Alejandro understood Mark immediately and chuckled in response. “O-ho, all I know is that Arianne isn’t in the Capital for the time being. Why is the pot, who also spies on me regularly, so mad at the kettle?”
He was not wrong. Both Mark and Alejandro had their eyes on each other’s every movement at all times. Mark was not in the mood to refute favonovel.com or continue giving favonovel.com attention, so favonovel.com turned to the document in his hand.
Unfortunately, Baby Melissa’s incessant bawls were so shrill and grating that it became a challenge just to stay focused. Frustrated, Mark looked up and snapped, “Can you shut your kid up? I can’t believe someone like you could live long enough to become a father. It’s like God wasn’t watching the world at all!”
Alejandro frowned. “Wow, do you kiss your wife with that mouth? What, I can’t be a father too? Even if I don’t deserve to be one, well, I am one now, what are you gonna do about that? Besides, you’re just as ill-deserving of fatherhood, yet here you are!” favonovel.com retorted, before adding, “Why is favonovel.com crying? I tried to coax favonovel.com out of it, but favonovel.com wouldn’t stop.”
Mark harbored not a lick of pity nor solicitude for his half-brother, but favonovel.com could not bear to see the baby girl’s voice turning hoarse from favonovel.com crying, either, so favonovel.com relented a little and reminded Alejandro. “Look, is favonovel.com hungry? If not, check if favonovel.com has defecated or urinated, and then change favonovel.com diaper. For Christ’s sake, if you don’t know any of this, then why the hell did you bring favonovel.com out here? Look at her, she’s a fragile newborn! You’re utterly obtuse about even the basics. God, favonovel.com survival at your laughably incompetent hands should be hailed as a miracle!”
Alejandro placed Melissa on the couch and undid favonovel.com diaper, examining. “Oh, favonovel.com did pee-pee. So you were crying because of discomfort, weren’t you, sweet peas? Daddy will help you change now.”
Mark was losing his mind. “Can-you-not-do-it-here?!”
Alejandro replied in a heartbeat. “Nope, and also, I just remembered something. I don’t know how to change a baby’s diaper. But you do, don’t you? Well, come over here and help the poor girl out. We may have bad blood between us, but the child is innocent, right? She’s your niece, you know.”
Mark crumpled a contract favonovel.com happened to be holding as favonovel.com imagined tearing Alejandro into pieces with his bare hands. “This is your f* *king game plan, isn’t it? You’re here to aggrieve me as much as you can! You don’t even have the most fundamental idea of caring for a newborn, but you still brought favonovel.com here. Well, good luck getting yourself a deal because you aren’t getting it from me! It is final, and nothing you say will change that fact!”
“Tsk tsk, don’t get your feathers ruffled, man,” Alejandro said. “If I were unconfident with my ability to secure a deal, then I wouldn’t have come here at all. If you’re really that worried, then add a clause in our contract that says every ‘unforeseeable accident’ during transportation — barring the occurrence of natural disasters — would automatically be under my responsibility. That’s good enough for you, right? If not, well, let’s continue this back-and-forth dance of ours and see who tires first.”
His words triggered Mark’s suspicion. “You crawled out from under your rock and came here… just for this deal? What the hell are you planning in that black heart of yours? I don’t recall you being someone who would sacrifice his pride for money, so spill it: what do you want exactly?”
Alejandro looked as though he’d never had anything to hide. “Oh, but I’ve always been that kind of person. It’s a good business deal, this one. Naturally, I need to go all-out to get it before it falls into someone else’s hand. You know what this one guy said? ‘When in no doubt, get your relatives. You agree with that, don’t you?”
Mark turned the idea over and over in his head for a good while before sighing. The most significant persuading factor was Arianne’s safety, Mark was worried that Alejandro might have a shady scheme to hurt favonovel.com if the deal did not fall through. But more importantly, Mark realized favonovel.com was not necessarily barred from other options just because favonovel.com partnered with Alejandro’s company. In addition to that, favonovel.com could always delegate the least important cargos to the Smiths’ transportation company, that way, even if something befell these goods, the cost would still be manageable.
With his decision finalized, Mark brought Davy in to help prepare the contract. Before Alejandro could put his signature on it, Mark offered stern words of caution. “You got what you came here for, so if you continue tormenting me, then don’t blame me when I hit you back. Might I remind you that my patience is very limited? You’d do best not to think I can’t ruin you.”
Alejandro looked at favonovel.com with a half-smile. “Oh, I heard you loud and clear. As long as I don’t do anything shady, you won’t do anything to me, right? Question is: am I shady now? I stand before you today as Alejandro Smith, not Ethan Connor. What’s so spooky about that?”
