Chapter 8 chapter eight

The first report Tyler Stanford saw of his father's death was on Chicago TV's business news station.He stared straight at the TV, as if fascinated, his heart pounding.On screen is footage of his father's yacht, the Blue Sky, with a newscaster saying: "...tragedy happened when the yacht was caught in a storm on his way to Corsica. Harry Stanford's bodyguard Dmitry Cummings Skye witnessed the incident, but unfortunately was unable to save his boss. Harry Stanford is the shrewdest man in finance...” Tyler sat there, watching the constantly switching scenes on the screen, and the past came to mind...

Late that night, he was woken up by shouts from outside.He was only fourteen years old that year.He listened silently for a few minutes to the roars outside the room, then moved quietly toward the stairs leading to the upper hall.Downstairs in the hall, his mother and father were arguing.His mother screamed at the top of her lungs, and he saw his father slap her. The picture on the TV changed to the Oval Office of the President of the White House.Harry Stanford shaking hands with President Reagan. "...as one of the pillars of the President's Financial Task Force, Harry Stanford has been an advisor to the President's..."

Once they were playing football in the backyard and his brother Woody kicked the ball over the edge of the house, and as he chased it to pick it up he heard his father talking on the other side of the hedge. "I love you, you know that." There he stopped.He was thrilled that his mother and father were no longer arguing.But then he heard Rosemary's voice from their governess: "You're married. I beg you, don't bother me." He suddenly felt a spasm in his stomach.He loved his mother, and he loved Rosemary.His father was a terrible stranger to him. The screen now flashes footage of Harry Stanford and Margaret Thatcher...President Mitterrand...Mikhail Gorbachev together.The announcer said: "The financial titan and the worker in the factory can relate to the leaders of the world."

Another time, as he was passing by the door of his father's office, he heard Rosemary's voice: "I'm leaving." Then he heard his father say, "I won't let you go. You need to be reasonable, Rosemary! This is the only thing you and I can..." "I won't listen to you, I'm already pregnant!" Then Rosemary disappeared. The TV picture changed again.The Stanford family stood in front of the church and watched as the coffin was carried into the hearse.Here's a previous news clip.The announcer was saying: "... Standing by the coffin are Harry Stanford's children... Mrs. Stanford's suicide was related to her failing health. According to the police investigation, Harry Stanford..."

In the middle of the night, his father woke him up. "Son, get up. I have some sad news for you." The fourteen-year-old boy began to tremble. "Something happened to your mother, Tyler." He is lying.It was his father who killed her.She committed suicide because of his father's relationship with Rosemary. The newspapers were full of reports of the incident.It was a scandal that shook the city of Boston.The popular tabloids also lost no time in making a big fuss.Stanford couldn't keep the news out of the kids.They suffer even more when they are with their classmates.In just twenty-four hours, they lost two of their dearest relatives.This is all caused by his father.

"I don't care if he's our father," Kendall said, sobbing. "I hate him!" "I hate him too!" "I hate him too!" They thought about running away from home, but they had nowhere to go.They decided to rise up and rebel. Taylor went to negotiate with him on behalf of the three brothers. "We want another father. We don't want you." Harry Stanford looked at him grimly and said, "I think we can make some arrangements." Three weeks later, they were sent to different boarding schools. A few years passed.The children rarely see their father.They only read about him in the newspaper, or saw him talking with beautiful women or some famous people on TV.The only time they were with him was what he called "opportunities" - chances to have a photo with him at Christmas or some other holiday to show what a committed father he was.Afterwards, they were each sent to different boarding schools and summer camps until the next "chance".

※※※ Sitting there, Tyler was suddenly fascinated by the footage on the TV.On the TV screen is a group of montage pictures of factories all over the world. "...this is one of the largest privately held industrial groups in the world. It was Harry Stanford who made this miracle. He's a legend... Now, what Wall Street pundits have in their minds is: the founder goes, then this What is the future of the family conglomerate? Harry Stanford has left three children, but it is not clear who will inherit the multi-billion dollar fortune Stanford left behind, or who will run the conglomerate... "

Tyler is six years old.He liked to wander about the great house and inspect the exciting rooms.The only thing he couldn't go in and see was his father's office.Tyler realized that an important meeting was taking place there.People who came to see my father came in and out.They were awe-inspiring figures in black dresses.This office, which Tyler could not enter, made Tyler want to inspect the room all the more. One day, Taylor decided to go in while his father was away.He was overwhelmed by the size of the room, and he stood there looking at the huge desk and the leather executive chair his father sat in.Someday I'll sit in that chair and look like my father.He approached the writing desk slowly and looked at it carefully. There were dozens of awe-inspiring documents on it.He walked around the desk and sat in his father's chair.It feels great.I'm getting pissed off now too!

"What are you doing there?" Tyler looked up, petrified.His father stood in the doorway, fuming. "Who told you you could sit behind that desk?" The little guy was trembling all over. "I... I just wanted to see what it's like to sit here?" His father came towards him like a gust of wind. "You'll never know what it's like! Never! Now get the hell out of here and stay outside!" Tyler ran upstairs crying.His mother came to his room, put her arms around him and said, "Don't cry, my dear, it will be all right." "No..." he sobbed. "He...he hates me."

"No. How could he hate you?" "I just sat in his chair." He still couldn't help crying.She hugged him tightly and said, "Taylor, when your father and I were married, he said he wanted me to be part of the company. He gave me a share. It was almost a family joke. I'm going to give you the share." , put it under your name. Aren’t you a part of the company now?” Taylor is now honored to be one of the one hundred shareholders of the Stanford conglomerate. When Harry Stanford learned about it, he sarcastically said to his wife: "What the hell do you think he can do with this one? Take over the company?"

※※※ Tyler turned off the TV and sat there, trying to convince himself that the news on the TV was true.He felt a deep sense of satisfaction.Traditionally, children are bent on success to please their fathers.Taylor was different.He desires success in order to destroy his father. When he was a child, he always dreamed that his father killed his mother, and that he was a judge to try the case.I sentence you to the electric chair!Sometimes the content of the dream changes.Taylor would have his father hanged, or poisoned, or shot.Those dreams have almost come true today. ※※※ Taylor was sent to a military academy in Mississippi, where he spent four years of hell.He hated the school discipline and rigid way of life there.During his first year at school, he had been contemplating suicide.The only thing holding him back from the idea was his determination not to give his father the pleasure.He killed my mother, he can't kill me. Tyler felt that his instructors seemed particularly harsh, which must have been his father's fault.Tyler's death won't let the school break him.He had to go home for the holidays, but seeing his father was getting harder and harder for him. His brother and sister also came back for the holidays, but there was no brother-sister bond between them.It was his father who ruined it.They are like strangers to each other, looking forward to the holidays being over so they can escape the family. Taylor knew that his father was a billionaire, but the allowances used by the three Taylor brothers and sisters were all inherited from their mother.Tyler wondered if he had a share in the family fortune.He believed that someone must be deceiving their brothers and sisters now.I'm going to get a lawyer, but that's definitely out of the question.Then it occurred to him, I'm going to be a lawyer myself. When Taylor's father learned of his plans, he said, "You said you were going to be a lawyer? I guess you thought I was going to get you a job in the Stanford conglomerate. Stop dreaming, I'm not going to let you get any closer." !" ※※※ Taylor could have opened in Boston after law school, and because of his family name, he would have been welcomed on the boards of major corporations, but he didn't want to take any credit from his father. He decided to open a law firm in Chicago.In the early days of opening, business was very sluggish.He is unwilling to do business under the banner of the Stanford family, so he has very few clients.Chicago politics was run by hardcore groups, and he quickly understood that it would be very beneficial for a young lawyer to join the very influential core group, the Cook County Bar Association.He found a job at an area law firm.With his shrewdness and diligence, it didn't take long for him to become a cash cow for a firm.He became the public prosecutor for all kinds of criminal villains.His grades were outstanding, and his conviction record was among the best. Soon he was promoted, and finally he got his wish.He was appointed to the Cook County Circuit Court.He had thought that his father would be proud of him in the end.He was wrong. "Just you, the circuit judge? For God's sake, you're not going to be the referee at the Bake-Off." ※※※ Judge Taylor is not tall, with a slightly fat body, sharp eyes, and not talkative.He had none of his father's charm.His only attractive feature was his deep, rich voice, which was even more pleasant when he pronounced cases. Tyler is a socially unsociable guy who likes to keep his thoughts in his stomach.He was forty, but looked much older than his years.He's glad he doesn't have a sense of humor.Too much frivolity can darken life.His only hobby is playing chess, and every week he goes to a local club to kill a game.He always wins. Tyler Stanford was an excellent judge, and his colleagues respected him very much and often asked him for advice.Few people knew that he was a member of the Stanford family, and he never mentioned his father's name to others. Judge Taylor's office is in the Criminal Court Building at 26 California Avenue.This is a fourteen-story stone structure building with a long stone step in front of the door.This area is a dangerous area, so there is a sign in front of the door, which reads: It was here that Taylor worked day in and day out, hearing all kinds of cases: robbery, theft, rape, shooting, drug trafficking and murder.He has always been stern and impartial in his sentences. People call him "the hanging judge".A crime is a crime and must be punished by the law.In the back of his mind was always buried his father. Little is known about Tyler Stanford's private life by his peers.All they knew was that he was divorced from one unhappy marriage and lived alone in a three-bedroom suite in a Georgian building on Kimbark Street in Hyde Park.This area is surrounded by classical buildings, because Hyde Park miraculously survived the fire that razed Chicago to the ground in 1871.He had few friends in this part of the world, and his neighbors knew nothing of him.He has a butler who comes in two or three times a week, but Taylor does the shopping himself.He was a methodical man, with a very regular life.On Sundays he always went to Harper's Market, a small strip mall not far from his house, or to Mr. Key's fine food emporium, or to Medici's on Fifty-seventh Street. ※※※ At some formal gatherings, he always saw his colleagues with their wives.Colleagues felt that he was a little lonely, and offered to introduce him to girlfriends or invite him to dinner, but he always declined. "I was busy that night." His night life seemed to be full, but they had no idea what he was up to. "Taylor was not interested in anything but the law," one of his colleagues explained to his wife. "He's not interested in dating women either. Heard he had a horrible marriage." He is right. After the divorce, Taylor secretly vowed that he would never have an affair with his children again.Then he meets Lee and everything changes suddenly.Lee is beautiful, sexy, and gentle.Lee is a man Taylor is willing to spend his life with.Taylor loves Lee, but how could Lee fall in love with him?Lee was an accomplished model and had several dozen suitors, most of whom were wealthy.Lee likes to go after high-end things. Taylor had felt hopeless in the matter.He competed with others and couldn't win Li's affection.But overnight, everything changed because of his father's death.He never dreamed that he would become a rich man. Now he could give Lee the whole world. Taylor walked into the office of the chief justice of the court. "Keith, I'm afraid I'm going to Boston for a few days. I wonder if you can arrange for someone to take my case." "Sure. I'll arrange it," Keith said. "I've heard about your father, Tyler. I'm sorry. You must have been very close to him." Taylor said nothing. ※※※ That afternoon Judge Tyler Stanford left for Boston.On the plane, he thought again of something his father had said to him on that dreadful day: "I know your dirty little tricks."