Corporate War

Damien’s POV

“No, you should be ashamed of yourself, Mr Damien,” I heard the client yell furiously at me.

I moved my face away as saliva from his mouth threatened to touch my well tailored suit.

“You promised me the contract and now you’ve given it out? You gave me your word for Christsake!” He barked continuously.

I wriggled my nose and looked down at the small man. “You know you shouldn’t be shouting so loudly in a corporate environment, especially when you haven’t brushed your teeth,” I drawled and he flinched back, covering his mouth with his hands immediately.

“How dare you?” He barked, his hands still on his mouth.

“The question is, how dare you, mr…,” I turned to my secretary and she whispered his name to my ears, “Mr Peter Rodney,” she muttered.

“How dare you Peter,” I said, pointing my fingers at him rudely. “You think I wouldn’t find out that you made a deal with The Carlos Inc to grab this contract so you could hand it to them? You insult my intelligence,” I growled slowly at him and his angry expression flipped immediately.

“It’s-its really…Mr Damien, it’s really not what you think,” he stammered and I snickered.

“And you had the guts to walk into my company and bark at me? Now this is what happens when we teach pigs how to fight, they just roll in dirt and try to get us all dirty as well,” I said coldly.

I saw my assistant, Olivia, roll her eyes at what I just said and to be honest, it made no sense to me either, I just came up with it on the spot.

“Get the security and throw this pig out of my office,” I said to Olivia and she reached into her purse for her phone.

“Hold on…hold on, please wait, I can explain just hear me out one more time,” he protested as security dragged him out of my office, kicking and pleading.

Olivia shut the door behind them and I let out a long sigh. God knows I held myself back from beating the living hell out of that man.

He dared connive with my sworn rival to play me? The guts! And here I am, thinking I was doing him a favor.

My enmity with the Carlos family goes way back to when I was in college. Mr Carlos was my father’s best friend. They opened a company together but my father was the major shareholder.

He arranged with some executives and got rid of my father when the company was doing so well. His reason was that my father was not ‘capable’ and that he was mentally unstable.

Of course he was, I mean, I had to admit him to an institute but I am my fathers son and could have taken over in his place. They left us dry to die but I fought against fate and five years later, I became their biggest competitor in Tech.

“Boss? Boss?” I heard Olivia calling and raised up my head to look at her. “What do you think?” She asked and I looked at her quizzically.

She raised an eyebrow and face-slapped herself. “You mean to tell me that I was talking to myself all these times?”

“You could just repeat what you said or would you rather ask questions you have answers to?” I retorted, pinching my brows.

“No wonder your other assistants left!” She sneered and I jerked my head back up.

“So you want to leave as well?” I asked teasingly. I would love nothing else but to have her off my back. Olivia is my best friend and childhood friend, we practically grew up together.

She forced herself into my company to work as my assistant when the, is it sixth? I think the seventh assistant left in a roll. Am I really that terrible?

“Of course you are terrible!” She yelled.

“Did I say that out loud?” I asked, running a hand through my disheveled hair.

“Damien, I gave you a list of the Christmas decoration ideas I’ve mapped out just as you instructed and…,”

“Just go ahead with whichever you think is best,” I said, cutting her off. “Now if you would excuse me, I have…things to attend to,” I said and gave her a knowing look. She rolled her eyes and stood with one hand on her waist like she was about to discipline a child.

“When will you stop…” my phone rang, cutting her off mid sentence. I waved my hand dismissively so that I can talk without disruption.

I answered the phone, my jaw tightening as I recognized the caller ID. It was my inside contact at Carlos Inc. My pulse quickened with anticipation.

“Talk to me,” I said sharply, my voice low so Olivia wouldn't hear. She was still glaring at me, arms crossed in a huff.

“They've made their move, Mr Damien. They just signed a contract with the foreign brand we've been pitching for. But that's not all. They're going for the board meeting tomorrow. They want to acquire your subsidiary.”

My grip on the phone tightened, fury bubbling beneath the surface. Mr Carlos was more relentless than I thought. Not only did they outmaneuver me with the contract, now they had the nerve to come after my company's assets.

“Thanks for the tip. I'll handle it,” I said curtly before hanging up. My mind was already racing through the possibilities. I needed to act fast. The Carlos family had blindsided me once before, but I wasn't the same man anymore.

Olivia was still standing there, her glare softening when she saw the change in my expression. “What happened?” She asked, concern creeping into her voice.

“Carlos Inc. just signed a contract with the A & L brand. But that's not the worst of it,” I said, pushing back my chair and standing abruptly. “They're targeting my subsidiary. Tomorrow, they'll make their move.”

Olivia's eyes widened. “What are you going to do?”

I straightened my suit jacket, my mind already ten steps ahead. “I'm going to make sure Mr Carlos Osmond regrets underestimating me. Contact legal and get our acquisition papers ready. We're going to hit them where it hurts.”

Just as I started to walk out of the office, Olivia grabbed my arm. “Damien, don't let this obsession with the Carlos family get you into more trouble. You've worked too hard to lose everything again.”

“It's not an obsession, Olivia. It's my fate. And I'm not losing,” I replied, shrugging her off.

I stepped out of the office, dialing another number as I made my way to the elevator. “Gerald, I need you to prepare for tomorrow's board meeting. Also, send me Mrs Osmond’s current location,” I said with a sinister smirk playing on my lips.

Time to pay our sugar mummy a visit.