"What's so funny?"
Simone asked clearly offended by his laughing but Rafael didn't care.
"You, you are funny,"
He said between laughter, he hadn't even told anyone except his workers, and legal team so how did he know about it and where was he when he was struggling to get the approval he needed to run the damn business, he would try and reply him as calm and professional as possible.
"How and what did I say that is funny?"
"Nevermind, Simone, wherever you heard it from that I now own a mining company, you should know from the source already that I have no plans of partnering with anyone, I don't need it, thank you,"
He said and felt proud of how calm he was, he should have known this was why he was here, to leech off him and make some money from his hard works, all in the name of investments, if he was going to get investors, he would get people from outside florida and even the US, if he thinks of getting some here, he knew the right people to approach and Simone wasn't one of them, Lucas would definitely be on the list but as it is now, he didn't want investors nor partners, he would do it himself, bare the loss and gain, he knew there will be losses as that was the norm with a new business and he was ready for them.
"Why are you always so hard to approach, something like mining needs a lot of people coming together for it to run smoothly and I am offering to be one of those people and even bring more, trust me you will be making more money than you will ever dream,"
Simone said. It wasn't even convincing, he wonder how the men even get deals if he talks this way.
"I am not interested, Simone,"
"No, don't just say it now, think about it, that's how business is done, I just made an offer, you sit and think about it and not make a rash decision,"
Simone said, Rafael felt like telling to get the fuck out but he controlled himself, he couldn't believe someone who had his business handed over to him by his dad was speaking to him about how to run a business, he built his empire himself.
"I don't think you are in the place to tell me how to run my business Simone, if anyone should be giving out business advice, I would be the one as you can use a lot of my advice to grow the business your father left for you and break your own record of year-end profit and earnings,"
He said in a calm voice, he could feel Simone losing his shit where he sat and he was living for it.
"You don't have to be insulting, okay,"
"I don't recur insulting you, I just stated facts, not my fault if you see it as insults, anyway I will say it again I don't need you or anyone to build my business, thank you have a good day,"
He said in a dismissive voice that sent the man out of his seat and his office in seconds, he went right back to work as if nothing happened.
Rafael tried calling Caleb when he got home but his phone was still off, he was beginning to worry, even if Caleb wanted to cut ties with everyone, why will he cut ties with him? He thought that was Impossible but as the days went by and he still couldn't reach him, he started to doubt, it was almost a week since they last spoke, Armani returned to work already but he couldn't ask her, she had this low and sad aura that he was scared that if he asks her she might have a breakdown again, he didn't mind her having a breakdown in front of him but he knew she won't like it.
"Such a coward,"
He whispered, Caleb should have accepted his help, then this won't have happened, his pride is just so much.
"Yeah, says the kettle,"
The voice in his head blew.
"Nicole,"
He suddenly said out loud, he had to go see her tomorrow and he need to think of what he was going to say to her.
"Weren't we just thinking about our friend?"
"Shut up, Caleb will be fine,"
"Okay, I am just going to shut up,"
The voice whispered and went silent.
"Good, now what do I say to her?"
He thought out loud, should he go ahead and just tell her he wants her back, won't she end his life if he does that?
"What do I tell her?"
He asked himself, he has been thinking about what he will say to her since he decided he was going to go see her but nothing, he didn't know what to say when he finally face her, would he apologize and ask forgiveness, he realized how messy the whole thing was, he never regretted a thing in his whole life but right now, he regretted his actions, he should have taken Caleb's advice and not ask for a divorce, he would have just taken a break instead, but he had been hurting so much back then, he admit that he hadn't handled the lost of their baby well, compound with the fact that the doctor said she might not get pregnant again, what if she thinks he left because he thought she won't be able to give birth again, that would be what he looked like but that was not why he left, he had been hurt and hadn't known how best to handle the pain of losing another family member.
"You messed up, just go fix your mess,"
He told himself, but how? How was he going to do that? He knew just talking to her won't fix it, he got an idea and that sounded like the best thing to do but first, he had to go see her...