Accepting the challenge

"Thanks for picking me up, Bella." Chloe said in a grumpy tone after getting inside the car and wrapping the seat belt around her. 

Bella is her best friend. They have been friends forever, since their childhood. Bella is her partner in crime. She has been part of Chloe's every craziness. They did everything together. Starting from going outside the country to study in the same university to creating every single problem. 

Bella gave her a weird look before starting up the car, driving away from Chloe's father's office premises. 

"I saw your car parked there. What happened to it? And why are you in such a foul mood?" Bella asked in a soft yet curious tone. She predicted her best friend's mood already and she doesn't want to take the risk of irritating her more than she already was for some reason. 

Even though Chloe and Bella are best friends, they are polar opposite. If Chloe can be compared to fire then Bella is the water. Chloe is hot headed and tends to lose her temper easily while Bella has a lot of patience within her. While Chloe is loud and outgoing, Bella is calm and shy. Yet somehow they complete each other.

"Don't ask Bella. You wouldn't wanna know." Chloe grumbled under her breath while trying to forget what happened a few moments ago. Bella nodded at her, understanding that Chloe will spill out everything in a few minutes anyway. 

"Okay, so, what's our destination?" Bella asked while driving straight. 

"Domanco Enterprise." Chloe said in a dark tone and Bella immediately put her feet in a brake, stopping the car suddenly. The force of the sudden half almost threw Chloe off the seat but thankfully she was wearing the seatbelt. After realising that she was fine, she turned around to look at Bella with a scowl. 

"What the hell, Bella? Are you trying to kill me?" She exclaimed loudly.

"No! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Bella exclaimed back with a look of pure disbelief on her face. 

"Stop doing drama and start the car. You are blocking the way." Chloe said while giving her an annoyed look and leaning back on the chair with her hands over her chest. Bella quickly started the car again before giving her the same look of shock. 

"Chloe, where are we going? I might have heard you wrong. Can you please say it again?" Bella asked, earning an eye roll from Chloe.

"Drive to the Domanco enterprise. I have got business with the CEO there." Chloe said in a monotonous tone but in reality she was almost planning murder a today.

"Sebastian Domanco?! You are going to meet Sebastian Domanco?!" Bella exclaimed in shock, earning another eye roll from Chloe. "Don't roll your eyes at me and answer the damn question." Bella snapped at her in a desperate tone, making Chloe look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Yes. I am going to meet him only. Now can you start the car?" Chloe ordered. 

"Okay, I am starting the car but you better be finished explaining everything by the time we reach the destination." Bella said in a strict tone before starting the car. 

At that moment, Chloe knew she had no other options, other than to start explaining the fateful day. She started explaining while scolding Bella when she pulled brake abruptly a few times more after hearing her deeds. 

"Well, we reached and you are done." Bella said after stopping the car in front of the tallest building in the town. 

"What do you mean by I am done?" Chloe asked with a frown while freeing herself from the seat belt. Bella let out a sigh after hearing her. 

"You are not understanding, are you?" Bella asked and before Chloe could say something, she continued. "You are going to meet Sebastian Domanco! He is the cruelest and coldest man alive. He is not those British college boys who used to have a crush on you. He is going to crush you underneath his feet if you make a simple mistake, which you already did and now maybe you are going to make another mistake, no, a blunder. So, good luck to you and please keep your attitude to yourself and apologize like a good girl. Please." She explained and let out another sigh after she was done. Chloe rolled her eyes at her. 

"You are being dramatic. He can't do anything and according to my father, I am going to 'apologize' to him." Chloe said while air quoting the word apologize and there laced the sarcasm. "It's a good thing. What blunder are you talking about? Whatever I am going inside. Do you wanna come?" She asked after getting down the car and looked at Bella. 

"It's not like I have anything better to do. You go first. I will come after parking the car." She said and Chloe nodded at her before closing the door and walking inside the building, with her head held high. 

"Still good luck, Chloe." Bella let out a sigh.

Chloe directly walked toward the receptionist upon entering the building with her head held high. She removed her sunglasses after reaching the receptionist. 

"Hello, ma'am. How can I help you?" The receptionist asked after Chloe advanced her. 

"I want to know which floor Sebastian Domanco is on right now." Chloe demanded, as if she owned the place which the receptionist didn't like obviously but nevertheless kept her professionalism.

"Do you have an appointment?" She asked politely, making Chloe raise her eyebrows at her. 

"No, I don't. Now tell me the floor number." She demanded in an intimidating tone. 

"But ma'am, you can't meet him if you don't have an appointment-..." She couldn't complete her sentence as Chloe interrupted her. 

"The. Floor. Number." Chloe demanded once again and this time she made sure to look into the receptionist's eyes to make her feel intimidated. It worked as the receptionist quickly told her what she wanted to know, making Chloe smirk. 

___

"Daniel, send an official notice to James Jones with a court letter about what he has to face now that he failed to complete the deal within the deadline." Sebastian said on the phone in a cold tone while working on the laptop at the same time. He cut the call as soon as he was done delivering his orders. 

He let out a frustrated groan soon and pushed the laptop away. He was unable to concentrate on working and it's all because of that redhead brat. 

Chloe Jones.

He hates a few things in his life with passion. Bratty people, those people who take everything for granted and those who waste his time. And that girl fits in every category, giving him every reason to be irked. Not only did she wasted his time but insulted him too. 

How dare she! 

He was still busy in his thoughts when the door of his office room opened with a bang, making him look up with a frown of confusion and fury. He doesn't like interruption in his work too. His blood boiled when he saw the interrupter as he stood up from his chair.

"Chloe Jones! What are you doing here?!" He almost growled while demanding for his answer. 

There were two women standing by the door. One of them is Chloe Jones and the other one is his secretary. Both of them looked at him after hearing his growl. Both of them have different expressions while looking at him. His secretary was almost shivering in fear while Chloe Jones had a smirk on her lips. 

"I am so sorry, sir! I tried to stop her but she barged in forcibly. I will throw her out right away." His secretary said hurriedly before taking a hold of Chloe's hand, ready to pull her out when she was interrupted by… two commands. 

"Leave my hand!"

"Leave her hand!" 

Chloe and Sebastian ordered at the same time, making her leave Chloe's hand immediately. Chloe smirked at that once again. 

"You are fired, Miss whatever. You can leave the office now and close the door behind you while leaving. That's the last order you are receiving from me." Sebastian said and his order not only shocked the secretary but Chloe too.

She understood why he was firing her. Because she entered the room forcefully and she was unable to stop her. She felt bad for the woman who silently closed the door behind them before leaving. She made a note of contacting her as soon as she was done here.

After the secretary left, she turned around to look at him and couldn't stop herself from taking a sharp breath. 

Sebastian Domanco. He was the perfect definition of a Greek god. He has a well-shaped perfectly built body which was hidden underneath the expensive tailored suit that he was wearing. He has a height of six feet two inches minimum. His personality matched his stormy grey eyes. Cold and intimidating. He is blessed with sharp facial features and goddamn it! That jawline! It can cut glass! Before she could praise the God who took the time in making him, he interrupted her thoughts. 

"So, your father failed to lock you inside the room yet again, huh?" He asked in a taunting tone and she felt like falling from the sky in a thud. 

'Snap out of it, Chloe! You can't check him out. Think about your credit cards and luxury cars.' She did a small talk with herself before looking back at him with a blank face. 

"Look, I am here to have a really important talk with you. I prefer if you refrain yourself from talking unnecessarily." She said. She couldn't believe her own self if those words were left from her own mouth. 

"I am listening." He said in a curt tone. He was standing while leaning on the table. He has his hand folded. If it was any regular day, he would have thrown the person who dares to waste his time in a blink of an eye but he wanted to see her limit. 

"Good, now listen to me. My father has sent me here to 'apologize' to you and according to him, that will make you agree to get him the contract back. If it was a regular day, I wouldn't have come here but he blocked my credit cards and took away my cars too, leaving me no option other than coming here." She blabbered out everything casually. "So, here I am. I apologize to you if you felt insulted by my behaviour and give the contract back to my father." She finished her speech with an eye roll.

By the time she was done, he was beyond furious. This stupid brat girl! She thought she could come here and order him around then her hope was going to get crushed badly.

"Now that you are done, I don't have anymore time for your stupid immature drama. I needed some entertainment to refresh my mind before going back to work again. And a useless immature girl like you did a great job there. Leave the room before I call the security." Sebastian said in a cold and intimidating tone.

The pampered and prideful self couldn't take that much harsh ignorance and direct insult from him. So, she did what she was best at doing and went on with her attitude, not caring if it was welcomed by him or not.

"How dare you insult me like that?! You called me useless and immature, while being an egoistic arrogant man yourself! Hypocrite! And what do you know about my capabilities, huh? You know nothing then why did you call me that?!" She snapped at him while shaking in anger. His state was nothing different than him.

Sebastian's eyes darkened as soon as he heard her. How dare that stupid woman talk like that with him?!

"I wonder what capabilities a stupid woman like you are talking about? The girl who still isn't out of her 'college life crush' phrase is here talking about her capabilities. You are funny. And if we are still talking about your capabilities, I challenge you to get a job on your own, without ANYONE'S help and earn 50k USD in one week. Then I might think of giving the contract back to your father." He stated while looking deep into her widened eyes. 

"50k USD in one week?" She exclaimed in shock as that's next to impossible. 

"What happened? Got scared after hearing the amount? I could have earned double of that in these ten minutes which you just wasted. Now don't waste my time anymore and leave!" He ordered and that yet again, hurt her ego. She looked at him with determination. 

"We are still talking about my capabilities, right? Now you will see. We will meet again, even before this week ends." She declared with confidence while looking deep into his eyes. 

She didn't wait there another second before turning around to leave the room after flipping her long red hair back. It hit him on the chest, making his face hardened for some weird reason. 

She closed the door behind her and leaned on it as soon as she was away from his eyes. She let out some deep breaths before she started to think rationally again. 

"What did I do?!" She asked herself in frustration when a new voice made her jump. 

"You must be thinking what did you just do."