Chapter 44: Lies and Truths

“Mr. Woodtriche,” Mark greeted stiffly, but went towards the man and held out a hand for him to shake. “And please call me Mark.”

Adam took the offered hand, and returned the gesture.

“Please, do sit down,” Adam offered Mark a seat, and called for some fresh tea and cake to be brought.

“Thank you,” Mark answered, sitting down.

Abigail seated herself in the chair next to Mark, and he immediately took a hold of her hand. Abigail bit on the inside of her cheek to hide her smile. She actually found it quite enduring how nervous Mark was around her parents.

True, he had relaxed a quite a bit with her mother, and she didn’t really see that happening with her father, but it was still adorable to watch.

“I wasn’t aware that you knew my daughter,” Adam began, sitting back in his chair as new cups of tea were poured for them. “But, my daughter has shown to be rather remarkable and gifted at making connections and uncovering information, so I’m not entirely surprised.”

Abigail groaned internally. Why did Adam have to mention the one sore point that existed? Her father seemed gifted at making things uncomfortable around a table. It was no wonder his board of directors sometimes disagreed with him on principle alone.

“Yes,” Mark agreed. “She is rather remarkable and gifted.”

Abigail smiled; it was sweet of Mark to be able to turn what was something that must still be a hard point for him, into something charming.

Mark never did tell her how he had come to the knowledge of the merger, though, Abigail realized. He’d also never told her how badly it had affected him and his business, or how it had at all, actually, now that she thought about it.

“So, Mark,” Adam said again, “What can I do for you today?”

Mark took a deep breath before speaking, “Well, I suppose that would be best answered by explaining how I know your daughter.” Mark paused as he squeezed Abigail’s hand. “We’re engaged, sir, with your permission, of course.”

Adam looked at Mark in confusion, glancing from him to Abigail.

“Engaged in what?” Adam asked. “Excuse me, but we deal across a vast field, as I’m sure you know. Though I can’t begin to imagine the way we could have any kind of relations, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief. In which way would we do business?”

Abigail looked at her father. Was everything really about business with this man? Was he so consumed by his company that a simple marriage proposal was hard for him to understand?

“Not business, dad,” Abigail interjected, seeing as Mark looked at the table, unable to answer. “Marriage. We want to get married. We’re engaged to be married. We’re asking for your blessings.”

God, Abigail though, Mark must be so confused. Imagine a businessman like Adam not understanding the word engaged in normal human conversations.

“I don’t understand,” Adam said, glancing between the two of them. “How can that be?”

Abigail groaned in frustration. She thought her biggest battle would be explaining to her father that she wanted to marry Adam regardless of whether he would be an asset to the company or not. She had never imagined she would have to explain actual marriage to her father.

“Dad,” Abigail began again, her voice tinged with tiredness and a longsuffering sigh.

“No, no,” Adam cut her off. “I understand the words you’re both saying, what I’m asking is the practicality of it.” Adam turned solely to Mark. “This would be a huge blow to your company, the fall your stocks would definitely take.”

Huh? Abigail stared in confusion at her father. What on earth was he talking about? How would Mark’s company be affected by their marriage? What stocks does a landscaping company even have?

By some twist of events, Mark seemed to understand her father perfectly.

“I understand the risks, sir,” Mark told her father. “I’m prepared to weather the storm, I’m confident we will come out on the other end, profitable.”

“Well, I’m not,” Adam declared, standing up. “Your land developing company has a greater chance of a bounce back because people will always be in need of homes. However, my business can’t take that chance.”

Abigail turned to Mark, he seemed to know exactly what Adam was speaking about.

“Wait, wait,” Abigail told the both of them. “Land developing company?”

Mark looked to the table before him, seeming to study his tea.

“Ah,” Adam said, glancing between the two of them. “I see some things are not clear to my daughter, either. I shall explain. Mark here is the CEO of one of our greatest competitors, a private land development company with an estimated worth in the higher billions. Mark himself, I think, is recorded as the third richest man in the city, if I’m not mistaken.”

Abigail’s jaw dropped open, staring at Mark. “Is this true?”

Mark simply nodded, “Abigail, I can explain.”

“However,” Adam interrupted them both. “I am not done with my explanation. If you and Mark were to marry, there would be no way for us to assure our investors that any information of the two companies could be kept secret and confidential.” Adam said, standing up. “Our stocks would fall, their stocks would fall. Perhaps they will bounce back, perhaps we will. It’s not a risk I can take. I had asked you, Abigail,” Adam said, looking at his daughter. “To marry to the benefit of the company. I would have understood if you did not. But your marriage cannot cause harm to us. If you marry him, you will be disinherited. That’s my final word.”

Adam then buttoned his jacket and strode out of the room, leaving Mark and Abigail alone.

“Billionaire land developer, huh?” Abigail asked, turning to face Mark entirely. “That’s what you really are? Not a small business owner, not a landscaper?”

“No,” Mark told her. “The day you met me, I was examining the land next to your father’s for development. You made an assumption, and I didn’t want to correct it, so I left it. And then after a while, it was too late.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me that before we came here?” Abigail asked Mark, her face red with anger. “You didn’t think I would find out?”

“I hoped it wouldn’t come up,” Mark answered truthfully.

“So you were just planning on lying to me for the rest of our lives, is that it?” Abigail demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

“No,” Mark told her, stressing on the word. “I just wanted to delay it for as long as possible. I didn’t want to ruin the good thing that was going on.”

“Well, I can guarantee you that your lies did nothing to keep the good thing going,” Abigail shot back. “How could you even keep something like this from me?” she demanded. “Why would you even keep something like this from me? What else are you keeping from me?”

“Nothing,” Mark tried to explain. “I’m keeping nothing else from you. This was just a small thing-”

“This was not a small thing!” Abigail screamed, getting out of her chair. “This was who you are, as a person! You lied to me!” Abigail’s voice broke as the realization dawned on her. “You lied to me about who you were! How am I supposed to trust you now?”

Abigail felt her heart breaking as she spoke. She felt her world collapse around her.

“Abigail, if you could just let me explain,” Mark tried, coming closer to her, reaching out for her.

“Don’t touch me!” Abigail screamed. “You’ve explained everything! My father has explained everything! How could you?” She asked, as tears fell from her face freely.

“I heard how much you didn’t want this life,” Mark began, trying to explain himself, but Abigail was past understanding.

“Just leave,” she told him, her cheeks tear stained, she couldn’t even look at him.

“Abigail,” Mark tried again, “Please.”

“Leave!” Abigail screamed. “And don’t come here, ever again! Don’t come near me ever again!”

Mark sighed, dropped his hands to the side, and left.

Abigail waited a full minute for him to pass out of the hallways, and then left the dining room too. Abigail headed straight to her room, her head spinning with everything. She was so distracted, she didn’t see where she was going, and bumped right into Olivia.

“Hey!” Olivia protested, “Watch it!”

“Sorry,” Abigail murmured.

“Oh,” Olivia drew in a breath, staring at her sister for the first time. “What happened?” Her voice immediately turned panicked. “Did mother do something? What is it?”

“No, no,” Abigail waved her off. “For the first time, she’s actually completely innocent here.”

“Oh, alright,” Olivia said, and then stepped closer to her sister, seeing her tearstained face. “Let’s get you to your room. You don’t want her to see you like this. She thrives off weakness.”

Abigail leaned on Olivia as her sister’s arms came around her, steadying her as she walked.