"What can I do for you, Mr. Ford?"
"I am here to handle the transfer process and to make a proposal."
After the meeting with his employees, Alex came to the government that was in charge of handling the project three years ago; he needed to remove the Almond tag from their project.
"My office received your call yesterday, everything will be completed before you leave here, as regards your proposal, I am all ears."
Alex had observed everything that happened during the whole of his company with the Almond group. It all goes to say that not everyone was happy when they won the battle seeing as he had to personally appear for them to do something about the transfer.
He was willing to do everything for the government to stay out of his company matters. He could agree that they were a whole entity, but having greedy men eyeing that which he sweated for wasn't something he was willing to watch happen.
The Ford group had decided on uprooting any government attachments from the company because there was no initial contribution.
They had grown a whole idea that the government offered, and also invested everything from scratch. The company was ready to sue and had a whole assurance that they would win the case.
Because the start point was extended by the government, they were willing to provide a certain amount of funds as a peace offering. Something to cut them off completely.
"That is not fair to the government, Mr. Ford." the minister was appalled by the boldness of the man before him.
"What is not fair is to reap from where you did not sow. If I remember correctly, the government only opened the restricted routes, and companies only had to bring proposals for reviewing. There was no part of you gaining from our profits. The government has no shares in the project or the company. If you want a percentage, what shall we give our shareholders."
"This is ridiculous, Mr. Ford" Alex could see through the minister's greed, and he wasn't having any of it. "I can block you" the minister was angry smoke could be seen coming from his ears.
"I would like to see you try, Sir. I am not the Almond group, and if something goes wrong, I am sure that the government officials would be glad to have you."
"Is that a threat?"
With a deathly smirk, Alex rose from his seat while buttoning his suit jacket "I don't make threats, Mr. Minister, I make promises, and I do well to keep them. I wouldn't cross me if I were you."
"How dare you speak to me like that? If not for anything, I am older than you" the minister was on his feet as soon as he saw Alex leaving and wasn't going to accept defeat.
Alex laughed, a piercingly sharp and menacing laugh that sent a chill down the other man's spine "the age card? Are we now?" He moved closer to the table and placed his hands on the table, and pushed himself forward to look the older man in the eye "Old man, you won't be getting a penny from me so you might as well bring it own."
And with that, he exited the office leaving an angry minister behind sweeping his table clean of its contents.
"You will regret this, Alex Basil Ford, and this is not the last that you will see of me" Alex had him before him as soon as he was out the door.
With a victorious smirk, he called Arnold asking him to drive the car to the entrance.
It was a win either way, and he was waiting on the old man to do his worst "Look what the cats dragged in." Alex stopped as soon as the disgusting voice sounded.
There is no day or time that he would ever forget the disgustingly familiar voice. Understanding that the man wasn't worth his time, he continued towards the door.
Carter Beckett wasn't having it; how could Alex ignore him "You know, I thought you were sick seeing as that doctor is constantly in an out of your house. I am happy to see that you are fine."
The statement threw Alex off, but he wasn't going to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing him react.
"Are you here to bribe your way out of the lawsuit that your firm is facing?"
"How do you know about that?" Beckett was shocked to know that the information he had kept out of the ears of the media was recklessly falling out of Alex's mouth
"Oops, was it supposed to be some secret? I didn't know" Seeing the way Beckett was shaking with a single word from him, Alex wasn't going to let it go. He would pay him tenfold what he took from them, and this was the start. "Good luck buying your way out of this one. They are quite greedy."
One thing Beckett failed to realize is that Alex wasn't the same young man from years back. Having not reacted for all these years wasn't a sign of weakness but a bait.