ENTANGLED BY BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS

Chapter 5: Caspian's Dirty Play

[ZACH]

I stood in front of the mirror, adjusting my tie for what felt like the hundredth time. I had to make a good impression today. The investor meeting was crucial for our project's success. My phone buzzed, breaking my focus. I sighed, seeing my mother's name on the screen.

“Mum,” I answered in a cold tone

“Baby, how are you?”

I knew what she wanted. I hope I'm wrong this time.

“Mum, what do you want me to do?”

“Young man, don't talk to me in that tone. I'm your mother.”

I gulped down my hesitation to say something. Now is the wrong time to get into an argument with my mum. I already have the meeting occupied in my head, I don't want more. Of course, the way to avoid that is to let her be the boss.

“I'm sorry Mum, I'm just trying to get ready for a meeting.”

“Well, I want you to call your brother Zayn, and tell him to be present at my forthcoming birthday party.”

There you have it. I knew she wanted something from me. I hesitated, “Mum, but you could just call him and tell him yourself.”

“You know how Zayn is, he prioritizes his job over anything else.”

Here we go again; My mother, unable to stand up to Zayn, but to me, She's free to use her willpower and I can't say no.

“Okay Mum, I'll do just that. Anything else?”

“No love, That's all. Have a wonderful meeting, okay?”

As I hung up the phone, Pearl walked into my office holding some stacks of files. "Ready to nail this meeting, sir?" she asked, smiling.

I nodded, feeling a surge of determination. "Let's do this.”

As we arrived at the meeting venue, I noticed a familiar face; Caspian Black, my rival and competitor. He smirked at me, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Pearl, can you grab the documents from the car?" I asked, trying to distract myself from punching Caspian Black in the face.

"Sure thing, Sir," she replied, heading towards the elevator.

I headed towards the canteen unit where I gulped down from the bottle of water I requested. A scotch would've been perfect for this moment, I thought.

As I returned from the canteen, waiting for Pearl's return, Caspian approached me. "Zach, always a pleasure to see you struggle," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my cool. "Caspian, always a pleasure to see you fail."

He chuckled, his eyes glinting with amusement. "We'll see about that today.”

I watched as he stepped into the crowd where other investors and competitors were gathered.

Before I knew it, the meeting had started. Different companies were at round tables with their investors. I looked around to find our table where our investor was already seated. I walked towards them, hoping Pearl would join us.

“Gentlemen, thank you for considering our proposal. I'm excited to share our vision and growth potential with you today.”

Although we started the meeting without Pearl, I felt distracted and couldn't shake off the feeling that something might be wrong somewhere.

"Gentlemen, I need to excuse myself for a moment to check on my assistant. She was expected to join us.”

They gave me a nod, and I swiftly headed to the elevator. The thoughts of what could be holding Pearl back enveloped me. This is unlike her. I pressed the elevator door button, but it showed it wasn't moving.

I headed to the ground floor without looking at the little crowd gathered by the elevator door. I walked to the parking lot hoping to find Pearl, but I didn't see her. The files are no longer in the car which means Pearl is with them.

I walked back toward the building while dialing her number again. It continued to ring, but there was still no response. Curious about the crowd gathered by the elevator door, I decided to investigate the commotion. Climbing the stairs was not an option I wanted to consider at the moment.

“Sir,” a man called.

I turned around to see a man wearing an engineer's vest and helmet.

“The elevator is having technical problems, so it's stuck around the fifth floor.”

“Okay, thank you,” I said.

I was about to head for the stairs when a thought occurred to me. Did the engineer say “Stuck around the fifth floor?” Our meeting venue is on the sixth.

“s**t!” I sprinted to the elevator door.

“Someone is stuck inside. My assistant is trapped in there!”

The engineers looked at me with confusion.

"Don't give me that look! My assistant is trapped inside, damn it!"

I watched as the engineers quickened their pace in repairing the elevator. After another 25 minutes, the elevator finally showed signs of movement. They had set it to descend.

I watched intently as the elevator doors slowly opened and I couldn't believe my eyes seeing Pearl on the elevator floor. The documents scattered everywhere along with her phone and car keys.

I hurriedly ran to scoop her into my arms. "Pearl? Pearl?" I gently shook her, anticipating a response, but she remained unresponsive. I checked her pulse, thankfully, she was still breathing.

“We need to call an ambulance,” one of the engineers exclaimed with concern.

“No need, I'm taking her to the hospital.”

Everyone watched as I carried Pearl in my arms, sprinting towards the parking lot. I was in disbelief over what had just happened, my mind racing to identify the cause of Pearl's condition.

We got to the hospital and she was rushed to the emergency room. I glanced at my watch, suddenly remembering the investors I had left behind in the chaos. I'm uncertain if our sudden absence would influence their decision to do business with us.

A moment later, the doctor approached me, “Mr. Davis.”

“How is she?” I asked breathlessly.

“She’s fine. It's a good thing she was brought in earlier. She suffered from severe oxygen deprivation, but we're still running tests to determine the cause.”

“How could that be? She was just fine when she left to get documents from the car.”

“I understand your concern, Mr.Davis. When she's stable, we can ask her some questions to know what happened. Excuse me please, I'd need to go attend to other patients.”

I walked into the room Pearl was in. She was still unconscious depending on oxygen. What happened? I hope it's not Caspian Black’s doing. If it is, I swear I'll kill him. I guess the meeting can wait after all. My assistant's life is more important than any investor.

I remained by Pearl's side until the evening when my phone suddenly rang. The investor's voice on the other end was cold and detached.

"Hello, Mr. Davis. I regret to inform you that we're no longer interested in your project. Your absence from the meeting has led us to question your team's dependability.”

I clenched my fist feeling a bitter taste of defeat. I was well aware of the significance of this project for the company. Securing a future investor would now require us to redouble our efforts.

Moments later, my phone buzzed again. But this time, it was a strange number.

“Who’s this?”

"Zach, Zach, Zach. So predictable," Caspian Black's voice dripped with sarcasm. "You think you can take me down? I've been playing you from the start.”