Second Time's a Charm (MxM)✔

Chapter 21 - Business

Sneaking out of the house wasn't any harder than it was before. As a matter of fact, it was made much easier with the help of the servants who agreed to stay quiet whenever they ran into Cain outside of his room. 

Over the last few months, he'd managed to avoid being poisoned as well. At first, his stepmother and Andrew seemed surprised when they didn't receive news of him falling ill. Every day or two they'd send a maid to check on him, and he'd be up and about in his room, acting right as rain. 

Eventually, they must have gotten a different brand of poison, because soon the silver spoon he used to test his tea began to stain. Once that happened, he had to rely on Gideon to fetch him snacks whenever he skipped his meals. Things were getting treacherous in the house, so he found himself sneaking out sometimes just to get a bite to eat. 

Today, however, he had actual business to attend to and ordered Catalina to cover for him while he was out. 

Cain grimaced at the unexpected guest, wishing it was just a coincidence but knowing better.

Maddox was making a similar face, for he too hadn't expected to see Wolf Brooks at this hour.

The two men paused, not quite sure if they were seeing right, but it was Maddox who eventually spoke first. "I see you've been busy."

"Quite," Cain replied stiffly as he removed his cloak and handed it to one of the assistants.

Maddox was wearing a crimson red tunic and leather vest. His hair was once again tied back out of his face, and he looked ready to shoo Cain off. He couldn't blame the man since he'd been sneakily snatching up as many of Maddox's most promising enterprises as possible. He could only imagine how riled up the villain was by now. 

However, he hadn't expected the man to show up in person. This particular deal he'd tried to finalize via letters, only to receive an invite to the capital to discuss the details first hand. Apparently Maddox received the same letter, despite Cain's attempts to snatch this one up in advance. 

The two of them were standing in a parlor waiting for a soon-to-be wealthy man who was looking for a loan. In the future, his device would reinvent grain collection, which was currently done by hand.

"Gentleman!" The inventor greeted them, walking in wearing a green pinstriped vest and tan puff-sleeved shirt. His grey trousers and feathered cap made him look somewhat like an archer. "Thank you so much for showing up."

"What is the meaning of this Lord Barkers?" Maddox inquired, gesturing towards Cain. "I thought this was a private deal."

"Yes, of course. Please have a seat and I'll explain." He waited as the two villains sat on the sofa, making sure there was plenty of space between them. The man then stood before them and rubbed his hands. "This was intended to be a private meeting, but I received both of your offers at the same time and simply couldn't decide which one to go with."

"Why not just go with the best offer?" Cain suggested, confident that he could make his offer far more fair than whatever Maddox would throw out. 

"That's the problem. You both gave me the same offer. So I thought we could all sit down and discuss things."

Maddox shot Cain a suspicious look. "Same offer you say?"

"Yes, he did." Cain likewise was eyeing the villain. "What a coincidence."

"Very. Just like all the other offers I had been too late for."

He could sense irritation in the man's voice, and Cain couldn't blame him. It was blatantly obvious that he was only doing this to get under Maddox's skin.