The sunlight shinedthrough the old, beautifully made and colorful mosaic windows,revealing the dust which covered this old place. The hired workers who keptthis place intact and took care of it liked to underline the ancientatmosphere - or simply didn’t care. The CEO was quietlysitting on the bench, her oddly coloured eyes slowly examined thepainted walls of this more than familiar chapel. The plastering wascrumbling at some spots and the colours had to be refreshed, buteverything was still visible. It was her job to care of such things, asshe was barely visiting this place. In fact, she actually despisedit. For a short moment she closed her eyes, deeply inhaling andpondering the things she just saw. Her family. Her relatives. Herancestors. Every single member of the Thorndale dynasty was onthose walls, dating back to the original Crusades, creating animpressive family tree.
Her silent thoughts wereinterrupted as the brush fell on the marble ground - theclacking sound echoed through the spacious building. “Pardon,Mrs. Thorndale.” A young woman bowed ashamedly, perhaps evenintimated by the CEO’s presence, and swiftly grabbed her wet tool. But Gilliandidn’t care, not the slightest reaction distorted her stoic and paleface. Secretly she just wanted to get this over with, assoon as possible. Gillian didn’t move as she watched the artist turnback to the portrait she was worked on. With soft strokes the longhaired woman added another member to the huge collection ofpaintings: Gillian herself. This was the reason whyshe was sitting here, after all those years of avoiding this placelike a plague.
She closed her eyes again and tried to suppress thefeeling of discomfort and uneasiness preying on her mind, leaving goosebumps behind as a cold breeze embraced her exposed neck.She decided to put the red warming scarf back on since the artist wasalready done with her head. Even those piece ofclothing fitted the general theme of this edifice. Perhaps she couldtake a quick nap without anyone noticing or she could ask someone fora cup of tea, she really needed something to warm her up.
“You don’t deserve tobe here.”
A sharp and aggressivevoice cut through the thick air, startling the resting CEO. With eyeswide open and her heart heavily beating, she hastily turned herhead to he source of this disrespectful words, just to be moreshocked than before.
“What do you thinkwhat you are doing here? Do you really think you can just walk inthis place, dishonor it with your presence and get away with it?”
“The only degradingone at the moment is you, Eric.”
Gillian’s face returned toits natural calm state, but there was a slight hint of annoyance. Thevisit of her uncle was the last thing she needed right now,since she tried to escape from any family relations as well as shecould. But now she was trapped, stuck in an undesirablesituation and had the mentally prepare for a pointless discussion.
“ME?” The olderman grunted excessively, masking sure the woman in front of himnoticed his frustration.
“Indeed, dear uncle.I am not the one who is yelling in this place.” Gillian decidedthat she really needed a tea after all of this. Her striking migraineslowly made an appearance - a true companion who never really leavesand always liked to remind her of its existence.
“Perhaps I wouldn’treact this way if you would actually care for this family.” Theyoung woman tiredly looked at the outraged admiral in front of her - alwaysproudly wearing his uniform so people know exactly who they are talking to.Several shiny medals emblazoned his chest, but Gillian sighedunimpressively.
“Do you?” sheinquired visibly annoyed and looked him straight into this ice-blueeyes. She will make it clear to him that he can’t threat like that. Theman’s face turned puzzled for just a second, before his commandingvoice, shaped through years of military service, filled the entirechapel.
“Don’t you dare eventalk to me like that. Just because you are Thomas’s daughter doesn’tmean anything to me.”
“So you just showedup here to tell me this, yes? To have your little one-man protest? Noonce cares about you, Eric.”
“NO I JUST… it’sjust a coincidence and I am actually really glad to finally run intoyou. Since I am not allowed to enter your little palace inLondon.”
“For a very goodreason.” Gillian turned her head away from him again and glanced at the frightened artist - her shaking hands firmly held the brush likea knife, ready to defend herself if she had to. The CEO smiled at herto ensure that there was nothing to worry about and noddedat the door. The artist understand the little gesture and left thebuilding in a hurry - her swift steps echoed through the room. No, there was nothing toworry about. A man who couldn’t control his anger wasn’t much of athreat to her.
“So, what do you wantto tell me then? What a horrible person I am? That I never doanything for the family? That I am ungrateful? That I should get on myknees and kiss your feet to beg for forgiveness?” Gillianchuckled amused at her own words - her eyes were closed again and theinfamous crooked smile appeared on her pale and immaculate face.
“Nice to see that youare self-aware.” The admiral’s voices remained hostile.
“And then? Will youfeel better for yelling at me? This is just pitiful and you know it.You are a sad, pathetic man. Angrily demanding a piece of thecake he always refused all his life until he realized how tasty itis.”
“WATCH YOUR WORDS”.The CEO didn’t look at him as she pulled out a tissue from herpockets to wipe away the saliva that hit her face when her uncleshouted at her. Still amused and smiling, she looked to the otherside of her room. Hunter was about to intervene, worried his boss might bein serious danger, but her vicious grin just got wider. She shaked her headand he stopped where he was - his expression was doubtingbut he listened to her command. The she got up and looked into theadmiral eyes again. And didn’t blink.
“Let’s get thisstraight. You were the one who decided that following this outdatedfamily tradition of serving in the military was more important thantaking care of the company. You were the one who insulted us, Myfather, your father and me, as greedy capitalist who don’t knowhow the world works because we sit behind a desk. Ironic since youhave a deskjob now as well, isn’t it?” She placed her rightpointer finger at his chest, right above the medals. She could sensehow his heartbeat got faster, fuel with anger and disgust towardsher. “You were the one who always called us traitors for wantingto change the world for the better instead of becoming paidkillers. You were the one who broke all contact as soon as heenlisted. You were the one who was ashamed of being related to us.You were the one who refused to attend this brother’s wedding becauseyou considered your job to be more important. You werethe one who didn’t care that the company was falling apart whenfather died. And you were the one who suddenly showed up atmy door as soon as he realized what power, what fortunate, thecompany suddenly had. And you are not the one who iscalling my a traitor and that I am dishonoring the family’s name. Areyou really sure it’s me who you are talking about?“
Eric’s face turned more red the more she said, but not out ofembarrassment. Several veins became apparent on his forehead and neck, he baredhis teeth like a rabid dog and his eyes got all wet. Gillian, stillsmiling, knew that she had him exactly where she wanted him.Demonstrating that he was nothing but a insignificant and worthlessanimal, driven by his instincts instead of his mind. She gentlypatted on his shoulder as she passed by him to leave the chapel. The tall woman desperately needed that tea she was thinking of all the time and arelaxing smoke would be pleasant as well.
"COME BACK HEREGILLIAN” her uncle shouted, tears of anger ran down hischeeks. But she didn’t hear him anymore.
