A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

World 52: Part 7

As it turned out, the longer the "investigation" went on, the further Vargr Oils continued to decline. Very soon, this massive conglomerate would be ripe for the picking. Actually, they were already ready for the harvest. That Gabriel had not made a single move meant either he had a lot of greed or patience, and the only way to know which it was would be to see the end results. 

Rumors of a third, absolutely catastrophic scandal in the business world were all that stayed the hands of several other major companies from buying up the stock shares. Fei Chuan even had the perfect material to keep their greedy paws at bay, so that two very specific companies had time to negotiate with the current board members. 

Soon after, the news fell into Gabriel's hands (as he knew it would.) Fei Chuan woke up on that day to fifteen missed phone calls from Henry Anderson and a single text from an unidentified number: 

From (+39) 800-2330: no hard feelings 

Fei Chuan stretched, and turned on the TV. It immediately tuned in on a news channel, where the words, "INCEST IN AMERICA'S LEADING OIL," were splashed across the blue "Breaking News" banner in bright white. There was a picture of himself pristine in a business suit, and Aris in one of the rare unflattering shots of him outside a bar. 

Fei Chuan tried not to laugh, he really did, but he still made enough noise to notify the complex's other occupant that he was awake. The bedroom door slammed open and Aris appeared, holding a cup of water in one hand and cradling a phone in the nook of his neck. "---a pleasure doing business with you, then." 

Fei Chuan stole the glass of water. "So." 

"I've been awake since 3AM, fielding these damn phone calls." Aris groused with noticeable exhaustion. Right before the stocks plummeted, frantic stock market sellers were calling up buyers from Slayer Tech and Fenrir Pharmaceuticals to quickly push through on the deals before they lost even more money. "My eyebags are now suitcases." 

"Just go to sleep then," Fei Chuan rolled his eyes, and pulled on Aris's arm. 

Aris let him manhandle him down onto the bed, but the man still had his phone out and was now scrolling through a Twitter feed. "Wow, I haven't been this hated in a while." He sounded fascinated. "Do you think these are threats to burn me at stake or promises?"

 Fei Chuan rolled his eyes again, and started to tuck in the covers around Aris' general outline. He checked the time. 7AM. "Get off your phone and take a nap or something. I need to deal with some family business." 

"No goodbye kiss?" Aris turned so that his head was propped on his hand. He waggled his eyebrows, and it really should look repulsive but didn't. "Because I have a place that needs a little attention." 

Fei Chuan's phone buzzed again, and the screen displayed 16 missed calls. Well whatever; he wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere and he hadn't brushed his teeth yet.

 Fei Chuan slipped off his nightshirt and went under the covers. 

****** 

By the time he got to the office, his lips were no longer swollen but his voice was still scratchy. Henry Anderson nearly had an aneurysm. 

"You!" His father pointed at him with a gusto, and couldn't seem to articulate much else. "You!"

 "Me," Fei Chuan repeated, calmly. Actually, you couldn't tell there was something off about his throat unless you were looking for it. He could pass it off as a cold. In summer. "Is there something you need, father?" 

Henry slapped his hands against a pile of magazines, each one gushing about the scandalous affair between two brothers. "Since when were you and that...that degenerate! doing these things?!"