A Billionaire's Bargain

Chapter 4

ZACHARY

It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be.

She blatantly refused to marry me, claiming that she took the watch as a pay for the good time she offered me and that I couldn't report to the cops before chasing me out of her apartment.

I explained to her that it was a contract and I'd pay her handsomely, agreeing to all her terms, but to no avail.

She stated, "I won't sell two years of my life to you."

I was burning in anger, my jaw clenching and unclenching, my teeth gritting against each other.

"Zac,"

I turned to see Ken walking - jogging - towards me. I refused to acknowledge him, heading towards the house.

He caught up with me, getting the gist that I wasn't in the mood for chit chats. We walked silently into the house, stopping when we got to the dining room.

"You failed yet again," father's voice was dangerously low, cold as ice.

The temperature in the room has dropped to a perilous range. The silence, eerily loud.

"You had volunteered!" His voice raised, causing me to flinch.

He stood up, angrily pushing the plates off the table, the sound of the plates clashing with the grounds bouncing off the walls in loud echoes.

Vincent Williams, owner of Williams enterprises; one of the top companies in the whole world, a multi billionaire, and my father rarely ever got angry, but when he did, it was disastrous.

I watched keenly, confused.

His wife stood up from her seat to wrap her fingers around his arm, moving them slowly up and down in a bid to calm him down.

"I trusted you, and look, you cost me another grave loss," his eyes mirrored the pain and disappointment he felt. He shook his head lightly, letting out a low hiss.

"It's in times like this that I'm grateful you're not the one to take over the business," he spoke vulgarly. "I'm very sure you would bring everything to ruins and tarnish the name and reputation that I had worked to build over the years," he spat, yanking his arm from Lilian's grip before he headed for the stairs.

"What happened?" I asked, genuinely confused and three pairs of eyes turned in my direction, shooting lasers and daggers.

If looks could kill, then, I would have been six feet under the ground.

"Mother, tell him to stay out of this," Derek spoke, his death glare pinned on me, the vein in his head popping out.

"You heard him," Lilian's voice held an awful amount of venom as she squinted her gaze on me. "This is none of your business."

"I am the CEO of the company, it is indeed all of my business. He works under me." I replied, shrugging nonchalantly as I tucked my hands in the pocket of my pants.

"Motherfucker!" Derek barked, taking a few steps towards me. "I do not work under you, I—"

"You do. You most definitely work under me, and you do not even deserve the position you were given." I pointed a finger at him.

"All you have ever done is make f*****g mistakes that you are never sorry for over and over again, causing the company grave losses." I took a step forward and so did he.

"Are you planning to bring us an unrecoverable downfall!? Is that what you want?"

"Shut up!" He shouted back.

"Shut the f**k up, Zachary!" He winced afterwards like mentioning my name caused his tongue to burn.

He let out a humorless chuckle, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You think you're all that?" He gestured towards me, furrowing his brows in disbelief. "The golden boy, always getting praised for what you do?" He let out another bitter chuckle.

"No you are not!" He thundered, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Yes I am," I debunked, holding his gaze, my voice oddly calm and boy did it piss him off.

The rest of his words got stuck in his throat, the look on his face was picture worthy.

I let out a short laugh.

"You seem to keep forgetting, Derek," I side stepped him, walking further into the dining room, leaving him behind.

"I am Zachary Williams, the first child of Vincent Williams, and the sole heir to Williams Enterprises," I spun on my heels, facing him.

"And not only have I worked immensely to get to the position I occupy today, but it is my birth right!" I said sternly, my lips tugged up in a coy smile.

"I am one of the youngest billionaires in the world, and it wasn't handed over to me on a golden platter, I worked hard, struggled for it," I explained word for word.

Derek's chest heaved continuously, a deep scowl marrying his face.

"And yes, unlike you, I am the golden boy, and I always get praised for what I do because I do not tarnish our reputation and cause losses to our companies.-

Why don't you try to be like me?" I teased, raising a brow at him. "And maybe, just maybe you'll be able to someday become the owner of Williams enterprises." I finished, turning around to head to my room.

I got to the corridor that led to my room, and could hear footsteps trailing behind me.

"Reschedule tonight's meeting for tomorrow's noon," I said to Ken, my PA and best friend.

"Alright," he responded.

I walked into my room, falling on my back on the bed. Today was a whole lot, and my head throbbed from all the drama.

"How did it go with the girl?" He asked, curiousity laced with his tone.

"She said no," I answered.

"No?" He queried, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Yes, Ken. She said no, blatantly, that she wouldn't sell two years of her life to me. Can you imagine?" I said frustratedly and Kendrick laughed.

I sat up on my bed, watching him in utter confusion as he doubled over, gripping his stomach.

"What is funny?" I asked, narrowing her gaze on him.

"Man, I think I like this girl," he said in between laughs. "What the actual f**k?"

"I need to somehow convince her to marry me, else…" I trailed off and he nodded his head in agreement.

I held my head in both hands, trying to think of a way to convince her.

Jeez, what to do?

★★★★

"Sir, these are the files you asked for," he spoke, but I didn't bother to look up to see who it was. I didn't care.

"Send them to my office," I replied, dismissing whoever it was with a wave of my hand, my eyes still buried in my phone as I walked through the hallways.

I had gotten to my office, turning the doorknob.

“Zac, today’s meeting will happen in two hours,” Ken said, approaching me, and I fought the urge to groan out loud.

I had totally forgotten.

“Can it be rescheduled?”

“No, Zac,” he replied, sarcasm underlying in tone, causing a low chuckle to escape my lips. “We have always rescheduled this particular meeting twice,” the fakest smile I had ever seen married his face. He looked like he was two seconds away from snapping my neck.

“I don’t want to be at any meeting in two hours,” I said, massaging my forehead with my fingers. “I’m so stressed out, my head aches,” I finished, turning the knob, opening the door that led to my office.

“You have two hours to—“

The rest of Kendrick’s sentence was blurred out the moment I set my eyes on her.

She had her back to me as she stared out of the window, playing with my stress ball. She had a headphone over her head hence, totally unaware of my presence in the room.

“Let’s have this talk later, Ken,” I dismissed.

“Alrighty,” he replied, walking out.

One thing that never ceased to pique my interest was her style of dressing.

She had the exact same thing she had on that day at the club. Only this time, it was a black baggy shirt instead and her jet black hair was packed in a neat low ponytail.

She hummed lowly, her feet tapping against the floor rhythmically.

Why was she here?

“Hmm hmm!” I cleared my throat. I walked over to where she stood, standing right beside her, hoping to get her attention without having to say anything.

She continued to hum along to her music, absolutely ignoring my presence.

This girl...

I tapped her on the shoulder lightly, causing her to turn in my direction, quipping her brows at me.

I mirrored her expression, and she let out a frustrated sigh, taking off her headphones.

Oh goodness, what is this girl?

“Hey,” she said, walking around me to the couch behind me. She waited until I had my attention to her before plopping down on it with a soft thud.

“Uh, hi?” The confusion in my voice caused my greeting to sound like a question.

“You’re not going to ask me why I’m here?” She asked, popping the bubblegum in her mouth.

I tucked both hands in my pockets, taking a few strides towards her. “What do you want?” I queried, bobbing my head to the side.

“I want to get married to you,” she replied with a casual shrug causing me to involuntarily squint my eyes.

“What?”

“You want to marry me, right? Yeah, I want to marry you too.”

I just couldn’t pinpoint how she said s**t like this so casually and with a straight face, it bothered me a little bit.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty three,” she answered in a heartbeat.

“What’s your name?” I queried.

“Don’t you already know that? I mean, you stalked me for two f*****g weeks,” she said, slouching lightly against the couch, drumming her fingers on her thighs.

She seemed very tomboy-ish, and I found it very attractive.

“Elsie. Elsie Carter,” I answered my own question and she smiled coyly.

“So, let’s talk business,” she stood up abruptly, walking around me and went back to staring out of the window.

“I want double. Double of the money you offered me,” she said, her voice holding so much seriousness.

“Why did you change your mind?” I asked, ignoring her earlier statement.

“Who doesn’t like money?” She replied, erupting in soft laughter.

“I’ll pay you triple, but you dare not f**k it up for me,” I warned.

She smiled widely, walking over to extend her hand for a handshake that I gladly took.

“Done deal," she replied, making a decision that we didn't know would take our lives in a different direction.