asked calmly, motioning Susie to step further back where it was safe.
"You ruined my life! You fucked my mom! You took everything away from me!" Tom threw a punch that Ricky easily dodged. They were both surprised. Ricky wasn't really good at fighting. Tom stumbled and recovered. "You're gonna pay for this."
Ricky sighed and gently placed the coffee cup down on the sidewalk. "You know what's sad, Tom? I still wish we could be friends. I wish that all the stuff I found out about you wasn't true. I wish I could help you see things, but I know you're only going to blame me for something you did."
"I've done nothing wrong!"
"Your parents say different. Your records say different. Everyone and everybody who has had the displeasure of meeting you has said in one way or another that you are a bad person, a lying friend, the worst son, and you can't see it all because of your pride and arrogance."
"And what are you!?" Tom shouted over the screaming cars, swinging his fists left and right, but Ricky effortlessly stepped back. "You're not a saint! You slept with my mother!"
"Who is divorced and alone BECAUSE of you."
"I didn't cheat on her!"
"But you profited from their misery," Ricky firmly said. "You know the difference between you and me, Tom? I'm honest. I don't try to hide who I am. I don't need lies to tear others down to feel better about myself. I accept who I am, mess and all."
Tom swung a left hook. Ricky ducked back and punched Tom right in the gut. The taller man hunched over and fell to his hands and knees, gasping for air. He wasn't this strong! Tom thought. How is he this strong?
The noise of the cars dulled for just a brief moment. Just long enough for Ricky to squat down and leer at him. "The real problem you have is that you think you can weasel yourself out every single time and be okay with it. You don't care about anyone. And I cared too much about you. That's what freed me from you, Tom. You're bound by lies. I'm freed by the truth."
"I have your truth right here you son of a bitch!"
Tom launched up and grabbed at his shoulders, but Ricky pushed him back hard enough to topple him. Ricky struggled to get himself free, but suddenly Tom turned left. He pushed Ricky back, stumbling backwards. The brunette hit the asphalt but quickly realized he was in the company's parking lot, banging his arm against a parked car's tire.
But Tom had stumbled back, too.
It all happened too fast.
The screaming.
The honking.
The screeching of tires.
And the sickening thud of a body unable to handle the sheer weight and force.
Ricky shot up.
The truck had swerved as much as it could, but the blood decorating the asphalt was already spilled.
"SUSIE! CALL 911!" He shouted. He rushed over. "Come on, Tom. You're not going out like this! Please, hang on! Hang on, buddy! You can't die! Not like this!" Tears started streaming down his face. The blood pouring down Tom's temple was the only thing he could focus on. He dared not question how his body felt. All he could do was stare helplessly as the ambulance sirens finally came.
A/N: Man the amount of people I've read this to and they were clapping when Tom got hit by the truck was insane