It was a hectic day at work for Xavier; once he drove back home, he parked his car in the garage and started heading inside. Once he came in, Justin, who was busy watching TV, ran towards him and hugged him tightly before greeting him.
"How was school today?" Xavier asked him after disengaging from the hug.
"School was fine, Daddy, and how was work?" Justin asked him.
"Work was fine," Xavier said to him before sitting down on the couch. With that, Justin went to the kitchen and brought Xavier a cup of water.
"Thank you," Xavier said to him before collecting the cup of water from him and gulping it down.
"Where's your mom?" Xavier asked him before removing his tie and his suit.
"She's in her room; she said that I should tell you that your food is on the dining table whenever you are back, and in case it's already cold, that I should tell one of the maids to warm it," Justin said to Xavier, and at the same time, Claudia came down from the stairs.
"Good evening, babe, how was your day?" She asked Xavier before approaching him and sitting down beside him.
"My day was fine; how about yours?" Xavier asked her.
"Mine was fine; it seems like you were busy at the company today," she said to Xavier.
"Yeah, very busy," Xavier said to her, and she nodded.
"Justin, please go and keep Daddy's briefcase and suit in the room," Claudia said to Justin, and immediately he took Xavier's suit and briefcase and started heading upstairs.
"Alicia," Claudia called out to one of the maids, and immediately she came to the sitting room. She greeted Xavier and Claudia politely.
"Go and warm the food on the dining table; please hurry up," Claudia said to the maid, and without hesitating, she rushed to the dining table, took the food, and started heading to the kitchen.
"How about the company? How are you coping with it?" Claudia asked Xavier, and immediately he sighed heavily.
"The condition of the company is getting worse with each passing day. I thought that things would have gotten better with time, but since the shareholders withdrew their shares, everything has moved from bad to worse. It was as if the last pillar holding the company was pulled out, and right now nothing else is supporting the company.
The only reason why the company hasn't fallen is that there hasn't been a wave; the day there will be one, you are going to hear that the company has shut down," Xavier said to Claudia.
"Is there not anything that can be done to save the company, maybe taking a loan?" Claudia asked Xavier.
"Well, taking a loan is not the main issue; the main issue is the collateral. The only collateral I can give to take a loan is this house in which we are, and I can't do that," Xavier said to Claudia, and she sighed heavily.
"And what are you planning to do now?" Claudia asked Xavier.
"The only option remaining is to sell the company and use the money to start a smaller business," Xavier said to Claudia.
"What!!" Claudia exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise.
"You are planning to do what?" Claudia asked Xavier, her eyes widening in surprise.
"You heard me right, I'm planning to sell the company and start a smaller business, or do you want to give me the money I will use to bring the company back to its feet?" Xavier asked Claudia with furrowed brows.
"And where am I going to get the money to give you? Even if I had it, I wouldn't give it to you; this is all your fault after all," Claudia said with an angry tone.
"How is it my fault, if I may ask?" Xavier asked her with furrowed brows.
"Well, you can pretend all you want, but that won't stop me from telling you the truth, which you already know. You know well that Sarah is the one who is behind everything that has been going on recently; none of this happened until she came to New York City. If you had listened to me right from the beginning and gotten rid of her, your company would still be developing as it was before she came back, but you refused to listen, claiming that she wasn't the one, and I hope you are seeing the consequences now," Claudia said to Xavier.
"Are you even listening to yourself? You wanted me to get rid of Sarah Justin's mom; how do you think that he would have seen me when he finally discovers that I was the one who killed his mother?" Xavier asked Sarah, and immediately she scoffed at his reply.
"Please spare me this dumb excuse of yours, since when did you start caring about how Justin would view you? If you cared much about how he would view you, then you wouldn't have chased Sarah away in the first place. Believe it or not, no matter what you do, Justin will soon find out about the truth, and he will hate you for it," Sarah said to Xavier.
"Will you keep your voice down? What about if he's hearing us?" Xavier asked Sarah.
"Then so be it; do you think that I give a damn about him? Let me tell you this: Once you sell that company, I'm getting a divorce," Claudia said to Xavier.
"What?" Xavier asked her in disbelief.
"You heard me right, once you sell that company, I'm getting a divorce. I'm not ready to start toiling in poverty with you, so you better find a means to get your company back on its feet or get ready to sign a second divorce paper," Claudia said to Xavier before looking at him in disdain and turning to walk away. But once she turned around, she saw Justin standing on the stairs, staring at both of them. Before Xavier could utter a word, he turned around and started running to his room.
"Damnit," Xavier muttered under his breath before chasing him from behind while calling his name.
To be continued...