Chapter 1 1

“I will not have a single woman inherit my enterprise“, Mr. Austin yelled out at his daughter in a wave of uncontrollable anger as he rose to his feet and leaned against the table from falling.

Jane in terror, sat in the dining confused as she could not believe what her father had just let out. She had a dumb-struck face and the flesh around her knuckles turned white while her eyebrows raised as horizontal wrinkles appeared over slack bring out her mouth open loosely with her eyes wide.

Jane in surprise asked why her dad had to say that to her but he bombarded her with more things. Holding her chest that was pondering beneath her blouse, she lowered her gaze on the table letting out a few tears fall out of her eyes.

“Calm down Mr. Austin, you might have another crisis“, Megan spoke out trying to sit him down. Turning her gaze to Jane, her eyes were filled with sadness as they had never been in such a situation before.

“ You cannot be the CEO of Austin Wine Enterprise ( AWE), without a man to support you and without an heir to continue the legacy“, he augmented.

Not being able to contain the pain and suffering that her father’s words were resulting in her whole existence, Jane could not put up with another mean word from her dad and not being able to talk back at her father, she picked up her handbag without thinking about where she was going to and ran out of the mansion.

Her eyes were blurred by the tears that had clouded them and her heart raised from the normal pace to a more accelerated gait. All she wanted was to make her dad proud of her but his vision about her was never going to change even though she was doing all she can to make him happy.

Unlocking the doors of her brand new car that was the latest BMW version, she had become an outstanding lady coupled with the fact that she was the youngest Manager and her personnel admired her so much. She was an inspiration to so many young ladies and her humble nature was a plus, but it was rather unfortunate that her father did not think of her to be as excellent as everyone saw her be.

For Mr. Robert Austin, she was just a woman like every other one of her kind, unstable and hidden with a lot of obstacles hence a man was needed to complete her.

Her face was filled with tears and sorrow while her vision was dimmed from crying so much. Thinking back to the contract that she had gained for the company, her tears flowed more as her dad did not even felicitate her efforts but rather showcased his patriarchal values on her reducing her to nothing like his fellow gender.

It has been two weeks of constant controversy as her father foresaw her to finally change her mind about being single but Jane making an effort to get her father to reason with her muttered that she doesn’t have to be in a relationship with a man before she could take over his business as she has been doing so alone.

“Why will being single be so much of a problem for him, why can’t he just love me as a human and not want to compare me with a man as though women could not achieve whatever they desired to?“, she raised a question as her anger got the greater part of her.

Holding tight onto her steering wheel and making use of her car breaks, Jane struggled to halt her car as she was about to knock down a woman and her child because of her lack of concentration.

Realizing herself, after her car had taken another turn and stopped by a nearby tree, she breathe in with her eyes wide open and her chest paining from fear.

“ Oh my God, the lady and her child!“, she exclaimed at the last thing she saw before stopping abruptly.

Her hands trembling as she unlocked the car door, her stares met with the lady on the ground as she covered her daughter from the danger that she had seen from the unstable car.

Walking towards them in an attempt to know whether they were injured or had any casualties, she touched the woman by the shoulder asking,

“Are you okay, do you feel pains anywhere?“, her voice could be given attention to as it was shaking out of fright.

“ You almost killed us ma’am“, the lady spoke out holding her daughter in terror while shifting behind. Her expression talking for her as she looked so afraid dressed in simple clothes, Jane made an effort to approach her and her daughter but they took another step backward.

“Okay, I am not a bad person and I am so sorry for almost running you both down“. Thinking of what to do in other to be forgiven, she told the lady to give her some minutes to get something from her car. Leaving them both at the other side of the road, she ran back to her car with her mind flashing to her handbag as she rushed to get some cash to settle them for the trouble.

The cash was small but she had to give it to them as that was what she could find at that point without having to spend their time. Returning to them, she said,

“ Please accept this little token for all your troubles and I am sorry again for the terror“.

Hesitating to accept the money from Jane hands, the lady looked at her from head to toe mumbling in bitterness as her perception about rich folks had been typical. Her lips moved together simultaneously as the consuming outrage in her eyes could be felt just by looking at them and giving attention to the words coming out from her mouth.

“You wealthy people think that money is the solution to everything huh?“, she asked taking her daughter by the hand and threatening to leave but Jane stopped her from leaving in anger, pleased with her not to misunderstand her gesture.