Ashley stood in front of the shirtless Felix her arms folded over in their chest staring at him with an emotionless gaze. Everyone else had left, including the man Felix was involved with.
"Ash. Ash, at least let me put on a shirt." The dirty blonde-haired man said with a flirtatious smile.
Though she was cousins with the two, the contrast between her relationship with Frederick and that of Felix was strikingly different.
Ashley looked down at his bare chest before looking back up at his face. "Let's talk first. There's nothing worth looking at anyway." The young woman walked to the C.E.O's desk and sat on the swivel chair. "I heard the planned cooperation with Joshua Entertainment has been cancelled."
Felix walked out of the corner of the room and sat on the seat opposite her. "Yeah. The people in that company are absolutely worthless. They fought with me for demanding a measly sum of money." He scoffed.
"How much?"
"Huh?", Felix asked, his dark blue eyes trying to feign confusion.
Ashley tilted her head, her gaze turning darker. "How much did you demand?"
Felix shrugged. "Only a hundred and forty million. And seventy five percent of any earnings made from the movie." Felix sounded proud. "That's such a small amount. Isn't it, Ash?"
"Don't call me Ash." Annoyance could be heard in Ashley's tone. "Oh, come on, Ash. Ashley baby, we're family, aren't we?"
"We agreed on four million and thirty five percent of earnings, didn't we?"
"Days change, months change, decisions change, Ash. You gotta get over it.", said Felix, getting up from his seat. He walked behind Ashley, placing his hands on both sides of the seat.
"Who gave you the permission to change my decision, Felix?" Ashley tried her leveled best to ignore the smell of alcohol in his breath which continuously irritated her. "You took advantage of my absence to do as you pleased."
Felix picked up the tag on the desk and brought it to Ashley's view. "Here." He pointed; his arms crossed. "It reads, 'Felix Pierson, Chief Executive Officer.'" He left her side and plopped down on his previous seat. "I'm the man in charge, baby. And I have the right to make and change any decision I want." He smirked. "Instead of frolicking around with wild men, you should have been working. Who are you to question me?"
Ashley tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. Her eyes had a hint of amusement in them as though they were watching a show. "You've been working for three years here as C.E.O. Right, Pierson?"
Felix had a smug look on. "Right." He folded his arms over his bare chest a smirk on his tanned face. "So…you must be aware who the largest shareholder of this company is?" Felix's smirk slowly faded. "Even if you're not aware of that, you must know who owns this company. No matter how ignorant you are on other matters, you simply cannot be ignorant about this."
Felix's smirk was completely wiped from his face this moment. "You promised to act as a normal employee but you're abusing your power. That's not what we agreed on."
Ashley looked straight ahead. "I'm not abusing my power. Yes, I did promise to act as a normal employee, but I just can't sit back and watch as stupid decisions are made. It will surely cause the downfall of this company."
Felix inhaled deeply with his eyes shut. When he opened them once again, there was some sort of calmness in them. "Listen to me, Ash." He sat up in his seat. "This company is as important to me as it is to you. It's like a family business-."
"It's not a family business. "Ashley cut him off and Felix's eye twitched.
Ashley stared at him, her eyes devoid of any emotion, leaving Felix tongue tied. "I'm disgusted by you, Felix. You're not worthy to be this company's C.E.O."
"So what?" Felix keened back. "Are you going to fire me? Cause if you are, I don't think Aunt Leticia would agree to it."
Ashley squinted her eyes, knowing exactly what Felix was up to. "Don't bring my mom into this. It won't work." Felix Laughed, a smug look appearing in his eyes. "Sure, Ash. But I don't think your mother would want the children of the woman who saved her life to suffer."
Ashley knew that all too well. Her mother wouldn't do that.
Jacie Grant, Felix's mother, was Leticia's cousin-in-law. She was the wife of one of Leticia's cousins, Corey Pierson. Corey Pierson was the son of Trish Scott, Leticia's first aunt who never like Leticia nor her Caleb. Trish Scott's side of the family was one of the sides in the family against Caleb Scott since the wanted the power of the Scott's Estate.
Jacie was never against Caleb nor Leticia. In fact, Jacie was Leticia's best friend since middle school, and she continued to be even after she had married Corey.
At twenty-two, Jacie died saving Leticia from an assassination attempt. Everyone on Trish's side of the family blamed Leticia for Jacie's death. Exactly a month after Jacie's death, Leticia disappeared. When she returned, pregnant with Ashley, she swore to take care of and protect Jacie's two children: Felix and Denise.
And Leticia did exactly so. After Caleb died, enabling her to inherit the entire Scott's Estate, Leticia got more power than ever which allowed her to provide for Jacie's two children even more than before.
With a child of her own, Leticia had nothing but sympathy toward the two children who had lost their mother. She couldn't imagine if it was her own daughter in their place. Hence, Felix and Denise never lacked anything and were given anything and everything they wanted. Courtesy of having the Leticia Scott's favor, Denise became a reality TV show star while Felix was given everything to make his own company. However, that failed, and Felix was allowed to work in Ashley's company as the C.E.O.
Felix always thought of himself as the boss, the one in power and Ashley disdained his haughty attitude. Nevertheless, she couldn't remove him from his position. Not without her mother's permission.
But Ashley wanted that to change.