Conflicts Of Interests

Heather’s POV

”Ahhhh”, I screamed loudly in my office as I read through the bank statement in my hands.

Most of our, major business assets were frozen and I knew who was behind it. Dante Valerio, it had to be him.

He must have gotten the news of what we planned to do. I am on the verge of a melt down, how can one human being be so cunning and calculative. Our company had gained intelligence on the dealings of Tali group of companies and we were going to expose it to the Federal Intelligence Action to gain leverage, he somehow got hold of our story and has decided to show us why they call him 'the Devil's bastard' because even the devil's biological children are not as ruthless as he is.

Now, he wants to have a meeting with me.

I arrive at his estate at 9:00pm, they were some about four men, all dressed in black, the type that didn't need any weapon to defend themselves, their ear-pieces glowed in the dark and their movements were refined. You can tell that they have had years in some sort of military training.

The estate itself stood firmly in its glory, it sat on the coast side of Vegas with a sea front all to itself. The detailing of his estate was simply impeccable, it was built in a way that made it known without announcement that its owner commanded ‘power that cannot be joked with’, which is in fact Dante’s watch word.

As I walked out of my car,

I feel the wind from the sea hit me, I’m glad that I made sure my posture was intact.

I look up at the housing structure, there was not any welcoming light.

From where I parked my car I can see the garden of black roses with a small fraction of red roses.

I guess that is about how much love he has in his heart.

I chuckle at what I just thought of but I immediately scolded myself.

I am not here for any child’s play; I am here for my entire family’s life.

The bronze front door opened up without making a sound as I walk towards it as if already expecting me.

I mean he is expecting me, standing at the front lounge was the devil’s bastard right hand man, Torin Tofu.

He has a stern face that leaves no room for argument, he stretch out his hands to collect my gloves while also taking my car key into possession.

“Mr. Dante is waiting for you at the dining hall on the third floor, Miss," Torin said, his deep timber voice, echoed the hall even though his tone is quiet low.

"He also asked that you dropped your cell phone or any other communication device in your possession". I reached out into my pocket and brought out my phone and my safety pointers, I dropped in on the silver tray Torin held out.

I expected this, I knew he was going to try and make me vulnerable.

"Tell your boss, that if I'm not with my device by 10:00pm, a lot of things are going to go wrong," I said.

Torin did not react, he simply showed me the staircase that led into the inner part of the house.

Adjusting my suit, I begin to climb up stairs, my Louboutin heels make a crisp click sound against the floors of the stairs.

The stairs lead straight into the dining hall on the third floor, the room has a glass wall that gives a clear view of the sea front.

Then there he is.

Dante is sitted at the edge of the 12-man dining table made from black emerald.

He isn’t in his usual suit today, just a two-piece linen set with two of his upper button shirt button undone, dangerously revealing his Black Widow tattoo, the sleeves of his shirts were rolled to his elbow, showing off his well-defined arm structure as he continued to type on his desktop.

“At exactly 10:00pm, Heather,” he says, without looking at me.

“You are expected to send in a code to your associates, if you don’t send it, a file containing of my dealings would be sent to the Federal Investigation Action” he continues, my heart skips.

I intentionally kept it a secret sharing only with a few trusted ones yet he was able to get it , he is trying to show me how much power he holds.

He turnes.off his desktop and finally let his eyes settle on me.

”The issue with all of that is that money runs everything in this world, I bought the satellite firm this evening and any message or file sent goes straight to my server. You are powerless.” I freeze in an instant as it hit me but I can not let him see me shaken.

I walk closer to the table until I am one chair away from him.

“You are a devil, Dante” I whisper, my voice barely audible and my eyes filled with deep hatred.

“You froze most of our yielding assets, you planted bugs in our system. You turned our associated against us in hours. All of this because we got hold of information about Tali!”

‘I am practical’ he says smirking, standing up.

He is taller than me, his entire aura filling the space. He did not try to lean in to try and intimidate me. He simply stood firmly.

“Your dad did not look into my dealings because he is a saint, he needs something to blackmail my people with. But he didn’t think it through before he began’’

‘And your next line of action is to kill us?’ I say, my voice loud with venom. ‘To lay us bare in front of our enemies? To make us beg for survival or make us beg for your mercies?’

He lets out a faint laugh and says,

“Kill you? No , that is way to messy for me, I prefer to operate on a more classy level”

He walks towards me, so close yet so far and reaches for a file on the table.