Billionaire Sworn Enemies Turned Passionate Lovers

Chapter 2

~Janelle~

“Ah!!!” I screamed in horror as a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind and turned me around.

“Isn’t this a jackpot? It’s not everyday you see a woman covered in diamonds around here” A bearded man howled in my face.

I slapped him hard in self defense. The woman whom I thought was helpless grabbed my arm. I stared at her in denial. I had to remind myself that she was not helpless after all and tried to push her away.

Vincent dashed out of his car and leaped at the bearded man, knocking him to the ground. The man tried to call another man already rushing towards the scene. Giving the bearded man a hard blow, Vincent shouted horrifically “Get into the car!”

I managed to struggle with the woman, pushed her and rushed to the driver’s seat. Fortunately, Vincent had not locked the doors and the car was still in ignition.

I quickly turned the car to face the woman as if attempting to knock her down. She jumped backwards in fear. Vincent yanked the passenger door open and got in. I sped out of the scene like a crazy racer.

“Thank God we’re out of there. The other man had a knife” Vincent spoke up after a minute of shock and silence.

I gasped. “I’m so sorry”

“It’s not your fault, Jane” he tried to reassure me underneath the tension I perceived.

I looked at him briefly “I should probably get home and call it a night.”

“Call me if you can’t get through the night alone” he held my hand.

As I slowly walked up the stairs leading to my bedroom, I tried not to think about the attack but I couldn’t push away the thoughts of the events that had happened earlier this evening.

The Annual Awards Gala Night brought back the nostalgia of High School Prom. Only this time, it was an unparallel upgrade- the ball gowns exuded grace and elegance and the suits echoed effortless authority.

I picked a glass of white wine and my dark brown eyes caught the death stare of Damien Carter, CEO of Carter Group.

“I would imagine that sore losers would quietly sob at the corner while the winners of the last quarter celebrate their strategic victories.” I said with a proud smirk, speaking loud enough for him to hear before he attempted to walk past me.

Damien retorted, his voice laced with irritation and afterwards some cynical satisfaction

“Oh don’t get ahead of yourself. The only reason why we didn’t take the crown this year was our recent diversion of interest. Instead of imagining victories and defeat, imagine being investigated for altering a biochemical test result under immunology”

“What are you talking about?” I whispered, trying to not sound threatened yet cautious of such an allegation.

“Oh. You’ll see” He scoffed and went towards the grand ballroom, with tables dressed in brown silk and gold trim that circled the center stage, where he met with his Secretary, Francesca Vargas.

I quickly had my private investigator confirm what Damien had just alleged and who was involved. I dashed towards Ken Stewart.

I saw him dancing and howling toward some ladies.

“Hel-lo ladies!” Ken dragged his words in an attempt to make them swoon. He ran his fingers through his blonde hair.

“Why should you be dancing with your circle of friends when you should be mingling with a sensation from the award-winning team” he continued as about three of them got closer.

One of them had long blonde hair which she let down her gown with a dangerously low back. Her big blue eyes caught his attention.

“Hi Barbie. I’m Ken”

“Oooohhh” She chuckled warmly. She hastened her pace and placed her hand on his chest as if to mark her territory before the other women could get a chance with him.

I had seen enough when I exploded “Ken Stewart!”

“Janelle…”

“Come with me this instance”

We went out the gold plaited large doors. My Rolls-Royce was parked in front of the fleet of stairs covered in luxurious red carpet.

He followed me as I walked down the grand staircase with banisters wrapped in lush garlands of white orchids. At the last step, my driver, Coleman, was already standing with the car door swung open.

“Get in the car” I motioned sharply.

I snapped when we were both seated “How dare you alter a test result in my lab”

“Oh my” he said, covering his mouth in shame.

“Madam, I swear…. I, I….” he stuttered in fear.

“You what?”

“It was… it was just a bluff”

“What nonsense!”

He inhaled slowly but loudly. He seemed to be very well aware that I wasn’t having it.

“My girlfriend… I wanted to get back at her. She’s a media personality, always wants to vlog about everything. Told her confidential stuff and she feels the need to ‘inform’ her followers. When I told her that I wasn’t gonna let her do it, she got all riled up and insisted we split up for a while. I am like ‘who is she to call the shots?’ So, when I heard that she came over to one of our labs for a Covid test, I figured that it was a good time to put her in her place”

“You sound pathetic right now, you know that?”

“I never actually did it. I only just joked about it with Rodney”

“You know what that means for the institute- withdrawal of our license to practice or being suspended by enforcement agents!” I scolded. “I’d deal with this later. Get out of my car”

He slowly opened the door, rattled as he slid out.

Ken is so good at his job, I thought to myself, so why was he being so sneaky. I have noticed this behaviour. What is he up to? Is someone putting him up to this? I really need to be careful around him.

Bringing me out of my thought, a call came in from Saint Martin hospital where my father was receiving treatment.

“Miss Laurent” the familiar voice of Dr. Ava Montgomery was on the other end of the line.

“Yes” I replied, sounding alert and waiting for any bad news that might come next.

“I know that you might be in the middle of something very important but Mr Laurent’s health is worsening. He really needs to see you.”

“Nothing is as important as my father’s health. I’m coming right now”

“Coleman, take me to Saint Martin!” I called out.

If only I had an idea that my father wanted to tell me his “wish”. I stepped out of my memory lane and into the present, crouching in my bed.

My body jolted awake from the lingering awareness of last night’s events. I looked at my phone. 8 A.M. I tried to close my eyes when the sharp ring of my phone cut through the silence like a knife. My fingers fumbled as I answered the call.

“Hello good morning, madam, please do I have Miss Janelle Laurent on the line? It’s your wedding planner”