Chapter 5 - Gabriel

“So that’s all you got? I expected better results, after all the wonders that investors commented on your business…” Sienna Ferrars commented, for the entire meeting room to hear, with her light brown, almost golden eyes, completely focused on the graphs appearing on the tablet's screen in front of her.

Gabriel, however, wasn't even surprised by his mother's words, as most of the directors around seemed to be surprised, swallowing hard, uncomfortable. After all, they weren't used to that kind of comment, like Gabriel was. So he just nodded, even though he knew that Sienna wasn't paying attention to him, as usual.

“The iron extraction points that I bought in China recently needed government authorization before we could start activities, so they took longer to turn a profit than planned.” he explained, without any hesitation “But the situation is stabilized now, as you can see in the graphs. Extraction has been abundant enough even for us to be able to sell raw materials to other metallurgical companies… In addition to the Ferrars.” he concluded, knowing full well that the part of the report that talked about the sales he had made to one of the family's companies that produced household steel utensils would not go unnoticed by Sienna, after one of their main extraction areas had closed down. shown sparsely.

"I see." was all Sienna said, before turning to the other man sitting next to her “I'm surprised you didn't mention this purchase at our last meeting, Mark.”

“Well, it wasn’t something that pertained to my areas of expertise.” Gabriel's cousin shrugged, with that easy smile that seemed capable of seducing anyone “Besides, I thought it would be a pleasant surprise to let you know how great your son is doing, aunt. As always, by the way.” Mark turned to Gabriel, his golden eyes, the Ferrars' eyes, sharp with cunning “That was an admirable performance for a company you built from the ground up, Gabriel. Congratulations. Next time I go to Australia to talk to our suppliers, I will certainly pay a visit to the areas you purchased from. After all, I know that your mother will soon agree to incorporate your company into the Ferrars' business. Isn’t that right, aunt?”

“One thing at a time, Mark.” Sienna dismissed the subject, starting to get up from the meeting table “Well, congratulations once again on the deals you managed to close on your last trip, Mark. And as for you, Gabriel…” he held his mother’s cold gaze, never wavering “Continue with what you’re doing. If your performance as CEO of your own company is this good, then I'm sure you can show me even better results at the next meeting.”

Without even bothering to say something, since Sienna certainly wouldn't respond, Gabriel just waited long enough for her to get up and walk past him, followed by his many closest assistants and production directors. Only then did Gabriel gather the little material he had brought and get up, not paying any attention to the men around him, who seemed full of anticipation to know if this was the time he would throw a fit of rage and completely break with the Ferrars industries, or simply try to buy the family companies and put an end to that succession issue once and for all.

"It is a shame. I thought your last semester's numbers finally impressed your mother, but it wasn't this time.” Mark commented behind him, but Gabriel just ignored him, walking towards the door where Sienna had just left “Aunt Sienna is always so cold at these meetings. I sincerely wish she could recognize more of your efforts in handling your own business. It's almost like she doesn't care what you do…”

“Your efforts to offer money to the directors so they wouldn’t buy iron from my deposits didn’t do much good, after the investors discovered the price I was selling it for, did they?” Gabriel interrupted him, turning to face his cousin.

And, as always, even ten years later, the only thing he could see there was the same smile that Mark had given the day he almost drowned.

“I would never do something like that.” Mark sighed, although one side of his mouth was still slightly raised, full of amusement “Why would I need to? I had equally good results this last semester, don't you remember? In fact, your mother is planning to leave me responsible for the financial management of some of our companies. Oh, sorry, you didn't know that, did you? I always forget that she still doesn’t feel safe enough to involve you in these matters…”

“Exactly 7 years ago we both started college and started interning at this company, Mark.” Gabriel interrupted him, needing to control himself from growling his name too loudly “From day one, you've been insinuating that my mother's favoritism would get you the CEO position… But, here we are. I chose to no longer have any ties to the company so I could prove my worth, as my mother wanted so much. I moved away from everything that had to do with the family business. I stayed away from my mother, while you remained trying to play the role of her right-hand man. And yet, contrary to all expectations, she still doesn’t seem willing to nominate you as her successor.” Gabriel recalled, making Mark's eyes narrow "So maybe you should focus a little less on my progress and worry a little more about yours, since the favoritism you rely on so much doesn't seem to be working as much anymore.”

“You know, I really regret that day at the lake…” Mark sighed, but Gabriel refused to give him the pleasure of showing any reaction to the memories that his cousin always insisted on rekindling “I made an immature and cowardly decision that night and thanks to that, you will spend the rest of your life thinking that I want to harm my own cousin. But the truth is that I care about you, Gabriel.” Marke closed the distance that separated them, placing his hand on his shoulder and making Gabriel need to gather all the control he had to not break his cousin's wrist “You don't know how many times I feel bad when I see my aunt treating me like if I were her son and you were her nephew. That, of course, is not to mention your father, who doesn't stop caring about any of us anymore, as time passes. Not even with the son who used to be his golden boy…”

“I think I now understand why my results have been better than those of the man who is more involved with the Ferrars companies.” Gabriel cut him off coldly, pushing Mark's arm away “You care too much about other people's personal lives and focus too little on your business.”

“Always so cruel… The powerful and ruthless Gabriel Ferrars, who never pities anything or anyone…” Mark laughed, clearly not at all offended “I wonder if that’s why Aunt Sienna remains so suspicious of your nature, even after so long since the day she found out what you were doing with the Vamcap girl…” his cousin's half smile grew, apparently upon noticing how Gabriel's shoulders had become tense “I wonder if our sweet Andrea I wouldn't have the same reaction as your mother if she had the opportunity to see you behaving as if you hadn't learned anything from your mistakes... Oh, which reminds me, I heard a rumor that your company was changing its legal representative. I have been thinking about doing the same. I wonder if the law firm where Andrea works these days would have a position available for me…”

“Mark…” Gabriel’s voice sounded deeper than usual, because of hatred, causing some of the executives who were nearby and even Mark’s arrogant posture to freeze “Don’t get involved in matters that don’t concern you… Unless you want to find out why people call me cruel.”

“What a great sense of humor you have, Gabriel…” Mark laughed, approaching again and putting his hand on his shoulder, as if he were about to leave the room “Fortunately, I'm not afraid of you in business… And, of course..." as he passed Gabriel, he leaned his face close to his cousin's ear, whispering, his voice full of mockery "We both know what would happen to your chances of becoming your mother's successor, if you dared to put your hands on me.”

With his teeth clenched to the point that his jaw hurt, Gabriel remained where he was, just keeping his gaze focused on his cousin, until Mark finally took the last step left and walked out the door, leaving the room as if all the Ferrars' fortune already belonged to him alone.

Waiting just enough time to make sure he wouldn't have to see his cousin's face when he left his mother's meeting room, Gabriel finally left the building, finding his secretary and his driver right at the entrance, near the car. Usually, they knew better than to try to talk to him after a meeting like that, but that day, something seemed different.

“Uh… Mr. Ferrars…” his assistant swallowed, looking nervously at the screen of the tablet she was holding “A few minutes ago, we received a message from the flower shop you asked me to contact earlier…”

“Weren’t the flowers sent?” Gabriel asked, his voice still hoarser and darker than usual.

"No no!" the woman quickly explained“It’s just… Uh… The flower shop asked me to let you know that… The bouquet was returned to the flower shop.” Finally, the secretary turned the screen to him, showing him a photo of the huge bouquet he had sent to Andy, now crumpled and disorganized, with several flowers twisted as if they had passed out “Apparently, a delivery man was tasked with taking the bouquet back to the flower shop… On behalf of Andrea Vamcap.”

“Of course… As expected.” Gabriel laughed with no humor, taking the tablet in his hands almost as if he could feel the sensation of the crushed petals between his fingers “Come on. I still have a schedule to keep at the office.” he instructed the driver, pretending not to notice how both he and the secretary seemed curious to know what exactly had happened and who had committed the madness of denying the first gift Gabriel had ever sent to someone since the company was founded 5 years ago. 

Not that their behavior was anything to be surprised at. After all, it wasn't like they knew Andrea had been doing this with his gifts for 10 years now. And even so, he could never stop himself from continuing to send them, even though each refusal from her only seemed to further confirm that she would hate him forever and would never agree to see him again... At least, until fate forced her to to do this. He still had no idea how those photos of Imogen and Edgar had gotten into Alphonse Vamcap's hands, but… If he really wanted to make this work, Gabriel needed to find a way to prove to her that he wasn't the one responsible for it. that…

And also, to convince her that he had no bad intentions when he forced her to spend an entire year meeting him...

Hell, why could he never do anything the conventional way when it came to Andy?

As if it had heard his thoughts, the tablet's screen suddenly flashed, revealing a message notification that made his heart skip a beat, before a smile spread across Gabriel's face, making his secretary gasp in shock.

“My schedule for tomorrow is completely free, isn’t it?” he asked, looking at the words Andy had just sent to his assistant.

“Yes, Mr. Ferrars. Just as you instructed.”

“Great…” Absently, he tapped the little icon to make Andrea's photo enlarge, filling the screen with her dark eyes and bright smile that he still hoped she could give him one day, even though he knew it was probably impossible “Because tomorrow I will have an appointment that I have already waited too long for.”