Second chance with Mr Billionaire

Chapter3

Robin Pov

Those three words echoed in my head as I heard them come out of Mr Russell's mouth. I looked at Mr Russell, this time with the same level of intensity he used to look at me and for a split second I saw it, the glimpse of fear that ran across his face. He was agitated and was trying to bait me into signing those papers, which meant it must be very important to him, hence an important document involving me.

“ Do I at least get a minute to read through it?

“Are you trying to say you do not trust us” Mrs Russell interfered before Mr Russell had the chance to respond “ It is a simple job, you sign the papers, and you are free to go back to your party. How hard can that be".

“I never said I didn't trust you, you have both been so kind to me but I still needed a minute to go through the documents and I see no reason why I should be denied the right to that” I shot back at Mrs Russell, who looked stunned at my outburst. But it needed to be said.

“Oh, I see what this is about. Sweet little Robin is all grown now, she is eighteen and can do whatever she likes, so she is choosing to defy our request. I told my husband not to take an ungrateful brat like you into our home, that you would end up turning on us but my kindhearted husband who believed in everyone, said it would never come to that, well hun, glad to know I could prove you right, they always end up………………..

Mr Russell cuts his wife off midway the conversation and gently took my hands into his “Alright Robin, we will give you some minutes to go through the documents if that is what you want but I need you to look at the bigger picture here. Whatever is inside the document would also benefit you if you play your cards right and that is what business is all about, you have ten minutes to decide whether or not you are signing these documents because time is of the essence when it comes to making decisions like this” he sounded different from earlier, calmer and less agitated unlike his wife who looked both angry and confused at the same time.

Mrs Russell eyed me dangerously before leaving the room with Mr Russell. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in, I had no idea what game these people were playing but I was sure of one thing, I needed to play my cards right like Mr Russell said.

I opened the documents and read every detail with precision, this was my parent shares of the company. These people expected me to just sign off to them. What sort of a fool did they think I was? For a moment there I was angry but then the anger faded and an idea came to mind. Precisely ten minutes later, Mr Russell and his wife came back into the study.

“ So what is it going to be Robin, are you signing the papers or not?” Mr Russell was back to his poker business face. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, naturally,he was a hard man to read, you never know what was going on in his mind so seeing him agitated earlier was what made me realize he was desperate despite every other attempt he made to conceal his intention, he was desperate, but I needed to think smart.

“As much as it pains me to say this, I won't be signing off my parent's shares to you guys because I want to be a part of the business” That was it, simple and straight to the point. There was no point in beating around the bush.

A loud roar filled the room and it took a moment for me to see that it was Mrs Russell laughing her heart out, suddenly she stopped and walked over to where I was seated and in a sharp tone, she commanded “ Stand up” .

I stood up without hesitation.

“You fool,don't you get it, at the rate that we are going there would be no company for you join if you don't sign over your shares. You want to be a part of the company. That sounded funnier than when I found out my husband was going to be bringing trash like you home but I dealt with that because I had no choice, so if you think your selfish little ass is going to sit here and tell us what you want then you have no idea who I am, you are going to sign that papers and get it over with right now” Mrs Russell held my arm tightly and took the pen to insert into my palm.

All I could think about as Mrs Russell did all this was to stand strong and not get intimidated by her, I held my hands firmly to the side as she tried to drag them towards the paper she held, but it was all futile because I wasn't bulging.

“ You can drag a horse to the river but cannot force it to drink. I have made my decision, and I am not giving up those shares”. There, I said it, I finally stood up to her.

Mrs Russell groaned angrily before slamming the papers on the table in defeat, while Mr Russell just sat back watching us both, still with an unreadable expression on his face, Mrs Russell kept pacing around the study, with her left hand on her head. She looked really upset, but that wasn't my problem, I was about to leave the room when I heard her voice:

“How about your dearest Lionel, what do you think would become of his future if you do not sign these papers?

I gasped in shock.How did they know about us? Lionel always warned me against letting anyone know about our relationship, including his parents, we were always extremely careful so how did they know? “ what do you mean, Lionel and I have nothing……………………

“ Oh, spare me the lies, just how dumb do you think we are? We know about your messed-up relationship with my son, I only allowed it because I thought he would get tired of you and move on to someone better but that doesn't seem to be the case. I can tell that he loves you and you love him but I can also assure you that if you leave this room without signing these papers, there would be no company for Lionel to inherit and you would be the cause of that. Are you willing to put your selfish needs before his?”.

“I…..I……. have no………………..

But Mr Russell's beat me to it “ We need your help Robin, the company needs your help, there are competitors trying to take us down but with your help, we can go back to being the top, and when you are Lionel get married, you both would be inheriting a dynasty, it doesn't get much better than that, like I said you need to think of the bigger picture, you get to marry our son and become the owners of the largest winery out there, it is a win-win for everyone.

“What if Lionel doesn't want to marry me?”

“He would, I assure you, he would marry you, he has plans to propose, you just need to trust us and believe in your love for Lionel okay?” Mrs Russell had stopped pacing and was facing me, “ He plans to propose next week, he was supposed to do it today but he said he wanted you to be officially eighteen”.

“Is it really true?”

“Yes, it is”

“Then I guess we can wait till next week when he proposes and when he does I am going to sign the papers”.

By the look of things, Mrs Russell did not like that but her husband responded before she could, “ If that is what you want. Now that we have gotten this over with you can go back to your party Robin”.

“Alright”.

As I left the office, Mr Russell came out of the study to receive a call. He sounded mad, like furious.“ What do you mean it is done, I told you not to act without specific orders from me ” he yelled at the person on the other line. I was halfway down the stairs but I could hear him.

“There you are” I heard a familiar soft voice I had come to know as that of Olivia's which pulled me out of eavesdropping on Mr Russell's conversation “ I have been looking all over for you, time to cut your birthday cake”. Olivia intertwined my palm in hers as we went back to the party and before I knew it, I was back to being just a girl celebrating her birthday.