Bread, Love and Promises (On going)

Chapter 8 Business, but not Love

Liam Price

The philharmonic tuned in a velvety melody that softly faded into whispers in the background. Servants in black suits wove soundlessly between guests with long crystal glasses sparkled with the finest champagne and trays of artistic, elegant hors d'oeuvres. The Houghtons' annual party tradition carried on as it did every year and Charlotte most certainly delivered faultlessly as she always did. 

However, this year had a slight difference to it, regarding the boys, since Noah Houghton announced to Liam and Andrew that they would start joining the family company during their vacation. Andrew wasn't pleased with the news, but he didn't dare oppose his father's decision.

For the past years, Noah has been molding the boys for the moment when they would take over the business. He made sure to instill the knowledge and fundamentals in their minds from early age. According to Noah, it was never too soon to expose the boys to the businessmen society, on the contrary, the sooner- the better. He made sure they were present whenever business-talk stirred, training their ears, eyes and sense of judgment to catch on those details. To Noah, a deal was never a simple signature graphed on a piece of paper and a mere hand shake, in his eyes, there was always more to the person themselves.

The party whirled lively with more guests arriving. Other than businessmen and well-recognized high-class members, actors, authors, poets and artists attended those stellar, invite only Houghtons' parties. And even they weren't able to resist the occasion of closing some business deals and have their cash running. It was a matter of opportunity and Liam understood that concept well. There were countless times when Liam watched Noah work during those parties. That night Liam witnessed him sealing two business deals during the first hour alone.

Liam had the neck for memorizing and remembering every businessman and woman he shook hands with, along with the type of business they ran, it was one of the things he picked from Noah, and Liam made sure to greet them by name. It was a fruitful talent, because they remembered him too.

"Liam..." Noah called him. "Come meet one of my very old friends." He put his hand on Liam's shoulder when he drew near, "Meet Vincent Wesley and his ex-model new wife Jennifer," emphasizing the words 'new' and 'wife', "This is my son Liam."

Vincent Wesley was an average height man with silver-white hair, but his full mustache and beard had some gray mixed in. He wore a brown and black full canvas twill pattern suit and a paisley silk scarf that was tucked in his black dress-shirt.

Next to him stood a tall woman with freshly dyed, pixie short golden blond hair and bright red lipstick. Her cherry-red sequin dress and her jewelry spangled torridly under the crystal chandeliers. The deep V-neck opened all the way to her waistline showing of her full bosom, while the front split that reached her upper thigh displayed the length of her leg.

The age difference between Vincent and his 'new wife' Jennifer wasn't easy to miss. Vincent clearly has crossed the sixties threshold with the hair, wrinkles and the visible liver-spots, while Jennifer seemed to be in her mid-thirties. They were certainly eye-catching.

"Don't say very old," Vincent gave a throaty belly-laugh, "just old is enough."

Liam exchanged a firm handshake with Vincent. "Nice to meet you."

"Excellent grip you got there, Liam." Vincent exalted. "You can tell a lot about a man from a simple handshake," then he nodded to Noah in admiration.

Liam then exchanged a much less firmer handshake with Jennifer and casually greeted her before taking step back to widen the circle.

Sarah Houghton slipped into the empty space next to Liam. She glowered at Jennifer when she caught her eyeing him; she hated Jennifer with everything she got. As if it wasn't enough, the bitch was turning heads with that slutty dress and model body, now she was trying to tempt him. Self-consciously, Sarah straightened her back causing her small breasts to perk up and sucked in her belly as tight as she could in unnoticeable and pretty much ignored attempt to be hot.