The years flew by and Heather grew up to be a rose with thorns, prouder and more headstrong than she had been as a child, and with a will that was forged in steel.
“Please just tell me the story, Grandpa. I’m really, really curious about it,” she pleaded, her eyes bright with the same eager spirit she had as a child whenever she came upon something new.
“I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, so just be patient until then,” he cajoled affectionately, patting her hand to soothe her. “Now, shall we head downstairs for dinner? It’s getting late and they won’t start dinner without me.”
Upon hearing this, Heather let out a sigh of resignation. It looked like he had made up his mind to leave this conversation for the next day, so she was left with no choice but to wait. Now that she thought about it, it wasn’t as if she was desperate to learn the truth before the day ended. I’ll just have to be patient, even if it means learning the truth much later than planned, she convinced herself.
With that in mind, she linked arms with her grandfather and they made their way downstairs. She liked knowing that she was there to help him down the stairs, though the butler did it most of the time. Robert was no longer young, after all, and he had to be extra careful when it came to descending the staircase. She hated to think of the grim consequences if he were to slip and fall down the steps.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family were already seated and waiting for dinner when they turned to glance at the two figures wending down the staircase. Blake clenched his fists at the sight of Heather holding onto Robert and he cursed deep down, Of course dinner is delayed because of her. Why does everything circle back to her?
When he saw how she was joking with the older man, he grew even more displeased. Heather had been working in the Langston Group for a while now, but he still couldn’t find a way to crack her sickening perfect façade.
It wasn’t as if he could make a big deal of the little mistakes she had made by confronting her. Besides, Robert would always side with her, and Blake doubted if the mistakes she had made were significant enough for him to accuse her of being incompetent.
He had been waiting for the chance to humiliate her, and he wanted to deal a blow so harsh against her that retaliation would be impossible on her part. However, being patient was a futile effort when he realized he had missed all the opportunities to bring her down. Much to his dismay, Heather was thriving now and had worthwhile suitors courting her—one of whom was Matthias, the director for the Locke Group and the other was Caleb, the general of Leisfeld.
That being said, Blake was the first to be incensed to see how well Heather was doing, and he vowed to find some way to make her fall from her pedestal.
Presently, Heather and Robert entered the dining room together, and he made her take the vacant seat next to his. The seating arrangement at the Langstons’ dining table went according to age, with the oldest in the family naturally seated at the head of the table. Under normal circumstances, the grandchildren would never be seated next to Robert, but he had clearly made an exception for Heather today.
Heather, on the other hand, wasn’t sure why she was given such a privilege. Growing slightly uneasy at this, she hesitated to take the seat that was otherwise meant for her uncle; even she knew better than to take away an elder’s seat at the dining table.
“Well, aren’t you going to sit down? The kitchen won’t bring out the food until we’re all seated, you know,” Robert said, beckoning her to take her seat. Heather frowned and did as she was told, albeit unwillingly.
While this was happening, Blake was staring daggers at her, looking as though he wanted to cut her to shreds. She, on the other hand, had never cared for the murderous looks he gave her and she flashed him a triumphant smirk, knowing it would enrage him.
As expected, bitterness rose through Blake when he caught that defiant look on her face, and the anger curbed his appetite. She used to compromise with him just so she wouldn’t get into trouble, but now it seemed as if she thrived in trouble and she had no qualms with offending someone as petty as him. It wasn’t as if she could win his favor by staying in line anyway.
While dinner was in progress, Robert made sure to ladle Heather’s plate with food. It had been a while since he had done this for her, and she recalled how she would grumble about the food he gave her back in her childhood days. It’s been so long, she mused at the memory.
Nonetheless, she couldn’t ignore the fact that her grandfather was behaving rather oddly, and the alarm bells began to chime incessantly in her head. She had an inkling that something bad was about to happen to her. Meanwhile, Blake was close to breaking his utensils as he watched Robert’s interaction with Heather. Seized by wild jealousy, he gritted his teeth as he thought, She’s an adult, for God’s sake! Why is he still spoiling her like she’s a child?
However, Heather and Blake were both so engrossed with their own thoughts that they did not notice the jealous and envious gaze that had fallen upon the former. There had been a shift in Everly’s demeanor from the very moment she laid eyes on Caleb, and she only became more twisted after all the nonsense Blake had fed her.
Truth was, Everly was nothing more than a pretty face in the Langston Family, and she had neither extraordinary talent nor outstanding achievements. With her quiet disposition, she was often overlooked in the family and she would have been as good as invisible if it weren’t for her beauty.
Unfortunately, the Langstons were all handsome creatures, and Everly’s beauty formed part of the general aesthetic of the family. That being said, she had never felt like she belonged in the Langston Family, seeing as everyone else paid more attention to Blake and Heather than they did her. She was painfully aware that most in the family were envious and jealous of Heather, and she so happened to be one of them.
While the Langstons did not interact with Heather much, they still kept an eye on her, though her haughty and icy demeanor kept them from approaching her.
Everly longed to be just like her—accomplished enough to be worthy of Robert’s attention. However, she lacked the talent and ruthlessness to emulate Heather’s traits. On the contrary, she was timid by nature, and was so demure that she was better off blending into the background.
She wondered how long it would take for her to be as bold and sharp-witted as Heather. Perhaps these were innate qualities that she could never hope to attain.
Before this, she had always looked upon Heather with admiration and envy; the jealousy only came after Caleb entered into the scene. Everly had never believed in love at first sight until she saw him, and having fallen head-over-heels for him, she found that there was little she could do about such sentiments.
She remembered the subtle smile that had played on Caleb’s lips when his eyes first fell upon her, and it was that very smile that made her head spin.
Alas, she was nothing more than an interlude to him and when he looked at her, he had regarded her with the same interest as one might have when looking at a pretty bird.
Anyone could tell that he only had eyes for Heather, who seemed to have captured his attention without having to lift a finger, while Everly struggled to even get a word in with him. Given the latter’s demure nature, she had a damsel-in-distress quality that could make men fawn over her if she tried. Sadly, Caleb had barely spared her a second glance.
The resentment that had pent up in her afterward snowballed into what she came to know was jealousy. She had never been jealous of Heather before that, regardless of how brightly the latter shone in the family.
Following that, Everly found herself growing ambitious. She wanted to outshine Heather so that Caleb might finally take notice of her, and she wanted his gaze to linger on her and nobody else.
She had seen Heather getting down from Matthias’ car earlier that day, which prompted her to recall the articles that had once been written about them. Indeed, there was even a time when she had believed that the two were meant for each other.
Regardless of how things had turned out, it seemed as if Heather was impassive toward Caleb. A man who was so sorely out of Everly’s league was as good as a small fry to Heather, and the thought of this made the former’s heart twist with spite. When wild jealousy seized her like that, it was hard for her not to think about what Blake had told her.
“Don’t you think Heather has outshone us for long enough, Everly? She’s always been the brightest in the room and everyone gravitates toward her. How could you possibly be satisfied with remaining in her shadow? For as long as she is around, the rest of us are irrelevant.”
His words had resonated with her. Every woman would wish to shine as brightly as the sun, the golden center around which people orbited. Surely no one would want to be plain and unimportant for the rest of their lives.
Unaware of the jealousy and resentment that threatened to consume Everly, Heather continued to see her as a quiet and withdrawn young woman. She couldn’t stand most of the Langstons but she had never felt any animosity toward Everly.
Instead, she had always seen Everly as a child, but little girls wouldn’t stay little forever. They grew up in the blink of an eye and while there were a myriad of reasons that could account for such growth, falling in love remained a prominent one.
Maybe Heather had played a role in Everly’s abrupt shift in behavior, and after what felt like a long time, she found herself torn between thanking her and hating her for it.
Everly would seize onto even the slightest glimmer of hope that Caleb might one day see her, and she clenched her fists as her gaze flickered over from Heather to Blake.
She was outright staring at him. When he finally noticed this and turned to meet her gaze, it was clear to see that they had reached a consensus.
Ah—the crazy things one could do in the name of love, Blake thought when he saw the determined look in Everly’s eyes. He would be sure to use this pawn wisely. Her parents did not have much standing in the Langston Family; they might be good and honest folk, but a family business such as theirs had no room for those who stuck by the rulebook.
As such, Everly’s parents did not hold significant roles in the running of the Langston Group. This translated into the girl’s low self-esteem, which in turn led to jealousy, and the terrifying and destructive power of jealousy was such that it drove one to hurt others.
At that moment, it seemed as if everyone at the dinner table was scheming. Heather had no intention of becoming the center of attention in the family, but Robert’s gestures had obviously turned everyone against her.
No one knew of his ulterior motives and when dinner was over, he sauntered over to the backyard with Heather. Upon seeing this, the rest of the Langstons exchanged bewildered looks. Dinner had been dismissed much earlier than usual, and this came after Robert had spent a better part of today behaving erratically.
The backyard featured elements that were at odds with the outlook of the entire villa and with the newly-installed pavilion, the entire landscape mirrored that of an ancient, imperial garden.
Presently, the evening breeze was caressing Heather’s face as she sat gracefully in the pavilion with Robert next to her. He was recounting her childhood days, his voice drifting in and out of her ears like how waves lapped on a shore. She nodded as he spoke and occasionally interjected with an anecdote or two.
Then, he heaved a sigh as he said, “I’m getting old, Heather. I won’t be able to take care of you like how I did when you were a kid.” There was sorrow in his voice when he said that. These days, he found it harder to carry out even the most mundane of tasks, and he grew worried that his time might come abruptly. He hated to think that Heather would be all alone without him.
Heather never should have been dragged into the feud between their family and the Moriartys, and Robert wanted to make sure that he could protect her, so he needed to tell her the truth behind the strife while he was still around.
“You don’t have to worry about me in your old age, Grandpa. I’m all grown up now. I can take care of myself and I’ll make sure to take good care of you too.” She was slightly surprised by the turn their idle conversation had taken, and she wondered why her grandfather had become so sentimental all of a sudden. He looked so careworn from these past few years of worrying over the Langston Family.
Her eyes fell on the white streaks that ran through his grey hair and she felt her heart clench. It was only then that she realized how far along he had advanced in his old age. When she was a child, she had always heard him grumble about how useless his sons were, which was why he had placed all his hopes on his grandchildren.
Unfortunately, Blake was only focused on staying in power, and he wasn’t bold enough to partake of the warfare that was rife within this industry. Conversely, if Heather were to be in charge of the Langston Group, they could very well thrive among their competitors and reach new heights of success.
Heather had never been in the running to succeed Robert, who had spent these years training the heir to the Langston Group. With all the sons in the family, it was impossible for the torch to ever be passed down to a woman.
Having given careful thought to his choice of successor, Robert came to the conclusion that Blake made for the best male candidate. However, there had been many occasions in which the former wanted to be stubborn and leave the company to Heather, but every time he wanted to make such a decision, the courage seemed to drain out of him.
“Blake isn’t a bad person. Should there ever be a day when the company has a crisis, he’s going to need your help to turn things around.” He was no fool. He knew all the tricks Blake had pulled over the years under the belief that Robert did not love him more than he did Heather, when in reality, the older man had always seen Blake as his successor and had trained him so that he might one day take over the company.
Despite the favor that Robert had shown him, Blake still thought of his affection as inadequate. Heather was so much more accomplished than he was and he felt inferior to her. He had always resented her for being better than him in every way but he had never asked himself why he remained second-best to her, and that lack of self-awareness eventually became his fatal flaw.
