Ch 68: Abigail had no one

"No one knew. He kept that to himself to save his family from grieving. He left the bulk of his fortune to Owen, which is what you are looking at now."

Ruby didn't expect that. She expected that he was taking some time because his fiancé had jilted him, but not this. Suddenly she felt bad for him and what she had done.

"The next order of business is who is in charge. I am." He cast a glance to Ruby who had taken a seat against the wall.

"All major decisions will be made through me, which I will take to the board until the return of our CEO." Ruby was used to seeing Hudson differently. This side of him was unexpected. He was dead serious.

Usually, he was joking and flirting. She'd never expected this from him and it looked quite attractive to her. Hudson left the floor open for questions and the meeting went on for another hour. When they began to filter out he called Ruby aside.

She gave him a generous grin deciding to take his offer of dinner this time. Instead, she ended up having the shock of her life. " Owen will be back next week. You have two hours to clean out your desk." Her mouth fell open.

"To interfere in a relationship is a shitty thing to do Ruby. To interfere in someone who can crush you financially and reputably is just plain stupid."

"But I—" "We are all fingerprinted when we got hired if you have forgotten. Yours showed up on a photo that Abigail possessed. A photo that should have never even left Italy."

She couldn't deny it. It was her. "Unfortunately, for you, Owen found out. Your career is over." She reached out and touched the lapel of his expensive suit, "Oh Hudson, please. Can you help? I never meant for it to go so far."

He removed her hand as it disgusted him, "I might have screwed you Ruby, but I'd never let you persuade me. I never got where I was by being born yesterday. Now I'm sparing you the embarrassment of being fired in front of the board members and that's about the entire leniency I possess, so I'd take advantage of that." He turned and walked out of the room.

***

Alice clung to her older brother as they lowered her father's casket in the ground. Owen as always was a statue of self-control, but at least she knew that he was grieving too. Especially after losing his best friend and losing Abigail in less than a month.

Her mother stood on the other side of her. Owen was cordial to her, but he didn't touch her at all. She really couldn't blame him because of the way she acted toward him, but it was obvious to her that her mother was grieving for the loss of her father too.

It made her realize that Abigail must've gone through hell. At least she had a brother and a mother no matter how much of an absentee parent she was, at least she knew that she'd come and help if she was desperate.

Abigail had no one. Owen held her close to her side and when people started to leave he reached over and took his step mother's elbow.