2. The vexed billionaire
1131 Words
That old witch!
She liked meddling with his life ever since he was a child. However, he was no longer a child. He was a grown ass man. That meant s**t, of course for Ophelia Emmerson. She wanted to get him a housemaid and she had pestered him until he caved, not out of affection but out of exhaustion.
No wonder the woman sent his grandfather to an early grave. She was high maintenance. Well, that did not mean he had not a plan to get rid of her new puppet. That she would find someone to do it for the insane salary she offered (and he would have to pay), was out of the question. So, he was not surprised when she called to say she had found a woman suitable and willing to work for him. She would send her over on Monday, she said.
Now he would have to fix a contract for he to sign but that did not worry him. He knew the terms he’d add would be impossible to be kept. He would make sure of it.
“Her name is Pandora Morgan” his grandma had said.
“You understand that I did not ask because I don’t care, right, grams?” he scoffed.
“Evan Jared Emmerson!” she used his full name to scold him as she always did. “Are those the manners I taught you?”
“No, I believe it was the manners Mrs. Braxton’s taught me. Was she the tenth or eleventh nanny? I always confuse her with Mrs. Burrows. I keep forgetting which of them took care of us first. It must be the B’s. Can you enlighten me?”
“Enough! I will not tolerate such behavior. I was your appointed guardian after your parents’ demise, and I did what had to be done. ays disapproved of his musical career. He had created the band with his best friends when they were sixteen. He was the front man and played the guitar, Todd was on the drums and Ryan at the synth. It was just for fun at first, until he saw that it actually bothered his grandmother to no end. Gradually, as they started gaining some recognition, he enjoyed the whole thing better. It wasn’t just that though. He loved music with a passion. Realizing that he could make a career out of it gave him a new purpose.
Naturally, the vexing woman had tried to stick her nose to his affairs again by threatening to disown him if he did not take their business that he was to inherit, more seriously. Then, thank God for his luck, his sister Lia intervened and accepted to take over it instead of him, provided that he would keep his share and appear at least once every month.
After that point the band became his main occupation, source of income and his only way of relaxing if one did not count s*x. He would not lie; the money from the company helped a lot with the promotion of their music at first. But now he was really rich, famous and independent, since he managed to give back every single penny used for his musical career. He even managed to build his own small but thriving records company. He was worth billions now and his family fortune had little to do with it.
“… that sty you insist of calling a house” his grandma was now scolding. How original!
He had totally zoned out on her, but that was his usual reaction at her rumbling.
“It’s a penthouse” he corrected her bored.
“No, Evan it’s a pigsty. So, please for once in your life don’t do something just to spite me”
“I don’t understand what you mean, grams” he feigned ignorance.
“Don’t try to find excuses to fire the girl” she said coldly and she hung up.
To say he was furious would be an understatement. It was always him the old woman bothered. Never his sister, Lia. His phone rang again. Speak of the devil…
“What do you want?” he snapped as soon as he picked up.
“Hello to you too, baby brother!” she said.
“Lia, what the f**k do you want?” he sighed frustrated.
“Grams made your day, didn’t she?” she laughed.
“I am hanging up” he threatened.
“No, please don’t” she hurried to say. “Will you come for lunch on Sunday?”
“Will that prick you married be joining us?”
“No, Evan. Roger will not be there” she huffed annoyed.
“I’ll come then. Anything else?”
“Why such a rush? Can’t we just talk for once?”
She sounded hurt and he momentarily felt guilty. Truth was he loved his sister and despite the five year gap they had a good relationship growing up. That was until she married Roger Paulson. The guy was the greatest asshole on earth but managed to present himself as the perfect gentleman. His sister deserved much better but whenever he tried to tell her either she brushed him off or fought with him. He hated fighting with Lia. Apart from the old witch, that made it close to impossible to love her, his sister was the only family he had and cared about.
“Lia, this is really a difficult time. I have some trouble here and grams pissed me off just before you called. What do you say about catching up on Friday before I play with the guys?”
“Absolutely! I haven’t heard you in ages!” she exclaimed and he knew things were fixed.
His sister was his biggest fan and partly responsible for the name of the band.
After they terminated their call setting their date for Friday 8 o’clock, he fell back on his leather chair, pinching the bridge of his nose.
There was an open file on his neat desk. He had been studying it before the two most constant women in his life interrupted him.
He leaned forward again and took another look. The numbers seemed off. Not by much, but definitely off. Someone was stealing from him, and they thought they were too skilled to be traced.
He dialed his PA.
“Call Pierce and tell him to get his ass here now” he ordered.
“Yes, Mr. Emmerson”
He got up and went to stand in front of the large window. He hated dealing with s**t like that, that's why he did not want to be the boss in the family business. But here he was dealing with it, in his very own company.
Karma’s a b***h, isn’t she?
- Writer
