Right Imperfections |✔ [Book 1 of Runaway Bride Series]

51. Frayed Ends

Dan

My eyes were fixed on the small clock in my office as it ticked loudly. The sound of the hands moving forward were the only thing I could hear because there was a tomb like silence in my office. Like someone had died.

I kept my hands fisted in my lap but they fought my restraint and crept up to brush my cheeks. Such disappointment, I had no tears to spare. Instead I had rage, I had pent up hatred and I had a mother who had abandoned me years ago only to return at such a beautiful period in my life.

She was like the Black Plague to me.

I sucked in a breath and watched the hands of the clock move inch by inch to complete another circuit. Time was passing and I watched it move forward but even in my unresponsive state I willed it, I begged it to stop because with every passing second I came closer to closure.

I came closer to acceptance. I came closer to meeting my mother and I hated the thought of it.

Suddenly the door slammed open and I shot off the desk. Nicholas was standing at the threshold with his hands braced on the door. "We need to talk." He said acidly and I nodded.

He closed the door ruthlessly behind him and strode in. I knew he wouldn't sit across the desk from me so I stepped around my desk and came to stand in front of him. For the first time in my life I could lift my head and stand tall before him. I couldn't tell him why I suddenly had the courage to be brave.

"There's a problem," he said, looking annoyed. He rolled his head backward and then rubbed the back of his neck to relieve the tension. "What?" I asked.

"We have to forfeit." He said distastefully.

"I'm sorry?" Did my father just say forfeit?

"Yes," he snapped, "there's no way we can win the lawsuit against Rosen's if they're merging with Warwick's. It's impossible."

"Why? The Warwick's are merely funding a project right?" I quizzed and rested against the side of my desk.

"No! There's a bigger agenda. I should've known why Claire Rosen was so arrogant. She was making a deal with the god damned Almighty." He looked rather perturbed by the decision but I was glad. I had no association with the lawsuit and in the long run going against a client that could be a potential partner for me would be financial suicide.

"What do you mean?" I asked, to appear before interested, "Warwick's have more than just a handful in Rosens?"

"There's a good chance they have all of Rosen's." He said solemnly and that caught my attention.

"All of it?"

"Claire Rosen has no business sense that's why she needs to trap a fish. Michael was a pretty good catch but now the man is dead and he foolishly left an empire to his naïve wife. She needs all the help she can get, however she can manage." He looked smug and remarked snidely.

"So she's selling Rosen's?" I gathered, "but at what price?"

"A rather cheap price." He spat and then lifted his cunning, sharp eyes to my face. I could see something brewing in his wicked, deceitful brain and I didn't want to be party to any form of cheating, unfair scandal so I let the fire grow, unrestrained.

"We are gonna meet with them next week and surrender our stand. Rosen can stay but we might have to annul our contract." He explained and I nodded in understanding.

"But what if they sue us for unlawful behaviour, we can't just terminate the contract midway?" I questioned despite my stand of neutrality.

"I doubt they'll want any business with us once I'm done with them." He smirked evilly and I sighed.