Praying For A Miracle (mxm)

Chapter Twenty One

"Surprise?" I repeat. "I know how to run a business, I did it with my own company in the past. What on earth would you be surprised about?"

My father snorts quietly. "The fact a cafe has little to no profit benefits. You and every other hippy tea loving cafe in this town and country. You won't make profits unless you take the business into your own hands and make it into something more sustainable, like a gym or a widely used space for a select clientele."

I scrunch up my face. "You're suggesting I take the cafe and make it into something else?"

"That is precisely what I'm telling you."

"No," I lean forward. "I would never do something so disrespectful and disgusting. They trusted me with their business and I'm going to do everything I promised, not rip their livelihood away from them like it's nothing."

He blows a long breath out through his mouth and then attempts to wave me off. "That's why you'll never be a successful businessman, Declan. You never want to take risks that could give you everything, always playing it by the rules. Rules are made to be broken, in a world like this you have to act smart. It's every man for himself."

I stare down at the man who I'm somehow related to. The thought of taking Chessman's away from Luca and Hazel. My stomach lurches at the thought of Luca's face, how devastated he would be. If I crushed him, Hazel too, I'd never forgive myself.

I could never live with the guilt and happily get on with my life.

"I don't care about being successful if I'm trashing an entire family's lifelong business."

He clears his throat loudly and clasps his hands over his stomach. "Well, I've changed my mind," he grumbles.

I narrow my eyes at him. The heat inside my stomach begins to bubble and I don't want to get angry, not at his work. "What are you talking about?"

"If you want your grandmother's things that she left you, then you're going to take the business and make it into something new."

My feet press to the floor and the chair slides against the ground harshly. "No," I bellow at him. "How dare you change your mind when things don't go your way?"

He shrugs simply. "Business, son."

I bite down on my jaw so tightly that I almost crack my entire mouth open. "I am not taking their business, their property to benefit myself."

"Well... then I guess you won't get her things. Simple."

My fists itch to punch the living daylights out of this evil man. But I know right now that's not the best thing to do. I feel my nostrils begin to flare and I tell myself to take a breath before I do something I will regret.

Although in the moment it'll certainly feel liberating.

"Why do you have to be such a bitter, old man?"

He laughs. He has the fucking audacity to laugh. "Because without me, Declan, you'd be wasting your life away. Giving your spare time to help a family that should be paying for your damn time! You're a fool for thinking that you're doing good by helping them. They're destroying the economy."

"What the fuck are you even talking about?" I explode, my voice bouncing off the walls loudly. "You are chatting complete shit. You're just trying to punish me for whatever reason and I'm sick of it."

"Hmm," he huffs, glancing at the watch on his wrist as if I'm wasting his time.

My chest heaves uncontrollably. I wish I never came to listen to his bullshit. "I don't even own rights to the cafe," I spit at him. "So I won't be able to do as you wish. The business is still safely in the family's name and I refuse to take that away from them because I am a good person. Not everything is about money, you're so shallow that you can't even see it."