A Game With The Billionaire

Chapter 20:

Vivienne Hart:

“These days I have been getting too weak.” My elder brother who is most commonly referred to as Old Master Hart says, resting on the bed. I am facing the counter, eyes twinkling at the bottle of medications.

“What did you say?” I pretend not to hear, my eyes running through the counter. Old Master Hart stares at me with what I assume is not suspicion.

“I am just weak, that’s all.” He says. “Pass me the meds please.” His voice is hoarse and tired, the effect of the meds that I had Victor switch out. Smiling internally, I walk towards his bed with the bottle of meds and swipe a glass of water from his bedside table.

I pass two pills to him and he drinks it weakly. “Are you taking the meds regularly?”

“Yes, I am. Every single day,” he wheezes and I pat his shoulder gently, gesturing to him to drink more water. “It has just been hard these days, maybe it’s work.”

“Maybe you should take a break from work? Being the chairman of Hart Group can surely be exhausting, maybe you should assign a temporary chairman.” I try my best to keep my tone even, we don’t want the old man to know that something’s up.

Old Master Hart narrows his eyes at me. When we were little, it was always hard trying to pick his brain; his expressions are always flat, scary even. The kind of expression he’s wearing is weary, the same one his granddaughter Nicole wears whenever she’s around me.

I hate that sneaky b***h; I know she doesn’t trust me. When I become chairwoman, I will be sure to kick her out of the family.

“Just because I am weak doesn’t mean I can’t lead the group.” The warning in his tone tells me to drop the discussion, who cares? Soon enough, my brother will be too weak to even talk.

“Maybe our doctor should visit you.” I suggest and he grunts in response, my brother doesn’t like showing his weakness, he wears his pride in his sleeves and it’s both a motivation and exhaustion.

“You should rest.” I help him rest against the pillow. Turning off the lights, I leave the room breathing out a sign of relief when I am in my wing of the mansion.

Damn it, that was exhausting as hell.

I slump on the chair. Victor chooses the right moment to stride in. He always knows the right time to make an entrance.

“For now, the meds seem to be kicking in; very soon....that chairman position will be mine.” I can feel it, the respect, the pride that comes with it. The Harts family needs cleaning and that’s when I step in and flush out the family members that seem to be of no use.

Victor gives me a strange look. Ever since he has been working for me, he rarely objects to any of my words, but seeing the way he’s looking at me gives me some sort of discomfort. “What’s the look for?” I snap. “I am not heartless; it is not like I am going to kill my freaking brother.”

“My apologies.” His nose flares. “I simply got lost in my head.” There’s this distant expression that takes over Victor sometimes, it’s weird to explain but it’s as though he gets stuck in his own head at times.

“It’s okay.” I wave him off and he bows. “How’s it going?” I had asked him to keep an eye on my son, Tristan. If I want to grow him into the chairman position, then he has to be ready. Our family is a conglomerate, Tristan has cousins that are far more qualified to be chairman and if he wants to be the chairman, then he has to get rid of the play boy reputation he has flying around.

“Is he adjusting well to Jeremy’s company?” I ask, staring intently at Tristan. He scrunches his nose and it sends a distant yet familiar memory straight into my brain. No...I can’t let myself think about that again, it happened years ago.

“Yes, he told me he is adjusting well and Jeremy hasn’t been found to give him any extra treatment.” Victor lists off and I smile a bit. Knowing Jeremy, he isn’t the one to hand out special treatment; he created his own gaming company from scratch without linking the Hart family, if anything. He makes a great candidate for the next chairman which means he’s a threat.

“And how is Tristan’s...well...um love life.” I ask and Victor raises an amused brow, my silly son won’t let me know anything about his love life which is why I have my right hand man fishing for details. What kind of son doesn’t talk to his mother about the woman he’s interested in?

“From what I heard, I think he’s interested in one of the Hilton’s triplets.” Victor explains and it earns my full attention. Why is my son after one of the Hilton’s? Granted, the Hilton’s family are almost next in rank to the Hart family, but why is Tristan going after one of their daughters?

It won’t be a bad idea if he gets married to an Hilton, it sure will raise Tristan’s reputation giving him access to easily become the chairman.

“That’s good.” I say, standing up. I head towards the photos that are hanging on the wall. On days like these, I miss my husband, I miss his dry sense of humour and the way he said my name like I was the only one he understood.

He died two years ago and ever since his death, I realize that it was time to settle back into the Harts family. I had years of travelling around the world with my husband, it was enough for me.

“Any news about Jeremy?” I am still staring at the photos of my husband, Tristan when he was little, he was hugging his father, a carefree smile on his face, he couldn’t care about anything else.

“They have been going on steadily.” Victor replies behind me. “There’s no scandal about them yet but there has been rumours that they are creating a game together.”

“Do you think he loves her?” I ask Victor, furrowing my brows. Love is something I don’t think I understand, sure, no one understands the concept of love but to me, I have always found it so hard to wrap my head around the whole meaning.

“It seems like he does.” That’s what Victor says.

“Shall we find out then?” I turn towards him and his face is still straight.”

“How do we go through it?” He asks.

“We are going to see if he really loves her. Let’s get someone to take Emma, and scare him a bit. We aren’t going to kill her but we are going to hurt her.” I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. “A little.”

“Understood, ma’am.” Victor says, his voice emotionless.

“We are just going to see how well he panics. Get someone from a mafia organization, those thugs know how to do it so well.” The idea alone gives me chills, the good kind. To me, love means taking a risk, love means going crazy whenever the slightest thing happens to the other. I guess it’s time to see how well Jeremy Hart can go crazy over Emma.

“When should this be done?” Victor asks, his eyes firmly trained on me.

“As soon as possible.” I say before waving. “I am going to take a nap, I have a charity in the evening, so let me know.” All Victor does is nod; he knows that my bedroom is off-limits to anyone, I don’t even let Old Master Hart nor my son come into my brother and certainly, Victor is not excluded.

I pass by him, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Thank you, Victor.”

“Of course, ma’am.” Like always, he replies with formality.

I go to my room and feel a little ache in my bones. I guess that’s one of the disadvantages of getting old, weak muscles and constant tiredness. There’s a tiny book lying on my bedside table but I can’t bring myself to grab it. For years I couldn’t bring myself to flip the pages open because in between the pages is a photo that I can’t muster the courage to look at.

“Maybe one day, I will be finally ready.” I say to no one in particular, tapping the edges of the worn out book. I relax on the bed, sighing. When you’re my age and you literally have everything, you get to hold the little things with high value.

Maybe I should call all the Hart family and have tea with them or I should just call my son and just chat with him, but why is it so hard?

‘Because you’re a terrible person.’ A nagging voice says at the back of my head. ‘Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible.’

A headache surfaces as I rest on the pillow, shutting my eyes and trying desperately to drown in the darkness.