Page 6 of The Betrayer
Chapter 3
Paul
––––––––
AS THE CREW HOISTEDthe last decoration around the stage into place, I fidgeted with my watch. I had the urge to jump in there with them to ensure every last tie and fastener was secure and it wouldn’t all come crashing down onto whoever was on the stage.
I held myself back because that was simply my anxiety about the gala coming through. I was a leader, and I knew how to lead. But I also knew the desire to lead could become a problem when uncertainty crept in.
Uncertainty was never something I had been good at dealing with because it made me feel like my life or the company was out of control, and the company was my life. Often, the feeling resulted in pulling back on the reins even harder, and I would begin to micromanage, going off the feeling that I was the only one who could take on any job and do it well.
It took me a long time to learn that my instincts weren’t right in those cases. It wasn’t even my instincts—it was anxiety, pure and simple. Along with that lesson came the knowledge that I had to lead with a light hand on the reins to be a truly great leader. I had to let my people do what they thought was best because, the majority of the time, they did. My job was to lead, delegate, make the final decisions, and steer the ship on the right course. I could never do it alone, and the other half of my job was to know other people were doing theirs and then let them.
But tonight, there were too many variables. I needed things to go well but I simply couldn’t trust they would. This event-planning company was the best and had come highly recommended by other segments of the business world. I hadn’t worked with them before, and despite my earlier words to the event planner, they hadn’t yet earned my trust. Would decorations fall? Would the guests find everything gauche or cheap? Would the food be cold?
More than that, I still had to rely on my father.
Another glance at my watch told me just how late it was. The guests would arrive soon, and he wasn’t here. Some of the board members were already there, and I looked up to see one ambling toward me, one hand in his pocket, the other around a tumbler of something soft yellow from the bar.
“Paul.” He pulled one hand out and held it toward me. I took it for the sturdy handshake.
“Wesley.”
“Quite a function we have going on here.”
The man’s eyes, the faded blue of older age, swept the room. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but his mouth had pulled into a thin line. Did he think it was too much? That I was still too young and not taking my job seriously enough?
“This is going to be the talk of the town tonight,” I replied, hoping my voice felt far more at ease than I felt. “It’s the perfect way to tell everyone we’ve arrived and are here to stay. And the perfect time to announce our next move.”
The board member made a noncommittal noise in his throat, and I swallowed.
“So, where’s your father tonight?”
Of course, I hadn’t been the only one to mark the man’s absence.
“He let me know he was on his way,” I replied mildly, my hands in the pockets of my pants. It hid the fact that they were trembling slightly and clenched into tight fists.
“Let’s hope so. Wouldn’t be good for our image if the CEO doesn’t show up on his night.”
It’s not his night, I nearly bit out but stopped the words by clamping my jaw shut. The board member wandered back to his wife and their friends, decked out for the evening in the jewels and clothing they had collected over decades of this rich life.
I watched his back as he murmured to the others in his circle. One of the men grimaced, and a woman’s tittering laugh rose into the air. I had to clench my hands tighter in my pocket and force myself to turn and walk away.
Just because they had been doing this for decades didn’t mean they knew what was right, or best, or wrong. In fact, because they had been doing it so long, their minds had gotten lost decades ago. Their thoughts on how things should be done were dusty and outdated.
But the board member’s thoughts and opinions had been a trend lately. Hell, who was I kidding? It had always been that way, stretching over the ten years I’d worked at the company. People had been skeptical of the CEO hiring his son to work—that kind of nepotism tended to backfire in the long run. Sometimes even in the short run. One of our competitors collapsed entirely within six months when the CEO fell ill and his son took over. Twice my age, the guy had still run the business into the ground, allowing us to neatly swoop in and take it over for billions less than it had been valued six months before.
