Scarlett's eyes widened when the text message turned out to be a photo of her mother walking into a hotel with some random man in a hoodie. She couldn't hide her rising anger, her face squeezed into a frown and her grip tightened on the phone. She felt disgusted staring at it, although she was aware of her mother's infidelity.
“Is this recent?” Scarlett wondered as she felt odd about the need for her mother to cheat barely twenty four hours after her engagement. It didn't make any sense. She believed that it was an old photo but still, it's a danger to the firm if seen by anyone else.
Annoyed, she picked up her phone and called her mother who answered almost immediately.
“Hi Scarlett! I was about to call you even, are you home safe?” Vivian's voice rang.
“Really mom?” Scarlett's voice was cold. Vivian was a bit confused.
“What? Is there a problem?” She inquired.
“What's this photo of yours? Going into a hotel with a man!”
Vivian gasped audibly, incredibly shocked that Scarlett had seen the photo. She couldn't say anything for a few seconds as she tried to come up with the best way to avert the impending danger. Scarlett seeing those photos could mean the end for her at the firm.
“I promise, it's not recent.” That was all Vivian could say at that moment after taking so long to find her tongue.
“And who gives a shit whether it's recent or not? Do you know what this could mean for the company if the public gets a glimpse of it!?” Scarlett scolded, still enraged and refusing to calm down.
“Just hear me out.” Vivian pleaded.
“There's absolutely nothing to hear! I've seen and I've heard enough. Why are you so careless!? Is your plan to ruin my father's company? You're not satisfied that he's dead, now you want to wipe away his legacy?”
“Scarlett!!” Vivian couldn't take it anymore, she hated it whenever anyone pins her husband's death on her.
“What? Have I said anything that isn't true?” Scarlett scoffed. She held a grudge at the moment, not only did her mother take Adrian away from her, she is also bent of destroying her father's company's image.
“Listen mom, you should hope that these photos don't end up getting out to the public because I will make sure you regret it. It seems I will have to take your position away from you and give it to Maxwell instead. It's obvious that you can't handle it anymore.” With that, she hung up and dropped her phone, fuming.
She had made her decision and she wasn't going to go back on it. As soon as she takes full control of the company, she would take Vivian's position away from her.
Scarlett opened her book to read again but she just didn't feel like doing it anymore. Her mood was foul already and she didn't see herself getting interested in reading for that night. She closed the book and went to bed instead, forcing herself to sleep.
Meanwhile, Adrian was at the gallery that night, in his office, going through the files that the clients left with him. The clients had already left so he decided to go through their proposal before heading home for the night. Everyone had left, including Joey, leaving him alone in the entire gallery.
He opened his drawer to bring out a pen when he accidentally pulled on one portfolio, spilling everything in it. He let out a tired groan and went ahead to pick the stuff up. Among the items that spilled were a bunch of old photos of Vivian and her husband. He picked them up and started to look at them, shifting his attention from what he was doing earlier.
Vivian and her husband looked so happy in those photos. The old man must have been shattered to find out the chronic cheat that he had gotten married to. Adrian was led to believe that her attitude contributed to his death and pitied the old man who had to put up with all of that for so many years.
As he stared at the photos one by one, he started to notice something that he hadn't noticed before. Richard was in most of the pictures, next to Mr Davenport, even when he was on the sick bed.
“That's odd, is he the only relative the late old man has?” He rhetorically asked. He had not noticed Richard until he saw him at their engagement party, so he wondered who he was.
His curiosity drove him to get on the internet, typing in Richard Davenport's name. Everything about Richard came on the screen and he carefully read through all the articles. He discovered that Richard was the only one who stood by his brother's side, even when he was sick.
According to one of the articles he was reading, Richard had been away for a long time and after he came home to meet his late brother, the man fell sick, leaving him, Richard, to take care of the company which he did diligently with Vivian's little help.
“Something's not right.” Adrian sighed. He felt weird about Richard, like there was more to everything that happened. He tried to research even more but the internet did not have any more to show so he closed his laptop and decided to go home.
The next morning, Adrian left for Vivian's office, determined to find out even more about Richard as his suspicion had done nothing but grow. Vivian was surprised to see him there but welcomed him into the office.
“It's quite surprising to have you here but all the same, I'm glad you came.” She beamed, taking a seat and offering him one. Adrian sat down and looked around, admiring the decor.
“So why are you here?”
“You didn't tell me about Richard.” He stated.
“Don't be silly, I must have mentioned him at some point. But, is there a problem?”
Adrian leaned on the desk with his elbows, staring straight into her eyes.
“There isn't a problem, it's just that I've recently found out that he's your late husband's brother and I wanted to know how close they were.”
Vivian found his question strange but at the same time, harmless. She decided to just go ahead and answer the question.
“Oh, Richard was such a blessing in trying times. He did everything he could to save my husband.” She paused, sighing deeply.
“He took care of all the doctor appointments and getting the drugs… he did all he could.”
“Wait, getting drugs?” He cut her off.
“Yes, he handled all of that.”
“Didn't you say that your late husband death is still a mystery?”
“Well, the autopsy did reveal something in his blood stream that could have caused his death but it was undefined so they ticked it out.” Vivian answered, wondering where he was going with this.
“I hope you're not saying what I think you're saying.” She raised her brows.
“It's possible.”
“Adrian!! I will not have you lay such a huge accusation on a man who has done nothing but stick with me! Besides, all the drugs he brought were prescribed and tested before being administered!” Vivian immediately became angry.
“You and I are going to be in charge of this company as soon as we get married Adrian, you'll handle it mostly because I'm tired already. For that to happen, you have to go through Richard to learn the ropes and I expect you to respect him!” She scolded and Adrian nodded.
“Maybe I was wrong.” He doubted himself.
“You were. You've ruined my mood, can you just leave?” She asked him out and he left without another word.
He ran into Richard at the door and he seemed to have heard everything. Adrian simply walked away while Richard went in to meet Vivian.
“Is everything okay?” He asked, meeting Vivian in a flustered state.
“Adrian just got on my nerves, that's all. Can you believe that he proposed that you killed your brother?” She let out a pained scoff.
Richard chuckled and shook his head.
“Kids these days are funny indeed.”