Chapter 19 Heir material

Chapter 19 Heir material
IRIS

I entered the Range Rover, while trying to avoid Mr. Benedict’s eyes, even as I took a seat next to him. 

But there was no hiding the fact that I’d been crying, my eyes and nose were red. Also, all the hours I’d spent waiting on Fake Nicholas—That’s what we are calling him now, was finally catching up to me.

I’d gotten a call immediately after I left Nicholas’s office. It was Mr. Benedict.

Apparently, there were some important documents that needed my signature. He had planned to pick me up from the airport but when he had missed me, he had driven home waiting for me but after hours of me not showing up, he grew worried.

I told him something came up and I’d to make an impromptu stop.

When he asked me where I was, I contemplated telling him I was already on my way home.

But my words caught in my throat, and to my shock, one tear streaked down my cheek, then another, and then I was just full out sobbing on the phone call to a man who was a mere acquaintance and in the lobby of Ashford Global Holdings. 

I caught my reflection on the tan terrazzo floor, I looked as horrible as I felt.

I told him I was at AGH and even though there was a pause, I was beyond grateful that he didn’t probe for the reason I was there and just informed me that he was on his way.

Trying to hold back my tears, I hastily started walking, hoping to out-walk my humiliation and whatever had happened since I stepped foot into this… abode of the devil masquerading as a company.

I was just about to leave when I heard footsteps behind me. I whirled around only to notice a stone-faced man who was doing everything not to look at my face.

“I thought you might need this,” he stated and with an ease like someone who had done this multiple times, he handed me a handkerchief.

I stared at the offering, torn between gratefulness that his face was devoid of pity or sympathy and fear that it was devoid of anything honestly, I grabbed the handkerchief with a fluster as I all but ran away from him.

That was what working under Nicholas looked like… 

Emptiness. 

He had turned his assistant into that. 

But despite my horror, in the back of my head, I couldn’t help the nagging feeling that I’d heard the voice of his assistant before. 

Shaking the thought away, I went to a cafe just across the company’s building and ordered pastries I didn’t plan on eating while I worked on keeping my tears at bay.

Now in the car, the drive was silent after Mr. Benedict handed me a bulk of documents and I tried and failed to focus on them. 

I closed the folder with a sigh. “Is it okay if I turn them in tomorrow?” 

“Sure,” he said. “Just don’t take too long. They are urgent after all.”

I stared at the older man after a beat of silence. Although the curly hair graying at his temples, dour face and wiry glasses attached to the slender man were familiar since my childhood; and even my adulthood had featured him entering and leaving the mansion more than I could count, he was almost a stranger to me.

But he was older and hence, I’d to trust, smarter and it wasn’t like I’d a surplus amount of trusted people in my life I could talk to.

Also, in my former life he had been one of the first few people to resign when he realized I was handing the reins of the company to Collins. That should count for something right? 

“Do you also think that my father made a mistake announcing me the heir of his company?” My voice was brittle and even though I didn’t know it before parting my lips and asking, I could tell that I truly truly was about falling apart and his words could make or mar me.

He was silent for a while, his sullen face not betraying anything as he drove.

“I was not paid to think,” he finally said. “All I do is communicate my client’s wishes.”

“You have known me since I was ten, Benedict.” I said with a frown. “I think that should count for making me more than just your client’s daughter. Tell me the truth, I must not be heir material, right? I mean your eyebrow must have hiked almost up to your hairline when my father told you his plans. You must have a child my age, so for a second pretend that it is her asking for your help.”

He was silent again and when I thought he was going to be sticking to his guns this time by ignoring me, I noticed the twitch of his lips. “I’m not that old.”

“Huh?” 

“My oldest child just finished high school.” He said, shaking his head. “And I think my eyebrows were perfectly normal at all times while I drafted Mr. Astor’s will. I hope.”