Chapter 38: Rightful Place

Abigail stood outside her father’s office door. He was always in here, she realized. She had never once gone to him in his bedroom, not that she wanted to, given that she had heard even Charlotte was forbidden from coming to his personal bedroom. There was no reason to anger the woman very capable of poisoning her any further.

But Abigail wondered how he survived like this. How his entire life was only in the confines of two offices or a car. It was, more than likely possible, what made him the way that he was. Cold, shut off. It was how he lived his life, after all.

Gathering her strength, she knocked on the door. And after a moment, she heard an invitation to come.

Abigail turned the door and walked into the office.

“Abigail,” her father greeted her as she entered his office. “I was beginning to worry, I all but sent my team out again after you.”

“I appreciate the privacy,” Abigail told her father sincerely.

“I trust that since you’re back,” Adam began hopefully. “You have some better news for me today.”

“I do,” Abigail said, moving to sit in the chair in front of her father’s desk. “I have given it some extensive though, and I have decided that I will not be marrying Lyall.” Abigail held up a hand to stop her father from interrupting her. “Let me explain. Lyall is your protégé, am I correct? You taught him everything he knows.”

“That’s correct,” Adam said with pride.

“So then doesn’t it stand to reason,” Abigail began. “That he would be allied with our company regardless if I married him or not? Do you think that Lyall will turn to our nearest competitors if I should reject his marriage proposal?”

“Of course not!” Adam exclaimed. “The boy is loyal entirely to this company and this family. He would never betray us in such a way.”

Abigail smiled, she knew she had her father in the exact position she wanted him in.

“So then, there is no real benefit by me marrying him then, is there?” Abigail said to her father. “If he was going to be a benefit to us either way, if he was going to stay loyal to us either way, wouldn’t there then be no benefit to him marrying me? As opposed to, say, someone who needed some extra persuading to join the company?”

Adam considered his daughter’s words for a moment, and he thought long and hard before speaking.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked eventually, as if considering the options that was now presented before him. “Is there someone else that you believe a marriage with would be more beneficial?”

Mark momentarily flashed in her mind, but there would be no advantage to the company there. And besides, Abigail wasn’t even sure Mark saw a proper future with her like that, since he had spoken of her marrying Lyall as not the worst thing that could happen.

“No,” Abigail told her father, shaking her head. “No. There isn’t anyone that I have in mind, actually. Not immediately at least. But think of the doors of opportunity we would be closing by me marrying Lyall. Olivia is already sworn off as an inheritor to the company. If I were married already, would anyone even be able to consider the possibility of merger through marriage?”

Adam massaged his temples, “No, no they wouldn’t,” he breathed a frustrated sigh. “I suppose you are right on this one. It would be foolish to close such a door so quickly. I suppose I let my personal preference for Lyall get in the way of what night be best for the company.”

Abigail allowed the thought to settle in her father. All she wanted was for him to acknowledge that a marriage to Lyall, for her, might not be the best thing for the company. Even if he couldn’t acknowledge that her marriage was supposed to be about what was good for her, she would settle right now that this marriage just shouldn’t happen, because it wasn’t what was good for the company.

“Alright,” Adam said after a while, like he had been calculating numbers in his head, not wondering if his daughter should be a priority. “Then we’ll wait on the engagement. But I very much expect you to consider the company before anything else, and I will accept nothing less than a marriage that will be a great benefit to this company. And I hope you will understand that. Lyall isn’t going to go anywhere, and if we get a better option, we can go with that. If not, Lyall will always be available as a fallback option.”

Abigail felt utter disgust at her father. She didn’t particularly like Lyall, but she knew that no one deserved to be treated like they were being put on the back burner, not being used because they weren’t worthy enough, but kept as an option in case nothing better came alone.

But right now, Abigail knew she was in no position to argue for her father to a better human being, so she would settle for just winning the argument. She wasn’t sure he would ever be able to be a better human, after all, if he had lived all of his life like this.

She would make no promises about marrying for the betterment of the company, though. Her marriage was going to be on her terms and her terms alone. No one else would dictate her future to her. And Abigail knew that was why her father had come looking for her, because he couldn’t bend Olivia to his will any longer, but Adam was in for a surprise when he discovered how similar his daughters were in that regard.

She had to swallow hard around her disgust, though, as she had no desire to do what she knew had to be done next.

Quickly, before her father could dwell any longer on this topic and change his mind, Abigail drew his attention to something else.

“Dad,” Abigail said again. “I’ve been thinking. You made me the heir to your company, announced it in front of everyone, too. But aside from working at the company, and doing some odd assignments for you here and there, I don’t know exactly what being a successor means.”

Adam’s face lit up like Abigail had never seen it before. Happiness and excitement spread over his face.

“I would like you to show me the ropes of the business,” Abigail continued, clarifying what she was asking of her father. “I’d like you to show me exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. I’d like to learn from you, by your side, what is expected from me at the company.”

Abigail reached into her bag, and pulled out a file she had prepared for this meeting. It was all newspaper clippings. All about her father, starting from his early days at the company to his current position, the latest article was just last year.

Abigail placed it down on his desk, and Adam began paging through it, skimming. He had no need to read it of course, Abigail was sure he knew exactly what the articles contained.

“You’re my father, and my employer,” Abigail continued. “And the most I know about you is till the things I read about when I compiled my assignment about business leaders back in grad school. I need to learn from you.”

Adam kept turning through the articles, “ I remember when these were all written,” Adam said. “I remember each and every one of them. I was so proud of myself in that first article. Youngest CEO the company has ever had. After that, my achievements only rose and rose.”

Adam turned to one of the articles, and laughed, “Oh, this one,” he turned it ot Abigail, pointing it out to her. “I remember this one, this was actually an exchange. They had some dirt on me from when I was younger, nothing big, nothing scandalous. Not you or your mother. But in those early days, even something small could have had a huge impact on the company, on the stocks, and that had to be avoided at all costs. So my father, your grandfather, had me offer them an insider’s look exchange article. Those always sold more newspaper copies anyway, they were glad to do it and our stocks rose in price after it.”

Adam sighed, closing the folder. “I’d like to keep this, if you don’t mind, and make a copy of it? I’d have it returned to you after I’m done?”

“Sure,” Abigail told her dad. “Keep it as long as you like.”

“You know,” Adam confessed, “I’ve always wanted to teach someone the ropes of the business. Someone that was going to inherit from me and actually put into practice what I taught them,” Adam spoke wistfully, then glanced at Abigail, “Starting tomorrow, you work with me on everything.”

“Can’t wait,” Abigail answered her father.