CHAPTER 525: I MUST’VE MISHEARD YOU (3)

"I am not interested in taking over the company," Brad said calmly, his voice steady and sure. He had not even bothered to offer any explanations or reasoning beyond this.

Also, he had not offered his two older aunties and their sons a seat, but they obviously treated the place like their own, and to add to it, the three Dumb ones had their feet on the table as if they were in their own living space. Brad only took a casual glance at them from the corner of his eyes but did not comment on it.

Silence fell.

The words hit the room so suddenly that Molly and Sally were at a loss for words. The two, regal and poised, blinked as if they hadn’t heard correctly. They hadn’t anticipated this. Their plan had involved coaxing and manipulation, not a flat-out refusal.

It didn’t make sense that he did not want to rule over all that power their family represented, because that was what the Thornston Industries was.

The two women exchanged a long, meaningful look, their brows raising subtly. Then, almost in sync, they nodded.

This... this unexpected declaration... might actually work in their favour. They had come prepared with lots of plans that intertwined, but though these words did not make the cut, they paved a better way for them and their sons.

If Brad stepped aside, the path was clear for one of their sons. It didn’t matter which son it was, as long as it was their son. Blood still ruled, and the company would remain in the family — or so they believed.

Off to the side, Brad’s assistant stiffened slightly, eyes widening just a fraction. He had spent a short time at his boss’s side, watching him battle sharks in tailored suits over these few months— never had he imagined his principled and quietly ruthless employer would want to step back from power so easily. However, something didn’t sit right, though he knew of Ian and could understand what Brad’s thought process was.

Just then, the quiet was shattered by one of their sons stepping forward with far too much confidence. He dropped his foot to the floor with a thump. Dumb’s excitement was too much to be contained,

"I’ll take over then!" he blurted out, puffing up his chest. The three had a way of always talking in order, each statement more ridiculous than the last, always from the Dumb one to the Dumber one and finally, Dumbest always crowned the day. Their names weren’t exactly fixed, but it depended on who spoke up first to earn the daft nickname and in that order.

"What? No way, you idiot! You can’t even spell merger without Googling it. Why would you be the boss? Besides, I am older than you... Why do you think that you deserve to take over when I am still alive and knocking?! I’ll take over!" Dumber snapped, adjusting his jacket like a politician preparing for a campaign speech.

"You?!" the third scoffed. "You don’t even know how to say a simple phrase, it’s ’Alive and booting! Not knocking!’ Besides, why do you think you deserve it, when I am way older than you, too... Tell me, were you not the person who thought that ’net profit’ was a fishing term? I’ve got this. Father always said I was a natural leader when he was alive!"

"You mean when he said you were naturally lost in leadership class?"

"Oh, please, you still think ROI is a romantic term!"

"Isn’t it?" Dumb asked his two brothers, looking genuinely confused, and then he switched to child mode,

"That’s not fair!" he wailed. "I’ve been practising signing documents in our office! I literally wrote CEO under my name yesterday!" The argument spiralled into a loud, ridiculous shouting match — arms flailed, neck veins bulged, and at some point, one of them tried to explain why using scented gel pens made him better suited to leadership.

As bystanders, Brad’s assistant let out an audible gasp, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. He groaned and mentally buried his face in his hands. If foolishness had a face, it had just tripled.

This time, both Mollya and Sally visibly winced as their polished image crumbled into comedic ruin.

"SHUT UP!"

"SHUT THE F*UCK UP!"

They said it simultaneously, and the room fell into a deadly silence almost instantly. The three now aggrieved grown man sat down and bowed their heads as if they had been asked to face the wall as a punishment.

Meanwhile, Brad had sat back in his chair, leaning, quietly amused. He didn’t need to say a word. Their stupidity was louder than anything he could ever declare.

"Forget about them, Brad. They don’t mean it, but what do you also mean by the fact that you’re not interested in the position? You’re your father’s son, and though I don’t like your relation to that woman-"

Brad held up his hand, cutting off their words,

He had listened in silence far longer than anyone else would have. But when he heard this as well as a muttering in the back, or more of a scoff that sounded "just a bedwarmer with luck," the air in the room changed completely.

"Don’t you dare talk about my mother like that ever again."

He dropped the words one after the other slowly as if to make a point, and it was driven home quite well.

The room froze. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was low, firm, and thunderous in its finality—the kind of quiet that splits mountains.

"She is more of a woman than either of you will ever be in your entire lifetime. She raised a family, kept her dignity while your kind whispered behind her back, and built a home — something neither of you, with all your jewels and plastic smiles, could hold together even if handed to you on a gold platter."

The two women stiffened, clearly not expecting the backlash. Their sons slumped a little, sitting and sinking into their chairs, finally grasping the gravity of the moment.

"Geneva Thornston would never stoop to do what you’re doing. Can you say the same?"

For a moment, neither woman could speak — not from guilt, but from sheer surprise. No one had spoken to them like that in decades. They would have lashed out if it were anyone else, but this was Brad, and they needed him for their next plan to work, so though they were angry, they could only curb it and try to hide it as much as possible.

They turned to each other, blinking rapidly, lost in the silence that had descended like a hammer.... So sudden and abrupt.

"Ermm...don’t be too up-"

Sally interrupted, gritting her teeth to get the words out, "Sorry."

Brad leaned back slightly, his voice soft but iron-edged now.

"Good, you understand that small fact. I would hate to be the one to try and educate grown aunts like you on how to respect people on a basic level.... That aside, you seem awfully confident," he said. "So confident that you forget why you’re really here."

"I’m not sure ...." he said coldly...

That sobered all of them up slightly. The cousins ’lips twitched with unspoken jabs, while the two older women sat straighter in their chairs. This was not the Brad they were used to. He was usually an approachable and carefree person, but they had never seen this side of him before. It was almost as if he were a different person entirely. Gone was the carefree, soft-spoken youth they had taken lightly.

The shift in his presence was jarring and deliberate. For a brief second, a wave of déjà vu washed over them, chilling and undeniable. He reminded them so strongly of the one man they detested most — his older brother, Ian. The resemblance in poise, the commanding glare, the weight of his silence... it was uncanny.

Brad’s assistant, well-acquainted with both versions of him, merely smirked. He had seen this transformation before, especially with the shareholders—the easy charm replaced with quiet, controlled force. And judging from the women’s stiffened posture and the wide-eyed pause that followed, it was clear they hadn’t.

Then Brad leaned in, voice low and laced with threat.

"I’m not sure," he repeated quietly, his voice low but razor-edged, "whether you’re trying to destroy my brother or me... or what your end game is by coming here at this time..."

Molly and Sally stiffened.

This was not the response they had anticipated. The two shared a look, wondering what was happening. They had barely come to a quiet consensus when Brad stood to his full height, again, towering over them. He stepped back, brushing invisible dust from his sleeve.

"But make no mistake. I am my father’s son. Fully. I have every bit of my parents in these veins, and what you are trying to do is disgusting! Even if Ian were only my half-brother, he is and will always be a Thronston! Good luck trying to prove this to the rest of the world!"

And just like that, Brad turned and walked away, leaving them in the hollow silence they had created, whatever words they would have loved to retort, stuck in their throats like a fish bone.

"Where to, Master Thornston?"

"The office ..." He said, but then,

"... wait!" Brad’s eyes landed on the same news bulletin that Carmichaels had seen a few moments before,

"Let’s go back to the estate!"

Brad shouted, unable to contain his excitement as the old Brad that Molly and her family, as well as everyone, were previously used to, came out.

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