"Ladies and gentlemen, American Airlines welcomes you to Maryland. The local time is 3:22 p.m. "For your safety and the safety of those around you, please remain seated with the seat belt fastened and keep the aisles clear until we are parked at the gate."
The voice of the air hostess awakens me, and I get off my seat, which I made into a bed. I stretch for a while before making my seat, now a bed, back into a seat. I settle down and watch him sleep as the airplane runs through the runway. I tap him slightly the moment we approach the gate.
"We're in Maryland." I say, and he rubs his eyes with the back of his palm before getting off the seat to stretch. He makes it back into a seat and helps me with my luggage from the hold. We alight the airplane with our luggage and pass through the gate to the airport.
"It was nice meeting you." He says we broke the silence as we made our way to the parking lot.
"Oh, same here."
"I should get going." "Can I have your number?"
I take out my card and hand it over to him before walking into the parking lot.
I wait in front of the car park with my luggage; I'm already running out of patience. I was about to place a call on Daniels when Marcell and Alexia walked up to me.
"We're so sorry, ma'am." Lex says she's taking half my luggage from me. Marcell takes the rest.
"Where's the car?" I ask, and just then, Daniels pulls up in front of me.
"Welcome ma'am." He greets.
They came with some other escorts. I hop into the metallic black Bugatti La Voiture Noire that was parked in front of me, and the other escorting vehicles follow suit after Daniel speeds off. A tail of escorting cars from the brands Rolls Royce, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, and Benz tailed behind my metallic black Bugatti as we drove to my mansion.
*In the car*
"Hey babes, how was Illinois? How's mum...dad and everyone?" Xenia asks.
"Everyone is fine. Where the hell's Alistair?"
"Oh, he couldn't make it. Dude's stuck at work with a whole lot of job. He said to tell you welcome though." Xenia says.
Xenia and I talk for a while before I recall I've some work to do at the office before I get home.
"Daniels! Pull over!"
He pulls the car over and the screeching tyres of my escort cars could be heard as they pulled over too.
"Xenia, I got a whole lotta office work to do right now. Get my luggage home, I'll see you at 9." I say and get off the car.
I walk up to my rolls Royce, Phoebe was the one driving.
"Get out of the damn car!" I yell at her and she comes down. "Follow Daniels in that car, make sure you put my luggages in order!" I say to her and she responds before hopping into the bugatti I just alighted.
"Move it Dan!" I yell over the phone and Daniels starts the engine, it revvs and then he speeds off with the other cars tailing behind him. I watch as they drive far away before I kick start my engine and reverse before speeding off.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
I arrive my office at exactly 4:53pm.
"Ma'am, welcome." April says tailing behind me.
"Davis!" I yell.
"Yes ma'am." He says.
"I need those files quickly and oh, yes, I need to see the project you're working on." I say.
"Alright ma'am, I'll bring it to you right away." He says.
"Ma'am, how was your flight?" April asks as we walk into my office.
"April! Let me think! Get out!" I yell at the top of my voice and she walks away.
I settle down on my chair thinking for a while, I take up my telephone and ring April, commanding her to come to my office immediately.
April shows up in my office couple of minutes later.
"What do I have planned for the day?" I ask.
"Right, ma'am, you have a meeting with Mr. Alexander Christian. I was on my way here to tell you he's arrived before you called me."
I roll my eyes.
"Let him in." I say and she walks away.
I walk over to my window, hands in my side pockets as I stare through the window.
"I don't believe we have met." A cold husky voice says and I spin around. I look at him quizzically for a moment. "I'm Alexander Christian, you can call me Alex." He says with an outstretched arm.
"Yelena." I say giving off a stern look to show I'm here for business and nothing more.
I fixed my gaze on the guy seated in front of my desk. Tall, handsome, I must admit, lean.
We've met couple of times at the board meeting, I've noticed how he stares at me. He's such a perv and there he is, seated in front of my desk in my office checking me out. He licked his lips as he stared at me from head to toe and this made me very much uncomfortable. I'm very much irresistible I know.
"How can I help you? Mister...." I say after settling down on the swivel chair behind my desk.
"Oh, it's about the business we last discussed about. I loved your contribution to the discussion last time and we need people like you to take on our radicals." He says staring at me lustfully after leaning back on his seat.
"What are you trying to say?" I ask narrowing my eyes at him, legs crossed, arms folded while I gently make half circle motion with my swivel chair.
"Welcome onboard. Starkz have finally agreed to let Allure partner with us." He says.
I get off my seat and walk up to the window.
"What do I stand to gain from partnenring with Starkz?" I ask after taking a sip of wine, rolling it in my mouth for a moment before swallowing it.
"Oh, we've already talked about this Ms. Lena. The visibility and the profits. A 50 - 50 profit gain from it." He says and I turn on my heels sharply.
"A meagre earning you mean? I'll get a meagre profit from it. I'm sorry I don't want to partner with Starkz again as my company's reputation and finance is at stake." I say.
"Oh, how about this juicy offer? We'll pay your company 70-." He was still speaking when I shut him up by ordering him out.
"It's a juicy one Lena." He says.
"I said lea-!" I was about to complete my statement when I hear the 70....I wanted him to spill it. I calm my nerves before walking over to him, towering over him while seated on my desk in front of him. "You were saying?" I ask after sipping my wine for the fourth time.
"Yes yes. We'll pay your company 70% of the company's gain since you're company is of high standing." He says.
"Fascinating. The advertising costs...."
"We got it covered Ms. Lena." He says.
"Interesting. Wait outside my office. I'll get back to you." I say.
He leaves shortly after and I pace up and down my office before calling April in.
"April, what do you think of Starkz?" I ask.
"Ma'am, it's a nice company."
"I mean, Allure is about to partner with Starkz, how much research have you done on Starkz?" I ask while facing the window.
"Well, from my research, although Allure is a much bigger company than Starkz, Starkz is topping the chart and they have a very good reputation. It's a reputable partnering company. I'm pretty sure Allure would get more visibility and also help increase Starkz visibility if we partner with them. Starkz is trust worthy and they settle at average profits." She says.
I think about it for a while. "Call in Alex, don't return with him." I say.
I always seek April's counsel before indulging with business deals because she's smart.
"I've thought about the offer Me. Alex." I say after settling down on my chair.
"And what about it?"
"Allure has agreed to partner with your company." I say.
"Okay, that's good news. I'll just bring the contract papers for you to sign." He hands me a filed document and I go through it briefly before signing it. I hand the documents back to him and we shake hands briefly.
"You're very much beautiful I must admit." He says and this pisses me off and makes me proud as well.
"Thanks." I say grinning. "I'm not interested in the deal again." I say and it hits him hard as the smile escapes his lips immediately.
"I'm very much sorry ma'am. I shall take my leave now." He says and walks out the door.
I intentionally said I wasn't interested so I could scare him off. In this business world, it's all about what you stand to gain and nobody wants to take bloody risks that'll cause the company to dwindle and have losses.