03-04-2014, 10:08 AM
It took about two days after my match with DarkJay Rider before Sebastian took the time to review my match with me. For those not fortunate enough to be in the room with us and see the fire in his eyes I am fairly positive that they could hear it through the walls. For a second there I thought Sebastian was either going to have a heart attack, or the stained glass windows in his study would shatter, which would be a real shame as they are so beautiful. You just can’t find that kind of hard work and craftsmanship these days.
I’m sure Jacob, the Messenger is somewhere within the walls of The Compound loving every second of Duke’s tirade against me. After all, every little mistake that I make elevates Jacob just a little bit more, at least in his eyes. I have tried to assure Jacob that he will always be Duke’s most trusted advisor. Sebastian may consider Jacob a brother, and while I am in fact be the real deal, Jacob and Duke have a history, one that I doubt I could ever match. But that will not stop me from trying. Blood is thicker than water and if I have to shed a little blood to make my case, so be it.
After Sebastian settled down he joined me in the training area where he offered me some more helpful tips in preparation for my match against an unnamed opponent. That opponent would turn out to be Die Unklonbare. For the second week in a row my opponent would be making his XWF debut and for the second week in a row, my opponent fell at my hand. He was the second of what will be many to experience what it means to enter the darkness.
You will know me by my trail of victims.
The body count will rack up as I ascend to the top of the XWF. And unlike my first two opponents my next victim was hand chosen by me. Morbid Angel, the current X-Treme Champion of the XWF and the next unfortunate soul to bear witness to what I am capable of. In the mean time...
February 27, 2014 – 5:45AM EST – The Compound – Old Saybrook, Connecticut
I was awoken by the sound of my cell phone vibrating on the surface of my wooden night stand located next to my bed. I looked over to the electric clock located a few inches from the phone, 5:45 AM…who the hell is calling me at this hour? I reached over to the phone and lifted it up to eye level, my eyes were still adjusting to the light so reading the small 8 inch LCD screen was not going to happen. I brought the phone closer to me and when I got within a few inches I could read the name on the screen “Mom”. The first thought that ran through my head was that something was wrong. But what could it be? If something was the matter with my mother, she would not be the one to call me. My second thought was that she was anxious to see me again and wanted to see if what I told her as I was leaving her apartment was true and that I would be back to see her. Either way it’s 5:45am, I am in no mood to talk to her, even if were on the best of terms I would not answer her call. So instead I decided to put the phone back down onto the night table and let it go to voicemail. Sure enough a few seconds later the phone vibrates for a final time, indicating that a voicemail has been left.
I decided to lay in bed for another 15 minutes before finally getting up. After opening the blinds to let in what little sun light was showing into the room, I walked over to the night stand, grabbed my cell phone and listened to the voicemail from my mother.
“Eric it’s your mother. A lawyer showed up here last night looking for you. He didn’t say what he wanted to speak to you about. I gave him your cell phone number and he gave me his card. His name is Sherman Richards Attorney at Law. And his number is 646-555-1056. Is everything alright? Are you in trouble with the law, you know…because of that thing? Please call me back.”
“Because of that thing?” I wonder how long I am going to have worry about that coming up. Somehow I need to put my mother’s mind at ease, if the cops do not figure it out, her guilt might get me into trouble. As for Sherman Richards, it is way too early to call him back. I’ll wait a few hours and then dial his number. In the mean time, Matthew should be able to tell me something about him.
I finished getting ready and headed down to Matthew’s Sanctum Santorum, in hopes that he could get me some information on Sherman before I have to call him. I expect that Sherman probably doesn’t get to his office until around 8:00am so that gives Matthew roughly two hours to dig up whatever he can. As expected Matt is sitting in front of his bank of computer screens. Based on the steam coming out of the mug he very recently made a cup of coffee. Matthew turned around in his executive chair as I walked through the door.
MATTHEW: “Eric what can I do for you?”
ENIGMA: “Good morning Matthew. I received a voicemail this morning from my mother she said a lawyer named Sherman Richards was looking for me. I need you look him up and tell me what you can about him.”
MATTHEW: “Sherman Richards, a lawyer? Where is he located? Do you have an address or phone number?”
ENIGMA:“Yes as a matter of fact I do. His number is 646-555-1056,based on the area code he is located somewhere in Brooklyn, New York, where exactly I don’t know.”
MATTHEW: “Not a problem, the number should be enough to get my going. I will let you know when I come up with anything.”
ENIGMA:”Thank you. I’ll be up on the 3rd floor in the training room. Ideally I would like to call this guy as soon as his office opens.”
Matthew looks over at one of his screens to see the time, and then looked back over to me and with a slight nod I knew that my request would not be a problem. In fact I expect Matthew to accomplish what I need him to in half the time I’ve allotted. That’s how good he is.
February 27, 2014 – 8:30AM EST
As expected Matthew came up to the 3rd floor while I was in the training room to review what he found out. Sherman Richards is in fact an Attorney in Brooklyn, New York who deals specifically with Wills and Trusts. He took the firm over for his father a few years ago but still practices law for some of the firms more high profile clients. Sherman is married father of 3 girls, and while that should keep him plenty busy he still finds time to step out on his wife routinely. The cliché of the lawyer sleeping with a paralegal or secretary rings true in Sherman’s case. My hope is that none of this information will be needed but it’s certainly nice to be able to go into a fight packing more than just my fists.
After a quick shower and an even quicker bite to eat I went up to my room and decided to give Sherman a call. The number he gave my mother was to his office, more specifically his secretary, a bubbly NY Law Student named Jamie. After a few seconds of casual chatting she patched me through to Sherman. Two rings and the man of the hour was on the phone.
SHERMAN: “Hello this is Sherman Richards.”
ENIGMA: “Mr. Richards, this is Eric Martin, I understand you are looking for me.”
SHERMAN: “Hello Mr. Martin, I am indeed. I am not sure if my secretary filled you in as to what exactly I do or why I wanted to talk to you.”
ENIGMA: “She did not.”
SHERMAN: “Well allow me to do so. I have been a practicing lawyer for 40+ years now, I the managing partner of this firm…”
ENIGMA: “Mr. Richards I apologize for the interruption but I am not in need of an Attorney, I assumed that your attempts to make contact with me were not because you were looking for a new client but rather to service a current one?”
SHERMAN: “Former client but yes you are correct. I sense that you are a busy man so allow me to get right down to brass tax.”
“Your father Thomas Martin was a client of ours for many years. I considered him a friend.”
ENIGMA: “I would imagine that the feeling was not mutual, Thomas did not have any friends that I am aware of.”
A short awkward silence occurs as Sherman seems to be a bit taken aback by my bluntness.
ENIGMA: “You were saying?”
SHERMAN: “Yes, sorry.”
“ Your father was a client of hours, we handled his Last Will and Testament, to which he left a very large portion of to you and some to your mother.”
ENIGMA: “Go on.”
SHERMAN: “Well your portion is in excess of 150 million dollars. Your mothers is again a much smaller portion but still fairly substantial.”
ENIGMA: “And what of his new wife and daughter?”
SHERMAN: “I’m sorry?”
ENIGMA: “I see you and Thomas were not as good of friends as you thought.”
“He remarried a few years ago, had himself a daughter as well.”
SHERMAN: “I see.”
“ Well she is not mentioned in his will. Only your mother Caroline and his surviving children, which at the time I assume was your sister Elizabeth and you.”
“Now you are saying he has another child from a second marriage?”
ENIGMA: “That’s correct.”
SHERMAN: “Do you know her name and where we can reach her?”
ENIGMA: “Well she is still in diapers so I would imagine you would need to speak to her mother. But yes I do have their address. “
“Am I to assume that with this knowledge that figure you rattled off to me a moment ago would now be cut in half?”
SHERMAN: “Assuming we can verify the child is in fact his daughter then I am afraid that you are correct. $150 million would become $75 million, still a very substantial amount.”
ENIGMA: “That it is. What do you need from me?”
SHERMAN: “Well the first thing would be the contact information for your father’s new wife.”
“The second thing would be for you to come by my office with two forms of identification and I will be able to go over in further detail what your father left to you as well as remit payment for the money he left you in addition to the assets such as any property or other business ventures.”
ENIGMA: “The second Mrs. Martin can be reached at 112813 Crown Drive.”
“Now as far as properties and business ventures, specifically what happens to the home and his company?”
SHERMAN: “Due to the sensitive nature of that I would prefer we discuss that face to face.”
ENIGMA: “And I would prefer Thomas Martin was not a shitbag but he was and here we are.”
“So please if you will kindly answer my question I would appreciate it.”
SHERMAN: “Well your father was a partner in the firm so he did not own it outright. His shares of the company, which was 33% would be divided up between your half sister and you.”
“As for the home..”
ENIGMA: “Let me stop you right there.”
“Here is what I want you to do with my 16.5% of his company. I want you to contact his other two partners and find out what they will pay for that share.”
“You can sell half to each of them or all of it to one of them. I don’t really care. Just get the most you can for it. You can be my proxy for that.”
“Once you have agreed on a sale I want you to set up a Trust Fund, the “Elizabeth Martin Victims of Sexual Assault Fund” and put the money in that.”
SHERMAN: “You will need to sign for all of this.”
ENIGMA: “I understand that. And I would be glad to do so.”
SHERMAN: “And for the home that your father’s second wife lives in?”
ENIGMA: “His wife has no claim to the house at all? Just her daughter and I?”
SHERMAN: “That is correct.”
“She can file for an injunction on her daughters behalf, which would result in the two of you having to come to terms with what would be done with the house.”
ENIGMA: “And in your opinion that would be her logical course of action?”
SHERMAN: “To avoid a lengthy dispute that could result in her and her daughter being removed from the home, yes, I suspect that is exactly what she would do.”
ENIGMA: “Very well.”
“I want you to forfeit my half of that home to his daughter.”
“I have a home, I don’t need another one and because of him I have plenty of money so a few hundred thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket.”
SHERMAN: “Ok. I can do that.”
“Again I will need you to sign all the documents to make this all legal.”
ENIGMA: “That’s fine. When?”
SHERMAN: “Well it may take some time to negotiate the buyout with your father’s partners.”
“The rest of this I can have done by the end of the week.”
ENIGMA: “Ok so here is what you do.”
“When I hang up the phone with you, you contact his partners and tell them they have until the 5:00pm on Tuesday of next week to figure out how they want to purchase my portion of the company.”
SHERMAN: “That may not be enough time.”
ENIGMA: “I know people like his partners, they will kill each other to get those shares, they will move as quickly as possible so make sure it gets done.”
“I will be at your office by 1pm next Friday to sign whatever papers I need to.”
“Is that understood?”
SHERMAN: “Yes it is.”
“I will see you then.”
ENIGMA: “Have a good day Sherman.”
I ended the call and then took a few moments to take in what had just happened. Thomas Martin ruined my life, ruined the life of my mother, though in retrospect she may have deserved it. He is the reason Elizabeth is no longer here. I am the reason he is no longer here and now, I will be getting over $75 million dollars for my trouble?
And who said God does not have a sense of humor?
Fade To Darkness.
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
~Umberto Eco
Former United States Champion
Former X-Treme Champion
Former Trios Tag Team Champions w/Sebastian Duke and Azrael Erebus
Former Ark/24-7 Champion x 2
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