Strings

Chapter 28

"Shares will be sold of Marshall & Co. that are under the name of the lovely Miss. Marshall, quite alright.

But it would be the highest level of absurdity, if you walked into my headquarters with the expectation of selling the shares of my beautiful wife, Mrs. Knight."
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I can't help the smile that graces my face as Hayden finishes what he has to say.

Here sat my father, my sister, my family, more than ready to be able to use me in more ways, and Hayden stood like a force to be reckoned by, making it abundantly clear that they'll have to go through him first before they can even think of getting to me.

Mrs. Knight.

I feel funny all over.

An ugly snarl makes itself known over Olivia's perfect face, as she snaps her eyes back and forth from Hayden, then to me and then to dad; as if not believing the turn of events. As if not believing that someone actually chose me over her. Hell, even I couldn't believe it.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She swears, her voice barely composed.

"Exactly, what you think it does; Miss Marshall." Sam responds sounding almost annoyed.

"I wasn't talking to you Mr. Williams; so please, try not to interfere." she all but snaps at him.

I couldn't believe her. She was appalling.

Sam just scoffs as dad shoots daggers at her and hisses at her under his breath. No one from our side of the table responds or reacts to her violation of the decorum; not wanting to dignify what was clear to us, and primarily me, as Olivia's tantrums.

She didn't look sane to me; almost unhinged. She needs assistance I realize; like medical assistance as I notice her looking spacy with next to little empathy or care for the mess she has brought about.

"What my daughter here is trying to bring forth-" dad speaks up taking charge as Hayden looks lethal as if running out of patience for the three pairs of eyes looking back at him,

"-is that, it seems only fair to sell the shares of Miss Mar-" Hayden raises his eyebrow to which my father hastily corrects "I mean Mrs. Knight; since it was under her name that the money was borrowed in the first place."

Olivia looks disgusted at my father's correction as if he hadn't just corrected my title but almost betrayed her in some way. Why does it bother her so much?

"And it seems only fair to us, that we sell the shares of the actual daughter of yours who is solely responsible for this mammoth of a mess she created." Sam responds back looking at Olivia straight in the eyes to which she jumps to the edge of the seat, no doubt with some snarky reply ready for her defense, to which father hurriedly grabs her hand and yanks her backwards. His forehead creases and I know he's running low on patience. He attempts to convince us again, each time feeling like a dagger being shoved in my heart but I will myself to stay collected.

"Look Mr. Marshall; let me break this down so that this is clear to everyone present in the room here." Hayden begins. His voice immediately commanding silence and attention from everyone present. Even Olivia looked squeamish at his tone.

"In the past week, We helped you cover the tracks of quite literally all of your daughter's activities here, a lot of which are illegal, solely due to the persistence of my wife. We've managed to take care of those recklessness and left you to deal with just the issue of The Fawkes.

Which also did not prove to be fruitful in your part, might I add. I will not repeat this clause again, and refusal to accept this will cut all professional ties between the Knight Enterprises and Marshall & Co. so please, for your sake respond with due consideration.