Novel Bin Chapter 98 Eddie Roft Part 2
Eddie\'s brother, who had never even drunk or smoked a cigarette in his life, supposedly died of an overdose, and after finding some of the things his brother had been working on, Eddie was infuriated.
But, seeking to get justice for his brother and shed light on all that his brother had discovered about some powerful figures and corporations that were in league with large criminal organisations, he worked day and night to continue his brother\'s work.
However, the law failed him and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn\'t achieve or prove anything as he simply didn\'t have the backing to make an impact, and was shunned everywhere he went.
And not long after he started pushing some powerful people\'s buttons, all the offers he received from the largest law firms were retracted, which was the nudge he needed to push him over the edge.
He lost everything and very quickly struggled to spend time sober, to the point that he believed he was even a threat to his fiance and daughter.
Experiencing homelessness and rock bottom, a year had passed since then, and Eddie was living out of the small office that his brother kept for personal use.
He couldn\'t bring himself to close the office or open it either, as it was where he remembered watching his brother starting out his career as a lawyer for the people.
Eddie also couldn\'t bring himself to face his pregnant fiance at the time, who should have given birth a few months ago.
And so he worked at a convenience store to earn just about enough to eat and drink away the night.
It was a sad life and every day of living was painful, but he also couldn\'t bring himself to kill himself, not wanting to give up and do as his mother did, which he hated her for.
But now that Xavier had shown up, everything that he was trying to forget swarmed his mind all at once.
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"You\'re right man. What\'s the point of even living?" Eddie stated after a while of silence, with all that Xavier had said repeating in his mind, before suddenly pulling a knife out of his desk drawer.
Instinctively, Xavier backed away as soon as he pulled out the knife, but then quickly bolted over to him.
"Don\'t!"
Eddie closed his eyes and decided that it was best to just end it.
That way, he wouldn\'t have to suffer anymore.
\'I understand you, mother,\' he thought to himself as he went to slit his throat, tired of living.
However, he didn\'t end up cutting his neck and Xavier managed to catch the blade that cut deeply into his hand, which he had barely managed to do.
If he had reacted even a split second later, he would have been too late, and it seemed as though Eddie had been considering suicide for a while.
He already had the knife prepared in his desk drawer, and it was extremely sharp, so would have granted him a swift death.
Despite that, Xavier didn\'t let go of the knife and, with his other hand, slapped Eddie so hard that it knocked him off his chair.
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Blood was pouring out of Xavier\'s cut hand, and he quickly took his shirt off before tying it tightly around his hand to try and stop the bleeding.
Meanwhile, Eddie was dazed and confused on the ground after his suicide attempt had failed.
And he had been slapped in the face so hard that his ears were ringing.
"You really are a fucking idiot. If killing yourself really solved everything, I would have done that years ago, you asshole!" Xavier yelled as he lifted Eddie off the ground and slammed him into the wall.
"Are you listening? How could you even consider leaving your fiance and daughter alone after experiencing what it is like to be alone?!" Xavier yelled before punching Eddie in the gut.
Eddie let out a gasp as he clutched at his stomach, but immediately after he was kneed in the face by Xavier, who, despite holding back, was landing some powerful blows.
"I might as well kill you myself to let out some frustrations. I guess I\'ve already attempted murder once anyway!" he shouted before lifting Eddie back up and grabbing his face.
"Look at me, asshole!"
Xavier looked at Eddie directly into his eyes and Eddie saw a bright fire in Xavier\'s eyes that reminded him of his brother when he started out as a lawyer, but also saw deep pain.
"Do you know how it feels to know that you attempted to kill your own father that used to beat your mother into a pulp and then do the same to you?"
"And the worst part is I didn\'t and still don\'t feel bad about it and wished he truly died that day when I stabbed him in the face. And even now, I think about killing him every time my memories of him come up."
"Do you know what it\'s like to have a mentally unstable mother and watch her continue to be abused by the cruel world and be helpless to do anything?"
"Do you know what it\'s like to be shot, stabbed, and beaten?"
Throwing Eddie onto the ground, Xavier\'s heart was beating rapidly, and he never expected his exchange with him to become so heated and emotional.
Things went dark very quickly, but Xavier still didn\'t want to give up on him.
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"The point is that I understand you to an extent and want to give you another chance, Eddie," Xavier stated after calming down, but he was unsure whether his words were getting to the broken man.
He had been barely keeping it together, and it seemed as though Xavier had pushed him past his tipping point.
But everyone must face their own harsh reality and keep moving if they want to ever do anything with themselves in their lives.
"I have formed a gang. Yes, a gang. And before you think to yourself that we are exactly what your brother fought to get rid of, we are not. I brought people just like me and you together. People with something to chase in life and that have the potential to form the greatest power that can overcome any laws and rival any other group out there."
"And, even if you don\'t believe that we aren\'t a bad gang, then we\'d still do you a favour. If you believe in us and our plans for the future, then we might be able to get back at those that were responsible for your brother\'s death. It\'s clear that he was killed and we have someone that is capable of digging out information, the same way that we did a background check on you."
"But if you don\'t want to join either way, then that\'s fine. Hell, even if you want to kill yourself, go for it. Here\'s the knife," Xavier said, before stabbing the bloodied knife into his desk.
"All that I have left to say to you is think about your daughter, your fiance and yourself. Are you happy with how you are and what you\'ve achieved? And if you aren\'t, then make a change and stop being such a wimp."
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Taking a deep breath, Xavier looked at Eddie who, after being beaten and yelled at, was lifeless and hadn\'t moved an inch.
"There\'s no shame in being weak, poor, or anything that you might not like about yourself. However, there is shame in remaining that way when you have the opportunity to change your life for the better."
After saying that, Xavier left a couple hundred dollars on his desk, which was some of the last money that he had, as well as his phone number, before turning to leave.
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Taking one of Eddie\'s t-shirts that were in a pile in the corner of the office, Xavier put it on and left while saying to himself, "I hope he can find himself. Even if he doesn\'t plan on joining us, it\'ll be sad to see him go so early and give up on himself."
And after that deep exchange that had happened so quickly, Xavier was done scouting for the day and also needed to get his hand stitched up, so he headed to Achara\'s dojo.
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He had spoken to so many people from all sorts of different backgrounds and all having different driving factors, but Eddie was the first to be able to bring such emotion out of him, as he reminded him of a younger version of himself.
Despite being quite a lot younger than Eddie, Xavier saw his young self in him, the self that had given up on life and no longer even reacted to being beaten by his drunkard father or cared about anything.
However, he managed to break out of that mindset and focused on what he did have to cherish, which was his mother, and that was when he was able to pluck up the courage to start fighting for what he loved and for himself.
Which then become his biggest driving factor in life and caused him to mature at a very young age, to support his mother that had struggled to move on from her traumatic experiences.
But that also didn\'t allow Xavier to ever take the time to actually deal with his own trauma properly, and even with all the external help and support he received, he tried to handle everything alone.
And there\'s a big reason why he was like that.
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A father is supposed to be the man you can rely on for anything and look up to, but not only did his father not live up to that, he completely abused him and caused Xavier to develop a complex.
One that made him want to take everything on himself and never have to rely on anyone else, wanting to become the person that people could rely on.
However, he found that he was slowly managing to do so after forming the Outlaw Gang, which was made up of people he came to trust and enjoy the company of.
All he could do now was hope that Eddie could do the same...