How To Win His Heart

An old friend

Allison’s POV

“Jayme will be here any minute,” I mumbled as I checked my watch. I raised my head and noticed the last human I wanted to see right now.

I quickly turned around after that person noticed me. I gazed at Clara with wide-open eyes. “Clara, what is he doing here?” She knitted her eyebrows, not knowing who I was talking about.

I kept pointing with my eyes at the back. Her eyes followed the direction, and she gasped, I stared at her forming an o shape with her mouth.

It was him, Scott was here. Could my luck get any better? I rolled my eyes.

“I think he’s one of the groom’s friends, Ms. Miller,” her blue orbs followed his movements, I turned my head to find Pete giving Scott a bro hug.

At this moment I wanted to leave, then I remembered Jayme, I wasn’t ditching my friend. My luck couldn’t be with me anymore, yesterday mom and now Scott, perfect.

Later, Jayme came with a bright smile on her face. She was wearing denim shorts and a black tank top with a pair of sandals. She looked at the place with amazement as she approached us.

I was selfish for thinking about my problems while my best friend needed me for her wedding preparations.

“The place looks exactly like my dream wedding, thanks to Clara for finding it,” Clara nodded with a smile, her phone rang and she excused herself to answer the call.

“So, that’s Scott huh.” Jayme elbowed me to grab my attention as I was focused on Clara, who looked angry. I gave Jayme a long side look before nodding.

“I didn’t know Pete had friends like him,” I mumbled.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Believe me, he has worse friends than Scott, but you can’t deny he’s good-looking apart from Holland’s crap.”

I narrowed my eyes, then changed the subject. “Back to the wedding, I knew you would love the place, so I took an appointment with the florist and a wedding planner,” I checked my watch and continued, “they should be here in an hour.”

She smiled and turned me around to space. She waved with her hands as she talked. “The after-party will be over there, oh and I want a huge chocolate cake and a buffet right there,” I chuckled at her.

Jayme was the type to ditch her own wedding for food and wouldn’t mind anyone judging her.

“I’m not kidding about the buffet, no food then Jayme will be angry,” she said with a serious tone. Her lips quivered, and a laugh escaped from her lips.

“Girl, I will bring you a huge buffet, don't worry about it, but right now I need a nice cup of coffee,” I closed my eyes, dreaming of the coffee in my hands.

My day was never complete without a good cup of coffee, and I wanted one right now.

Jayme pinched my arm, and I whined, opening my eyes and staring at her. “What? You were daydreaming.” She defended herself, looking at me innocently.

“Can we please bring a cup of coffee? Oh, and I heard they have great mini pizzas,” She rolled her eyes at my failed attempt of pursuing her.

She called out for Pete, who was busy talking with his friends. “Babe, we will head inside,” she informed him.

A familiar brunette was standing next to Pete, I pressed my phone on my ears and walked away from Jayme, pretending to have a call to avoid Jordan’s sharp gaze.

Jayme followed me, engaged her arm with mine, and pulled me with her. My eyes went back to Jordan and saw him laughing, I also noticed Scott’s eyes were focused on me.

Both of us walked towards the building, then entered. A diversity of rich people filled the place, something I hated about this place, they were so self-absorbed. I smiled as my eyes fell on the coffee machine that was on the buffet. Finally, I was getting coffee.

I went to the coffee machine and helped myself out while Jayme studied the place. “Let me guess, this is the country club your mom goes to,” she said as she looked around her.

I took a sip from the dark coffee, feeling the hot liquid rushing in my throat, I never got enough from the taste. “I think coffee is my forever lover,” I mumbled with my eyes closed.

“Can we have those mini pizzas in the buffet?” I opened my eyes and stared at my friend as she filled her mouth with food.

I shook my head helplessly and giggled.

“Look, I don’t exactly know which club is her favorite, but I hope she isn’t here.” I swayed my hand and the cup of coffee hit someone. Some hot liquid fell on the ground and the other on the person’s shirt.

I was so embarrassed to turn my head. “I’m so sorry,” I mumbled as I put the half-filled cup on the table and reached for napkins to help whoever I spilled the coffee on.

I turned to face the person, and it was Jordan. His white shirt now had a stain on it.

He chuckled and grabbed the napkins from my hand. “It’s my bad, I forgot you were a hand talker.”

I felt Jayme slipping away from next to me; I tried to grab her hand, but she paced and left me with Jordan, I will kill her for leaving me.

“So, how are you?” Jordan asked as he cleaned his shirt with the napkin, I was fidgeting my fingers nervously.

It had been years since we saw each other. What was I supposed to say?

“Great, how about you?” I asked back. This was a terrible conversation.

He pressed his lips together in a thin line and stopped cleaning his shirt. “I don’t know,” he mumbled with a frown.

Now that I was too close to him, I noticed the black circles around his eyes, his unshaven beard, and his curly brown hair grown to his mid-neck.

He looked off, unlike the Jordan I once knew.

“Can we talk somewhere more private?” I knitted my eyebrows with confusion but nodded. We left the country club and headed to my car.

The odd thing was, Jordan never asked to talk in private, which made me worry about him.

We got in the car, and I looked at him, waiting for him to talk.

He let out a harsh breath and pulled me into a hug. It startled me at first, but I wrapped my arms around him. “What’s wrong, Jordan?” I asked as I noticed his silence.

“I lost everything, Alli. Everything I worked hard for is gone.” He pulled away from the hug and his eyes were red as he tried to hold his tears.

“Is your mother okay? Did something bad happen to her?” I became worried about his mother.

He shook his head. “She’s fine and doesn’t know about what happened either.” He took in a long breath before letting out.

“The agency is gone, I lost it. The bank also took my home, money, and everything I once had.” My eyes were widened. What the hell happened to him?

“I sent you an email days ago but I guess you didn’t see it, listen carefully Alli,” he continued, “Holland was planning this for a long time, he was paying money for some of your employees to give him your designs. He wanted me in but I refused, so he headed for that stupid guy, Scott Winston.”

I blinked at him, feeling stupid around him. My employees were betraying my trust, and I knew nothing.

I will fire these traitors for leaking company information. I clenched my fist from the anger.

“How did you even lose the agency? Did you sign anything with Holland?” I asked, and he nodded.

“The contract we signed was about selling models to his new agency. He played with the contract and took my sign on selling my agency, not the models.” His gaze met my concerned face.

“How long?”

“A year now,” he answered, his voice was broken, probably from how long he suffered.

“A year! And you couldn’t come to tell me you needed help. I know we weren’t on good terms, but I would’ve helped you anyway,”

He smiled softly. “Alli, it doesn’t matter now, I came to help you from making the same mistake I had made,” he trailed, “the next target is a European billionaire, I don’t know his name yet, but if he agrees on Holland’s partnership, say goodbye to your empire.” He actually cared enough to warn me about what was going on.

And I blew him away when I ignored that email. I felt guilty for doing that, he looked desperate and I only thought about myself.

“Then we could pursue the European billionaire to have a partnership with us, Holland can’t win this game, Jordan.” He lifted his eyebrows.

“We?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Yes, we! I’m going to help you get your agency back.”

I wanted to help Jordan, but I couldn’t simply replace his old agency. He built his own modeling agency, and it grew between famous models and magazines. He gained millions in just one year. Hearing his successful work being under the dirt now scared me of losing my own.

“But, you didn’t tell me how you lost your agency exactly?” I asked again.

He stared at the building as he talked. “Scott was my assistant, he kept pursuing me to sell a few of my models to Holland. I agreed and now he owns the place,”

“I only have my RV,” then he pointed at a black Mercedes parked to his right, “and that car over there.” His fists clenched as anger filled him.

I patted his shoulder, and he glanced over with a sad smile. It must’ve been hard on him, not telling anyone about his situation while he needed help.

“You can work with me till you are on your feet again Jordy and together we hunt that European billionaire,” I offered with a soft smile.

“If I’m finishing Holland’s business, I need help from an insider as well and you know a lot of information. Are we on the same page?” His black eyes stared at the emptiness, then he nodded.

“All I know about that guy, his name is Isaac and he will be at the wedding, he’s one of Pete’s best friends,”

Isaac’s POV

I looked out of the window and watched the city with amazement, New York has never changed since four years ago, it was the same.

Soft knocks on the door broke my attention. “Come in,” I said in a loud voice.

The door opened, and I waited for my assistant to speak. My hands were behind my back as I still looked at the busy street.

“Mr. Winston, there’s someone who wants to see you,” my assistant said. I turned my head to the TV, which viewed the security camera in the waiting room. I snickered when I saw who was outside.

“Tell him he’s busy,” I ordered. He nodded and left my office.

My eyes went back to the TV. The person who was waiting faced the camera, then flipped his middle finger before leaving.

I had been in New York for a week now and every day he showed up; it was getting on my nerves.