Caleb's POV
"Are you kidding me?"
Disbelief was plainly evident in my voice as I looked around me. After all the years I had spent growing up with Leo, I knew I should've been used to expect the unexpected, but here I was gawking with my mouth hanging open at Leo's idea of a romantic evening.
When I had envisioned how I will spend my evening with Ruth, what I had in mind was a quiet dinner with just the two of us removed from the rest of the world enjoying each other's company.
Maybe some dim lights and romantic atmosphere, snuggled together on a cold, stormy night.
But for some reason, Leo's idea of romance really was exactly 180° opposite of that.
Instead of having a quiet time in each other, he had arranged for us to spend the evening with 90 something strangers.
90 something, well-dressed strangers. I pulled at my turtleneck again, this time out of discomfort and looked sideways at Ruth, only to find her looking back at me.
"This is.... Unique," she finished, raising her brows at me and giving the monstrosity we currently stood in another sweeping glance.
'Unique' had to be an understatement of the year. It was ridiculous was what it was.
Sprawling proudly in the heart of downtown Seattle, Hotel De LA'mour was everything you may expect from a glitzy and ostentatious hotel.
All glass and crystal shining from every corner of the place reflected the light off huge crystal chandeliers that hung every few paces away.
When Steve had announced that we had reached our destination, it had been nothing short of relief.
The tall building we had been dropped in front of had looked inconspicuous and enough with its tinted glass doors and guards dressed in black outside.
The entrance was another huge tinted glass door, obviously put in place to provide a sense of privacy. But the interior of the place was as glittering and chaotic as the inside of a pandora box.
Everything seemed to have been made of gold and crystal. The oval tables covered with white lace reflected the lights around.
Even the centerpieces of each table held a tiny gold figurine of cupid ready to shoot his arrow. The place gave off so much light that I had to squint to look around.
The only saving grace of this place had to be the leather couches lined at the very back of the room, but those too were slightly hampered by the huge tables placed in front of them.
The staff had obviously been alerted of our arrival for as soon as we had stepped in, a lady dressed in gold and black had been ready and waiting to usher us inside.
That should have been my first clue, but in my defense, I had been so preoccupied with my nervousness and then with Ruth that it didn't even occur to me that it was Leo who had set us up for tonight, so there had to be something -or rather, everything - especially designated to piss me off.
"Unique? Its like staring right into fucking sun," I hissed back at Ruth now as we stood at the entrance of a grand dining room that seemed to be filled with limit with people in evening gowns and tuxedos.
I felt the heat travel up my neck and ears as I tried to forget that I stood at a place that obviously had a dress code wearing a purple turtleneck and faded jeans.
How the hell could Leo do this? How dare he do it? If it was me he had sought to embarrass, I could have overlooked it, but Ruth? How could he do this to Ruth?
Then again, she didn't really seem that out of place. Infact, now that I had enough light around to rival a powerplant, it was clear that she almost seemed dressed for occassion. No, scratch that, she was dressed for the occasion.
Her wrap dress looked expensive, her hair and make-up done too nicely to have been intended for a quiet and alone evening.
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Something was amiss. But before I could voice my suspicion, an usher in a bowtie - a bowtie! - walked up to us.
"Mr. Cross and Ms. Brooke. Please follow me," he turned and walked inside with us on his heel, without batting an eye at my lack of formal attire and escorted us to the very center of the room.
As soon as we were successfully seated on a round table with ivory table cloth and monogrammed tissues, I turned my accusing glare on Ruth.
"You knew we were coming some place fancy," I hissed at her with narrowed eyes and she blinked.
"Of course I did. Shortly after you left, Leo had called to let me know about the dress code. Didn't you?" She asked, and then gave me a sweeping glance then looked up at me in a sudden realisation.
"You didn't! Why didn't you?"
I was asking the same question to myself, and as if summoned by the sheer intensity of my thoughts, Leo materialized at the entrance of the room.
Ruth, who sat with her back towards the entrance, noticed my glare and turned, and then we sat and together watched none other than Leo himself swagger his way up to our table dressed to the nines, of course.
He gave me an evil smile but before I could slam that smile right back into his teeth, he turned his attention to Ruth.
"Hey, dahlin, wish you a very happy birthday again," he wished Ruth, and I watched with gritted teeth as Ruth stood up in politeness to greet him.
"Leo! Thank you," she hugged him and I had to consciously loosen my grip on one of the forks placed on the table.
"You're always welcome, honey. And my God, you look stunning," he held her at an arm's length, then glanced at me.
"And may I ask who's this stable boy you are with?" He raised his evil brow at me and I had to remind myself yet again that there were close to 100 well-dressed witnesses around us right now who won't let me get away with a murder.
"Funny that you should mention that Leo. May I ask why is he dressed like a stable boy? You said you'll call and let him know too."
Despite I narrowed my eyes at her for parroting Leo's words, Ruth's voice held a tone of reprimand and my heart warmed a little. When she sat back down again, I reached up to catch hold of her hand on the table in gratitude.
Unafraid of the consequences of his latest antic though, Leo lounged back in his chair and replied, "well, he would have known about it if he had just kept his freaking phone on him."
"Seriously, Caleb," Leo suddenly turned to me with an irritated frown.
"Who would guess you're such a tech-wiz when you have such an aversion to technology?"
Before I could think of a response, a waiter walked up to us with a tray of champagne and Ruth looked around her in wonder.
"This place is magnificent, Leo. Thank you for bringing us here. I admit I don't know all the upscale places around, but I've never heard of De LA'mour before?"
"That's because its a brand new acquisition of Cross enterprises. Just in time too. With Christmas just around the corner, I have planned for CrossRoads softwares to hold its annual Christmas party here instead of one of the conference rooms."
I sighed, and looked across the table to find Ruth's gaze on me. It almost felt like she knew exactly what I was thinking about. There went my romantic evening with her.
Her eyes gentled and she gave me a tiny smile, a private smile just for me, to let me know that she was equally disappointed to have our personal plans foiled.
And call me immature, but I took some comfort in the fact that she was just as disappointed at this turn of events as I was.
Oblivious to our silent conversation, Leo blabbed on about his plans for the Christmas party he was planning in this dining room.
"— and a dance platform in the center. It'll be a sunday and Christmas eve anyway, so its not like we'll be sacrificing on clientele. And this is is a perfect place to hold a party, isn't it? I thought so too when I saw this place a 6 months ago when I was in Seattle. It used to be a Burlesque club not long ago and—"
"Let me guess," I cut him off, looking around the place with new perspective. Come to think of it, all the gold and crystal should have been a dead giveaway from the beginning that this place belonged to Leo in all rights and ownerships. Not to mention, the cheesy name of the establishment.
"You fell in love with all this gold and the lights set-up," I smirked and Leo clinked his champagne flute against mine.
"Right you are, little brother. It had a few gaudy red vinyl couches. But they have been replaced with the leather ones, same shade of red. Of course, it was also a very lucrative investment because of its location and some, uh, special features in the lodging rooms above it."
"I thought Cross empire was only into softwares and technology," Ruth frowned with her flute midway to her lips. Honestly, I was more interested in finding out more about that 'special features' part Leo had just mentioned.
"Well, it started out that way but I've always wanted to expand it beyond just one sector. And now—"
As Leo talked on, I got a feeling of deja vu of the night of bonfire. That night too, Leo had monopolised most of the conversation and I was left to get drunk and pass out next to Ruth in my old bedroom.
While getting drunk didn't sound like a bad idea when Leo decided that this was the right evening to discuss the quantitative comparison between stocks values of Cross enterprises vs CrossRoads softwares, I remembered the promise I had made to myself just this morning of not getting drunk, especially as a form of escapism anymore.
So I sat back, and took tiny sips of my champagne, and resigned myself to hearing Leo drone on about business while Ruth and I sat stealing covert glances of each other.
*
"Tell me, Leo. Do you fear death?" I sat up in the chair that I had been lounging in for past hour and a half and looked my cousin straight in the eye as I quoted a dialogue from one of his favourite movies.
"I don't know, Cousin O' mine. Do you?" He raised his brow arrogantly at me in response to my thinly veiled threat.
The mask Leo had dawned until then was finally slipping along with his light, teasing expression. It almost seemed like he was growing taller and wider right in front of my eyes.
He was a huge guy when he was even-tempered. But somehow, he tended to become scarily gigantic when he was pissed. And right now, he was.
Of course, this show of brawn was just for my viewing pleasure. Leo was too refined, too much of a gentleman, to intimidate anyone else, especially the girl he seemed to sufficiently like.
But knowing him for as long as I did, I could sense his barely contained irritation even behind his pleasant mask.
And sure enough, as soon as Ruth had excused herself to use the restroom 2 minutes ago, I had sensed Leo's displeasure unleash and waft towards me like a tidal wave. Now what remained was to find out the reason for his irritation.
"Not at the moment, to be honest. Not when a Goliath is crashing my date with the love of my life." I forced my body to be relaxed, but really I was furious.
Every moment that I got to spend with Ruth felt special to me. And tonight, he had wasted 95 of those precious minutes.
Especially when he knew how desperately I had wanted Ruth all to myself. Everything about tonight was to piss me off, and I could only hope there was a good enough reason for that.
"Well, maybe Goliath had a good reason to— wait, what? 'The love of your life'?" For a second, Leo forgot his fury, his obvious attempt at revenge and stared at me in shock, making me frown uncomfortably.
"What? You already knew that. You were the one who forced me accept it this morning, remember?"
"Its just that... It just sounds so strange coming from you. I guess I didn't think you'd ever proclaim it in front of me like that."
"Well, I have. Now don't go getting distracted. What reason could you possibly have to set me up like this and crash my date?"
Leo blinked, then narrowed back again at the reminder and he said, "I wouldn't have had to drop all my work and crash your blessed date, if you had just kept your goddamned phone on you, Caleb. Seriously, what if there's ever an emergency and someone needs to reach you?"
I rolled my eyes at that and barely stopped myself from snapping at him.
"So you set us up at a place that has the potential to cause permanent light damage to our retinas, among these starchily dressed people, and then came all the way here to crash it just as a revenge for me not listening to you? Gotta say Leo, that's a new level of vengeance even for you."
"I'm not the one being vengeful, you half wit. Though I admit this dinner reservation is a kind of small punishment for making me work so hard to reach you," Leo shrugged unapologetically and I balled a tissue in my fist.
"Punishment? I swear to God—" I started, but his next words stopped me cold.
"Your father arrived in Seattle this afternoon."
For a second, I thought I heard him wrong. My father barely travelled anymore. And never to this part of the continent in December.
His wheelchair wasn't the most comfortable mode of transportation in this weather afterall.
But Leo nodded in confirmation with a solemn expression, knowing that he finally had my attention.
"I found out this afternoon after I returned home. And that's not all." He leaned in towards me with a tense expression.
"The Board of Directors at CrossRoads softwares have decided to conduct a meeting on Tuesday, 26th. Your father has asked them to vote on who they think should get the post of CEO in the company. Talk to your friend Jay Patel. He might be able to help get you some votes in."
My mind was still trying to work its way out of the shock from Leo's news. If my father was here, he wouldn't leave until he got what he wanted. But try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to care about this issue tonight. Or maybe ever?
"Caleb?" Leo seemed to be waiting for me to say something, but at this moment, I had nothing for him.
"I don't know what to say. Honestly, I can't bring myself to care about this."
"Don't care about it anymore?" Leo shook his head in confusion, and studied my face closely for a moment before narrowing his eyes.
"Are you kidding me? For the last 3 weeks, all you've talked about is how we can't let this company go in Tristan's clutches too. And now you just don't care?"
"That's because I didn't want Tristan or my father to use Ruth as a bait to get to me. But now that Ruth has quit—"
"Her resignation is not valid. She will need to —"
"Leo—"
"Caleb." Leo gave me a piercing glare, looking every bit the chairman of mighty Cross empire that he was.
"I know you have other things on your mind today, and I don't hold that against you. But you need to dig deep and start caring about this. Even with Ruth deciding to leave, there are many other employees there who are depending on us."
"Does it matter who they vote for? You're the chairman, Leo. Can't you veto them?" I frowned at Leo, not understanding the problem here. Leo was, in a way, owner of the company. My father's rights and those of other directors were secondary to his.
But Leo shook his head and replied, "I won't be there that day. I have to leave for New York tomorrow morning. My mother, well she needs to see me and you know how she gets during holidays."
I did. Leo's mother was probably one of his only weaknesses, and if she had asked for him to be there in New York on the Christmas eve, then Leo would move heaven and earth to be there.
"Listen Caleb," Leo continued after a pause, cooling down considerably.
"Most of them are angry at you. They think you were a corporate spy who had joined the company just to sell its secrets to bigger conglomerate. They might not vote for you just out of spite."
I shook my head in confusion, because I felt like I was missing something here.
"But would they vote for Tristan just out of spite? I mean they hardly know him."
"They would vote for him if they have some evidence that you are not a responsible person to handle this company. And I have a feeling that in my absence and with your father present, Tristan would play that card again. Besides, your father is backing him and he is more influential than rest of them. "
Leo looked at me meaningfully and I knew why. That was exactly what Tristan had done a year ago and nicked Aubrey Analytics, a software solutions startup that I had built from ground up, right from under my nose.
My hands balled into a fist and I had to remember where I was and why. Leo glanced behind him and then back at me again.
"That bastard." Despite hissing the words from between my teeth, my voice was loud enough to reach next table and two women dressed in Dior looked at me in disapproval.
"As much as it pleases me to see you care about this again, you need to calm yourself down, Caleb. Anger won't get us anything."
"How can I not be angry, Leo? That bastard is doing it again. He is not—"
"I know, Caleb."
"You know shit, Leo! How can I calm the fuck down when—" My voice was a few octaves above what was considered appropriate, and this time people openly stared at me from around us.
I could hardly bring myself to care for their disapproving gazes, and was about to snap at them as well but Leo leaned in and quietly said, "By reminding yourself that you're here with 'the love of your life' perhaps?"
And just like that, I felt myself snapping out of my rage. It seemed that just the reminder of her presence was enough to pull me out of the darkness.
Leo studied my face with sharp eyes and then smirked. "Would you look at that, Caleb Cross finally found something that brings him peace."
He grinned for a moment, and got serious again. "Just talk to your friend, okay? I'm sure he'll be able to help. I had to let you know this today because I'll be in New York before you blink your eyes open tomorrow morning. And now I'm glad I crashed your date and did this in person."
I glared at him at that and he held his hands up as if in surrender. "Hey, don't death glare me, brother. You're the one who could've avoided all of this if you had just kept your phone on you. Anyways."
He looked behind him again, checking to see if Ruth was back yet, and pulled something out of his lapel pocket before looking back at me again.
"As an apology to Ruth and a token of compensation to you." He slid a flat, gold keycard towards me but I didn't dare touch it. Instead, I looked at it suspiciously, as if it might bite me, and then back at Leo.
"No tricks this time I swear. Take it before I convince myself that I don't have to do this." He gave me one of his genuine smiles this time as he stood up and buttoned his blazer. It eased my mind a bit, but I still didn't touch the card.
"You don't have to do this." I replied, but Leo just smiled at me as if he didn't hear me.
"Tell Ruth goodbye for me, yeah? And don't worry about the bill. Everything is on me, including this."
He tapped the card on the table once and then turned and left just as dramatically as he had come. For a few moments, I sat staring at the keycard as if it might be a ticking timebomb.
And maybe it was. Because even after the evening we've had and Leo's revelation, I hadn't still been able to compose myself enough to be suave about this.
And with Leo gone, and having Ruth alone with me again with this keycard between us, my heart was in an override.
I didn't know which door it would open, but I knew that Ruth and I will be alone behind it for the rest of the night with nothing between us.
With another glance at the glass door behind which Ruth had disappeared, I swiped the card off the table and made my way to her.