Frieda was the first to the dining room table for breakfast. Despite the burger she had yesterday at the diner with Eric and Spencer; Frieda was hungry, she dove into the plate of scramble eggs and bacon that Jeffrey the butler placed infront of her. Frieda was nearly done when her mother came down for breakfast.
Noticing her daughter was nearly done she bade Jeffery to leave for a moment.
Amanda starts talking. “Before you run off to school Frieda I wanted to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say,” Frieda answers while chewing on a slice of toast.
“Then listen,” Amanda responds taking a chair next to her daughter. “First; I’m glad you have managed to make friends this year. I know it can be hard with your father shunting you to a different school every so often. If he wasn’t so busy with work, I’m sure he would be glad as well.”
Amanda pours herself some orange juice and takes a sip. “Second; while it is true that your father and I don’t spend enough time with you and that at times you feel like the servants are you only family; but it’s because we have a very active schedule and social obligations.” Amanda continues, “Thirdly; while you might think that we are only using you to further our own agenda that is the furthest from the truth. Yes the functions we drag you too can be dull and boring; especially when there is no one your own age to talk to, but it is important to attend these function for networking purposes. Hopefully you will understand years from now.”
******
Minutes earlier
Benton was just finishing getting dressed when he received a call from his business partner in New York. The news floored him. Tachibana found out about the impending take over and has begun to stop it. They already exposed a majority of Benton’s dummy companies causing the Securities Exchange Commission to investigate. Benton was fuming. He wondered if Frieda had anything to do with this. ‘Six months of careful planning shot to hell there,’ he thinks to himself. Yet his partner had more bad news. The medical futures he invested in with Tachibana; his crescendo to the whole takeover bid was cancelled.
“Who authorized that?” Benton seethes.
“No one on are end,” the business partner answers. “It came from Tachibana. A person named Daisuke.”
Benton grumbles, “Of course; Tachinbana’s grandson. Keep me posted;” Benton hangs up and finishes dressing.
Walking to the dining room; Benton never like Daisuke. Not since they first met, way back in high school. Benton being the star quarterback; A typical jock while Daisuke was the definition of a nerd. Benton tried to bully the young were-fox, only to be shocked by the fact that Daisuke was no stranger to martial arts and quite proficient in self defense. Daisuke broke Benton’s arm in three places that day, forcing him to resign from the football team. It was that day Benton vowed revenge against Daisuke and the Tachibana’s. Benton was about to enter when he her Amanda talking to Frieda.
****
“And lastly, while you may think you were doing a noble act by defending Eric from Julie’s wrath. Going about by scratching him and then completing his transformation in our own home was not the wisest course of action. It was impulsive, rash and outright dangerous. That act alone will net you being grounded.” Amanda pauses to finish her orange juice. “While we can’t forbid you from being with your friends at school, you will be required to come straight home afterwards. Your grounding will begin after your father picks you up from school.”
Frieda nearly chokes on that last bit of info. “Dad is going to pick me up?”
“Yes,” Amanda answers while getting up to open the dining room door to see Benton standing there. Heading back to the table with Benton in tow she continues, “It will not be as severe as the grounding that the Stovall’s gave Julie; I think two months would be fitting.” Amanda looking at Benton could only grumble while pouring him a cup of coffee. “Later we will discuss inviting both the Lawson’s and Anderson’s over for dinner as a way to get to know them and to welcome them to town.”
Frieda didn’t know what to say. Usually her parents go ballistic over the littlest issue. Her mother using social functions, as a way to ostracize and punish her enemies. Her father always enacted a scorched earth policy. Especially when dealing with irritants to his plans. But this is downright benevolent compared to past issues that were not as severe as the one last night. Frieda was worried; but she didn’t get a chance to speak up.
“It’s time for you to head to school,” Benton chimes in while looking at his watch. He gets up to usher her out the door and heads back to the dining room. Jeffrey the butler is there to serve them their breakfast and promptly leaves the room.
Both eat in silence for a bit when Benton speaks up. “Having me pick up Frieda after school will throw my already busy schedule out of whack.”
“Work around it,” Amanda states while pushing eggs onto her toast. “And this is not a onetime thing. We are both going to make a concerted effort to spend more time with her.”
“I just found out that this very important business deal I was working on went sideways. While I can’t prove it yet; I know Frieda had a hand in torpedoing it;” Benton growls.
Amanda puts down her fork and knife and looks at Benton disapprovingly; “Really dear, stop blaming her for every little slight to your ego.” She gets up finished with breakfast, “It’s not as if this is your only bad business deal; and it probably won’t be the last.” Kissing Benton, “now if you’ll excuse me, I have a dinner party to plan.
Benton alone in the dining room; gets out his cellphone and calls up his business partner. “I’m going to need to reschedule a bunch of meetings; I have an emergency here to deal with,” Benton nearly growls. “For now I won’t be heading back to New York for about two months.”
“So what do I tell the board of directors?” Benton’s partner asks.
“Tell them to get ahold of me through conference calling,” he snaps. “I’ll be working here from my study for the time being.” He hangs up and gets up. “But first I think I’ll pay a visit to Tachibana,” he muses.
Getting up, he heads to his car garage. While John acted as the family chauffeur, he couldn’t be in two places at once. With John driving Frieda to school in the town car, meant Benton need to drive himself for a change. After perusing his impressive car collection, Benton selects his Lamborghini Veneno*. While only three were ever made, Benton made sure he had to have one. It did set him back several million and months of headaches with U.S customs, but he didn’t care. Outbidding the Saudi Prince from Dubai was a pleasant memory for Benton; one he relished every time he looked at his prize beauty. Climbing into the driver seat, enjoying the feel of the custom leather seats and appreciating the red cherry paint job he had put on it; Benton opens up the garage door, starts up the engine and rockets down the driveway to pay a visit to Tachibana and try to glean how she and Daisuke found out his bid to push them out of their company.
*