The Still CEO: Forged Succession

Chapter 11 - A Disaster

........

Jess

........

"Are you okay?" I ask Landre, noticing his concerned expression after speaking with Jude. He says he's fine before asking when I last saw Laurel. I tell him I saw her yesterday at Liv's place, and he asks how she seemed, to which I answer, "Fine."

I ask him why he's asking, and he says she sounded weird when they spoke on the phone. Yesterday morning they had a lunch date that she canceled at the last minute. He says he's getting the feeling that she's been avoiding him, and now Jude has just told him the same.

Jude said she was supposed to go down to New York, but he could hardly get a hold of her. Landre also tells me that Jude mentioned that she sounded edgy when he finally got ahold of her like something was wrong.

I tell him that I don't know. Laurel asked me not to say anything to him, and even if she hadn't asked me, I don't want to be involved in her mess with her husband, and I certainly don't want Landre to be. Jude keeps acting like he's Laurel's babysitter, and it annoys me to the core.

Plus, I don't want that stressed b***h around my man. I repeat to him that she seemed fine to me when we ran into each other at Liv's place. He nods and says it's probably nothing, and I quickly change the subject.

Landre has just upgraded his yacht, and I ask him when he's taking me for a ride. He says it will be soon and I tell him I want to go on another vacation since the last one we went on ended abruptly. He says he's got stuff lined up for the next few months, but he will see if he can get out of it, and a smile stretches across my face at that.

I get up, walk over to him, and connect our lips in a passionate kiss while Lizzo, the help, clears the dishes. My hand trails to his crotch, and he deepens the kiss, as I run my fingers over his bulge. I'm ovulating, and I want to put what my doctor taught me into action.

Landre doesn't know, but I have been trying to get pregnant. What Liv is doing has shown me something about life. Somewhere out there, there's an ambitious w***e trying to take you out, and I am not losing all of this. The only way to ensure that is by securing my place and I can't think of anything better than a baby to do that. His arms wrap around my waist as he pulls me closer, but just then, his phone rings.

"Ignore it," I say against his lips, but he says it's the call he's been waiting for and breaks the kiss. I get off his lap, and just then, Lizzo enters with my phone, and it's ringing as well. I left it in the living area. I take it, and she quickly bids me goodnight as I do, to which I wave back at her. I look at the ID, and it's Liv. I wonder if they are back from dinner yet. But before I answer, I see Landre signal for Lizzo to stop.

"It's late. Tell Milo to take you home," he says after asking the person on the other end to hold and I frown at him as Lizzo thanks him and rushes outside.

Milo is our driver, and it's not part of his job to drive staff around. I spoke to Landre about this. Lizzo knew what her schedule would look like when she took this job. She knew she would sometimes have to work two or three extra hours if I needed her assistance with something, and she said she wanted the job. Now, every time she finishes late or if it's raining or some other issue, Landre has Milo take her home. I don't know why he behaves like this with the staff.

He acts as though they are doing him a favor, even though he pays them way more than the going rate. I shake my head in disbelief and decide to walk away. I don't want to get into it with him. It will ruin my mood.

I answer as I head upstairs but stop, my heartbeat immediately accelerating upon hearing Liv sobbing. I ask her what's wrong, and my eyes widen when she tells me. She says I must come get her. She can't be in that house for a moment longer.

I tell her I'm coming and rush back down the stairs and I run to the dining area to tell Landre that I will be back, but he's not there anymore. So, I tell myself, I will explain when I get back and run out of the door. What the hell could have happened?

.

...........

Chase

...........

I ask to be excused and go check on Liv, who went to the bathroom a while ago and hasn't returned. This dinner was a disaster. My mother apologized to Liv for insisting she drink, and Liv said it was fine, but it clearly wasn't because she was not okay after that.

I could feel her trembling the whole time next to me, and I could see she was barely holding herself together. I asked her if she wanted to go home, but she kept saying she was fine. Laurel and my dad tried to keep the conversation flowing, but the whole vibe was just off.

My mother threw back one glass of wine after another, and it became clear something was up. A voice told me to pull her aside and ask her what her problem was, but I decided against it because I knew I would lose it.

But now I'm ready to get Liv out of here, and I don't care if she says she's fine. I can't believe Mom has done this. She promised me she would put effort into her relationship with Liv, but she invited her over to make her feel like crap.

I'm really pissed at her. If Liv ever did something to her, then a part of me would understand, but she has never done anything to her. She just decided to dislike her and feel like she wasn't good enough for me.

I'm not a child. I'm a grown man capable of making my own decisions about who I want to spend the rest of my life with. My dad gets up too, saying he's going to go lie down, and we walk together. He asks if I'm okay, and I tell him I'm fine. I add that Liv and I are going to head home, and he congratulates me again before placing his hands on my shoulders and telling me that he's sorry that this dinner was not what it was intended to be.

I tell him it's okay, not wanting to get into it with him. He says he knows I'm mad at Mom, but she loves me, and she's sometimes overbearing, but that's only because she wants the best for me. I tell him Liv is the best, and he says he knows before saying Mom will soon see it too.

I just want to get out of here, so we share a hug and bid each other goodnight. I don't know which bathroom Liv is using, so I call out to her as I walk further down the corridor.

"Babe?" I call out just as she emerges from the door in front of me, and I rush up to her, noticing she’s been crying. "I’m sorry," I say, engulfing her in a hug, and she cries in the hug, breaking my heart. This was supposed to be a day of celebration with our family, and my mother made a mess of it.

"Come, let’s go home," I say, pulling back from the hug, but she shakes her head. I open my mouth to speak and ask her to please let me take her home now, but she says Jess is coming to get her. I ask her why. Why would she ask Jess to come and pick her up? She says she didn’t want to take me away from my family, so she asked her to come get her, but I interject, cupping her face.

I tell her that she’s not taking me away from anything, and she must never feel like she needs other people to be there for her. I don’t care who I’m with or what I’m doing. I will always be there for her when she needs me. I take out my phone to call Jess and let her know she doesn't have to come anymore, but Liv stops me. She insists that I must stay and let her go with Jess.

"Baby, I’m sorry about how my mother acted. If I had known she was going to do this, I wouldn’t have asked you to come here," I tell her, She says it’s not my fault, and she doesn’t blame me, but she wants to be alone.

My heart hits rock bottom, and I open my mouth to speak again, but she stops me, asking me to please let her go. "Okay," I nod and take off my jacket and put it on her as she takes out her ringing phone, knowing that it must be Jess. "Can I at least walk you to the car?" I ask, and she nods.

I didn’t know this was going to happen. I would have never deliberately brought her to watch my mother spiral out of control, and it hurts that she’s upset with me, but she has every right to be. My mother made her feel this way. I should have known she didn’t mean it when she said she would give her a chance.

I walk her out, and we hear my mother just as we head to the door, asking if we are leaving. I look at her but don’t reply and just walk out. We find Jess waiting outside, and I open the front passenger’s seat and help Liv inside while thanking Jess for coming.

"Of course," she replies as I close the door after pecking Liv on the lips and telling her I love her, and they reverse out of the driveway. I stand and watch them for a moment, feeling myself start to boil with anger, and just then, I hear Mom speak, asking if Liv left me behind.

“Really? You are going to stand there and act surprised after the stunt you pulled?" My voice rises towards the end, and she asks what she did, causing me to take long strides and stop in front of her, fuming. I bet she could see that Liv was not well. That's why she made up that bad luck bullshit. I tell her that, and her eyes widen, asking if that’s why Liv is upset.

"It wasn’t even that big of a deal, Chase. It’s not like I forced a bottle of wine down her throat. If she’s mad at you for that one stupid comment, then she was already mad at you when you got here. I can’t believe she’s making that big deal," she says as if that’s the only thing she did. We all watched her unravel at the table. How the hell does she think that made Liv feel? She denies it, even though we all saw her finish a whole bottle of wine by herself. I can’t believe she’s pinning all this on Liv. I can’t believe she’s making it sound as if Liv made a big deal out of nothing.

"When your actions hurt someone, you don’t get to dictate their feelings, mother! You know what? I’m not doing this with you," I say, turning around, but she grabs onto my shirt, saying she’s sorry. "Let me go," I warn her, but she doesn't. She says I’m right and says she's sorry again.

I slowly turn to face her to find tears coming out of her eyes, and that pisses me off even more. She doesn’t get to act the way she did and then cry. "You broke my heart, Mother," I tell her, taking her hands off of me and leaving her standing there, calling my name. I can’t stand her right now.

.

………....

Donna

...........

I rush towards the bathroom the moment Chase leaves, and I grab onto the sink and cry, frustrated, having no words to describe the hate I feel for that vile thing.

The thought of how she didn’t take the poison and then turned the whole thing into a big ordeal just so she could play the victim makes me feel like I’m going to lose my mind. It’s like she knew about the poison, like she could see through me.

My hands shake as I think of how it could have all been over now. How the hell did she know? It’s impossible. I grab a towel and use it to muffle my scream before letting it drop to the floor and taking out my phone. I don’t care what I have to do, but I’m not letting that witch marry my son.

"It’s me, Donna Kingsley, again. I need you to take care of someone for me. I will text you their address. Make it look like a robbery gone wrong or whatever you want, but make sure it doesn’t lead back to me. And Mali, I need it done tomorrow."