My Sweet Seduction

Family Dinner 3

Chapter 7

Brett’s POV

“Honey, you would end up ruining the entire company by doing that. I don't know why you would even consider that as an option. What is the point of deliberately running a successful business right into the ground? There's no point to it,” I pointed out.

I was shocked by what she said. Why would Noel think that this was a good idea? It made no logical sense. I agree that franchising the company was a good idea. But making the cakes inside a factory and shipping them out? The cakes would be days old by the time they arrived at the stores. Her plan to do this would ultimately destroy Sweet and Southern. What was the point of taking the company over, just to do that?

She’s been wanting to take over the company this entire time. So I don’t understand why she would decide to do this when we are so close to achieving our goals. It just didn’t make sense. Was this her plan all along, and she just never told me? That would make sense because I would have never agreed to help her do this if I had known. I worked hard to ensure the company's success, and I don't want Noel to destroy everything that we've built because she's jealous.

I’ve invested time and effort in getting what Noel wanted done with our flagship store. That vision had been Noel’s idea, and it was nothing like what Emma wanted. Emma was upset by what I suggested, but she let me make the store exactly the way Noel wanted. I carried it out, but it’s the only store that panned out like Noel wanted. I backed off and made sure Emma had full control of the other stores. I didn't want to piss her off so bad that she would back out of marrying me.

“Because it was her dream, Brett, not mine. I’m taking her company and her man away from her. This time, I’ll be the one to come out the winner and leave her with nothing. Emma had every opportunity growing up. Her mother was old and pathetic. She was jealous of my Mom, so she tried to take everything away from us. Her mother used her money and influence to get back at Mom and indirectly punish me in doing so. I had to wait until I was older for Dad to get his business back on track. I had to go to public school, while Emma got the best education, the best toys, and the best clothes. Well, it’s my turn now. She owes me this, Brett. Emma has always had the upper hand compared to me. Once we take her company away from her, she will finally know just how bad it feels to lose it all,” Noel replied angrily.

“This isn’t you, Noel. Don’t let Emma’s bullying turn you into someone else. You haven’t done anything wrong. Don’t make such a drastic decision in anger. This company can take care of us for the rest of our lives. There is no reason to ruin it. Isn’t living your best life the best revenge? You already have me, baby. You know I don’t find her attractive. I’ve never done anything more than hold her hand and kiss her on the lips; we’ve never gone any further than that. You’ve already won. There is no need to destroy a successful business because of Emma,” I said, trying to soothe her.

“No, Brett! You don’t understand. I don’t just want her to be sad; I want her ruined. I want her to know that I’m superior to her in every single way; I always have been. She’s nothing compared to me, and I want the world to know it. I want her to finally realize that there is nothing that she can have that I can’t take away from her. I want her to realize that no matter what she does, it will never be enough for her to best me. That is what I want,” Noel snapped out.

It was like I was seeing her for the very first time, and I really didn’t like what I saw. Gone was the sweet girl I adored, and in her place was a vicious and unreasonable woman. She had clearly put a lot of thought into what she wanted to do to Emma and the company. I had real doubts about moving forward. Noel's plans would destroy the business we worked so hard for, all because she was jealous of her.

I looked around the table while Noel’s parents were busy trying to calm her down. My own parents obviously didn’t see anything wrong with her outburst. They were trying to flatter Noel, Joan, and Halton. My sister was just as upset as Noel was, and the doubt I had been trying so hard to push down returned with a vengeance. Noel wasn’t the sweet, gentle woman that I've come to love. She was happy to destroy a successful company because she was angry and frustrated that she had been able to do it herself. She didn’t just want to take the company away from Emma. She wanted to ruin her, and I felt sick about helping her.

“Emma has never been better than you,” Joan cooed at Noel. “She’s just as vindictive as her mother. You've always been the daughter your father doted on, and you always will be. Emma will never know what hit her when this goes down. I almost wish I could see her face when she realizes that you have everything she thought was her's. But maybe we should do as Brett suggested and leave the company alone for a few years. Build up its reputation even more before we start mass-producing the cakes for distribution. No need to mess with something that's already working well.”

Joan looked over at me and nodded as if she had solved everything. She was trying to show that she heard what I said and agreed with me. But she was still going to let Noel dismantle the company eventually. I am starting to realize that I didn't know any of them as well as I thought I did. The worst part was that my family was completely backing them up. My family depended on them for the scraps they gave us, and I was ashamed of them. I never realized how much they looked down on us before, but I'm seeing it now.

“I agree with your mother, Noel. You will get a much higher price for franchises with the business performing well. I think you have a great idea, Noel, but for now, you need to let the company continue to grow. If nothing else, you can sell the three stores outright and make a hefty profit. They’re performing very well right now, and the sky's the limit. Besides, you'll have what you truly wanted all along, Emma’s recipes. She will have nothing left once you take them away from her. She would have to start all over again. I really don’t think she will be able to recover after this kind of blow to her business,” Halton stated.

“I know she’s not going to be able to recover from it, and I don’t care. It’s taken way too long for us to be able to hurt them as they hurt us. This should have been handled long ago. I had to go to school with her. I can't tell you how many times my teachers told me I didn’t measure up to Emma. I was mocked when I was told I would never be smart enough to reach her level, and that hurt. Life isn’t just about being smart enough. I've always been prettier than her. Why didn’t they ever mention that? I suffered for ten years; who knows how successful I could have been if I had been able to go to a private elementary school? She had all the benefits that I never had. When am I going to get what I deserve?" Noel sobbed out.

"Soon, baby, very soon," Joan cooed at her daughter while stroking her hair.

It was clear to me now that they had planned this whole thing out for years. Halton couldn’t get his ex-wife back on his own; she was too powerful to take on. It was disgusting that he was so willing to hurt Emma, his own daughter, in order to take his revenge. His business was doing okay, but it never reached the same level it was at while he was married to Andrea. It was clear that the resentment they felt had been shared by their whole family. How did I not see this sooner?

My sister Gail had introduced me to Noel years ago. They had mutual friends in common. I met Noel during my gap year, and we quickly hit it off. One night, she took me to her house for dinner, and I was introduced to her family. That was when her father offered to pay for my last two years of college if I would agree to do him a favor. I saw Emma's picture, and despite not being attracted to Emma, I agreed to go along with it. It was only supposed to be for two years, and I didn’t even have to sleep with her.

After we graduated, Joan and Noel asked me to propose to Emma, but told me not to give her a ring. I didn’t understand why they wanted me to do that at the time. But now I know that it hurt Emma that I didn’t fully commit to her. That I didn't care enough about her to show my intent to marry her. I’ve been holding off on getting her a ring for years because I knew I wasn't going to marry Emma. I always intended to marry Noel. Now I’m questioning whether I should marry her after seeing her outburst. She clearly has anger issues that I knew nothing about. We’ve been together for years, but clearly I never knew the real Noel.

It was only now that I realized the terrible position that I was in. I can tell by her behavior and how her parents are reacting to her meltdown that this is the real Noel. I have to figure out a way out of this. I’m not willing to marry Noel anymore. I’m just glad that I found out who she was before I married her.

Thankfully, Emma is still in the dark about what happened. I need to decide what I’m going to do moving forward. I fulfilled all the requirements they asked of me. I know for a fact that getting any kind of distance between myself and Noel is going to be next to impossible. Neither she nor her parents will let me go without telling Emma exactly what I’ve done. I'm between a rock and a hard place at the moment. One bad decision I made years ago might end up costing me everything.