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We both snap out of our stare-off and turn our heads to the voice. Junior is sitting in the window seat studying his nails. I’d forgotten the weasel was there.
“Yes.” Finbar leans back in his seat, a smile spreading wide across his face. “Let’s vote on it.”
“I voteagainstAidan.” Junior grins.
Ungrateful son of a bastard’s dick and his mother.
“So do I,” Finbar Senior adds and picks up his letter opener.
“Well, I vote for,” I grit through my teeth. “So that’s forty-five percent against forty-five percent.”
Finbar’s smile falters for a second. “Well, since Caitlin’s not here, I’ll vote on her behalf.”
“She is here.”
“Well, she’s not here in the room…”
I stride over to his desk and call my office with his desk phone. A minute later the red-haired fairy with the cutest pouty mouth enters Finbar’s office. The young fairy who couldn’t hide her excitement a couple of days ago when she told me she’d finally managed to come on her own. I’ve been looking for an opportunity for her to show me.
Now she shuffles on her feet, wary of the three pairs of eyes trained on her.
“Caitlin,” I start, but I’m rudely interrupted by Finbar.
“Caitlin,sweetheart. We have a decision to make, and, as an owner of the company, we need you to cast a vote. It’s between linking our online sales with the tourist board’s website, utilising their expertise and extensive traffic of tourists using their site. This is a cheap and smart way of using our resources. The alternative is to custom build a totally new site, which will cost an awful lot of money and we’ll not have the backing of a big contributor, and we will be all on our own should something go wrong.”
“Well, it will also give us freedom—”
“So, what’s your vote, Caitlin?”
I growl quietly at Finbar’s bullying tactic of not letting me have my say.
“A custom-built website would widen the market,” I try again.
If Caitlin looked uncomfortable earlier, she’s a doe in headlights now.
“Well, Caitlin, love. You’ve been working hard for this company the last few weeks. Your contribution has not gone unnoticed.” Caitlin’s eyes widen and her back straightens at her father’s praise. “I’m sure you know what the right decision is for the good of the company andthe family.”
His daughter swallows hard. “I-I, um… I vote for the tourist board solution.”
Fuck!
“Thank you, Caitlin.” Finbar’s glee is sickening. “You can go back to your doodles now.”
Caitlin jerks as if he slapped her. Her gaze momentarily shifts to me before it drops to the floor. She shuffles out of the office.
“That’s settled, then. I love my kids, they are such a joy to life. Too bad you don’t have any, Aidan. I really pity you for that. At this stage, perhaps you should write a will and name Fin as your heir – that way the company will stay in the family.” He chuckles, and the sad thing is that he means it. He gets up from his chair. “Fin, are you ready for some lunch? I could do with a big all-day fry.”
“Bye, Aidan,” Junior says in a sing-song voice and sashays past me followed by his smirking father.
Finbar stops in the doorway and glances back at me, his eyebrows raised high. “You know what? I’ll call the tourist board and see if a representative can join Fin and me. That way, it will be abusinesslunch. I’ll make sure to keep the receipt.”
What a slimy wankstain…
Alone in his office, I lift my hands and see eight moon-shaped indents, four in each palm, and one filled with blood.
* * *
Caitlin is pacing the floor when I quietly enter my office. Big drops are hanging from her lashes.
