Page 4 of The Revenge Plan

They had planned this. They had planned this all along, and I didn’t have any say in the matter. No one bothered to give me a heads up or a warning. I was a trifling piece of furniture to them.

“Looks like we’re in agreement,” my father said, as if I had said nothing.

“We’re not!” I screamed at him; my eyes wide.

“Hailey!” he started. He looked annoyed at me as if I was a kid running around at a grownups’ party. I didn’t care. He could blow up a fuse if he wanted.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t want to marry him! This isn’t the medieval era.”

“Calm down H, it’s not as if you’re being sent to the gulag.” Bryce said.

“Oh, my fucking god!” I turned to the man at the head of the table, “Dad! Tell him it’s impossible!”

My father didn’t blink. He didn’t even look remorseful, the asshole. My own father truly had sold me off as part of a business deal. He turned to the room. “Can I have one moment with my daughter?”

Chairs scrapped the floor as everyone else shuffled out until it was the two of us left. I marched towards my father, “You’re out of your mind. Both of you.”

“You didn’t use to think so when you’re were young. I remember you having a crush on him.”

My cheeks turned red. I felt caught out. That was his tactic. Destabilize the other, strike the fatal blow, is what he once said. “That was then. My feelings are the exact opposite now.”

He shrugged, “Seems like he likes you though.”

I let out a choked laugh. I had no idea why Caiden had agreed, brain worms probably, but that man hated my guts. He hated me more than he hated Dad. And I’m pretty sure given the chance to kill Dad and get away with it, he would take it. What he would do to me, I dared not think about.

Dad got up and strolled over to where I was standing. He took hold of my arms. His eyes were glimmering, “Don’t you get it? This is good for us!” Nothing I said had gotten through, “We could use that to our advantage,” he continued, shaking me with vigor, “Think of all the intel you could get from him.” He was losing his mind. He let go of me and began pacing, “We could take back our division and take over his company.”

I sighed. I knew very little about business, but even I knew how delusional that was. KMVH was twice the size of Lyndell. But it was possible. Buy enough stock and he could get a seat on the board, then he might make changes. But Lyndell didn’t have that much cash lying around. It needed cash. Besides, Caiden would never let something like that happen.

“I don’t think he likes me enough to be oblivious to whatever plan you have in store,”

“Oh. I know. He wants to use you as a social climbing ladder.” The callousness in his voice stung, “Although, I gotta admit, he seems to like you.” He appeared to be talking to himself, “How did I not notice. He had been eying you ever since he came in. Should have known. I would have asked for a better price.”

“I’m not doing it Dad. How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not marrying him.”

He closed the space between us and grabbed me. “Where do you think all of this comes from?” he said shaking me, “For once can you be my daughter and do what’s best for this company! You have ruined us already with your partying, your escapades and all your shenanigans. We had no scandals until you came along.”

That was a low blow, and he knew it. But it got to me every time. I shook him off, “That’s rich coming from you! You’re the one who stole from the company! You’re the one with all the fraud and embezzlement scandals!”

“And I did what I could do to remedy them! To fix them! What have you done so far except to wait for dear daddy to get you out of trouble! You barely even work for the company!”

“That’s because I’ve better things to do!”

“Like what! Running a charity into the ground? How’s that going so far? Are the African children’s plates full or are they still hungry?”

Tears distorted my vision. I fought to keep them back. He knew where to kick me, and he knew how to kick hard. Yes, the charity was failing, but it wasn’t all my fault. And it was hardly my charity, I worked there. He never understood that I was a mere employee. The idea of his daughter working for someone else was too much of an embarrassment for him to grasp.

“You won’t give me mom’s inheritance! That’s why it’s failing!”

He held his arms akimbo and laughed, “You stupid child! There’s nothing to inherit. You gave it to me, remember. When you signed those papers putting the money into a trust?”

My mind went back to the time he and his lawyers had ambushed me and asked for my signature. It had sounded very formal and most of the language had gone over my head, and I thought I was doing what was best for me. They had said it was the best for me. Fuck. I should have read the papers.

“Bryce told you, you would get the money if you came here and you believed him, didn’t you?” He laughed, “He was always the smartest in the bunch.”

I blinked away my tears and raised my chin, “I’m not marrying him.”

“But honey, if you don’t, then say bye-bye to your little life. You won’t have anything after this! We won’t have anything after this. But,” he stepped even closer and wiped my tears in a paternal manner that I knew was anything but. His voice was low and deceptively soothing, “you can get all the information we need to restart this business and you can get your inheritance back. I can even buy back the house if you want.”

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