KARMA SERVED HOT

Chapter 9 - Approaching the enemy

Lianne (Elara Vale)'s POV

“Error code detected” the mechanical voice of the inbuilt robot door sounded throughout every corner of the room.

“What is the meaning of this Ethan?” I asked him calmly, my hands folded across my chest, glaring at Ethan. If eyes could bore holes i’m very sure Ethan's head would have been holed out very deep because of the hard glare I am giving him.

However, in contrast to me he didn't look flustered, not even in the slightest bit. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and walked to the bar present in the suite, took a sit on the stool and poured himself a glass of whiskey. His movements fluid and natural.

“I didn't trigger the automatic lock Mrs Vance, you need to have some trust in your husband” he replied to me with a calmness that irritated me.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes at the way he pronounced himself as my husband. I paced the room.

“If you truly didn't, then why is the door locked? Or does the door always lock itself like this?”

He raised the glass containing the golden liquid up to his lips and too a swig.

“Indeed it doesn't act that way, unless….”

“Unless what?” I interrupted him impatiently. But he directly ignored me and continued.

“Someone tried to force himself in but couldn't. This means there was a breach in the security structure of this house” he said while his eyes followed my every movement.

I stopped pacing and looked at him quietly, turning over his words in my mind. A breach in the security structure of the house. That means Ethan was right, it was better for us to be cooped up in one suite because I can now see truly, what he said there are people out there trying to test if our marriage is indeed real.

But we haven't even announced to the public about our marriage, so how did they get to know? This leads to only one answer, we or him rather are being trailed by someone unknown to us.

His baritone voice came through to me, “you don't have to stress every single nerve in your body over this Elara, this will resolve itself just in the same way it had locked itself automatically”.

I looked up at him, he continued “I go to work everyday by 6am every morning, so you don't have to worry about us interrupting eachother”.

I nodded, the tension brought by the sudden lock of the door easing away slightly. I looked round the suite as Ethan continued,

“This suite is divided into two sections: the master suite and a private lounge, it has one walk-in closet and one bathroom. You can choose whichever of the two you want”

I listened as he talked and walked into the walk in closet, my clothes, silk and soft has been neatly arranged beside his dark ones, the contrast sharp against eachother.

I must go to Adrian's corporate firm tomorrow to carry out the first part of the plan which is approaching them with a business proposal that Adrian wouldn't be able to refuse.

I turned to Ethan and said to him “I'll take the private lounge, but I need something from you Mr Vance”

“It's Ethan” he corrected “we are married now Elara”.

“Okay Ethan, I need access to your attorney”. He leaned back on the bar countertop looking at me and slowly nodded, with no questions.

The next day, at Adrian's corporate firm.

I sat at the end of the familiar long mahogany conference table in the boardroom of Adrian's corporate firm, he had changed the name from Smith enterprise to his own name after he and Celeste had tricked me into the signing the ownership papers.

My father used to bring me to this particular conference room when I was still a kid. Now as I sat at the other end of the conference room, all I could feel was immense calm anger, I clenched my fists tightly under the conference table while maintaining a cold look as my gaze swept the entire room.

Adrian is seated at the head seat of the conference table, a high backed black leathered chair, the same seat in which my father used to sit when he was still alive which should have rightly belonged to me. His blonde hair was slicked back, his deep blue eyes gleamed with unconcealed greed.

Beside him sat Celeste, her plump but petite frame leaned back on her seat, eyeing my dark tailored suit with a mixture of jealousy and suspicion and twirling her hair between her fingers.

They had both stolen everything from me, my inheritance, my name, staged my accident and now they should also get ready to give it back to me. I would use the same method they used to cheat me back then.

"Miss Vale" Adrian began, bringing me out of my thoughts, his voice thickly coated with a imperfect business tone that made my stomach turn. He leaned forward and rested his forearms on the mahogany conference table and continued

“It is a great honour to us that Vale Capital has taken an interest in this organisation of ours. As you know, this corporate firm is rapidly expanding and I believe you partnering with us would further solidify our spread across the country”.

He made it sound as if the company was doing so well while in reality they are in deep s**t, almost overwhelmed with debt and at the very edge of collapsing. He has mismanaged the company's funds during the period which he took over the company.

I had gathered all these while I was still recovering from the injuries caused by the crash.

And I know that if they don't receive funds in the next 10 days they are bound to go bankrupt.

“Let's go straight into business, Mr Cooper” I said keeping my voice calm, smooth and professional with a polished European accent I had rehearsed over the past three months.

“I am not here to admire your company” I continued folding my hands over the navy portfolio in front of me. “I am here because Vale Capital sees an assets that need to be saved under the right terms and conditions”

“I propose fifty million dollars upfront with zero interest for the duration of the first twelve months. In exchange, if your quarterly targets miss by five percent I will take over all equity and board management rights with immediate effect”.

Silence. Then Cooper's corporate firm Chief financial officer (CFO) Arthur Black spoke up “with all due respect Miss Vale, although you propose to invest a massive sum of fifty million dollars your terma and conditions are simply too irregular and aggressive”

Before I could respond, Adrian waved his hand at him dismissively, his blue eyes fixed on the me or should I say fixed on the proposal which is a lifeline I had presented to him.

“Please Arthur, Cooper's corporate firm has strong backings that can aid us at any time if anything goes wrong, Miss Vale’s investment of capital is just temporary but needed for the benefit of this company” he said, eyes gleaming with greed.

I knew you can't refuse this offer, I thought and smirked inwardly. Once you make this decision Adrian, there's no going back.

The game has just started.