Chapter 215: Love, Sweet Love

At first Sebastian had not seen it. A chink in the armour that his nephew always had on... a weakness.

In his defence, no one could blame him for not seeing it. It was very easy to miss afterall.

Normally, when it came to searching for faults in his nephew. Sebastian was very good at that. From spotting the fashion faux pas, that was his nephew’s beard. To watching with barely concealed joy those wonderful weeks when his nephew had turned into a fire breathing dragon. And even during that time when he had gotten the idiot to sign over control of the solar panel plant.

The fallout of that had been epic, and watching his nephew try to control the situation had been highly entertaining. It would have been even more fun if his nephew had gotten beaten up and set alight. But not all wishes could come true.

Anyways, the point was, when it came to his nephew. Sebastian was very good at spotting weakness. But over the years, his nephew had come to show only one particular kind of weakness. The obvious kind, that either had him biting off people’s heads. Or the one that had him signing contracts that he had not read.

But the type of weakness that his nephew was currently showing was something new. Something that Sebastian had never seen before. Derek Haven, who was as frigid as that cold-blooded mother of his, and as cunning as Sebastian’s dearly departed brother had been, was going soft. The softness that Derek was currently displaying was not the kind that made people donate millions to charities. Or the one that had them running marathons or standing in lines feeding the poor and needy. No, it was a different kind of softness.

It was the softness of a man in love, something that had never happened before. During the boy’s teenage years, as well as his twenties. Sebastian had held out hope. He had been banking on his nephew being foolish enough to fall in love with one of those new age types. The ones who believed that money and power were not important. He had been hoping with everything in him that once his nephew met such a person. Then he would abandon everything, leaving Haven Group in Sebastian’s very safe and very welcoming hands.

But it had seemed that Derek had inherited his mother’s self-serving personality. Only being able to fall in love with money. No matter what anyone said or did. They could never lie to Sebastian and tell him that that woman had married his brother because of love. He knew for a fact that it had been an arranged marriage.

He doubted that things had changed after the two of them had been together for a while. His nephew having inherited his mother’s inability to love anyone but herself, and money, had been a huge let down for Sebastian, but he had overcome. Just as he always did. He had dusted himself up, and had gone on to spend the years looking for other weaknesses within his nephew. Celebrating whenever he found a few here and there, that he could exploit. But it seemed that unlike his mother. Derek was capable of love. It had just taken him a while to get there. But now his nephew was definitely in love.

Sebastian knew it. While he himself had never found any use for such a messy emotion. Sebastian was very adept at spotting it in others. Afterall, he had lost quite a few party and drinking buddies to the affliction. Men who used to be down to party at any point in time. People who he used to have orgies with on the regular in exotic places with even more exotic beauties. Suddenly deciding that they had found ’the one’, and leaving the party lifestyle behind.

Letting themselves grow old, fat, and wearing the most unflattering suits. Letting themselves turn into ’yes men’ who only ever did things with the approval of their wives. Buying cars that had more seats than horsepower and constantly smelling of baby formula and puke. Sebastian shuddered at the mere thought. But the point was, Derek was now displaying

the signs that all of his former friends had shown shortly before, they decided to tie themselves permanently to lives of nothing but servitude an boring sex with the same person over and over again.

He was smiling more, he laughed more, he forgave transgressions against himself more easily. There had even been a day when he had paused a meeting because that creature of his did not have a chair. And he almost always seemed to have this inner glow coming from him. If his nephew were anyone else. Sebastian would have been certain that he was on drugs and he would have sold the story to the nearest newspaper as soon as possible.

But unfortunately, Sebastian knew that his nephew was too boring for something like illicit drugs. So that had left only one option.

Love.

Somewhere out there his nephew had found somebody who did not mind just how unexciting he was. Cupid’s arrow had managed to make it past the ice field that Derek had gotten in place of where his heart should have been. The same ice that resided in his mother’s chest.

Derek Haven was in love.

And it was great news for Sebastian. Because being in love meant that Sebastian no longer had to focus on Derek and Derek alone. By bringing whomever it was into his heart, he had made them fair game. Now all that Sebastian had to do was to find the person who was the object of his nephew’s affections. And once he found them, he would dig and he would prod. Not stopping until he had something that he could use on them. And if he could not find something incriminating. Then he would make it up, and use it to twist their arm, until they finally caved and did his bidding.

It was one thing to attack from the outside, but to attack while having somebody on the inside feeding him information. Now that, that would be an advantage that would turn the tide of the war that Sebastian had been fighting ever since his father had given the CEO position to Jasper.

But who could it be? Who was the lovely lady who was going to be the key that Sebastian needed in order to control Haven Group in its entirety? Could it be that supermodel that his nephew had been photographed with a few weeks before?

Could it be the diplomat’s daughter who had made no secret about the fact that she wanted to climb Sebastian’s nephew like a tree? There were just so many options and Sebastian had no idea where to start.

Or maybe it could even be that stiff as a board, personal assistant of his. Thinking of the flat shoe wearing menace standing side by side with his nephew. Sebastian could not help but burst into laughter. It took him a while to get himself under control.

And when he did, he was wiping tears from his eyes.

As if... that particular PA, no way.

His nephew might not have been his favorite person, but Sebastian at least knew that his nephew had taste. He would not settle himself with anything, that came even close to looking and behaving like his PA.

A man had to have standards. And that woman was what people who were scraping the bottom of the barrel got. Havens did not scrape barrels of any kind.

So without a solid lead, on who the lucky woman could be. Or maybe scandal of scandals, it was a man. But either way, without a lead on who it could be. There was only one thing to be done.

Some good old spy work.

Sebastian would have to follow his nephew around until he found something.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read