AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His making me come all the way to London was for one reason and one reason only, and that was for the chance for me to meet his daughter. No doubt the spoilt brat had refused to come to New York, and thus he had orchestrated this. But so as not to disappoint me to my face, he had made up this entire faux of having some emergency in London.
I was extremely offended, but unlike her, I didn't come from money, so I knew the value of his business in the long term. However, what he wasn't aware of was the fact that I was also judging him because his behavior in this meeting would let me know if, at the end of the day, I cared to even work with his companies at all or if I'd rather take the loss and move on to the next client with a brain and manners.
Soon we arrived at their Pimlico offices, and I strolled in along with Sophie.
She remained behind me, which was one more peculiar thing because usually she was ahead and clearing the way, but I guess she was still embarrassed about the whole fiasco in the car. I didn’t care or at least for now, I didn’t. Not until after all of this was over. And so I kept my focus on our directions until soon we arrived at their offices.
I was received well and made to wait no longer than five minutes before a tall, slim Russian girl came out. At first, she seemed reluctant and bored as she looked around, but then her eyes settled on mine, and her eyebrow shot up. I watched herintently as she headed over to me, and the biggest smile spread across her face.
She held out her hand, and it was only then that I got up.
“Mr. Montgomery?” she greeted, and I returned the pleasantries, but I sure hoped to hell that Charles wasn't handing this meeting over to her.
“Yes,” I replied.
“I’m Polina. It's very nice to meet you. I've heard great things about you.”
I hadn’t heard anything about her beyond the fact that she was a popular socialite, so I immediately asked the question I wanted to know.
“Where’s your father?”
“Oh, he's already waiting for you in the meeting room,” she answered. “He was extremely pleased by the lengths you took to ensure he had this meeting, so he's been hard at work all morning doing a final review of your agreement.” I was pleased to hear this but kept my gaze stoic and simply allowed myself to be ushered forward.
Her gaze for a second lingered on someone behind me, and I couldn’t help but notice the instant change. It was as though her expression changed and darkened, and that was so incredibly startling until I recalled who was standing behind me.
I glanced back at the gorgeous woman behind me and understood. She had been sized up and felt intimidated. I didn't blame her whatsoever. Even I was impressed. Over the last few days, something had happened to her—a drastic change in her aura and appearance, and I still couldn't explain it. Between that and her increased clumsiness and strange new interest in my personal life, was interesting, to say the least.
She followed calmly behind, and soon the meeting began. It wasn't a presentation whatsoever like had been arranged in our office.
Rather, we went straight to Charles, who had a few of his advisers in his office lounge. Everyone took their seats, including his daughter. However, I soon noticed that there was a problem. I looked over because right at that moment, Sophie had been about to take her seat beside me to assist me in sorting through and presenting documents when requested.
Polina, however, had taken that place, and so a very strange and uncomfortable atmosphere filled the room.
“Polina can assist,” Charles Nioly said with a smile. “She will be collaborating most of the time with you, so it would be nice to get her started with familiarizing herself with the material.”
I was a bit irritated at his words, and when I looked at Sophie, I couldn’t help but note her irritation as well.
I expected her to just hand over the folders to Polina since I knew her to be non-confrontational and generally agreeable; however, she didn't give her attention to Charles and his words.
Instead, she turned to me and asked, “Is this what you would prefer, sir?” she asked, no sense of amusement in her tone.
And once again, the room was a bit taken aback by how she sounded. She was unshaken and confident, getting straight to the point, and I couldn’t help but be impressed.
“No,” I replied, especially given the fact that she had worked on this for so long. I wasn't about to push her to the side for some heiress, rather than see the outcome of her effort over the last few months come to fruition.
“I'd prefer Sophia to be the one to assist me. We've been building this for a very long time, and she knows more than anyone else the ins and outs of our proposal to you.”
"Oh, there's no need for a proposal,” he said, further irritating me. “Your track record is impeccable, and your working style is commendable. You didn't let me run away to London and instead hopped on your plane immediately to get here. You're wealthy enough now to be comfortable and letthings slide, but I can see now that you still take nothing for granted and you're as vigilant as ever, so I have full trust in handing our companies over to yours. Before you arrived, we had a meeting and we perused your projected increase in market share and engagements over the next year, and I am excited to see that you pulled it off.”
I stared at him digesting his words and then I sighed quietly. I couldn’t exactly be furious at the man for preparing much more than what was needed, but based on the level I had reached thus far, I couldn't argue that I was surprised. I was never romantic about the process anyway, so I took the win and rose to my feet.
“That will be all then,” I said, and he seemed a bit surprised.
“What? Why the rush?” He laughed. “I expected we would have some dinner together and get to know each other better. The business is concluded, but you should know that everything else is more important.”
“Actually, the business is more important,” I replied. ‘Everything else, though interesting, falls short in the face of results or disgrace. I appreciate your offer, but I'm going to turn you down. In my diligence to conclude this deal with you, I haven't rested as much as I'd have liked to, and I'd like to get to it.”
“You'd prefer to rest than have dinner with me?” he asked, the smile fading from his face as though he was daring me to continue with my stance. I'd never want to cancel a deal more in my life. I would have if not for the wasted time and the list of benefits and bonuses this brings to my employees.
