AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Sir, but you already missed two meetings with them. They want a face-to-face––"
My head whips around to face him. "Do you work for them? Do you?"
"N-No, sir," Gerald stammers. "I just––"
"As my assistant, you represent me!" My voice is hard. "If you go around bending over for every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the business world, you're giving me a bad name. Tell them no,and make that the end of it. Otherwise, I'll get someone more competent to do it."
Gerald pales, and when he gives me a jittery nod, hurrying out, I close my eyes, leaning back in my chair.
"You know, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar."
I open my eyes at stare at my childhood friend, scoffing, "Says the man who drives off his secretaries with a stick. How are you enjoying being an Alpha?"
Robert Montgomery is a tall, good-looking man, and one I grew up with. Half of his face is badly scarred from an incident in his childhood where his half-siblings held him down and tortured him. His father, who had been Alpha at the time, had not wanted his first-born son to succeed in his position, so he refused to get him the help he needed. And now, although Robert got the last laugh by having become the Alpha, he still has to live with this scarring for the rest of his life.
Robert walks over and pulls out a chair, sinking into it. "For your information, I now have my younger brother working for me. He's an excellent secretary."
"You mean the seventeen-year-old you adopted into your pack?" I raise a brow.
"Harry's quite competent at following my instructions. It's a pity he still has a year left in high school. I plan to hire him full-time immediately after he graduates. Besides, I never made my assistants cry like you do. You know that one's probably packing up his desk as we speak, don't you?"
"I'll find another one."
"You need a permanent one. Specifically, one who can keep up with you and your demands."
I run my fingers through my hair, sighing. "That's the least of my worries right now."
Robert grins at me. "This wouldn't happen to do with a dark-haired woman, would this?"
I immediately straighten. "You found her?"
The reply is disappointing. "No. But the sketch artist you worked with… I don't know, Adam. The girl is oddly familiar. I just don't know where I’ve met her."
Hope renews within me. "So, you have met her."
"I think so. I just… I can't place her." Robert's brows knit together as he concentrates, trying to jog his memory. He then shakes his head. "Anyway, maybe you can pull yourself out of your own head for a minute and figure out what to do about your brother. His assistant has been calling every day for an appointment with you."
"How do you know that?" I stare at him.
Robert sinks into the visitor chair, shrugging. "I'm nosy. I also had the pleasure of meeting your brother. He's a piece of work. And I thought mine was crazy. I've never seen a more deluded man in my life."
"Mom always spoiled Norman," I sneer, my fingers tapping on my desk. "And ever since Dad and I had our differences, Dad put him on a pedestal. Although the nerve to try and go for an acquisition of my company takes some hard brass balls."
"Why go through any of this at all?" Robert questions. "Just tell them no. Why let them think you are interested?"
I get to my feet, walk over to the floor-to-ceiling window, and stare outside, my hands tucked in my pockets. "Every once in a while, I need to remind Norman of his place."
"You want to hurt him?" I can feel Robert's gaze on my back, and I scoff.
"I'm not interested in his feelings. I want him to understand that he can never surpass me. He was always like this, even as a child, arrogant to a fault. Even now, my father's company has fallen to this state because of Norman. Ever since he came on board, KDL Foods has lost out on numerous contracts, suppliers, and customers. Their quality has taken a hit and their reputation is in shreds. I never thought my father would be so foolish as to let his personal feelings get in the way of his business. But he's grown conceited. I guess like father, like son."
My gaze is heavy as I stare out at the darkening night sky.
My father’s and brother's greed is endless. They carved a path for me that was filled with hatred and anger, but it was a path I held onto. Even now, when I proved to the man who sired me that I can exist outside his realm of control, he's adamant about seizing everything from me, as if he believes I will fall in line and hand over the company I built with my own two hands just because he wants it. These demands for acquisition meetings are just a formality for my father and brother. Knowing their deluded arrogance, they expect me to hand over my years of hard work simply because they wish it.
"I don't believe in that phrase," Robert disagrees. "I believe everyone is a special kind of asshole. You and I didn't take afterour respective fathers. Anyway, I really do think you need to nip this in the bud. Just let them have their meeting, twist Norman's balls, and then throw him out."
My lips press together.
