Chapter 416: Elvis
Rico family residence...
Most of the time, Margaret was usually busy with the family businesses. After all, the Rico family had many industries that they were involved in.
While Margaret did not micromanage everything, and was mostly in charge of making the big decisions of the family businesses, she was still busy.
It was considered normal to find that for almost a week, she did not return to her house, where she resided with her niece, Rachel.
Today, just like any other day, she was supposed to be at work, dealing with the many projects that needed to be handled. But, she had to postpone because she had a case to answer.
At the moment, she was sitting in the living room of her maternal home, facing an old man who did not seem to be paying attention to her presence at all.
The old man looked to be in his late 70s. His short gray hair was neatly combed back, and deep wrinkles lined his face, showing the marks of age. A pair of reading glasses rested on the bridge of his nose as he quietly read the newspaper in his hands.
He wore a dark brown knitted sweater over a light blue collared shirt, paired with dark trousers and comfortable leather slippers.
He sat on a large cream-colored sofa in the spacious living room. A polished wooden coffee table stood in front of him, while a stone fireplace cast a warm glow across the room.
Soft lamps lit the space, highlighting the bookshelves along one wall and the large windows overlooking the quiet garden outside. The calm atmosphere made the room feel warm and welcoming despite the cool October weather.
Usually, when someone wasted her time, Margaret would have already acted out. Either, she would complain about it, or even walk away and go and deal with other things.
But when facing this old man, Margaret did not show even the slightest hint of impatience on her face. She just waited for the old man, not saying anything, despite a lot of work that was waiting for her to deal with.
In fact, those that knew her, it they closely observed her, they would realize that she seemed to be uneasy. Basically, she was not very comfortable in front of this old man.
Several minutes later, the old man finally put away the newspaper that he was reading. He slowly took off the reading glasses, put them inside a case, before setting it on the coffee table in front of him.
Finally, his gaze landed on Margaret, a slight frown appearing on his face.
In a thick, slow voice, he asked, "I want you to explain to me why you wanted to do something so reckless. You should know that if it actually succeeded, the consequences would have been fatal for the entire family?"
Margaret lowered her head when she heard that. She understood that the old man was referring to the issue regarding the proposal that she had made of the marriage between Michael and Rachel.
Initially, she thought that Michael would not disagree. But it turned out that he already had a girlfriend, and was not willing to let her go. That was despite the fact that his girlfriend’s background could not compare to the Rico family.
Due to how obsessed she was, she ended up proposing Rachel to become Michael’s mistress. This was of course something that ended up angering Rachel that she stormed from the coffee shop that they were meeting in.
Since the previous day, Margaret had not met with Rachel. It was clear that Rachel was so angry with her, that she was not willing to see her.
Additionally, she had even talked about this matter to her grandfather, who was Margaret’s father, Elvis Rico. And that was exactly the old man that she was facing.
From the perspective of those outside the family, they would be able to tell that Margaret held a lot of power within the Rico family. After all, the contributions that she had made, they were incredible.
But if someone got the inside news, they would know that this was not really the case. The reason why she was able to do many things without much restriction was basically due to the support of this old man.
Elvis was the previous family head, before Margaret took over the family business. Even at the moment, Elvis held the highest decision making power within the family, even though he was not in charge of the family business.
When Margaret was young, she had fallen in love with Zachary, Michael’s father. But of course, due to the reputation of the Santos family, most of the members of the Rico family did not want to associate themselves with them.
But it was because Elvis saw potential in Margaret that he agreed. But of course, all of this was under a condition that Zachary would marry into the Rico family.
Nonetheless, this was not going to be easy, as with Zachary marrying into another family, the reputation of the Santos family would be damaged. Because of this, Elvis was willing to give some compensation to the Santos family.
The compensation was supposed to be in the form of the Rico family helping the Santos family in dealing with the Blood Reapers Syndicate.
Unfortunately, Zachary did not agree to the marriage, as he already had someone else. In the end, things faded with the disappearance of Zachary, and eventually, Elvis thought that things would end like that after the news of Zachary’s death reached them.
At the moment, quite a number of core family members were suggesting that at her age, Margaret was supposed to get married. Even if they could not get a son-in-law of the same caliber as Zachary to marry into the family, they could still find another who could at least boost the family business and influence by a certain margin.
But of course, with Elvis understanding the kind of obsession that Margaret had towards Zachary, he refused. Of course, Margaret knew about this.
Despite the contributions that she had made to the family, if they really wanted to remove her from the position that she currently held, she could not resist.
When she was contributing, she was useful. But if she did not bring anything to the family, she could be easily tossed aside.
It was because of this that she was very grateful to Elvis, who was her father. Additionally, she understood that Elvis was not doing this just because he was her father.
It was also mainly because he could feel that she had a lot more potential, and she could contribute more to the family. Instead of falling out with her right now, it would be better to let her continue contributing to the family, instead of losing a lot for some small benefits.
Because of her obsession with Zachary, Margaret had never considered getting married to someone else. That was despite understanding that Zachary was already gone, and he wouldn’t come back.
But it was because of this understanding that she was trying to associate herself with Michael. She was willing to go to the extent of sacrificing Rachel, just to form that bond.
Unexpectedly, things did not work out, and here she was, being required to give answers to the old man in front of her.
"Father, I have reasons as to why I was willing to go to that extent just to establish a connection with Zachary’s son, Michael. It is not just about my own wishes, but it is also about the future of the family." Margaret responded in a low voice.
Elvis frowned when he heard that. The thing that he hated the most was someone lying to him. That was especially if all the facts were already there.
"I’m giving you one more chance. If you lie to meet again, you will be suspended from your position for a while, and you will have to get married within the next 3 months." Elvis stated coldly.
Margaret’s body trembled when she heard the old man’s words. She understood that Elvis never joked about what he said in a serious situation.
Clearly, if she did not convince him about why she had suggested Rachel to become Michael’s mistress, she would have to get married off.
But that was something that she did not want to happen. Hence, she quickly explained, "I did my own investigation on Michael. I realized that he is not as simple as it seems. Most people simply associate him with the Santos family.
But according to the information that I have, it is clear that everything that he has right now, it has nothing to do with the Santos family. This implies that there is another force behind Michael.
As for how big this force is, I’m not really sure. But what I can be sure about is that it is definitely above the Santos family and our Rico family.
I believe that if we end up associating with Michael, especially before his background is fully revealed, we can end up benefiting from it. It would not be impossible for our family to become one of the biggest forces within this country."
What Margaret was saying was not baseless. She had already anticipated a situation like this, even before she suggested Rachel to become Michael’s mistress.
The moment that she left after meeting Michael, she went ahead and did an investigation on Michael’s background. The main reason behind this was the fact that after going to the Santos family, she realized that the Santos family could not make a decision for Michael.
Therefore, she realized that there was much more to Michael than met the eye. Therefore, she investigated, and the information that she found left her shocked.
"Is that so? Then tell me, what information have you found out about that kid?" Elvis’ curiosity was aroused.