Once their late lunch was over, Jacob and Aiden left Flinn Corporation together.
Although he would have much rather stayed behind with Claire, Aiden knew his assistant was to the brim with questions and the urge to nag him. With that in mind, he let himself be taken back to Villan Enterprise.
After Aiden sat in his desk, he leaned back in his chair getting himself ready for the rant he knew was about to begin. Jacob stood with his arms crossed in front of him. His squinted eyes made him look somewhat mad.
"What would you like me to explain mother hen?" Aiden smirked at him. Even after all of their years together, Jacob would still call things as he saw them. And after silently shushing him earlier, he was aware that he wouldn't get away from this conversation.
"Why don't you start by explaining why you would stop me from gathering more intel from her? Especially after hearing that the Phoenix Clan is growing to be a potential challenger to our own group?"
In all honesty, Jacob wasn't particularly worried about the increment in their rivaling clan's numbers. No matter how much they grew he was confident that they would never turn into a threat. But his personal grudge with them after failing to acquire the information he wanted and being halted from doing so by his very best friend made him feel seriously irked. And that was besides the fact that Claire bruised his ego by so casually giving them the very information he had been searching for weeks now.
"Because it seemed personal." Aiden answered calmly. He knew that Jacob's irritation was based on his frustration. Being second place in terms of his abilities was something he could never tolerate.
"Personal? She was willingly sharing what she had." Jacob didn't see how the topic would be personal to her. Mainly after she seemed completely fine talking about it. But Aiden saw and sensed what he couldn't.
"Relax Jacob. She already gave you enough to look in to. There was no need for her to keep talking about them." Aiden's reason for finding out about the Phoenix Clan was never a priority. Of course he wasn't pleased with how they managed to avert his teams efforts in finding out about them, but after sensing that there was more to Claire's connection towards them he wanted to treat the matter carefully. Something his life long friend was evidently against.
"Since when did we 'need' to hear about something for us to actually do so? Aren't you the man who wants to always be eight steps ahead of those around you Mr.Control Freak?" Jacob was starting to lean towards raising a red flag in regards to Claire. Why would Aiden make her an exception to his usual way of dealing with things?
"Ahead of my enemy's and potential threats yes. But I can't treat Claire that way and you know it Jacob. She's my partner in more ways than one, not a menace to me. " Aiden was still relaxed, but he was starting to feel confused as to why Jacob was being so insistent. It wasn't like him.
"You weren't treating her that way Aiden. You were only taking advantage of the information she was providing us WILLINGLY." He emphasized on the fact that they didn't even ask her for it. His voice was sounding more and more frustrated than it was at the beginning of their conversation.
"Like I said already, it seemed personal for her." Aiden replied slowly. He began to understand that Jacob's irritation went beyond a simple case of feeling somebody one upped him at his job.
"I don't understand." Jacob hadn't moved from where he stood, but he was now brushing his hand through his hair as an obvious sign of his current mood. "I get that you like her, but stopping me from following an order you gave me yourself is another matter completely."
"Exactly Jacob. It was my order. And if I tell you not to press her on the matter than it's a direct order coming from me as well." Aiden responded.
"So you're going to pull the plug on finding out about them. Just like that?" Jacob asked incredulously.
"No Jacob. Mr. Control Freak isn't that type of man remember?" He used the nickname Jacob had said earlier to refer to himself. "But like I said, it seems personal to her so I'm not putting my relationship with her at risk just because you can't let it go of the fact that she knows more about them than we do. We have to go about it another way."
"But we-"
"Jacob." Aiden's voice lowered a few octaves catching Jacob's immediate attention. He was done with his bickering. "I'm not going to keep repeating myself."
"Fine." Jacob straightened his suit jacket before his expression shifted into his usual professional one. "I'll be taking my leave then. SIR." He slowly pronounced the word sir before turning around and leaving.
Aiden's eyebrow twitched with irritation after he heard Jacob call him that. With a large sigh he rubbed his eyes before he started to finish the rest of his work.
--------------------
At Flinn Corporation.
"You wanted to see me President?" Jason said after he stepped inside Claire's office.
"Yes I did. Give me a second." Claire was in her desk typing on her computer. After a few more moments of her finishing whatever she was doing, she looked up at Jason. "What was that earlier?"
"I was simply following protocol." Jason knew she referred to the incident in the lobby and answered as of matter of fact.
"No. You were trying to establish dominance over the CEO of Villan Enterprise and his personal assistant." Claire's voice was sounding exactly the way it did when she scolded all three men before.
"They had come without a prior appointment."
"And you decided to disrespect the leading business man of the country without prior thought Jason." Claire sighed. "You were all wrong to act the way you did, but the difference between them and you is that you're the one I'm training to take over my position Jason. Do you really think that was how I would have wanted you to handle the situation?"
"But if I had just given in to their demands then they would take it as a sign of admission to them being above us. How else was I supposed to make them understand that they can't just walk in here and do whatever they please?" He asked in return.
"Yet they didn't do that now did they?" Her tone turned more understanding. She knew he wasn't one to not recognize his own faults. "When have you heard of a CEO like Mr. Villan personally asking a secretary for a meeting with somebody?"
Jason hadn't realized that was she said was indeed not something he was accustomed to seeing. He began to understand that his initial reaction to the situation was a bit over the top. A thought that Claire read clearly in his facial expression.
"I want you to send a written apology to both Mr. Villan and Mr. Patterson. In regards to their unannounced appearance, I've already informed them of how we work here and of our strict protocols. I'm confident that it won't happen again, but if it ever did, I expect you to act based on the fact that you are to be the future CEO of this company. Not an employee simply following orders. It doesn't matter if others know about our deal or not. As long as you know about it, I expect you to act like it." Claire said as she began to type on her computer again.
"Yes ma'am." Jason slightly bowed his head towards Claire before leaving her office to follow his mentors instruction like the loyal pupil he was.
Once he stepped out of her office, all eyes were on him while he made his way to his desk. He was used to it at that point. After all, his amicable relationship with Claire would obviously confuse anybody. She was the woman that was given a position that everybody knew belonged to him. Before his fathers death, which prompted his long disappearance, Jason was the prime candidate for becoming CEO. Yet now he was reduced to being the head secretary to the person, who in their eyes, stole his title.
But Jason Flinn knew better. He knew what they didn't. It was precisely because of the woman who took his place that he was able to survive everything that had happened in the past few years. She wasn't only his mentor, but his savior.