How To Fall From Grace [MxM]

Step 34: Fall on the sword

It was too early for whatever Lucius was up to.

Not that it was news to Frey that he had a knack for looking out of place in high society. That was part of the reason for his disguise as Lucia to begin with, making her the preferable choice when involving him in important matters.

Which made the fact that he was currently dressed as Lucia while unscrewing the door to the meeting room from its hinges even worse.

"Isn't this overdoing it?" Frey stopped in the doorway just as Lucius detached the door, and the latter elbowed him to get his work space back.

"It's educational."

Frey doubted it, but he wouldn't meddle. Valdís and Damien had already sat down inside the room and the sooner they could get somewhere with the meeting, the better.

As soon as Frey sat down next to his mother however, the present tension prickled his neck, and he glanced between her and Damien with increasing concern. He was aware enough by now that Valdís held no fondness for Damien, but she'd been capable of suppressing it for so many years and he'd assumed it would remain that way. So why were they glaring at each other?

"Well, since we're all here..." Frey suggested as Lucius placed the door just slightly on its hinges to make it stay put for the time being. "... Perhaps we should begin?"

"With pleasure." Lucius sat down, looking between Damien and Valdís as well, but instead of concern showing on his face, it was anticipation. "I really want to hear this."

So as it turned out, Lucius was mostly there with the hope that Damien would be scolded.

"As I understand it, the first shipment is already on its way." Valdís still had her eyes fixed in Damien's direction. "Despite the promised attempt to stall it."

"I did stall it for as long as I could," Damien protested. "But it's been months already and people need those resources. We can't ignore the purpose of this company just because we're in a complicated situation."

"Regardless, the first damage is done and while we can't predict just how great the damage to West Kerilia will be, we can assume it will be noticeable."

"So what can be done?" To Frey's frustration, his mind was blanking. So many years of excelling at his job and suddenly he couldn't find a way out of one single problem? Was he that reliant on the support from others after all? The respect he'd lost after his father passed may have put him in a less favorable position, but it's not like he couldn't do his job while keeping his clothes on.

The problem was that his focus had been directed in the wrong direction, and he should have known better. Instead of just digging up dirt on other companies by entertaining his colleagues, he should have dug up dirt on his colleagues as well, because he knew their kind. He knew they wouldn't be above screwing an entire town over if it saved them money.

Now it was too late. They'd all banded together and just taking one of them down would not be enough. He would need to make massive damage to most- if not all -of them, and with Carrigan in charge, was it even possible?

"I've looked into the company overseas." Valdís gently bumped Frey's arm to snap him back to reality. "We have some connections to Branor where their main supplier is located, and if we use that, it's possible we could buy shares of the company without Carrigan and the others noticing, which would at least soften the blow to West Kerilia since part of what they pay would go to us."

Frey nodded, not ruling the idea out but it went without saying that West Kerilia did not have that kind of money, so to make that happen they would have to look for it elsewhere.