36. Delilah
Chapter thirty-six
Delilah
T rying to keep my composure as Uncle Blaine stared me down, I sighed. “I can—we can explain,” I began, my heart hammering in my chest and his playful demeanor bouncing back and forth with his anger.
“You better get to it, because there are many things wrong with what I walked in on. Especially with him,” Uncle Blaine groaned as he addressed Archer without even sparing him a glance.
“Well... Um, Uncle Blaine, it turns out that I am secretly dating Archer and also working for Calvin...” I said carefully.
Archer placed a hand on my shoulder, able to see my panic from miles away.
Blaine chuckled humorlessly as he looked between the two of us. “You’re joking. This has to be a sick joke.”
“If I wanted to go to Paris with Kimi, I had to get Calvin on Dad’s good side.”
“Surely you could’ve gone to Paris minus his tongue being shoved down your throat,” he retorted, and I sighed.
“As for us dating, it sort of just happened… If it’s any consolation, Mom knows.”
His anger quickly turned into surprise. “Bribri knows?! I wasn’t expecting that… Don’t tell me Benjamin and Reginald knew about this before me!” he asked.
Archer rolled his eyes. “Do you all live off of drama, or is it just a hobby you share?” he asked, and Blaine glared at him.
“Be lucky I’m not castrating you,” he muttered, and Archer nodded as he looked away, avoiding Blaine’s eyes.
“Uncle Blaine, I know this situation isn’t ideal, but if I wanted to go to Paris or have any freedom with my father, I had to give it to Calvin, which doesn’t seem much of an upgrade, but it was and still is,” I said softly, and we remained silent for a few moments.
Then something clicked in my brain, and I tilted my head at Blaine as I approached him slowly. He backed up in his chair and said, “Why are you looking at me like that? Why are you coming so close?”
I lowered my face to level with his and tilted my head. “You know why I’m here, Uncle Blainey. So, do tell us. Why are you here?” I asked, and he slowly started to hyperventilate.
He laughed nervously as he looked at his watch. “Well, would you look at the time? I’d better be leaving you kids here to continue your unholy activities.” He tried to stand, but I placed a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back in place.
Archer approached us and said, “Don’t let him up. Keep going. He’ll cave eventually.”
Uncle Blaine looked over to him and glared. “You sadist. You’re enjoying my pain.” Looking back at me, he gave me a weary smile. “Niecey Dede, why don’t we step out and talk about this?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“I gave you that chance, and you ran. Now start talking,” I ordered, but just then his phone started to ring.
“Pick it up,” Archer ordered, and Blaine pouted as he pulled out his phone. Glancing at it, I saw the words “Daddy Shang,” referring to my uncle Shin.
He answered and tried to hold it to his ear, but I shook my head as I mouthed, “Speaker.”
He put it on speaker, and Uncle Shin spoke.
“Blaine, where are you? I’m not going to wait in this hallway for you all day.”
Before I could whisper anything, Uncle Blaine screamed, “DADDY SHANG, I’M BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL! HELP ME PLEASE!!”
I covered his mouth as I took the phone and turned the speaker off as I held it to my ear.
“Uncle Shin,” I said, and he said nothing. “Uncle Shin, I just heard your voice. You need to tell me if you’re in Calvin’s building,” I said, even though I somewhat knew he was here.
He ignored me once again, but I seethed as Uncle Blaine looked up at me in fright.
“We are in conference room #530. You have thirty seconds to get here before I send someone after you.”
I ended the call and removed my hand from Blaine’s mouth.
He went to speak, and I gave him a look that made him stop talking. I ran my hands through my hair as Archer stood staring at me, and I noticed that he looked slightly aroused.
“You look so damn sexy in control...” he whispered, and Uncle Blaine scoffed.
“So he can make nasty comments about your dictator’s commanding ways, but I can’t voice one word?”
I ignored him as there was a small knock at the door.
I walked over to it and opened it as Uncle Shin walked in with his head down shamefully. I pointed to the chair beside Blaine, and he took a seat. He looked between Archer and me, and Blaine leaned over to whisper in his ear.
“They’re dating.”
Uncle Shin dramatically gasped, and I placed my fingers on my temples.
“You are?” Uncle Shin asked, and I visibly shook as I raised my hand to stop them.
“That has already been established, and my reasoning for being here is valid and justified to keep the peace between our families. But you two have no business being here... What is going on?” I asked.
Uncle Blaine pouted again as he put his head down.
“Before I begin, let the record show that this was all his idea,” Uncle Shin clarified.
Archer rolled his eyes. “God, it’s like they’re toddlers,” he muttered.
Uncle Shin continued, “Blaine brought me his suspicion of Eugene working for Calvin again, and we have been doing some… digging, if you will, to figure out if he is. We have spotted his whereabouts near this building with the help of local cameras. Still, if we really wanted to know, we would have to get closer… which is why we are going to be offering Calvin to invest in a small portion of our stocks. Within building this so-called relationship, we hope to find out if we’re right.”
I paused for a moment. I was sure I saw Uncle Eugene about a month or two ago in Calvin’s garage—but could he possibly be working with Calvin, going against my father, again?
“What do you think you’ll find?” I asked cautiously, and they both shrugged.
“We’re trying to get closer with Calvin to figure that out. We talked recently, but we were coming to invite him to your mother’s dinner she has planned this Friday,” Uncle Shin said.
“You mean the dinner that will leave me babysitting all of your kids? God, I completely forgot about it,” I said, sighing.
Uncle Blaine gulped. “Dede. I can’t keep a secret,” he whispered.
I responded quickly, “Well, you’re going to have to learn.”
“I can barely keep what Shin and I have away from Killian… I can’t keep this from him, too.”
“Uncle Blaine, please. Can you try for me? For your favorite niece and goddaughter?” I asked, and Shin made a face of disgust as he could obviously see me trying to butter him up.
Uncle Blaine sighed. “I cannot make any promises, but if you can keep what we’re doing a secret, too… then I guess that will stress me enough to keep me quiet,” he finished.
I sighed as I nodded. “Thank you… to both of you.”
I smiled, and the door opened as the CEO of Brisco Industries came in, his other executives behind him. I tried to mask my shock, as we had completely forgotten the meeting that was scheduled.
Archer nodded to the men and began to distract them as Uncle Blaine and Shin left the room, unnoticed. I went over to start the presentation, and I internally sighed as I felt a wave of relief wash over me.
Crisis averted… for now.
Omniscient
Blaine and Shin quickly slipped out of the room and closed the door. Blaine let out a puff of air, but he yelped softly as Calvin was standing in the middle of the hall with a smile on his face.
“Gentlemen, my apologies for not coming to greet you formally. Please follow me into my office,” he said.
Shin walked silently as he dragged Blaine by the arm. They entered his office and saw that Andrew was also there, standing by the window as he looked out of it.
“Is he just for decoration?” Blaine whispered to Shin, but Andrew cut their conversation short as he turned to them.
“Porter, Masahiko. What brings the two of you here?” he asked.
Calvin leaned against his desk as he listened intently as well.
“As you know… Brielle has encouraged all of us to come together and stop this prolonged feud between us all,” Shin began, and Calvin nodded. “We know you have been trying to gain trust with Killian, and we believe that you should consider investing in a small portion of our joint stocks.”
Calvin hummed. “Interesting... the email you sent about this subject yesterday was clear enough as it is, but there was no need for you to go out of your way to say this in person,” he said skeptically.
Blaine butted in. “Well, if you must know, Calvin, Brielle is hosting a family dinner this Friday, and we came to formally invite you as a way to begin building our soon-to-be partnership.” The words became progressively harder to say as he spoke.
“Well, thank you for the invitation, gentlemen. My secretary will contact you later this week for the details. As for our partnership, I hope we can get started as soon as possible,” Calvin said with a smile.
Shin and Blaine bid their goodbyes as they left the room.
Andrew watched as the door closed behind them and spoke.
“I don’t buy it. Something doesn’t seem genuine. Porter hates you, and Masahiko doesn’t have enough of a personality to generate his own opinion, so he hates you too.”
“You’re right. But I’ll give in to their requests and advances for now. There’s a meaning behind all of this, and if, while figuring it out on my own, I can potentially gain limited access to Killian’s company, so be it,” he said.
As if out of nowhere, the door opened, and in walked Eugene.
Calvin chuckled. “Eugene, my boy! Right on time. I hope you have more information ready to be delivered. The last valuable piece of information you gave me was back in April when Archer and Delilah finally made it official... I hope it doesn’t take you going to a different country again to receive the same results.” He spoke knowingly.
Eugene placed the files on Calvin’s desk and huffed. “I’m trying to trace Marissa and her parents, but I can’t. They haven’t been around the city in years, and Michael, Delilah’s father… is also off the grid.”
Calvin shrugged. “Well, it seems as though you’ve got your hands full. Where’s Stephan?” he asked.
Eugene rubbed his temple. “Last night, he was drowning his sorrows at the bar, but…” He paused for a moment, and Calvin narrowed his eyes.
“But what, Newman?” he asked, and Eugene sighed.
“He was with someone… Luca,” Eugene finished.
Calvin looked over his shoulder to Andrew. “We’ll deal with your son later, Crawford… He’s beginning to enjoy being in the midst of this a bit too much.”
Eugene spoke again. “I’m going to be busy Friday night. Brielle is forcing me to attend her family get-together, and I can’t get out of it this time.”
Calvin smiled. “Splendid. So I will see you at dinner as well… this should be interesting.”
“You’re going?” Eugene asked in a rush, and Calvin chuckled.
“Not just me… I would assume an invitation for me would be an indirect invitation for Vivienne and Andrew as well, but don’t worry, Eugene. As long as we keep things happy and friendly… nothing should happen.”