The Last Option
Chapter Sixty-Five: SF Goldcorp

To avoid being seen by Rebecca, who did not work like her friend Bernadette, Bernard preferred to stay all morning in his Armani hotel room. He hadn't had time to detail it and was surprised with all the comforts he had. Although it was the smallest room, it seemed like one of the largest deluxe ones.

The room had a private terrace from which a large part of the city could be seen. Bernard sat on the furniture in it and began to enjoy the view. He thought about what Bernadette had said the night before about what he could do with money and convinced himself that it truly gave great satisfaction to those who had it. He thought that everyone who worked hard to have it deserved everything it could offer them, like his late employer Nathan Hicks and even his lawyer Phil Wilcox, but Rebecca didn't; she didn't deserve to enjoy the money from her family's company since she never worked for it. It was Nathan who made the money and it was he who deserved to be in that luxurious city at that moment and not turned to ashes in the family mausoleum like a victim of his sister's and cousin's greed.

He felt indignation and anger again for everything that had happened. Nathan, his wife Norma and even Margaret were not in this world now and will never be able to enjoy what they most longed for; Nathan and Norma of his beautiful son little Nathan, and Margaret of a home of her own and perhaps of the family she would have formed alongside him.

It was unfair. Very unfair. He gritted his teeth in anger and couldn't help but feel sad again as well. He became convinced again that what he was doing was necessary to at least do justice to the baby who was now in New York with Camila, Thomas and Laura, and to possess everything that rightfully belonged to him.

He also thought of Camila, that woman with whom he was beginning a new sentimental relationship, but whom he would surely hurt by doing what he hoped to do with Rebecca Hicks. A sweet and tender girl like her didn't deserve to fall in love with someone capable of being with another woman for revenge. He felt like a bad person thinking that.

But again and despite that, he hoped that she would forgive him when she found out what he had done. He hope she understand that it was all because of little Nathan and partly because of Margaret.

Without intending to, he thought again whether or not he should continue his crusade for justice, that perhaps the best thing would be to leave everything as it was and dedicate himself to raising little Nathan, forgetting where that baby came from and what he had a right to, but once again he convinced that he had to continue. He could not allow his efforts and his friends' efforts to be lost, and above all, that Louis Randall and Rebecca Hicks would take over everything Nathan had fought for all his life: the Southern Hilltop Gold.

His thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock on the bedroom door. It was the waiter who brought his breakfast, preferring to eat there rather than in the hotel restaurant to avoid going out in the morning. But then he thought that Rebecca Hicks might think of asking for him at the reception to verify if he had actually left for his supposed meeting and thus verify that he really was who he said he was, deciding to go out again and visit a business center for at least less knowing what it feels like to be among executives and business people, even if he don't rub shoulders with them. He consulted a map of the city and realized that the Dubai International Financial Center was located nearby and decided to go there.

When he was ready, he took a taxi and half an hour later he was there, in front of the Emirates Towers, contemplating the magnificent structure and its surroundings. He realized that there were also several hotels near there, but due to his ignorance, he did not stay in any of them. An experienced businessman would have stayed somewhere close to where his meetings would take place. Luckily and for being as it is, Rebecca Hicks did not realize that important detail. Absently he walked through the entrances to the buildings and entering each one of them he reviewed the billboards with the companies and businesses that housed each one. Of course, he didn't recognize most of the names written there and thought they must be major global corporations just by being there. Perhaps most of them were linked to the oil business because of the region where they were located, and they immediately thought that he could invent some kind of merger between their imaginary company, which he realized he hadn't invented a name for yet, and an oil company in order to venture into the area, but immediately gave up because the difference between both types of businesses would be too great.

He reviewed the names one by one again and saw that at least three had the word "mining" in them, so he quickly made crosswords but none of the results convinced him. He opted to use the initials of his last name and Margaret's maiden name and added the word "Goldcorp" to it, ultimately obtaining what would henceforth be his company name: SF Goldcorp. "S" for Sullivan, and "F" for Foxworth. A rather simple but convincing name.

Satisfied with his achievement, he continued visiting and seeing the rest of the buildings in the area; then arriving at a place that caught his attention, it looked like some kind of boulevard. He walked a few meters and realized that it was indeed a boulevard, with the name written in Arabic and English on a plaque on one side: Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard. He decided to enter to see the shops that made it up, being of a variety ranging from furniture stores, gifts, decorations, clothing and restaurants or cafeterias. It was precisely in front of one of those restaurants where he could see, between the outdoor tables arranged in the open air, a statue of a horse, apparently life-size, apparently made of white marble. Everything was just unique He reflected for a few moments, and thought that perhaps he was wrong, since in New York he had not had much time to delve into the luxurious and expensive world where Nathan Hicks and his wife lived. In one of the gift shops he saw something in the window that strongly caught his attention, he entered and fortunately the seller spoke English; a few minutes later, he came out with the perfect gift for Phil, with which he thought to thank him for all his help: a gold tie clip, which he combined with some gold yokes for shirts.

Despite the fact that he had bought them with Phil's own money, he thought it would be a nice touch for him, so as not to waste the opportunity to bring him something from that part of the world, to which he might or might not go in the future.

He thought he should buy something for Camila, whom he was already beginning to miss, as well as little Nathan, but he decided he wouldn't, lest he compromise the plan with Rebecca if she found out he had someone in his life who he loved enough to give her something made of gold.

He kept looking at the stores for the rest of the morning and before he realized it was already noon. He couldn't believe that time had passed so quickly and he still hadn't finished seeing everything in the financial center. It was time for him to see the girls again and he decided to go back to the hotel to get ready.