Me to beg?
Me to beg?
Here's the translated text with dashes replaced by double quotes:
"It was very late that night to go to the Taylors' house, Robert had to wait for the long night to pass and then go there, relying on a last attempt, a last chance, perhaps to prove that he was not useless or to try to recover what his family was about to lose, presumably because of him.
Although he didn't have much hope of recovering the company, because he knew that's what Mr. Taylor always wanted, to take over Graham Group.
What would he do? What did he have planned? Because he definitely had a plan.
His father no longer believed in him and he had nothing left, his marriage had been a disaster in which Robert insisted on taking out everything inside him against his wife, so he couldn't count on her to help him, but did he plan to ask Alice for help? Not after realizing it was always Jared Sinclair.
He knew that Alice and Jared had always been in love, he had no plans to try anything with her, not now that his friend was in the way, that part was totally discarded.
Mr. Taylor received him without any problem at that hour of the morning, before eight o'clock he was already there, but Robert never imagined that Alice was at her parents' house, he thought she was at Jared's.
He entered his office and took a seat, while Mr. Taylor's green eyes looked at him, waiting to see what young Graham would come up with. The conversation with Mr. Graham had become very heated, but in the end, Tom understood that they had lost everything to the Taylors.
"I know why you're here," he said. They had rarely met, so they were practically strangers. "You're here to beg for the marriage not to end, aren't you?" Henry was very curious, because he believed that the most certain tactic should have been to go to Alice, who was the one who requested the divorce. "It's your wife you should be talking to. You should be begging her."
Beg? Beg Alice for what? The young woman never wanted that marriage, why would she go back just because Robert begged?
The last thing Robert had in mind was to beg, much less to Alice Taylor, not even to her father. His tactic was totally different from that.
"I'm not here to beg, especially not to continue with a marriage that neither of us ever wanted." The young man's arrogance upset Mr. Taylor, as it was expected that Robert Graham would beg to change his family's situation, where they were about to lose their company, but no, Robert didn't do such a thing and that left some anger in Henry.
"Then I have no idea what you're doing here this morning.
"I know that even if I beg, my company won't be returned to me."
"I assumed you would be willing to do whatever it takes to recover what you've lost, desperate to find options. That's why I deduced you were here to beg, Robert. How old are you? You're young, but I don't know if ambitious enough. I expected you to come here with a different attitude."
"It's funny that the first thing you thought was that I would beg. Really, it's very funny to me. I'll get to the point, because I'm not comfortable after everything that's happened. I didn't know until the last minute that my company was at stake because of this marriage, I thought my father just wanted to crush my happiness with an unwanted marriage, with a woman I don't love. But there was that behind it. What I don't understand is what you gained, why did you make it a condition for me to marry your daughter? It's...curious."
"What are you implying?"
"Why ask for a marriage? My father requested a loan and you offered a wedding and money. Why? I have several theories, Mr. Taylor." Robert stood up, this was something that had kept him awake, added to everything that had happened at Jared's house, plus the things that fit together as if by magic, without him imagining it, offering Robert a wonderful way out. "Neither of us was told that this marriage involved money and a company to save, let me tell you that your help was not sincere. You knew Alice would refuse all this! You foresaw that it would be a failure, you never intended to let us repay that money. Your goal was always the company. I know it."
"What a ridiculous accusation! What do you think you're accusing me of, boy?! I extended a hand, it was your father who came to ask for help, not the other way around."
"But your help wasn't entirely clear!"
"Alice could ask for a divorce at any time and she didn't."
"Yes she did!" he reminded him.
"But I refused! I told her to go on with her marriage." Wasn't it Henry Taylor himself who told his daughter to try?
"It was necessary, right? It looked very suspicious that she was the first to ask for it and in a short time, right? It made me believe that Alice would never have that possibility, that option of a divorce. And then I kept wondering why her father would subject her to a marriage she didn't want. I knew the answer. Either way, you realized that it was doomed to fail, a divorce was only a matter of time. You pretended to want us to continue."
"Are you saying that my daughter and I planned all this?"
"She didn't need to know anything, you knew how she would act."
"And the pregnancy? Did I plan that too? That I married my daughter to you in the end to take over the company? Are you crazy? You would have been better off begging and not coming up with such ridiculous and absurd things."
"The pregnancy was something you didn't expect, but I still remember your face in the hospital, it wasn't the face of a father hurt because his daughter had lost her baby. A child was going to unite the families and that was what my father wanted, but what did you want, Mr. Taylor?"
"Be careful what you say, spoiled brat!" he exclaimed, exalted. He didn't like the things Robert was implying so boldly.
"Admit it! You always planned to take over the company!" Robert approached, slamming his hands on the desk and leaning forward angrily, glaring at Mr. Taylor and feeling very foolish for not stopping to see all this before. Locked in the idea of his miserable marriage, while Mr. Taylor's plans came out just right.
"It's not my fault your father doesn't know how to do business!" he said with disdain.
"Admit it!" He pointed to his face with his finger. "Admit it, Mr. Taylor!"
"Shut up! You don't know anything. You're a sore loser, and to think I had the idea of keeping you in your same position, Robert Graham. But when it's in my hands... I don't want you anywhere near."
"You're giving yourself away." Robert began to calm down all of a sudden, and that didn't bode well for Henry. "That's right, I knew it when you asked me to beg," Robert's half-smile was one of total satisfaction. "It was just an idea, something that bothered me, but now I have it very clear. The fate of the company was going to be the same, now or later. Fall into your hands. The game was always
in your favor. You waited, you had patience and you won. And it's not the first time you've done it. Did you know I know your other daughters? In fact, I studied with Mary's husband for three years, so I was the first to know about their engagement, I was so surprised that Jeremy was getting married that I inquired at the time, out of mere curiosity, and that's when he told me it was a mutually agreed upon marriage, he barely knew Mary and with the lifestyle Mary was leading... I doubt she wanted to get married, but it happened, after Jeremy's father was embroiled in a strange embezzlement scandal. The union between the two of them took place and... everything disappeared. You get things in exchange for the union with your daughters and everyone benefits. You saw the opportunity when my father told you about the loan and you threw the bait. Your gain was the company, in a short or long period of time, it all depended on how long your daughter could endure the marriage. Which leads me to wonder... how did Sofia manage to marry Simon?" Robert was pleased to see Henry tense up. This was now a more serious topic. "What was the play? Everyone knows that Simon was about to get engaged to Roxane and suddenly the engagement with Sofia is made public."
Mr. Taylor took that bottle and poured himself a drink, although it was very early in the morning and he didn't usually drink alcohol at any time, but it was necessary. He thought that a hurt, humiliated, and confused man had come through that door, but he didn't expect to find an angry Robert, but focused enough to see what was behind the curtain, all the deals that Henry Taylor had made through his daughters' marriages. Every thing behind it, the opportunities he took advantage of, a little advantage over the misfortunes of others. He joined with important families and in return always got something, always won something.
But the last one hadn't gone so well. He won, as he always foresaw, but at what cost? What did Henry really intend with Alice and Robert's wedding? Was it as Robert said or was he wrong at some point?
"If you think you have material to blackmail me or make me leave the company in your hands, it won't happen. And... I don't think you can offer me anything to renew our deal. Are you trying to get the marriage with my daughter to continue?"
"As I told you, I have no intention of staying married to your daughter."
"And what the hell do you want, Robert? Because you've talked a lot and I still don't know what you want. Blackmail me with Alice?"
"How many times do I have to tell you that Alice has no value to me? But Sofia... she does. It would be enough to investigate a little more, spread some rumors, the elections are coming up and the beloved nephew of the president has a beautiful marriage with your daughter, but how did it happen? How did it happen? I wouldn't seek to hurt you, but that would cause some upheaval with the elections so close and a lot of people would be upset. Don't you think? Drawing attention with that kind of scandal is not good, especially when another mandate is approaching."
"If you interfere in Sofia's relationship...!"
"Oh, no." Robert let out a loud laugh, he was now in control of the situation. "It's not because of Sofia, Simon, or the Taylors, but because of what that could cause. The repercussions." Sofia and Simon were very close to the president, any rumor about them would affect him, but Robert's threat was centered on the anger the president would have against the Taylors if they were involved in scandals that affected him, that was the focus.
"I won't give you back the company. I earned it."
"By taking advantage of the situation!"
"A deal is a deal and I won't give you what I won."
"Well, think of something better, Mr. Taylor. I won't ask for anything, but I'm listening to your offers."
Thoughtfully Mr. Taylor approached him, it made him angry and furious to look at him, he was enraged just by seeing him blink or being there. How dare he threaten him in that way?!
Robert had come there with a lot of pent-up anger, but with a cool head.
He only had one play, it was up to him to use it well, to get results.
"It could resume the marriage with my daughter, you would remain in charge of the company and no one would know that it no longer belongs to the Grahams. It's the best I can offer you, boy."
"Is that the best you can offer me? A failed marriage and a job? I could get something much better."
"Then what do you want?! What?! I'm trying to leave things as they were."
"Well, as they were, they weren't good, Mr. Taylor."
"What do you want?! You're about to say it, do it! You came here with a plan, don't pretend you're improvising. Say it."
"Well... just because you insist, I'll tell you." He had won. Against all odds, he had won.
He stood up, approaching Mr. Taylor to whisper what he wanted. Henry's eyes opened in astonishment, he expected something else, not that.
Robert Graham was being very ambitious.