Chapter 4: SuspiciousPartner
1089 Words
Julian's POV;
I tried in vain to make sense of what I was looking at.
The words jumped out in front of me forming a jumble I couldn't make sense of.
Emily's voice jolted me back. "What do we do sir? The PR team have gotten in touch and they would like to see you."
"First, send for Jack."
She nodded and scampered out. Anybody would know how grave the issue was. Drug trafficking had been a sensitive issue in the state during the past week but never in a million years did I imagine my company would be entangled with it.
Not for the first time since Emily showed me the blog post, I wondered how well I knew my business partner. And while I knew bloggers were rumor mongers, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off try as I may.
The blog hadn't mentioned which of the J&J's partner was the suspect, but I knew it wasn't me and there was just two of us.
Jack still had that infuriatingly relaxed posture when he came in.
"Have you seen the recent articles circulating?" I barked, finding the grin etched on his face ridiculous in the face of our grave situation.
Emily, sensing raw male energy, excused herself.
"Relax," Jack croaked. "I'm sure you can handle it."
The disclaimer was that I couldn't. The post already had a thousand shares so I couldn't move funds around so as to have it taken down. Major stockholders would start calling to withdraw their investments any time from now. Nobody liked to catch a whiff of bad business.
I advanced towards Jack, making sure he realized the differences between both our statutes and capabilities. "If that post is true, you better spill your guts right now before I involve the lawyers."
He did a terrible job of concealing the truth on his face with bewilderment. "What do you mean?"
"You really want us to do this the long and hard way?"
He whirls away from my piercing gaze, obviously uncomfortable. "I don't know what you are talking about. Are you accusing me of peddling drugs?"
"I'm giving you a chance to come out if you have anything to do with it."
His cloak of confirmation came on again. "Let's be logical. Between us both, who is more likely to traffic drugs? Who is from a family of old money and whose wealth suddenly sprung out of nowhere?"
My jaw clenched. "We both know I worked very hard to achieve what I have right now."
"Drug peddlers are also hard workers."
My hands formed into tight fists to prevent them from lunging at him. But heavens know I was sorely tempted. I retreated to my desk. "Instead of playing blame games, why don't you think and profer a solution to this?"
"Just buy the media," he responded carelessly.
Once again, I gritted my teeth. Hard. "Buy all the media houses in California and beyond? How convenient."
He was avoiding meeting my eyes. And that was enough confirmation that he was keeping something from me. Something vital that had to do with this case.
"Don't be so uptight and miserly."
I ignored the implied insult and made my way out of my office and to the conference room where the PR team would be waiting for me.
Stiill scrolling on the tablet and assessing the damage of the article on our stock market, I stepped out of the elevator doors and bumped into someone who was coming in.
Irritation immediately crossed my features. "Watch where you are going," I hissed at the same time the other person said, "Are you kidding me?!"
None of my employees had ever spoken to me like that before. The question caught me off guard. But not just the question, the voice too.
The woman raised her head, confirming my suspicions. "Valerie," I sneered.
Red crept up her cheeks as she also took stock of me. "Oh. I'm sorry." She looked less tidy than she had a few hours ago. Her ginger colored hair was in a lose bun with strands framing her face and her shirt was wrinkled. Huge pants escaped from her giving me the impression that she had and was still in a hurry.
Moving around me, she tried to catch the elevator doors before they slid close but I stepped directly in front of her again making her lose her chance.
Her sigh was one of exhaustion and frustration.
"What are you still doing here?" I inquired in a harsh voice.
She tried again to move past me but is unsuccessful. I easily had six inches and a hundred pounds over her. "Please. I have an interview."
I scoffed disbelievingly. "With whom?" It was crazy how I forgot the whole hullabaloo I had been trying to sort out at the mere sight of her.
She hesitated, unwilling to answer my question.
"I really don't want strangers loitering around my business premises. I guess calling security would be the best course of action here."
"No, I…" she sighed again. "I'm not loitering, I promise. I really have an interview."
"At this time of the day?" I chuckled mirthlessly. "Try again, Valerie."
She hesitated, the waging war in her head evident in her face. "Mr. Winston invited me," she eventually confided.
It took me a few seconds to fully register her statement. My brows furrowed, eyes wrinkled at the corner as I tried to make sense of it. "Mr. Winston?" She nodded, biting her lower lip. An action that momentarily distracted my thought process. "Jack?"
"Yes." She nodded firmly. "He needs one to resume as early as tomorrow hence the late... interview."
Try as I might, I couldn't rationalize the scenario. Me rejecting an interviewee that was coincidentally my ex, and my business partner granting her an interview a mere couple of hours later.
Not to mention the fact that Jack and I were two strikes away from a possible falling out.
There was something odd happening that I had to get to the bottom of. The blog post sat in the middle of it all.
One thing was certain, I couldn't let Jack have Valerie. If he truly had ulterior motives like I suspected, it wouldn't be sensible to let Valerie go to him. Both of them working together would be fatal for me.
"Work for me," I said before I could stop myself. Her eyes wi
dened questioningly. "I'm offering you a job to be my personal assistant. Work for me, Valerie."
- Writer
