章 200: Chapter 200
Pearl woke up early to find herself alone in bed. She wrapped a robe around herself and went into the kitchen, to find Erik dressed in a full custom Armani suit, his hair impeccable and his eyes in a laptop.
"What are you doing?" Pearl asked.
"Good morning, nightingale." He said, sipping his tea. "I'm doing research for today."
She walked to him and kissed his head. "Your cologne game is on point." She said.
He smiled. "I'm glad you approve." He said.
"I'm afraid to come too close to you, I might wrinkle you." She said. He grabbed her and pulled her to him.
"Don't ever be afraid to come close to me." He said, looking at her with earnest.
"Just a joke. I'm going to get ready. Are we leaving soon?" She asked.
"You have approximately forty two minutes to get ready." He said.
She grabbed a cup of coffee. "I'll be down in thirty. Have more coffee ready." She said, waving her arm.
They pulled into the parking garage and were thankful to not see any reporters around. That meant no one had tipped them off about their being in town.
The elevator opened and Maggie was there to greet them. "Pearl! So wonderful to see you." She said. She curtsied to Erik. "Your royal highness." She said.
"Erik. Please. Hello, Maggie. I've heard such incredible things about you." He said.
She led them into a large conference room and handed Pearl the agenda for the day. Pearl looked it over.
"Maggie?" She asked. "Is this right?"
"Yes. He has been begging to sit down with us. Our meeting with him is after lunch." Maggie said.
Pearl was not ready to see David again. Pearl had told Erik about everything that night in LA at the hotel during her drunken meltdown. He was aware of the sextapes and blackmail and everything else.
"Ah yes. The prodigal son returns." Erik said. "No worries, Pearl. I will handle David."
The first meeting was with all upper management, which included Paul. Pearl had informed Erik of the details and he was furious that he was on staff. "That bastard mentally abused you for years. I don't like him and I won't respect him." Erik said.
"I know. But trust me when I tell you that he is a as business savvy as they come. He's an asset for now. And the moment he isn't anymore, I have no problem letting him go." Pearl said.
"It is a bad idea to bring someone into a position of authority with contempt for their superior. He's not trustworthy. Rhys was immature and stupid to allow that. He disrespects you one time, ONE and he is fired. I am firing him and you cannot disagree with me." Erik said.
"Fine." Pearl said, agreeing to his condition.
Everyone arrived and looked at Erik in complete shock. Some bowed and some offered to shake his hand. Paul walked in late and stood at the doorway, completely aghast.
"Good morning, everyone, and thank you for coming today. I would like to first ask you to help me in welcoming, his royal highness, Crown Prince of Wales, Erik Pilsen-Chamberlain to the table. Erik is here to look into a possible interest of the crown in Trigon and to assist in our international growth. Erik received a doctorate in business administration from St. Andrews in Scotland and did his thesis on Accounting, Governance and Organizations. I can assure you that he will be an asset to this corporation in it's future growth endeavors."
They all clapped and Erik smiled and nodded, continuing to allow Pearl the floor.
"The first order of business is our Michigan office."Pearl said, giving the floor to Paul.
"Thank you, Pearl. I'd like to start by saying that the recent drop in revenue was expected due to some changes I have taken the liberty to make. I am working with a printing firm on a magazine. It's a short and quick road to take that I believe will benefit some clients specifically." He said.
Pearl was not happy.
"Is this something that was discussed with other management team members? Maggie? Our goal is to avoid ad hoc initiatives, that is why I rely on the management to choose to start with a digital strategy to ensure a smooth transformation journey, mitigate risks and justify the investment into innovation." Pearl said. Erik felt his crotch twitch after hearing her talk like that. The woman had a big brain and wasn't afraid to show her teeth when she needed to.
"Yes. I understand. But what I'm talking here is merely a jump start, for businesses that prefer other means, with the revenue needing to be spent so that we will profit later on." Paul argued.
"No. The main purpose of our digital consultancy services is to help companies and organizations achieve their goals in innovation and digital transformation in the most efficient way and stay relevant in the market using information technology and digital channels. Not print. Not paper. This isn't what we do, Paul, regardless of what profit you may believe possible."
"Pearl, no offense but you don't know the first thing about this. Get a clue and listen to people that actually understand numbers." Paul said.
"You're fired." Erik said.
"What?" Paul asked.
"You heard me. Please get your things and see yourself out." Erik said.
Paul looked around in disbelief.
"Please continue, darling." Erik said.
The room was quiet, except for one person stifling a laugh, and Pearl looked at Erik, trying to hide a smile.
Pearl adjourned the meeting and asked Erik to follow her to her office.
"You are incorrigible! Now we need to find someone to manage the Michigan office." Pearl said.
Erik approached her desk and leaned close to her, putting his hands down flat and moving close to her face.
"Watching you in there was like an aphrodisiac. I love your mind. I'm going to rip your panties off the moment we get home and fuck you until you cannot walk, my brilliant and bright and tough little nightingale." He whispered.
Pearl felt her body flush and her cheeks burn red.
A knock at the door interrupted them.
"Ok, so I have a candidate already for the Michigan office." Maggie said.
"See, it's perfectly fine." Erik said, sitting down on a chair in the back of the office.
"Also, David is here. Are you ready?"
Pearl looked at Erik, who was smiling devilishly and nodding.
"No." Pearl said. "Not at all."
They walked to the conference room and Pearl saw him sitting there. He looked the same, with his perfectly manicured suit and coiffed hair. He was the devil incarnate.
Erik walked in, with Pearl and Maggie waiting in their office, listening on the speaker.
Erik stood in front of David and David just stared at him.
"What manner of business brings you here?" Erik asked. David looked a little peaked.
"I thought I was just meeting with Pearl and Maggie today?" David said.
"Mr. Powers, I don't know where your manners or lack there of came from, but I can assure you, when addressing me, if you are addressing me, you will be required to use the proper etiquette."
"Ok, prince-whatever-your-name-is, I came here to speak to Pearl. So can I speak to her privately, please?"
"It's 'Royal highness, Crown prince of Wales and future King of England, Prince Friederike Dimitri Pilsen-Chamberlain, please." Erik said.
David took a deep breath. This was a huge blow to his enormous ego.
"Okay then, Royal highness, prince.."
"CROWN prince." Erik interrupted. David rolled his eyes.
"Royal highness, CROWN prince of Wales, prince Friederike..."
"And future king of England, you forgot." Erik interrupted again. He was toying with David and Pearl and Maggie were cracking up.
David huffed and began again. "Royal high..."
"You know what? Never mind the formalities. I am here representing Pearl. What can I help you with?" Erik said. Maggie was falling off of her chair she was laughing so hard.
"What interest of this is yours? Why are you even here?" David asked.
"Are you asking what my interest is in protecting and supporting the woman I love or what my interest is in this company? Because I can assure you the answer is the same for both." Erik said.
"Look, I'm interested in a second shot at working here. I don't need the money but this job, this company was my whole life. It's all I did before all of this." David said.
"Not all you did. Apparently inappropriately video recording women without their consent for the purpose of blackmail is also on the "things you do" list." Erik said.
David looked away. "I'm not proud of myself. I told the press what Pearl wanted me to say. I gave her the only copies I had." David said.
"Oh yes. That clears everything up then. Splendid." Erik said, sarcastically. "I'll make myself perfectly clear, stay away from Trigon. Stay away from Maggie and if you even have a thought about Pearl, you better be checking all around you because I have eyes everywhere. I know that the color of the tile in your bathroom is blue and that your favorite course at Polini's, a restaurant you have dinner at every Friday night, is the veal parmigiana which you pair with a vodka gibson, two onions. The key to your backdoor is under a large black rock that you placed on the patio to the left of the door. You wouldn't want to piss someone off with that kind of knowledge, would you?" Erik said, leaning inappropriately closely into him and looking into his eyes. "If you come near Pearl again or make any attempt to contact her, be glad you have no family that will have to attempt to identify you after I am through. You were a lucky bastard to have her for a brief moment in your life and your bed. But that time is long over now. Are we clear?" Erik asked.
David looked horrified and scared. Really scared. He nodded.
"I intend to make her my wife. So this has no expiration. I trust you will be able to show yourself out." Erik said as he walked out.
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