Chapter 171:

As they waited for the cocktails to arrive, they sat and made small talk, a light probe, before they got to the root of the matter, and the motive of the dinner.

"So, Ace how is school going? This will be your last year, right?", Edward Rye asked, and Ace nodded, smiling slightly, "Yes, it will be my senior year, but the plan is to spend most of it with the business, though.", he said, and Edward nodded, Natalia smiled, and said, "Oh, training under your grandmother,", she asked, seemingly genuinely curious.

'And here it comes, first point to us.', Ace thought, as his grandmother responded, "No, he will be spending most of the year on his own, in charge of managing the new branch that has been opened in Japan, as well as the one that will be open in Korea. Truthfully, there is no need for him to stay in school, but well, he does enjoy it so…", she slowly came to a stop.

'I guess the rumours were right, then,", Natalia thought, 'He really is a genius. We will have to be careful.', she nodded, and smiled, as if it had all come as no surprise to her. "Oh, that is wonderful, it is definitely a good experience, to explore the world on your own."

'No need to say what it is I will be doing there, I guess.', Ace thought, as he smiled, he was truly looking forward to the trips he would be making, and the things he would have to deal with.

The cocktails came, and they each grabbed their own, before taking a sip, and sitting back again.

"What about you? Miranda, how did your final year go?", Samantha asked, and Miranda, shook awake from her daydreaming, and smiled, "Quite well, wonderfully so. I'll be leaving for uni soon, a fine arts school in Florence, most people consider the Royal Arts School in England the United Kingdom the best, but the truth is that it all depends on your individual style, and the master you will be learning under."

'Interesting, maybe she knows?...", Ace thought, but decided to not go down that path, it could make all of his efforts go up in smoke.

"Wonderful, I have to say, you truly are gifted, from the paintings I have seen.", Samantha smiled, and Miranda smiled and nodded, thanking her for her kind words, which "meant so much coming from her"

***

They were in conversation for a few more minutes, before they got to the forefront of the matter.

"Before we talk about business,", Edward said, "I wish to thank you for your hospitality, as well as for taking the time to see us today.", Natalia nodded, "Yes, we do wish to thank you earnestly,", but then, her face got serious, "But let us talk about the issue at hand, the Wholefoods Group.", she had a serious look on her face, this was clearly an important subject for her, and it seemed that for Edward as well, even Miranda knew what was going on.

"I understand, you want me to act.", Samantha sighed, 'D*mm, these guys are ballsy, the Wholefoods Group can't even hold a candle to them, and they want to make sure to get rid of them? Interesting, there must be another reason, they would not risk it otherwise.', Ace thought.

"Yes,", Natalia said, "If possible, truthfully, we could take them on, and yet, we wish to limit any and all risks, we want to do this cleanly, we hope that it will spell a bright future for the Rye family name.", 'Curious choice of words, grandma, you caught on right? Or should I…'

"So, he wants a union?", Samantha guessed, and Edward laughed, "Right to the issue, as always.", he got serious once more, "But yes, he does, he wants us to marry Miranda with his own daughter, so that we may join hands."

Samantha nodded, and Ace understood, "Hmm, I see the issue, ok, I understand, I will speak to him, and I shall see if some sort of compromise is possible, just in case, however, you should most likely decide what to do, it will have major repercussions after all, especially if it is you two.", this, they could all agree, normally, when massive business empires went to 'war', it was bad, but when the empires controlled more than half the world's nourishment, it could spell disaster for everyone.

This was one of the reasons as to why they had asked for help, they knew what it could come too, and had absolutely no interest in making it go that far. Therefore, they had decided that the best way to do it was to get one of the biggest powerhouses, one that rivalled them - nay, surpassed them in power, and have them mediate the disagreement, this way, they would ensure that even if it got ugly, it would not be disastrous for anyone, even the inoffensive and blameless members of the public.

As they heard her words, relief showed for a second on their faces, and their expressions relaxed, whether they noticed, was not an issue, because Ace had done so, and at this point in time, that was the task his grandmother assigned to him.

His grandmother was a businesswoman, one that had surpassed everyone that got in her way, and yet, she could not hold a candle to Ace's ability when reading people. This had been proven throughout these past months on countless occasions, therefore, she now trusted him to analyse and memorise the different expressions and emotions portrayed, which could be a huge help in future negotiations.

Of course, his grandmother noticed as well, it was not something you could simply turn off, but she now had Ace, someone who was able to catch more than she could, which proved to be a great boon.

At first, it took all Ace had to focus on analysing emotions and facial expressions, whilst also holding a normal conversation, but as he gained more experience, and trained more and more, he got better, which meant he was now able to participate in meetings if necessary, usually when he noticed a weakness that was too important to not exploit.

It sounded bad, but honestly, Ace was pleased that he was now allowed to hear and be present at all the meetings he wanted, which did wonders for his education, as well as helped him gain experience in a relatively 'safe' environment.

All in all, it was a perfect practise tool, but unlike most, Ace was actually able to pitch in, and brought something more to the table, something that was of significant value, and placed him in a higher standard in other people's eyes, especially those who knew his grandmother, for the control freak that she was.