For the past three days, David"s mood has been jumping up and down like a roller coaster. The situation with Elena, business meetings, the arrival of his brother. The last reason was the most important.Since Daniel came, he has interfered in his plans in one way or another. And David was frankly very p.i.s.sed by that. Especially he was angry with the incomprehensible situation concerning the engagement with Corey Williams.
David parked the car, got out of it, and the cool night breeze immediately touched his face. He took a deep breath and looked up at the moon. Its dim white light fell in flowing waves onto the calm surface of the bay.
Going down to the sh.o.r.e, he saw the shadow of a man standing at the very edge of the water. After making sure that he was the one with whom he was going to meet, David quickly headed towards him.
"Maybe you can explain to me what kind of games you decided to play behind my back?" he asked the man irritably.
"Oh, brother, just look at the amazing landscape! Isn"t it romantic?" the man smiled to David.
"Daniel!"
"Oh, you don"t seem to be in the mood. What a pity...," Daniel said with contrived sadness and narrowed his eyes trickily.
"When you said that you came to meet your bride, it was already very suspicious. But how did this bride turn out to be the daughter of the Williams family?! Why do you need that? I"m sure you are well aware that she has a relationship with Rick Stein. And knowing your loving nature, I don"t understand what all these complications are for?"
David was full of anger. His brother has always had extravagant behavior. But this time, he clearly went beyond his usual style. And it was especially suspicious because Daniel would never have behaved in this way without a good reason. He was one of those people who do not like to strain themselves and change their habits if they do not have significant benefit from it.
"It"s just this Corey is such a cutie, and I happen to have a good relationship with her parents. So I thought, why not to give it a try," Daniel grinned.
"Stop talking nonsense!" David exploded. "A cutie, you are saying? After your visit, this cutie called Elena in tears and asked her for help! The girl was so scared that she didn"t know what to do!"
"Really? That"s weird; I thought I had made a different impression on her," the elder Anderson replied innocently.
"No need to pretend to be a white sheep in front of me. I know what you really are."
"Hmm, indeed. You"re right, that makes no sense. Only you forget about one important thing, dear brother," Daniel leaned closer to David and said coldly, "I also know what YOU really are."
David"s face instantly darkened, and fury flashed in his eyes.
"What do you want?" he asked Daniel.
"I see you decided to remove one of your masks. Well, now we can talk business," Daniel pulled his hands up, took a deep breath and smiled, clearly enjoying the current situation and the beautiful night view before his eyes.
Then he turned to David, and said with the same shining smile on his face,
"Thirty percent of the shares of Greenline Inc. I need thirty percent of your shares."
"WHAT ?!" David was shocked to hear his brother"s request.
"To be honest, I first wanted to ask for all your shares, but I thought that this would make my younger brother completely sad. Therefore, I decided to do with only thirty percent. I"m a caring older brother, am I not?"
"Are you even out of your mind?! What kind of thirty percent are you talking about?! Since when did you become so interested in my business?!" David"s anger knew no bounds.
"Our business, brother. Do not forget that this is a family business. You know, I was very upset when our father handed you his shares package and made you the largest shareholder. Although the eldest child in the family is me, and I must be the heir to the company."
"Are you serious?! Are you telling me now that you came up with the topic of marriage to get the most of my shares?!" David laughed out loud. This was the most absurd reason he could hear.
"Daniel, in our family we all know perfectly well that you never, you hear me, NEVER, had the slightest desire to take part in the business. The only thing you could do was poking around in the lab, and it was like a hobby anyways, which kept you a little bit busy between your meetings with a countless line of women. And you want me to believe in your desire to become a full heir to the business? Since when did you start to have such an interest, eh?"
"You know, David, over time, people"s interests may change too. The company is at the peak of its success. It is sharing a monopoly on highly demanded product throughout the world. By the way, the creation of the product would not be possible without my partic.i.p.ation. So I thought that the t.i.tle of n.o.bel laureate and owner of Greenline Inc. would add even more points to my stunning charisma," the elder Anderson said solemnly.
"Are you an idiot? I refuse," David replied, and was about to leave.
"By the way, I have my first TV shoot tomorrow."
"I couldn"t care less about it," David answered indifferently and went back to the car.
"And the second guest in the show will be President of Lee Pharmaceuticals. By the bye, I heard that recently he is taking his daughter with him everywhere," Daniel added.
David stopped and turned toward his brother.
"Do you think I should meet her? Her name is Elena, right?" Daniel asked maliciously.
David walked quickly to his brother, grabbed his grand and angrily hissed, "Don"t you dare!"
"Don"t I dare what?" Daniel asked him, deliberately provoking his brother.
"Do not even dare to approach her, do not even dare to talk to her, do not even dare to look in her direction!"
"Or else what?"
"Don"t push it, Daniel. If you interfere with my plans, I will not take into account that you are my brother."
"Why are you afraid? Are you afraid your little girl won"t be able to resist my spell? As you yourself said earlier, you know perfectly well what I can do," Daniel replied calmly and pulled his brother"s hand away from his shirt.
"You will not do this."
"Are you sure about that?"
David was silent. No matter how well he knew Elena and no matter how much he trusted her, he knew his brother"s diabolical abilities much better. He has not yet met a single person who would not succ.u.mb to the hypnotic look of Daniel Anderson.
"You know, my little brother, it suddenly became interesting to me," the elder Anderson continued, "What will your little bird think if she finds out about your plans regarding her?"
"Are you blackmailing me now?"
"Stop it! Can I blackmail my beloved little brother! I"m just offering you an alternative," Daniel said with a smile as if he was doing a great favor to his brother. "You have been preparing for this moment for so many years; finally you found her... You must admit, it would be foolish to let the whole thing be wasted to because of some thirty percent of the shares."
"Why?"
"Why what? Why am I doing this?" Daniel approached the younger brother, put his hand on his shoulder and calmly said, "You have been living and using the thing that has been granted to me by my birth rights. And every time I hear your name, I remember it. Don"t you think that what I am asking you in return is absolutely insignificant compared to what I gave you?"
David was silent. He understood what his brother meant, but too many things were at stake at the moment, and any thoughtless action could lead to the collapse of the whole plan that he had been developing for so long.
"Make a decision until 9 am. Otherwise, I myself will decide how to act when I meet your little bird," Daniel looked at his brother sadly, patted him on the shoulder and walked away.
David remained standing on the sh.o.r.e of the gulf, lit by cold moonlight.