"Rob," Max called. "I need you to leave."
"Leave?" Robert was appalled. "I just said the truth. He should go to any shrink and that's exactly what…"
"Rob. Leave." Max said, finality in his tone. "Now."
Robert glared at Williams. He snatched his jacket off the back of the single settee he had occupied before and looked at his best friend. Alexander's face was blank as he stared back at him.
"I'm just looking out for you, Alex," he said, this time in a softer tone. "Just stay out of that business, okay?"
He glanced Williams' way, then Max's before he left. Once his footsteps had faded into nothing, William searched his pocket.
"Shit," he said. "I'm out of cigarettes."
"And it's beginning to be a thing of concern," Max said. "I thought you quit sometime back?"
"It's just when I'm stressed is all," William said, massaging his forehead. "I don't want to be anywhere around that bastard."
Max looked at Alexander. "You good?"
"Yeah," Alexander nodded. "I'll just avoid bringing up my family around Rob, seems to get him more triggered the more I do."
"We all know Rob cares for you," Max said. He walked to the vintage record player and fixed another vinyl record. This time, the song was a country one that eased William into his seat.
"His ways of showing it are just wrong," Max said.
"I don't want his opinion anymore," Alexander said. "I'll go to that meeting, and that's all it's going to be."
Max watched Alexander without another word. He took the now lukewarm cup of coffee he had forgotten next to him and drank, watching as the sunlight receded away from the window. Once again, silence fell among the friends as the country song played on.
When Alexander walked into the meeting room the next day, he met all the people seated and waiting for him, his father at the head of the table and Jeffery right next to him. He greeted the partners and investors, and took his seat at the far end of the table, right opposite to his father.
"It's about time we had you on board," Roland, one of their major investor, smiled at Alexander.
'Ladies and gentlemen," Ethan started with a smile. "Now that Alexander has joined us, I believe we can kick off this meeting."
And the meeting kicked off. Alexander had no prior preparation as they discussed Sterling Corporation's performance in the market, and how the improvement was very low, barely significant.
"We're putting good money into this company," A grey-haired lady, one of the investors whose name Alexander couldn't remember, said hotly. "We have to know what are the plans in regards to the management. Sterling Corporation looks like its being handled like a toy now. Have you seen the latest marketing campaign? Preposterous!"
Jeffery shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. "I'd hire a better marketing team. I heard…"
"So he's going to still be handling things?" Another investor said. "Ethan, I know he's your son, but so is Alex." Head nodding and murmurs passed across the room at that. "We've seen what he's done at Xcel Technologies within a short time and the numerous awards he's won. We want him handling Sterling, not Jeffery."
Jeffery's face flamed, and he didn't meet any of their gazes. It was an equally discomforting situation for Alexander, and he tried to quel it as much as he could.
"Xcel Technologies is my priority now," he said. Ethan's brows furrowed at that. "I promised my father I'd help where I can, and that's what I intend to do."
"Good! Have you made plans for what will happen after he leaves, Ethan?" The grey-haired lady spoke again.
"Let's take it one step at a time," Ethan said. "I'd like for us to be patient. Things will turn around for the better."
"It better," said the grey-haired lady. She rose from her seat. "Any silly move, and I'm pulling" she said.
She walked out of the room, and Ethan declared the meeting closed. Several people walked up to Alexander to welcome him and make small talk. From the corner of his eyes, Alexander saw his father and Jeffery still seated and waiting.
After the room emptied, leaving only the three Sterlings, Alexander quietly shifted to Jeffrey's side of the table and settled into the seat across from him. Though Jeffrey kept his gaze down, the lingering embarrassment from the meeting tainted the room's atmosphere.
"One more thing," Ethan said. His face was visibly relaxed, and Alexander could tell that his presence in Sterling brought him ease. He wished he would say it, tell him thank you or at least, something like "I'm happy to have you on board" but anything that involved praising Alexander was an allergy of some sort to Ethan perhaps.
Ethan brought out an envelope and handed it to Jeffery. Jeffery looked at the brown manila on the table and back at his father. He sat up and took it, waiting for his father to talk.
"Open it," Ethan said.
"You could have just sent a mail or something," Jeffery said as he opened the letter. His eyes scanned through the content, and he slammed the letter on the table top.
"What is this?" He asked Ethan.
"You'd work as the assistant to the general manager at our branch here in New York," Ethan said. "That way you'd be able to come into the office anytime you're needed and…"
"An assistant?" Jeffery's voice trembled with rage. "Like as if what I faced here was not enough you had to do something this low to me." He scoffed. "Wait till Mum hears what you're doing."
"I discussed it with her," Ethan simply said. "And she was the one who even brought it up before I did."
Alexander thought about his suggestion to Abigail that last time he had gone to the Sterling Mansion. He was surprised she had given it any thought.
Jeffery cussed under his breath. "I need a DNA test because no one's parents would let them go through this kind of humiliation." He rose and stomped out of the meeting room, leaving Ethan and Alexander alone in the room.
Ethan's gaze met Alexander's. "Welcome to Sterling Corporation. You'd be assigned your PA shortly."
Alexander nodded. He knew that was only the acknowledgement he was going to get, and he'd make do with it.