TWO YEARS LATER
“Welcome young master, the chairman is in the study downstairs” Lisa said as Cade walked into the house.
“Thank you… erm..” Cade lingered as he waited for the young girl to remind him of her name.
“It is Lisa,” she said. She was used to it already, the entire family was basically the same, amongst them all only Cade even tried his best to remember the names of the staff. The rest only referred to them in condescending manners.
Most times they were not even offended, they probably had better things to think about than to be thinking about the name of a house staff. Cade nodded and said. “Thank you, Lisa, please have someone prepare my room”
“Would you be staying here?” Lisa replied with visible fear in her eyes.
“Yes, is there anything wrong?” Cade asked confused why a house staff would show so much fear that he was finally coming home after three months. He had been living in the penthouse at the headquarters building all this while and had just come back from a business trip.
Lisa wished she could tell him that since he decided to move out and live at the company the house had been relatively peaceful. Unlike his brother and cousins, he was the only reasonable and responsible one among them all but he still came with his own trouble.
He picked on house staff so easily, maybe that was why he tried his best to always learn their names. She sighed knowing that their time of peace in the house was basically over, three months was enough for them to recover from a month of him living in the house.
“Of course, they would be exhausted having you around,” Cael said coming in.
Of all the things the staff feared, Cade and Cael having a confrontational session between themselves was the scariest of them all. Cade was far more vocal and expressive but no one could deny that Cael was always the one who started whatever it was they argued about.
“Is that true?” Cade asked turning to face Lisa. She choked on air and began to cough so rapidly. Did these men just bring her to the middle of their argument?
“No sir” she let out in a tiny mouse-like voice before hurrying out of the room leaving her cleaning equipment there and rushing out of the house entirely. As soon as she was out of hearing shot of them both, she bent down hands on her knees as she tried to steady her breathing, if anything she was glad that she was able to leave them with their childish arguments.
“And you expect the house staff to tell you that you are a pain in the ass?” Cael came in blocking the way stopping Cade from moving out of the room.
“I did not come here for you, so if you could get out of the door frame that would be much appreciated” Cade said trying his best to control his anger.
“Can’t a brother greet his younger brother after not seeing him for almost four months” Cael responded. Cade could sense that he was about to start something and he was heavily jet-lagged he could not begin to have the back and forth with him at the moment.
“Grandfather called for me, so I have to get going now” Cade said pushing his brother's arms out of the way and squeezing his way through. As soon as he was out of the way, he pushed down on his shirt to take off the crease from it and then began to walk away.
Cael pushed himself out of the room and went to begin to walk side by side with Cade. “Grandfather called you home didn't he?” Cael asked.
“Yes, he did” Cade responded hoping that answering him would get him off his tail for a moment.
“I hope you would be wise and reject his offer” Cael said causing Cade’s footsteps to falter and stop abruptly.
“It would not be my place to reject his offer, moreover if he thinks you are incompetent then that's on you” Cade said using a finger to touch his chest lightly.
“Get your hands off me” Cael said aggressively brushing his hands off his body. “Incompetence? He is looking for a puppet”
“If you were competent enough there would be no problem with being a puppet” Cade said before walking away.
AT THE DINNER TABLE
“You finally decided to come home,” Abigail said with a frown on her face.
“Someone would think I were your enemy with that frown on your face” Cade said dropping the spoon in his hands to his place before cleaning the corners of his mouth with the napkin.
“I am delighted to see you” Abigail continued.
“Stop it” Charles said dismissing it before it became a big issue between the mother and son, the way Abigail treated Cade one would think he was an illegitimate child. She had always favoured her first son over him and it showed so bad, maybe she did not want to hide it in the first place.
“I have an announcement and it is good news” Charles began after the long silence, he did not read the room and neither did he bother to read it either, he was the chairman and he was going to do whatever he wanted to do. Everyone turned to him with rapt attention.
“I called Cade home for this very important announcement, six months ago, I called Cael, Caleb, Cody and Chase one month apart respectively and asked them to follow my terms to become the next chairman but each of them turned down my term claiming that they have the things they want to do and so with that, I assume that they have given up their rights to inheritance” he took a deep breath and watched the faces of the people next to him.
They all had frowns on their faces, they were not happy with the development, seeing that Cade was sitting at the table with them meant he had agreed to his term and would potentially become the next chairman.
“Cade however has agreed to my terms and that means that he will become the next chairman of Vale Enterprises as soon as he completes the task I will write down his name in my will. The only reason I thought to tell you all about this is because so decided to give you a little respect by hearing it from me and not from the press.
Everyone at the table was angered but they could not show it, Charles had the final say in matters like this.
“Let’s eat”
“I do hope you are happy, you finally found a way to drag me down to this hell” Ophelia said as she sat into the chair at the dining table.“Remember the deal we made before you left to study abroad?” Carter asked ignoring his daughter. “That was not a deal, you wanted to get rid of me because I was embarrassing you,” she said air quoting the last two words and tilting her head to the side “So you made me withdraw from school here and go there to start over just because of your reputation” her voice carried spite and she was not hiding it. “I told you that you would have to do anything I asked as long as I did not pry into your life during your stay in school and I think I did a good job at keeping the end of my bargain, now it's your turn to do the needful” Carter said taking his cup and siping the water in it. “You are forcing this on me, this is against human rights,” Ophelia said, she had agreed when her father had forced her but now that she had to do it she was feeling a litt
“What?”“What?”“Is the almighty Daddy’s puppet not going to tell me to listen to Daddy this time around?” Ophelia asked and he shifted to the edge of his seat. “What do you mean?” he asked before adding. “What do you daddy’s puppet?”“Haven't you always advised me to do things my dad wants me to?” she asked and he looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face. “I have always known”“And yet you still did them?”“Yeah because you asked and you are my friend so I did not think you would ever want me to be hurt soooo…” she trailed off. “You knew and you still them? That is shocking considering that you are so independent”“Hey, I never wanted to be independent, I was forced to become one” she said brushing her hair away from her face. “You don't think I should get married though why?”“I believe you should get married to the one you love, I think marriage is a big deal, I can't imagine living in the same house as someone who you don't like” “Then I guess the fortune of the Fros
Ophelia looked at this man, she remembered him all too well, she even remembered him from just seeing his name, he was the man she had spent the night passionately with when she was in her third year at college. She could never forget him no matter how hard she tried, she had always hated that he found a way to pop into her memories once in a while. She blinked her eyes at him multiple times, how did he remember her so well even up to her name? When she woke up that morning she had run away from the room before he could wake up and tried her best to forget about him.She never thought she would have a reason to ever encounter him ever again, considering the fact that she would be leaving the city behind anyway. For her own sanity, she never went back to that club in case she ran into him. How shameful it was for her that a girl who ran her mouth so much was a virgin. She did not think that her father's first choice for her would be this man sitting across from her, she did not know
“Your terms are?” Cade asked as they dug into the meal in front of them. “You want me to tell you now?”“Is anything wrong with now?” he asked looking around, maybe she thought the place was not good enough to discuss those kinds of matters. “Well, it seems rushed, what is the reason you are rushing?” “I have to get married before I turn twenty-five in August to take over the company or else my cousin or brother might be the one to inherit it”“And you are so interested in the company why?”“Do you know how much effort I have put into the company? I slept in the penthouse at work for three months, how can I let someone else take over? I studied business administration instead of engineering as I originally wanted because my grandfather wanted me to. Should I throw it all away after coming this far?”“Of course not, I can understand, I am sitting here now because my father already has everything planned out for my life” she sighed before taking a bite.”Maybe rich people do not have
Of course, the papers read, IS THE TROUBLESOME MS FROST BACK IN THE CITY FOR MORE TROUBLE. One of the reporters had caught wind that she was around and now her name was swimming in the news. She smiled at her phone as she thought to herself. ‘I still got it’ Maybe her father was the one who put the reporter on her tail but the fact that all the other reporters were eager to write on her showed just how influential her family was. Many of the reports were speculating that Cade and her were together and she knew from experience that now was the best time for her to jump on the news and make it work to their benefit. “Hello” “You finally picked,” Ophelia said.“Oh sorry about that i do not like to take personal calls during work hours” Cade replied. She had been calling so much he had no choice but to pick up and know what she wanted. When they had exchanged contacts he did not know she would reach out so easily.“And I am not really interested in calling you at all but you see this s
“You are wearing that to the movies?” Cade asked and she looked down at her dress and back at him. She could not deny that she was being a bit extra just to see the movies but she was always extra so there was nothing wrong with it.“What is wrong with what I am wearing?” she asked crossing her arms across her chest and leaning on one leg. “Too glamorous, are we attending a party or an event? Are you trying to outshine the bride?” he asked leaning on the sports car behind him. He had taken time off work earlier than usual, the staff watched in awe as he walked away early from work. They were both sacred and joyful, afraid that it was a test and joyful that for the first time in six months since he took over the office they got to go home early. He had gone home and changed out of his usual day-to-day suit and thrown on a t-shirt and chinos. Ophelia could not deny that he looked good in those casual clothes. “So if I dressed like this I would outshine the bride? These brides should
Ophelia was graceful in her dress and Cade could not deny it so he was almost jumping on his toes, pointing his hands in her face and laughing his ass off when she said her legs hurt. “I told you to wear something comfortable,” he said as he could not help himself. “I did not know that I would need to go around a bookstore trying to educate a grown man on how to treat a woman, the way a woman wants to be treated” she sighed. “Wait here then” he said pointing to the bench behind them. “Here?”“Yes”“Why?”“You ask a lot of questions and I will be back soon” he said turning on his heels and walking away. She watched him go and her eyes darted to a group of schoolgirls giggling in the corner. Their eyes turned to face her and they had the most offended look on their face. She knew they were schoolgirls because they were still in uniform. “If you have a beef to pick with me don’t be a coward and go for it” Ophelia said making the girls turn to her. If those girls made a scene here sh
“What was that all about?”“Market survey?”“Market survey? He asked as his voice rose. “Yeah, I wanted to know what they thought about us together”“And why were you promising to buy them lunch?”“Because they made me happy,” Ophelia said. “Where did you go?” she suddenly remembered that the reason she got into a mini squabble with those girls was because he left her. “To get this,” he said dangling a paper bag in her face. She had not noticed him holding it since he came. “What is that?”“Sit” he said pushing him to the bench. “What is that?” she asked again as he took out the box from the paper box and opened it to reveal a pair of slippers. “You bought slippers?” she asked looking down at the box and back at him. “Yeah” he said taking off the heels from her leg and sliding the slippers into her legs. He did the same for both feet and then carefully placed the heels into the box. “Aww, that's so cute,” One person from the bystanders said. “I always knew he was the perfect b