I hadn’t seen Louisa Granger in months, not properly, not since my broken engagement with Rhys.
She had always liked me. Sometimes I even thought she loved me more than my own mother did. When I was younger, she would invite me for tea in her sunlit drawing room, listen to my chatter, and beam at me as if she was already imagining me as her daughter-in-law. She wanted me married to Rhys so badly it seemed like it was her dream as much as his.
But that was before everything went wrong. Before Rhys destroyed whatever we had with a slap, before he married Catherine, and before the Granger family unravelled.
Since then, I had kept my distance.
Now I was walking into a quiet café in Midtown, the kind of place with whitewashed walls, leafy plants, and soft jazz floating from hidden speakers. Neutral ground. I thought it safer than her house, which was haunted with memories I didn’t want to stir up.
She was already there, sitting near the window with a cup of coffee untouched in front of her.
Louisa had always been immaculate, the type of woman who never had a hair out of place, who made sixty look like forty with the right lighting and an easy smile.
But today she looked tired. Her blond hair was still swept into its usual chignon, but the lines around her mouth had deepened, and the faint puffiness beneath her eyes spoke of sleepless nights.
‘Mira,’ she said as I approached, her voice cool.
‘Mrs Granger,’ I said politely, slipping into the chair opposite.
‘Louisa,’ she corrected automatically. She had always insisted on that, even when I was a teenager. But there was no warmth in it today.
We sat for a moment in silence. She stirred her coffee, though she didn’t drink it. I folded my hands in my lap. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on NoveIＦire.net
‘You’ve changed,’ she said finally, her eyes scanning my face. ‘A woman now, not the girl who used to sit in my kitchen sipping tea.’
‘I suppose I have,’ I said.
‘You’ve made quite a name for yourself as a designer. I saw your portfolio the other day. Very elegant.’
Her mouth tightened. ‘You’re doing well. But Rhys isn’t. If you’d stayed with him...’
I had expected that, but the words still stung. ‘He hurt me first,’ I said quietly.
‘I know what he did,’ Louisa admitted, glancing away. ‘But he’s my son. No matter how badly he behaved, he’s still my son. And now... look at him. Divorced. Drinking too much. Losing favour with his father.’ She pressed her lips together. ‘And you... you walked away. Perhaps you could have steadied him, but instead you left.’
I bit back my instinct to defend myself. This wasn’t about me, or even about Rhys.
‘Louisa,’ I said softly, leaning forward. ‘You know I always cared for you. I always will. But let’s speak plainly. You know why we are meeting today. Daniel is not going anywhere. Clive acknowledged him, officially. He has his name, his place in the company. Sabotaging him only creates instability, and you know instability is poison to business.’
Her eyes snapped to mine, sharp and cold. ‘So you’re here on his behalf? That bastard boy sends you to plead for him?’
‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘Daniel didn’t send me. But I spoke to him, and I know he wants a place at the table. He’s ambitious, yes, and reckless sometimes, but he has a head for business. You undermining him only strengthens his resolve. It makes him hungrier. What you’re doing now, it won’t make him disappear. It will just make the Granger family weaker.’
Louisa’s face hardened, but she didn’t interrupt.
I took a breath and went for the part that mattered. ‘What if I could persuade Daniel to share? Not management, but shares. Enough for Rhys to live comfortably, to have security for the rest of his life. That way, you won’t need to keep fighting Daniel. Rhys will still be looked after, no matter what happens in the company.’
Louisa’s hand tightened on her spoon. ‘And what about Rhys’s place in the business? He deserves to have a seat at the table. He is my son.’
‘You know as well as I do that Rhys has no talent for management. He’s not cut out for it. And right now, after what I saw at the charity dinner, he needs detox more than he needs a boardroom. Throwing him back into the company will not save him, it will ruin him further. Daniel won’t allow it anyway, and Clive knows the truth as well as you do.’
Louisa inhaled slowly, her knuckles white against the porcelain cup.
‘Rhys is my son,’ she repeated, but softer this time, more like a plea than an argument.
‘I know,’ I said. ‘And that’s why I’m saying this. Let Daniel rise. Stop undermining him. If he succeeds, he can look after Rhys in ways the company never will. And if he fails, it won’t be because of you sabotaging him from the inside.’
For a long moment, Louisa said nothing. Then, finally, she gave a small, bitter laugh. ‘You’ve become clever, Mira. Too clever for me to like it.’
‘I’m only being practical,’ I said.
She studied me for what felt like forever, then exhaled and sat back in her chair. ‘Very well. I’ll speak to my people. I’ll tell them to stop working against Daniel. But if he ever betrays this family, if he ever turns against us, it won’t be me he’ll have to fear. It will be Clive.’
I nodded. That was as much of a victory as I could expect.
When I told Daniel later that afternoon, his reaction was almost comical. He blinked at me as if I’d told him the sky was green.
‘She agreed?’ he asked.
‘She agreed,’ I confirmed.
He let out a low whistle. ‘Mira, you’ve done what I thought was impossible. Louisa Granger never changes her mind.’
‘She has this time,’ I said.
Daniel grinned, shaking his head. ‘Then a deal’s a deal. I’ll arrange your introduction to Haldane. But I’ll warn you again. He’s under pressure. If you bring up LGH, he may cut the meeting short before you even get a word in.’
‘I’ll take that risk,’ I said.
Besides, I wouldn’t be going in unprepared.