The Heirs: Hate Me Like You Love Me

CHAPTER 4

DENNER THOMPSON

When I'm about to leave for lunch, Ms. Morris's secretary enters my office, handing me the annual financial report I had requested.

Something impossible for her to complete in just a few hours.

When I open the folder and check the contents, I can't help but smile, thinking it must be a joke.

She just took all the financial statements, organized them in a folder, and had them delivered to me.

My father trusted this woman so much that she thinks she has the right to try to deceive me?

Absolutely not, never.

I get up and leave my office, but as I'm heading to hers, I see her standing in front of the elevator answering her cell phone.

Without thinking twice, I approach, but I halt when I hear the name she mentions.

She's talking to my father on the phone.

I remain silent, listening to the entire conversation, and I feel disgusted by everything I hear.

This woman shows she has control over my father, having the audacity to tell him that she warned him I wasn't ready to take on the role of CEO. She even told my father to teach me how to behave and that she misses him.

But the final straw was her saying she loves him.

I can't believe it!

I can't believe my father put his mistress to work here in the company, in my own company, the company that also belongs to my mother, my sweet and loving mother, the woman who sees Oliver Thompson as a god in her life.

But this won't remain this way.

I'm going to expose them both and take away my father's reason for living, as he himself says. Oliver may have a mistress, but he would never give up my mother.

He would never do that.

So when I see the woman in front of me about to put away her phone, I grab her arm firmly, startling her.

When she turns towards me, I see fear in her eyes, a fear that fuels me.

And it's good that she's very afraid of me because from today on, her life will turn into hell.

I will ruin Briana Morris.

"Denner!" she says my name in surprise, and I see fear reflected in her eyes.

"It's not Denner. You may be familiar with my father, calling him by his first name, but not with me. Here, you’re just my employee, my father’s mistress, whom he had the nerve to place to work with me."

When she hears what I say, her eyes widen.

She didn’t expect to be discovered on her very first day, especially by me.

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

I’m about to respond when the elevator doors open, and I see one of the employees coming out, watching the scene closely. After all, I’m tightly gripping the arm of the new financial director, which is unusual.

Without wasting time, I push her into the elevator. As soon as the doors close, I activate the safety lock, stopping it so no one can enter or exit.

"Can you let go of me? You’re hurting my arm, Denner."

She insists on calling me by my first name.

"Show me more respect. I won’t accept you treating me with such familiarity. How long have you been acting as my father’s mistress?"

She tries to pull her arm again, but she can’t.

"I’m not anyone’s mistress. Where did you get that from?"

"Do you really think you can fool me, Miss Morris? I overheard your conversation, now I understand a lot. Our financial director retires, and my father sees the perfect opportunity to place his mistress in one of the most important positions at the Oil Company. But I won’t allow that. I’ll make you slither out of here like the snake you are."

She pulls her arm once more, and I let go.

With audacity, she raises her other hand to slap me, but she can’t because I’m quicker and grab her wrist.

"You don’t know me, and you have no right to talk to me like that. You’re just a brat who’s always had everything in life and never had to spend a sleepless night working or studying. You’re the little oil prince, born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You’ve always had money at your disposal and think you own everything. You don’t even come close to being the man your father is."

I grab her again and push her against the cold wall of the elevator.

She takes a deep breath, her nose in the air, looking at me intensely with her beautiful green eyes.

I see the moment her pupils dilate and her breathing quickens. I find myself lost in the intensity of her gaze, the gaze of the woman who will likely destroy my family.

"You mean nothing. Today, for the first time ever, I felt ashamed of being Oliver Thompson’s son. My mother doesn’t deserve any of this. You’ll stay invisible to her until I can get rid of you. If I find out you’ve gone near my mother, I’ll kill you, and not even my father will stop me."

She trembles under my grip, then blinks and stares back at me.

"You have no idea what you’re talking about. For God’s sake, what are you..."

"I don’t want to hear anything from your lying snake mouth. I know exactly what kind of woman you are. I can’t get you out of my company now; you just took the position, and it’s already been announced in the financial market that the Oil Company has a new financial director. Getting rid of you now would make the Thompson Group look unstable, and the stocks would plummet. But your time will come."

"You don’t have the authority to do that," she says breathlessly. I grab her chin, pulling our faces so close our lips nearly touch.

"Do you really think that just because my father put you here, I can’t remove you? That’s a big mistake on your part. I’m the CEO. I call the shots here."

"You run Oil Company, the Thompson Group is something bigger and is still managed by Oliver. I’m hired by the Thompson Group."

Nice move, Dad.

"So let’s see who wins this—my father’s damn mistress or me, the heir to all of this." I release her at once, and she grabs the elevator’s support bar, letting out a sigh that almost sounds like a sob.

"Just leave me be. All I want is to do my job, the job Oliver hired me to do."

"Peace is the last thing you’ll get. You should’ve thought about your peace, Miss, before deciding to be my father’s mistress. Every time I hear you call him by his name, my hatred and contempt for you grow."

"I’M NOT OLIVER’S MISTRESS!" she screams. I press the button, unlocking the elevator, which opens soon after. I look back at her.

"I want my annual balance sheet on my desk by tomorrow morning when I arrive. If it’s not ready by tomorrow morning..." I don’t even finish speaking. I just give her a half-smile.

"You don’t need that balance sheet, and you know it."

"But I want it, and I want it by tomorrow morning. And I’ll be hoping you fail to deliver it."

"That’s impossible."

"That’s your problem, not mine." I step out of the elevator without looking back.

I foresee infernal days ahead.