Second chance with Mr Billionaire

Lionel's POV I was used to the silence, the silence let me know what I needed to know, that my father was in the study with my mum. My dad must have seen the news just like I did ten minutes ago. Miles Miller, son of Joseph Miller just raised the bar. He managed to get our biggest client to shift sides. This was a twenty-two-year-old man who was thriving in the winery business better than his dad ever did, In two months, he managed to double the clients, elevate their wine tastes and brands and was making twice as much as his father did. This guy was killing it, and we knew it and that scared my dad, that soon the Russell name would fade into dust and would be known as the “once biggest wine owner in New York City”. I went upstairs to meet my dad and, as predicted, he was in a bad mood. As I was about to enter, I overheard his voice, laced with anger and menace, as he spoke “ Miller's son is killing our business, and we know it. If we do not act fast, we are going to lose it all. We need to act now, Monica or we are going to lose it. All stakeholders are complaining. They don't think we are fit to run the company anymore, those little pieces of s**t, at this point they might vote us out of our company”. I slid open the door a little to see my mum massaging my dad's shoulder. My mum has always been a good player, she always knows the right thing to say, the woman was business-oriented, and I knew it, my dad couldn't have gotten to where he was without her help. In her usual calm tone, she said. “ Relax Connor, that would never happen because we have an ace up our sleeve, the girl is still in our custody and we still have the document. In a few weeks, she turns eighteen, then we can act. What have I always said about patience, hun? You need to exercise patience and when they are off their guard, we strike. The Russell name is not going down anytime soon, so calm down”. My dad didn't look too convinced by what my mum said, and I could see it. He had doubts about the plan. This was a backup plan we had formulated a year ago. But I could see why my dad wasn't too assured by my mum's words. It was because he wasn't too sure Robin would just sign the papers without putting up a fight and I agreed with him. While she might be a lonely seventeen-year-old girl, she wasn't stupid. One look at the document, and she would know what it was about. I walked into the study and my mum's face lit up as she saw me. “ Just the man I wanted to see” she said as she kissed me on both cheeks “ I had no idea you were coming otherwise I would have asked Agnes to make something. In fact, why don't I ask Agnes to whip up something quickly for my boy” I held my mum's arm to stop her from leaving. “ That won't be necessary mum, I came because I heard the news about Miles Miller, I wanted to see if dad was okay”. “Oh honey, that is so sweet of you, you know how your dad is, he is worried about the company and thinks Robin would not comply with our request but I am assuring him there would be none of that because she has fallen for my handsome son, and she would listen to whatever he says. Like I always say, a woman's biggest weakness is her heart and Robin seems to be in love with you Lionel, if she doesn't want to sign the papers, we can come up with a deal and I have the perfect one in mind so cheer up Connor, she would never say no”. My dad kissed my mum's palm as he held onto her right hand “ always the evil mastermind, and it is what makes me love you” He says with a smirk on his face. “Why don't we take a walk Lionel,” my mum says as she gives my dad one of her wicked smiles before leaving his study. I followed her as requested and I knew where we were headed. It was the one place I detested, the one place I always dreaded going to but my mum doesn't like to hear me nag about it, so I followed her without complaints as we walked down the stairs. She intertwined her right arm with mine and said“ This is an opportunity for us all, Lionel. I know you may not like her and I can see why. She is beneath you in every way, the only thing she has, and we need is her shares and by playing, pretend you can get her to sign those papers. Her eighteenth birthday is coming up in two weeks. I need you to make her feel special, like a princess, she needs to be fully in love with you, and you cannot mess this up okay?”. My mum says in her most serious tone. “Okay, I get it mum, I understand you perfectly. I would play the lovesick fool for as long as you want me to but I would not marry her. I draw the line there” “ Do not worry, it won't come to that”, my mum replied before stopping. It took me a second to realize we were at our destination, the garden house where Robin stays. My mum gave me a wink before walking off, while I took a deep breath to brace myself before knocking on the door and there she was standing in her sundress and her ponytail smiling at me. She was indeed naive for her age, she gave me a hug and whispered in a soft tone “ I have missed you, I have missed you so much”. I patted her back gently just to assure her the feeling was mutual before replying “ I missed you as well, but I had to make sure no one was around before coming. My parents cannot find out about us, it would ruin us and I cannot afford to lose you Robin”. “So would I. It would ruin me Lionel, and do not worry, your parents will never find out about us”. All I could think of was how sad and pathetic Robin was. She fell for the first man who showed her a tiny bit of affection even though his parents never treated her with affection, she was that desperate to be loved, and it was going to ruin her.