Chapter 4. The Secret Plan

"What did I just hear from your father?" Patricia whispered, pacing around the hallway where she stood with her son, George. "Tell me I'm dreaming, I probably didn't hear correctly. Yo…you want to marry who?"

"It's true, I want to marry Arthur Reeves' daughter, Rachel" George answered firmly, his face showing no sign of remorse. His mind was made up.

He had spent the last Twenty-six years listening to everything his parents wanted him to do. They made most of the choices for him, all he had to do was obey. His father especially, knowing that George was ever ready to please his mother would send her to him, so she could change his mind with her soft words and tearful eyes.

And for years he had listened, he had obeyed. He had played along to their beat. He had laid down his interests to do what they wanted. But not anymore. Not today. From now on, he was going to do what he wanted for himself and not feel sorry for it.

"Are you hearing yourself?" Patricia quaked, the pitch of her voice rising. She was trying her best not to yell at him in anger. "Do you know what you're doing right now? You're putting our family in danger!"

George turned slightly so he could look at her directly in the eyes. 

"Danger…how? Do you want to play the we-were-told-to-stay-away-from-them card on me just like him?"

Patricia fisted her hands, and moved two steps closer to him. "Stop being stubborn, there's still time to cancel the proposal. I can apologize to her family on your behalf. Can't you just do what your father wants? Have you forgotten all he has done to build this company to this level?" 

"I'm not interested in this conversation…" George fumed, slightly enraged by how both his parents were so determined to frustrate him. "...besides, this company is what it is today because of Arthur Reeves, not father. You know this. I know this. Why do you keep on acting like I'm stupid and I don't know what I'm doing?"

"You don't —" Patricia started

"What?..." George interrupted angrily, "...Tell me. Should I lay my life down for my father? Since I'm only useful when I ignore my own feelings to do what makes him happy. Is that what you want?"

Patricia stood silent, staring at her son, her mind racing with different thoughts. She could see his tensed jaw and angry eyes, he wasn't even trying to be the good and obedient son anymore. He was tired. She always knew George adored Rachel even before things got so messy. But there was nothing she could do for him. She just wanted to protect him, from the business associates who despised him and would use his marriage to Rachel to bring him down, she wanted to protect him from people who would think he played a role in the d**g t*********g incident five years ago. Why would he want to marry Arthur Reeves' daughter of all people? 

"That's not what I want" Patricia whispered "I want the best for you. I want you to be safe"

"Really?..." George scoffed, his tone laced with mockery "Don't you want me to crawl back to father on my knees begging for mercy, just like you've always made me do? Are you not interested in trading my sanity for father's happiness like you always —"

"George, stop this right now!" Patricia retorted, the pitch of her voice higher than usual.

"I guess you're too tired to play good wife for your husband today" George whispered, his voice filled with disgust. He let out a deep exhausting breath, before resting his two hands on the wall beside him. "I'm so sick of living like this…so sick of it."

"Are you ready to bear the consequences of getting married to her?" Patricia replied, ignoring what he just said. She really didn't like it when he was like this — stubborn and hot-headed. Exchanging angry words with him would only make this conversation go on and on, and she didn't want that. "I won't be helping you with any issue you might face. You are the one who decided to marry her even after everything your father and I have said."

George laughed. "You're acting too kind today, mother" he said sarcastically, taking his hands off the wall and standing straight. "I've done things on my own for as long as I can remember. I don't think I'll be needing your help this time."

Patricia exhaled softly. Morris was going to have to sit this one out, George had made up his mind. He wasn't listening to anything she had said. 

"George, I sincerely want the best for you" Patricia responded, hoping he would understand her worry and fear "Remember all you went through in the company after that fire accident, I don't want you to be ridiculed again after marrying Rachel. I have no desire to stand in the way of your happiness, I just want you to be safe."

George stood there, his face void of any emotion. He still remembered the trauma, pain and mockery he faced, it was still fresh in his memory. "I understand what you're saying. If any problem arises, I'll face it. I survived the last five years, so I'll be fine"

"It's alright…" Patricia lifted her gaze to meet with him, and smiled "...You'll be seeing her soon, in a few days time. Both of you will get married before the end of this month. Is that fine with you?"

"That's good enough" George replied "Thank you for listening to me this time"

                        ~~~~~*~~~~~

Taking one step after the other slowly, in an attempt to be quiet, the shadow of a man could be seen at the end of the hallway — as he made his way towards a door that led to the backyard garden of the villa. It was late at night and the moonlight was not bright enough to reveal the identity behind the shadow of the man who stood in front of the garden, even if a passerby saw him.

The man turned around for a moment and whispered into the dark, confident that someone familiar was there with him. "What do you have to say? And why would you tell me to meet you in this place and by this time?" 

"Don't you know?" A woman answered coldly, walking out of the dark end of the garden and moving closer to the man. "You should know what I'm talking about. You should know what would make me call you out by this time of the night"

The man turned around to look at her, "I'm not going to stand out here in this cold playing the guessing game with you. I have other things to attend to."

The woman pouted and frowned, "it's about George. I can't believe he plans to marry Arthur Reeves' daughter, it's so annoying. That's like bringing the enemy closer"

"It's all your fault" he replied through his growing irritation. "Everything you're complaining about is your fault"

"What are you talking about?"

"You think I don't know you're the anonymous person that posted his private pictures online" the man spoke through his clenched teeth "What were you thinking?"

Everywhere grew silent for a short moment, only the sound of the cool night breeze blowing against the trees could be heard.

The woman blinked in shock "You must be mistaken"

"Mistaken? Don't even give me that nonsense." He replied angrily "The damage of what you did is what gave George the chance to get engaged to that girl. You have no right to complain when you're the cause of the problem"

Embarrassed, the woman defended herself "Yes! yes, I admit I'm the one…" she retorted, matching the level of his anger with her's. "....I believed that was the easiest way to get rid of him. My plan was to frustrate him and the next person on our list of people we have to get rid of so — "

"But I told you to leave those things to me" he interrupted, obviously annoyed by her stubbornness. "I told you I'll handle it, our plan is almost complete. All you had to do was to just stay silent and leave things to me"

"Leave things to you?" She laughed "For how long exactly? Another twenty three years? No way!"

The man moved his gaze to her face "what's that supposed to mean? Do you know how much I have done to get to this point? Don't even get on my nerves!"

"Oh please…" she waved her right hand in dismissal of his efforts. "...I am the one who gave two whole decades of my life waiting for your plan to finally succeed and of all the rewards I get, it's seeing George get married to her!! What happened to your wonderful plan?" She scoffed, obviously mocking him.

The man remained silent while she rattled on.

"No, tell me. Why wouldn't I take things into my hands? Are you expecting me to wait another twenty three years for your magnificent plan? What about the promise you made to me?"

The man had clearly had enough, and couldn't hold back his disgust. "Will you just stop it already!! What's your problem?" He wanted to scream so bad, but knew he would disclose their secret meeting to anyone nearby. "The first part of our plan went well. Besides, his marriage to her is to last for only one year if she doesn't want to stay married to him anymore."

"Listen to me" the man moved closer to her and continued with a harsh warning tone "I have sacrificed years of my life to bring my plan to this point and I will not tolerate any nonsense from you if you try to go against our agreement again. This will be the last time you go behind my back and try to make things worse. I won't be this calm if this happens again. Is that understood?"

The woman knowing the kind of person he was — knew that he was serious about what he just said. "I understand. I'll hold you by your word that you'll get rid of them before the one year is up?"

He replied with a strong confident voice, absolutely sure of the final success of his great plan. "Yes, I will get rid of them. You can trust me on that."