Middle Game

The following chapter is written in 3rd Person POV following Becca…

‘This family is truly hopeless.’ Becca thinks to herself.

Becca’s sick to her stomach. Not just at the revelation of her mother’s plot, but the nonchalance she just showed while revealing it. It’s not even the threat of consequences that bothers her. She’s been getting those threats since she was a child. She eats those for breakfast.

What truly bothers her is the confirmation of the naivety she fostered for decades. Becca knows her family isn’t perfect. Broken to a degree, she admits; but not completely irreparable — or so she thought.

The glass shattered the moment her mother revealed their plot. More accurately, her plot. Nathan’s just a pawn in her game. Becca’s mother has been plotting to steal all of her husband’s hardwork from under him, possibly for over a decade, and she admitted to it without batting an eye.

What makes Becca even more sick is the fact that she can’t even blame her mother. Her father most definitely had it coming. Becca threatened him with the same thing. But she only threatened it for a reason.

When her father asked her if she was willing to destroy their family for the sake of proving a point, she could only point out his duplicity by calling him out for not actually caring about their family. Because answering his question honestly would have been to her disadvantage at the time — Becca did care.

Becca cared enough about her family that she didn’t want to see it completely destroyed by making good on her threat.

But what did all that caring for her family mean in the long run? Nothing. Absolutely zero to everyone involved… except her.

Despite her father’s actions against her and her group, Becca still had hope she could prove to him she was a worthy successor. In fact, she initially thought that her shrewdness in dealing with him would result in finally earning his respect. It was only after her conversation with Jay that night at the presidential suite did she realize how unhealthy and self-defeating her line of thinking was. That’s why she decided she no longer needed to prove anything to anyone other than herself.

Her decision to be independent of them aside, she didn’t want to purposefully ruin what was left of her family. Nathan may be a little shit, but her father still had hopes for him. Though they’ve been separated for years, her parents still seemed amicable when they were together. Both her parents also doted on Nathan since he was a child, or as Becca puts it ‘when he was less childish’. As for Becca, she may have been defiant against her father, disappointed towards her mother, and despised her little brother… but she still considered them her family. Overall, that was enough for her to naively think their family situation was still salvageable.

‘How wrong was I?’ Becca thinks to herself.

Becca then begins to ponder if her father’s infidelity was worth a decade’s worth of **** plotting on her mother’s part. ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’, Becca argues, before she begins to ask the bigger question — ‘Is her mother’s plot even for ****? Or…’

“Did you marry Father with the hopes of stealing the company from the beginning?” Becca finally asks.

“Does it matter?” Victoria asks back.

“Yes or no, mother.” Becca replies, forcing an answer.

“Yes and no, darling.” Victoria answers.

Becca doesn’t even need to tell her mother to explain just like she did earlier. Victoria understood it immediately with the look of betrayal on Becca’s face.

“I truly did love your father… once.” Victoria prefaces, and hearing those words pained Becca even more than possibly hearing the alternative answer. “He was charming, determined, and had enough business sense to grow his inheritance a thousandfold. Not to mention he was handsome.” Victoria continues, with nostalgia in her eyes as she recounts the qualities of her husband she admired in their early days.

“But did you really think I had my lawyers suggest that clause in our prenup without any plans of using it to my advantage?” Victoria then asks Becca back.

“You knew he was going to be unfaithful and yet you still married him.” Becca states in disgust.

“Oh, darling. Don’t be naive.” Victoria says in equal disgust to Becca’s naivety. “I married him precisely because I knew he would be unfaithful.” Victoria corrects Becca, and this pin prick did more than just hurt her ego this time. Even more infuriating to Becca was noticing the pleasure Nathan seemed to be experiencing seeing Becca seethe in her seat.

…

“I have one last question then.” Becca finally says after a long pause, to which Victoria just waves her hand to signal Becca to continue her questioning. “Why admit it now? What’s your endgame?” Becca asks.

“I would’ve only inferred all of this due to Nathan’s slip-up earlier. Inferences need time to be investigated and proven. Time you could’ve used to show me you can make good on your threats. To confirm all of it without hesitation now… it only tells me you’ve adjusted your plans before you even took your seat after I asked you to.” Becca adds.

“What good would a surplus of time be when I can’t make good on my threats anyway?” Victoria asks back, taking Becca by surprise.

‘I must have misheard her, right?’ Becca thinks to herself.

“The destination would be the same no matter how long it takes for us to journey there.” Victoria adds.

“Explain, mother.” Becca tells her.

“Darling, I took a seat again because Nathan changed our circumstances. We originally came here to only ensure your status in this little game. Whether you were a free agent, working for yourself, or working for your father. I already had my answer and was genuinely ready to leave before Nathan got played for a fool.” Victoria replies.

“Leaving you in the dark afterwards would’ve only been to our disadvantage.” Victoria points out.

“None of that answered my question.” Becca points out, making Victoria roll her eyes.

“Nathan, if you want to get back to mommy’s good graces, can you kindly explain to our darling Rebecca the obvious.” Victoria smugly passes the duty to her son.

“If we make good on our threats, we’ll just be ensuring you work against us. Either doing so independently, or worse, we **** you to actually team up with Father.” Nathan boredly points out.

“If you knew this whole time I wasn’t actually working with him, why did you even bother with the theatrics!?” Becca asks, infuriated.

“Oh, no. I was fully convinced you were working with Father.” Nathan admits with a chuckle. “But not even you could fake a look as dumb as the one you made after realizing what was really happening.” Nathan smugly replies, to Becca’s annoyance.

“I guess there’s no point in denying that. You are an expert in looking dumb after all.” Becca quips back.

“Enough, children.” Victoria takes control before the conversation gets off the rails.

“Nathan, darling, just answer directly. Becca seems to be suddenly incapable of critical thinking.” Victoria then instructs Nathan.

“Now that we’re sure you’re not working with Father… which, by the way, only happened because I revealed our knowledge of father’s… other daughter… All part of my plan to—” Nathan starts to explain to Becca, before being sidetracked by self-promotion. A tangent that his mother has no patience for.

“Don’t try to twist your mistake into a positive, dear. It’s a fool’s errand.” Victoria tells him. “Answer. Directly.” Victoria instructs him threateningly.

“What mother and I are trying to say is simple — Stay out of our way.” Nathan tells Becca threateningly, but Victoria sighs at her son’s incompetence.

“That would’ve been our play if you didn’t babble, darling. That’s no longer possible now.” Victoria points out.

“She has to work with us.”