Chapter53

I breathed a sigh of relief, but my nerves were still onedgeas I hugged the wall tightly.

Frederick hopped out lightly and shoved his waypastme. He urged me. “Hurry up!”

I took a deep breath, my voice shaking. “Are you out of your mind? When did I say I was going with you?”

He clicked his tongue. “You’vemadeit this far, so make up your mind.If you’re staying, I’m going without you.”

With that, Forderickstarted pushing me out. I panicked and grabbed a railing behind me. “Hold on.”

I had no choice but to do as he said, inching my way over. Even though he kept telling me to hurry, his actions sald otherwise. He just watched me move like he had all the time in the world.

I glared at him. “Where are you taking me?”

Frederick responded, “You’ll see when we get there.”

We edged forward bit by bit. I had a vague feeling we were outside of his parents‘ room. Then, I heard Jeffrey’s angry voice from inside. “II Fred keeps this up, he is going to ruin himself sooner or later.

The window was open,sothe soundproofing was terrible. Every word reached our ears, and Frederick cametoasudden halt.

tbir

my lower lip and looked at him with concem. His eyes were blank, like he was facing me but loolding right past me. “Don’t be too harsh on him.”

to takeoverthe

could tell it was Brenda’s voice. “He’s actually doing pretty well, I heard La Doghouse is the busiest bar in Harthville now. He just doesn’t want to t family business. That’s all.”

jeffrey snapped, “If he doesn’t want to take over, then who will? Are we just supposed to hand the chairman’s seat over to someone else?

“Does he even realize how many people are just waiting to take his place? As my son, he should have stepped up a long time ago. Honestly, he is nothing like Jonathan

“FordGroup is a massive company, and Jonathan shoulders it all onhisown. Meanwhile, Frederick wastes his time at the stupid bar.”

Brenda sighed. “Still, there’s nothing you can do. Frederickisalready doing really well. You can’t keep comparing him to Jonathan.”

Jeffrey retorted, “Why the hell not? Don’t you know Jonathan would ampar the chance to take my seat?”

He suddenly lowered his voice. “Being the chairman doesn’t bring me big deals or a ton of money, but don’t let that fool you. This role holds real power.

“No businessman in Hartville gets a free pass. Even those well–establishedfamillesstill have to comethroughus. Sure, we tread carefully around Jonathan and the Ford family, but that doesn’t mean they can walk all over us,

“That’s the balance of power. The Fords are already way too influential. If they get their hands on this role too, no onestandsachance against them.‘

Brenda katted her brows together, her voice betraying a hint of unease. But she paused foramoment before remarking, “I just don’t see jonathan as someone who would try to control everything.”

peoplehavebig dreams but have nothing to back them up.

jettrey snorted. “Seriously? His ambition is obvious. This circle is crawling with sharks. Some p“Frederick iscapable, but he lacks ambition. On the other hand, Jonathan is one of the few who is both ambitious and relentless. Do you think I can just ignore that? “Heissy young, and yet he is already on equal footing with us. If Fred keeps measing around like this, It’s onlyamatter of time before Jonathan runs all of

hindasaghed. “You’reright Fred has beentooheadstrong for ids own good.”

I caught the way Frederick’s eyes dimmed, and I felt this ache I couldn’t quite explain

litenda,whoused to be the only person who understood him, ended up criticizing him like Jeffrey. Her disappointment probably hit him the hardest. However, I barely had a moment to feel sony for Frederick before they started talking about me instead.