[Bonus chapter] Board Meeting (2)

The different board members chatted to themselves and the expressions of the other Valentine family members, especially Edward Jr. couldn't help but darken.

Andre had assured him that he would not sign the contract with Celeste and would instead give it to him. What the hell was going on?

Edward Jr. shot Celeste a look and she only gave him a bored stare in return. How could people like Edward Jr. who didn't believe in working hard compared to someone like her who had been grinding since childhood? The little tricks he tried to play couldn't compare to her, and when it came to business, she was quite passionate and good at it.

While she was completing her undergrad and master's, her professors and even other classmates had praised her business acumen. She had a great eye for ideas that would succeed which is how she had used the measly amount of money remaining from her scholarships to angel invest in different startups. She had seen good returns and eventually built an investment incubator with the connections she made. Her portfolio was quite impressive and rather than cashing out, she continued investing all of her wealth into her top startup choices. If her grandfather hadn't called her back, she would have continued on that path.

In the year that she had been back, she had spent time reading through public and private domain financial records for the Valentine company and she had to say – Her father was truly a useless idiot with no business skill whatsoever!

Her grandfather had given 48% of his shares to her father while he retained 22% and the remaining board executives collectively owned 30%. In the almost 30 years that her father had been running the company, he had reduced his own shares to only 10%. 30% had been split among Edward Jr., Callista, Bella, and Liam, while the rest had gone to outside families. People like the Girardi family now owned a sizable stake from the share sales that Edward Sr. and other executives had made.

Instead of learning his lesson and consolidating the company into a clear vision and product, Edward Sr. continued to diversify and continued accepting outside money. The project he invested in continued losing money which then needed more outside funding, creating a vicious cycle. Her grandfather was quite concerned about seeing his life's work be reduced to nothing, so he gave Celeste 8% of his shares, matching the amount Edward Jr. had been given, and told her to join in the selection for the next CEO. Since he couldn't guarantee the company would continue to stay in the family, he wanted someone he could trust to be at the helm, so he begged Celeste.

Seeing the old man who had raised her with love and care beg her to the point of tears, she had no choice but to accept even though she had vowed to have nothing to do with the Valentine family once she graduated.

"Since the quarterly reports are done, let's move on to the most important matter of the day. Choosing new businesses that will help us reverse the current trend and make money. We need to make strives to select who will take over the company internally." Edward Sr. spoke while looking around with a stern expression.

"Although some people made decent efforts we need to put that behind us and look to the future. I task each of you five to come up with a new business proposition that will make us XXX-amount of money. Use this quarter to develop the idea and present a working prototype or business case. Each of you will be given x-amount of investment to make it work,"

"Must it be a new business proposition or can a failing business vertical be revamped to fit the criteria?" Celeste raised her hands and asked.

Edward Jr. and the rest only smirked at her in disdain. Who would want to be shackled with an existing failing business and all its problems when a new one could just be started?

"No, it can be an existing one, however, the amount of funding will be reduced accordingly."

"Understood." Celeste nodded and stayed silent as the rest of the meeting continued. Her brain began whirling as a large amount of thoughts through.

***

The days went by quickly for Celeste. She spent her mornings using the gym to train at the same time as Richard although she no longer sparred with him. She only sparred with Lieutenant Marshall and Adjutant Adler. Once her workout was finished, she made herself a quick breakfast before quickly changing and running to the office.

She spent her day vetting viable business propositions, reviewing term sheets, and narrowing down what choices she wanted to make for the business venture she would take over. Since she didn't have an assistant, she had to do all the legwork and data compilation and review herself which ate up a lot of time and stamina.

She usually left the office by 11 pm, entered her apartment where Auntie Mae had left dinner wrapped up for her, quickly ate it, and went to bed. Just like that, she fell into a peaceful yet busy rhythm for the next two weeks, not knowing that her peaceful time was causing other people unmentionable headaches.

***

POV Richard Carrington

"Master, did you have a fight with Miss Celeste?" Auntie Mae asked Richard Carrington in concern. For once, he had returned on time and was having dinner at home, and she had been able to corner him.

"No."

"Then why has Miss Celeste not come up here in three weeks? Neither of you are ever home! You must have said something to that sweet innocent baby for her to lock herself in her room like that!" Auntie Mae cried.

"She's not locked up in a room, she has a whole apartment to herself. I see her every morning and she has the freedom to go wherever she wants. What does her not coming up here have to do with me." Richard paused eating his meal before staring at her like she was crazy.

"You must have said something to her! Can't you tell that she's avoiding you? Do you know how she's living? She doesn't even have a mattress!"

Seeing Richard look unconcerned, Auntie Mae rolled up the fashion magazine she was reading and whacked him on the head.

"Isn't that your girlfriend and future wife? You don't care if she lives like that?" Seeing that Richard was still not paying attention to her, Auntie Mae decided that violence was the answer.

"Go!" whack!

"And!" whack!

"Check!" whack!

"On!" whack!

"Her!" whack!

"Mae…it seems you want to be dishonorably discharged." Richard glared at the old lady in anger.

"Before you even complete the paperwork, I assure you I would have already quit and collected my pension." Auntie smiled back unperturbed.

The two stared at each other in a stalemate until Richard sighed and stood up.

"Fine. I'm going."

"Good. Take this rice pudding along with you as well. I made it especially for Miss Celeste."

Richard stared incredulously as his chef stuffed multiple Tupperware containers into his hands and shoved him into the elevator.

When the elevator door opened Richard walked out of the elevator into the living area. It was exactly the same layout as his apartment except that there was almost no furniture. The only thing he saw was a large air mattress with a pile of pillows on it.

"Anybody here?" he called out while heading to the kitchen and placing the containers on the counter.

"One second!" a familiar voice called out.

Richard watched as Celeste walked out of the bedroom. It seemed that she had just left the shower as her hair was wet and curly as it trailed down her back and her usually fair face was flushed red. There was a bit of steam coming from her body and she was dressed simply in an oversized long-sleeve shirt and shorts which left her shapely legs exposed. Although he had seen her in the morning, it was a different atmosphere seeing her in comfortable home clothes fresh out of the shower.

"Oh, Richard it's you. What's up?" Celeste asked him in surprise. She stopped a fair distance away and looked at him curiously. Apart from her greeting him in the mornings, they hadn't had any one-on-one conversations with each other since he had told her to keep her distance. She had been a bit too embarrassed to face him, so she mainly stuck to staying down here when she was actually home.

"Mae instructed me to bring you some dessert she made."

"Oh, thank you for doing that. And please thank her for me as well." Celeste calmly replied.

Richard examined the girl standing in front of him. Usually, she called him babe, chattered endlessly while smiling, and had no concept of giving him personal space but today she was treating him politely. Almost as if he was a stranger. It felt odd. Maybe Mae was right, and she was angry? It seemed that everything had changed from that moment in the gym.

Feeling the need to fill up the silence, he asked her "How are you finding living here?"

"It's been great. Thank you so much for letting me stay. I really appreciate it."

Richard: "…"

"…Do you need anything? I see you don't have any furniture. I can have Mae get an interior decorator to help you choose something."

"No thank you. I don't plan on staying here long and I'm never home so there's no need to waste money on such things." Celeste replied succinctly.

Richard: "…"

Seeing that the conversation kept dying, he decided to change the topic to something more serious.

"Has Titania reached out to you to make amends?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Let me know when she makes amends and when you want to forgive her. Until then, the embargo with the Girardi and Molina family continues."

"That's still going on? You can stop now! Those women and their families probably hate my guts! I'm surprised they haven't tried to kill me yet."

"Those who offend my people deserve such treatment. Besides, they wouldn't dare. Plus, I have a security detail on you."

Celeste's eyes widened as she asked, "You have people stalking me?"

"A protection detail. They only report your location if they fend off an attack. I would naturally inform you about it as well." Richard responded as if it were a matter of fact.

"Oh, uhm okay. Thank you?" Celeste replied awkwardly then stared at him in silence. Since there wasn't anything she could do about it, there was no reason to become upset. She just waited quietly until Richard began speaking again.

"You should come up to see Auntie Mae more often, she misses you."

And I miss your silly presence. Although he wouldn't say that part aloud.

Celeste's face softened as she thought of the tracksuit-loving auntie who made delicious food. "Please tell her I miss her too." Even though she was busy, It seemed that she would have to make time to go see her.

The two stared at each other for a couple more minutes before Richard sighed deeply.

"Tennis or a basketball?" Richard asked her suddenly.

Caught off guard, Celeste cautiously replied, "Basketball?"

"Okay. It's a date. I'll come get you at 6 p.m. on Friday."

"Uhh okay. I'll do my best to be ready."

Richard nodded once to her before leaving as Celeste waved him off from a distance. It seemed she had no interest in getting close to him at all.

Once she confirmed he was gone, Celeste let out a deep sigh and threw herself onto her mattress. What an awkward interaction.