A FEW DAYS TO THE WEDDING
“I have something to report,” Paul said, coming into Charles’s office. He had been working in the background to make sure that Aigail and Cael’s plan did not work. He knew that they had been so busy with the board meeting, and he had to work too. He was not going to sit down and assume that since he was the chairman, everyone was supposed to be automatically loyal to him.
He was meeting with all of the board members and directors while trying to know their stand on the matter; for most of them, they kept trying to play both sides and see which side would favour them. Charles lowered the glasses from his face and dropped them so they dangled by a rope on his neck.
The entire company was so tense that even a child could tell that something was up. The staff were trying their best to be careful not to choose sides so they did not find themselves jobless after the board meeting. Everyone was walking on eggshells since the chairman was no longer working from home like he had been doing all year.
“Report it,” Charles said.
“Your grandson seems to be planning a wedding.”
“A wedding?” Charles asked, swirling the chair around.
“Yes, sir, a wedding,” Paul responded. He happened to know someone who was working for the planner, and she excitedly told him that she was working on a wedding for a top official, and he forced it out of her because he had to know in case it affected him, and very much enough he was right. “To hold on Saturday”
“This Saturday?” Charles asked surprised. He had to say that Abigail had really grown; she was able to pull something like this without him finding out until it was too late to reverse. She had kept him so preoccupied with the board meeting that she was busy trying to help him forge a relationship.
Charles burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter that stunned Paul. When he heard the news,, he rushed here to tell the man, but he seemed amused by the news and not worried that Cael and Aihgail might be closer to their goal than they think. “Who is the bride?”
“The second daughter of the Gates family.”
“Huh, I see,” Charles said, nodding as the laughter died down.
“Between the Gtes and the Frost family, which do you think the board would think is a better advantage for the future chairman to have?”
“The Frost family,” Paul answered.
“Then let them go ahead with the wedding,” Charles said.
“But…”
“You want me to stop them?” he asked, his eyebrow going up.
“I do not think we should be allowing him to get married before the board meeting; if we do that, he can have an advantage,” Paul said, and he nodded.
“Let us say we want to stop the wedding, can we?” Charles asked.
“We might be unable to do that.”
“And why is that?”
“Because they made all of the vendors sign an NDA, and we are not supposed to be aware that the wedding preparations are going on until Friday evening,” Paul explained.
“And you still want me to stop the wedding?” Charles asked, wondering if this man standing in front of him had all the screws still intact in his brain. “How do you want me to do that? How can I do that? Do I, because of a small matter like this, allow one of the vendors to face a lawsuit?” Charles asked.
Paul could not understand if Charles was worried about the vendors as he spoke; he had known him for years, and Charles never ever thought about others when he was doing his work. His goal, as always, was to make sure that his agenda was achieved regardless of what happened in the process.
“I have to ask, sir.”
“If you are curious, you must know,” Charles said, gesturing for him.
Paul cleared his throat and shifted forward so his body was touching the table. “Are you not worried that Abigail and Cael would take over with the way he was moving?”
“Worried? Who am I?” he asked, and Paul shook his head. “Who am I?” he asked again as he was expecting an answer.
“Charles Vale”
“That is right, and can you ever imagine that I would let my company go into the hands of those I do not trust?” he asked, and Paul shook his head again.
“You seem too calm; it seems like you have a plan that I do not know about.”
“A plan? Do I need a plan to take care of my company? I would not stoop low to the likes of Abigail and begin to plot like a child.”
Paul hoped for the sake of Cade, who was supposed to take over the company, that his grandfather’s pride and overconfidence were not going to be his downfall. He wished Charles had listened to him when Cade had first married; he told him to appoint Cade immediately so there were no problems, but Charles had insisted on giving Cade a family of his own. He wanted him to have a family because it is extremely lonely to be a chairman and not have a family to fall back on.
“I hope that your confidence…”
“Paul, trust me, I must have a secret card to be this confident.”
“A secret card?”
“The one that is going to put Abigail behind bars and then make sure that Cael does not think of trying to climb up again.”
“Okay, sir,” Paul had learnt to trust this old man no matter how afraid he got into situations like this. He was not going to stand back and watch Cael take over the company; he knew that all Abigail wanted was power, and he could not place a finger on the reason, but she was not the fit for him at all.
“If any other thing comes up, make sure to report it to me immediately.”
“Yes sir”
Charles watched Paul walk away and then turned to his phone. He pushed his glass back on his face and typed on his phone. He reread the message a number of times before hitting send.
Marie, I think it is time for you to come back.