Capítulo 32: CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Laurent scrubbed a hand down his face. He'd known his first day back at the office after the weekend would be rough, but he'd stupidly expected Rose to bitch and whine at him in public, not come half-dressed with the looks to boot.
He made himself sit and start his day, occasionally giving in to the remembrance of what her breasts had looked like under that wrap and God, those lips, and the look in her eyes. He was interrupted from his fantasy by a knock on his door and the immediate opening. He looked up as Julia sauntered in like she owned the place, looking down her nose at his office.
He crossed his arms but remained seated. "Yes, Julia. How can I help you this fine morning?"
She came to stand at his front, "You were absent last week. The board members are getting impatient, but they like you." her gaze tracked him from head to toe in disdain, "They want to talk to you again."
He smirked, "Now?"
"Probably," She shrugged. "Or else, why would they send me?"
He ignored the sarcasm and deliberately checked his watch, looking up into her eyes with wide eyed innocence, "Can they wait about thirty minutes? I have this thing I need to finish."
Her eyes widened in shock, "With due respect, Sir, are you shitting me?"
He deliberately opened a game application on his system. He didn't usually play games, but he was feeling quite entitled that morning. Moreover, he hoped it would give his secretary a coronary.
He raised up a hand, "Shh, wait."
Her jaw dropped and she came to his side, saying, "What could be so important that you'd ghost…"
He paused the game, "You were saying?"
She stared at the screen, at the figure holding a gun and shooting in place, and then back at his face. Then she muttered, "You've got to be kidding me," walking out of the office.
He smiled to himself before he followed her. "Wait, where do they want to meet?"
She ignored him, instead placing a phone call. He made to grab it from her hand but she was wiser this time. She switched hands.
He held up a hand, "Okay. I was just messing with you, Julia," he said in his best goofy tone, "No need to get upset."
She stared at him in silence with the phone in her ear. They both heard the call click but what she said was, "Sorry, I'll call you back." before she hung up.
He held both hands up and she finally sighed. "Whatever, Sir," but she said it with a small smile and a scary, familiar smile.
He held in a sigh. His charm had done it again. No need to stop it, though; he could use a weapon for those selfish board members.
He smiled back. "Where do they want to meet?"
"Where you first met."
"Alright then," he winked at her and left.
THE room was a little more familiar this trip, but it still weirded him out how dark it was. This time, there were not two but five of the members seated. He'd read it once that the Blackwell legacy had eight board members, that meant over half of them wanted the company for themselves.
He stood by the door with his head slightly bowed. The two people he'd talked with were the only familiar faces but after his research, he could put a name to all their faces.
Vincent Sloane, a bald, paunchy man, had to swivel his chair around completely, then, with a sneer, asked, "Is this him?"
Marie Legate, the woman he'd met before, released a high-pitched laugh, "He does have a problem with time management, but he has the information we need.' She then removed her eyes from her nails and pierced him with them, "You do, right? Laurent."
He moved closer to them. All five were seated with the same sheet of paper at their front. He ignored that for the moment. "I had the privilege of being with Mr. Blackwell for a great portion of the weekend. He's doing much better, though the Doctor had to delay his discharge until later this week because of a sudden breakdown."
The five of them looked at each other with varying degrees of smiles. He could practically see the wheels turning in their head.
Marcus Kelner, the youngest among them at 43, got rid of his eager look as he stared at him. "That's good information, but not all, right? What contributed to the breakdown? Or were you too busy fucking your toy?"
Instinctively, he took a step forward before he stopped himself, fisting his palms. The man watched with interest.
"What? Don't like me calling your girlfriend a toy? Want to come punch me?"
He took a deep breath to temper his anger. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't make derogatory remarks about her, please. She's a human being who shouldn't be brought into this at all."
'Pot, meet kettle,' his subconscious crowed.
'Shut up,' he responded.
The man laughed, and gradually some of the others followed suit, "Wow." he eventually said, struggling to contain his anger. "All this over someone you're only using as a steppingstone?"
He gave them a small truth, sprinkled with lies, of course. "No matter the cause of our getting together, we mutually respect each other and do not want to hear this from anyone, sir."
"So..." he continued but Robby Heston, the second familiar face, interrupted him.
"Marcus, not now. Don't cause a scene because the girl refused a relationship with you years ago. Get over it."
Interesting.
Of course, the younger man wasn't going to let it go like that. He opened his mouth to argue but was shut down again by the last woman in the room, Kelly Ranger. "He's right, Marcus. You can compare your dick sizes after this meeting. This is important."
He bowed at the woman but shot Laurent a veiled, threatening look. Great, another person to guide against.
The woman turned to him with a sharp smile. "But Marcus is right. What else can you tell us?"
He pretended to think about it. "Something strange did happen, I think. He had a visit from his lawyers for a few hours. Nobody really knows anything about it, but he wasn't really pleased after he received their phone call. When they left, he felt better,
This time, their gaze was nervous and questioning.
Marie leaned forward, "And you don't know exactly what they talked about?"
He bit his lower lip and then hid his eyes, feigning guilt. Marcus stood up and stalked up to him, hugging him around the shoulders.
"Come on, Mr. Ricco. We're board members of this prestigious institution. Don't we deserve to know what's going on?"
He looked at the man and then the others. "I didn't really mean to eavesdrop, but I wasn't aware that they were still around."
"What were they saying?" someone asked eagerly.
"They were saying something about strengthening his ownership. My assumption was that the old man made it a stipulation of sorts about his well-being," he shook his head, "I can't really say much; it was only for a few minutes."
They didn't hear him. They already had their heads together, forgetting about his presence. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he didn't need to. Whatever their foolish thoughts might have been, at least he'd thrown a wrench in it. Just a week and a half left, he only had to hold on for another week and a half, and all his nightmares would magically disappear. Hopefully, the old man was able to walk to his own 69th birthday party.
He cleared his throat, and Marie looked up, "Oh, you're still here. You can go; we'll contact you later."
He bowed to hide his smile and made his way out of the room.
The shock of going from dark to light took a while to get used to but closing his eyes for a few seconds solved that little problem. And probably gave him a hyperactive imagination, because right in front of him, standing and staring curiously, was Rose Blackwell.
He closed the eyes and opened it again. She'd gotten rid of the other outfit, looking formal in a peach skirt suit with low heels, but it was definitely her. And she had a strange smile on her face.
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