Jameson's POV
I am a simple man with a complicated view of life. I don't forgive, no matter what has been done to me or who did it. I believe in getting an eye for an eye.
My name is Jameson Pentagon, and my eyes have been on the Vanderblib family for almost a decade.
After what they did to my business during its startup, they deserve whatever coin I decide to pay them back with. They made Pentagon Beauty struggle to survive in the beauty business, and now I believe it is my turn to make theirs suffer as well.
The door to my home office opens, and Lamonthe, my right hand man, enters. Without bothering to face him, I ask, "Did you get all I asked for?"
A slight pause from him makes me sense that there is trouble. I quickly spin to face him.
"Speak," I command.
"Sir. The entry level penetration, just like we have done, doesn't seem to be working. The spy barely gets any information about what's happening. We need someone in a higher position."
"Is this because this said spy is incapable? Or is it because the information is truly sealed from him?"
He takes some ginger steps towards me, handing me a file. But instead of collecting it from him, I place both hands in my pocket, my brows furrowing as I stare pointedly at him.
"Sir?"
In frustration, my tongue clicks on the roof of my tongue, making a tsk sound. This is not what I expected when I started mapping out this revenge plan a few years ago.
Even though my home office is as cool as ice, I can spot beads of sweat already forming on Lamonthe's forehead. I slowly snatch the file from him, scanning through the content.
"And what's this?"
"Those are the reports on the new products Vanderblib Glow is about to launch in the market. If we can manage to counter it with ours, I think we will be able to obstruct their parallel market sale."
"This is some bullshit!" I snap, flinging the file to the nearest wall, which has all the papers in it flying across the room. "This is not what I want and you know it!"
"What do you want, sir?"
"To get back at Sir Vanderblib. To crush him and his entire family, just like he crushed my momma's hope."
The look of hopelessness as my momma took her last breath has been haunting me for decades. There isn't a night that I do not remember how she saw everything she worked hard for come crashing down.
The fire that destroyed the former Pentagon Beauty, where she had invested every penny my father had thrown at her for having an illegitimate son, did not seem ordinary. So I started my investigation on it immediately after scrambling out of college.
"I already know this, you have said it more than a hundred times," Lamonthe laments. "What I want to know is how to actualize this."
"How about you help me think of something? Isn't that what I pay you for as my right hand man?"
Getting revenge against them is what I eat and breathe. That family will not rest until I get what I want against them.
My initial plan had been to buy over the stocks until I have a huge chunk of shares from them. However, Sir Vanderblib was smarter when he married off one of his daughters to another competitor of mine—Davenport.
That had crashed my plan. I had gone into a dark hole after learning about the wedding. I drank myself to a stupor. Nothing Lamonthe had said was able to hold me together. I had even been thinking of how to simply forgive them and move on.
After all, I have a whole empire to rule. A clean cut business deal will override them in the next few years if I am consistent with it. That was how I was planning to overcome the darkness that matrimony between Davenport and Vanderblibs had caused.
But alas, never did I know that a light was waiting for me at the end of the tunnel. Literally. I have been driving around that night, just to clear my head, when I ended up knocking down my enemy's daughter. The pawn I needed, just to get ahead with my revenge.
Bella has been a perfect pawn. The little bitch lacks love at home. All I needed to do was to poison her mind against her family.
"I have a plan, sir. I'm not just sure whether you will like it, " Lamonthe says, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I watch him lower himself to pick up all the papers now littering the floor.
"Pour me a drink, Lamonthe."
"Right away, sir."
He rushes to the counter where I have some of the best whiskeys and wines lined up. He begins pointing at each of them, waiting for my response of either a nod or a flip of the head. I keep flipping my head to a no until he gets to the most expensive wine, that is when I give him a nod.
His eyes widen in shock. "Are you sure about this?"
I doubt if drinking the most expensive wine in my cabinet will help drown my frustration, but I don't mind giving it a try.
"I wasn't tipsy when I gave you my answer."
"But sir… I thought that wine is for a special occasion. You can't open it right now just because you are frustrated at those damn idiots."
I always find myself chuckling whenever Lamonthe refers to the Vanderblibs as damn idiots. Not right now, though. I will be the one damned if the Davenport and Vanderblib ends of solidifying their deals.
"Just pour me a glass!" I bark at him.
He obeys. The next minute, I am draining the glass, not flinching, even as the alcohol burns my throat.
"Now tell me, what plan do you have in mind?"
"Since we already had Bella right on our pawns, how about we use her against her family?"
"Shit!" I stamp my palm on the desk, the force pushes the glass off the table. It lands on the ground, shattering into pieces.
"That was what we have been doing, just in case your small brain hasn't noticed all these while."
Lamonthe didn't seem to be bothered by my subtle insult, instead, he continues with, "Asking her to divorce her newly wedded husband is almost impossible and we both know that."
"So how else do you think we can make her useful?"
"By making it known to her family that she is siding with their worst enemies. That will be a move they never see you making."
"Hmmm…" I pick up one of my ballpoint pens.
"It might be risky, sir." Lamonthe concludes with a shaky voice, which no longer has the trace of confidence he began with.
"I'm listening. How do you think we can achieve that?"
"I am thinking we will convince her to become the brand ambassador of Pentagon Beauty. Do you know how the media will perceive this news?"
"Considering the fact that she already has her wedding scandal still circulating around the air."
"That will give us the necessary clout we need to get our stocks up in the market. Even our products won't have any other choice but to benefit from all these scandals."
A smile breaks out on my face. Lamonthe notices it and smiles as well. A kind of smile that one flashes when he has evil lingering on his mind.
I have already started imagining Bella's beautiful face on a billboard uptown, where everyone who passes that area wouldn't fail to see it. But a thought crosses my mind. A hard frown masks my face the next second, wiping off the smile.
"What's it boss?" Lamonthe asks in a worried voice.
"We have a problem," I announce, dropping the pen and jolting on my feet.
"I don't see a problem with asking a girl who already despises her family to sign a contract that will change her life. It would even be better for her if she will use that money to elope to a nameless town."
"You are forgetting one small piece of information, Lamonthe."
"What is it, boss?"
"Bella is already married to that dick head, Davenport, and won't be getting out of it anything less than in six months."
"Matt won't be a problem, unless Bella refuses to sign the damn contract."
"He is her husband. He also treats her badly. Do you actually think he would allow her to sign a contract with one of his biggest enemies?"
"But Matt doesn't know you hate him. In fact, he thinks that you are one of his best pals."
"Oh, trust me when I tell you that Davenport knows. Behind those devilish eyes of his, he must have sensed and seen my hatred for him at some point."
Lamonthe looks speechless and defeated. I watch as an idea seems to pop into his head. He opens his mouth to say it but shuts it back without uttering any word.
"Okay. How about we call Bella and find out if she is game with this plan or not?"