“Meeting with investors is tiring,” Cael murmured, sitting in his chair, after the person they had been meeting with walked out. None of the members had said that they were giving them their support, and yet his mom seemed full of energy, as if the day had only started.
“You have been a good sport and on your best behaviour all day; just one more person and we can call it a day,” Abigail replied, turning to him and tapping his thighs gently.
“Can’t we just call it a day now?” He groaned, feeling tired. All he had done since lunch was sucking it up to different old bald men who did not seem interested in helping him anyway. He wondered how long he had to continue doing that with them.
“As I said, this is really important, and it took me so much to get to agree to see us under such short notice; the best you can do here is just do the right thing,” Abigail murmured, losing her patience. After what had happened, she was not ready to allow all of these men to trample over her for no reason. She had been doing everything for Cael and his life, and now he refused to get this done by himself.
“We are the boss, so they should listen to us and do our bidding,” Cael said as if he did not know how the world worked.
“In as much as you consider yourself the boss, the king, you are still the boss, and so they cannot do your bidding; they cannot come and go as you command until you make yourself the boss. So while I am being on my best behaviour, you will probably get your act together and sit probably so we can have this last meeting,” she said through gritted teeth and then took a long breath after.
“But mom…”
“You act like I am the enemy when all of this I have ever done was because of you.”
“Because of me?” Cael scoffed, sitting upright and holding his cup in his hand, shaking the contents. “You have done all of this for me?”
“I just want you to have a secure future. What is so wrong about a mother doing that?”
“Nothing, it is just that a mother should not think she had the right to pick a son’s bride and force them to get married, she should also not think that she would make him chairman even when he does not want to be chairman.”
“You do not want to be the chairman?” Abigail scoffed.
“Never in my life have I ever thought that I should do that; it has always been your dream,” Cael said before taking a sip of the water.
“And that is because I know what is best for you.”
“More like you want to love your dream through me. It was all fun and games but now it is getting serious and I am not sure I can handle it again.”
“Of course typical Cael, he would try to bail out of the situation as soon as it became too tough to handle.”
“I am not bailing out; I am just finally telling you what I should have had years ago,” Cael said, dropping the cup to the table.
“You want to walk away from this after how much I have invested in trying to get you here? Impossible. I did all of that work to make you the chairman so you have to become the chairman.”
“It is still about you; this has never been about me for once. You always just wanted to shine through your son and you have been doing it for years now. Your son is not smart enough to think about these things. Maybe you should have had a son like Cade so you would have been the mother to the chairman as you always wanted.”
“So what are you saying right now?” Abigail did not mind him lashing out. It was probably the stress getting to him, and he would be back to his usual self after some rest. “Maybe you should sit out this last one. I would take care of it but tomorrow we meet more investors and you have to come,” she said before he could say anything in response.
“You are not even listening to me.”
“Can we have this conversation at home?” Abigail said, raising her head to see the man they had been waiting for walk towards him. “Since you are here already, there is no need for you to leave anymore; let us just talk with him for now and continue our conversation later,” she added through gritted teeth.
“Hello, Mr. Johnson,” she said, standing up and turning to the man who stopped at their table.
“I am not supposed to be seen with you, so I would really appreciate it if you could make this brief,” Johnson said, sitting down as he ignored her stretched-out hand. She curled her hand into a ball and tipped it to the side of her body as she swallowed the lump in her throat and sat down.
“What do you mean that you are not supposed to be seen with me?”
“Mrs. Vale, it seems like you underestimated what the chairman can do,” he said, laughing and then turning his head to the side. “How can you ever think of something in this city and not think that he would catch up within the day? He basically runs this city, and everyone wants to be on the winning side.”
“The only reason he runs the city is because we let him if we can stand our ground.”
“And go against him?” Johnson asked, wondering how ridiculous Abigail was going to be. “You want me to support Cael, so there must be something you are willing to offer me.” Even though he was not going to take the offer, he still wanted to know what it was like. “I mean, Mr. Cael here is all alone, unlike the chairman’s choice.”
“Cael would be single for much longer anyway. He is set to get married as well,” Abigail said. She has not found the need to mention the wedding in front of anyone since she has been meeting people.
“That might give you an edge too. Is he marrying anyone from the East? Maybe the daughter of one of the oil tycoons in the world? Maybe someone more influential than himself?” Johnson asked. He seemed to be leaning into their idea. If they won, he would hate to be on Cade’s side and lose with him, knowing that Abigail wanted to cut off all who supported the opposing party.
“No, he is getting married to the second daughter of the Gates family.”
“The second daughter and not the first? Even the first daughter can never hold a candle to the Frost family,” he said, standing up.
“Are you going to have something to eat or drink?” She asked, feeling afraid that she was probably losing so badly at this time.
“I am good. I have another meeting to attend to,” he said as he stumbled out of the chair and out of the room.
“See what I am saying? This is a lost cause.”