CHAPTER 2: A SHOW OF POWER

Alexander

Immediately we arrived at the office, I turned towards the receptionist. "Get me Damien, have him come to my office immediately."

"Yes sir," she stood up and scurried away to Damien's office.

Felix held my bags and walked into my office.

He bowed. "Sir Alex, I would like to apologize on behalf of the lady's behavior. If I had stopped her in time, things wouldn't have happened the way it happened."

"You don't have to worry Felix, I'll make sure she's punished. You can leave now."

He faced the door in time, about to go out.

"What was her name again? I didn't quite catch it."

"Melissa," Felix replied.

"You can leave," I dismissed him again and repeated the name to myself, smiling. "Melissa. Such a feisty one, I promise to clip those wings of yours."

My mind traveled back to what happened in the restaurant, truth be told, she wasn't at fault. I saw it all but the words had left my mouth before I could refrain from saying them.

Her response made me repeat the same word. I wanted to see what she would do and she really shocked me. I didn't see the slap coming to my face, she was the first woman to ever do that to me.

Just in time, the knock on my door dragged me out of my thoughts. "Who's there?"

"It's Damien sir," he said.

"Oh come in," I adjusted myself on my seat.

"Morning sir," he bowed slightly. "The receptionist said, you sent for me."

"Sure, take a seat," I watched him take his seat. Damien was the company's private investigator, he was good at his job and that made me love him.

"Apparently, there's someone I need you to make full blown enquiries on. Her name is Melissa, she works as a waitress in 'Happy Eating Restaurant', that's all I know about her.

As I spoke, he kept jotting down the things he needed to make the work easier.

"How long is it going to take for you to find everything about her?" I asked him.

"At most an hour sir, I'll have all the details forwarded to your mail," he bowed and left.

An hour later

I was buried deep in work when the notification of a new mail captured my attention. I opened it, scrolling through it and the brightest, most evil smile I could ever have showed on my face involuntarily. 

I hit up Felix immediately, "arrange a meeting with Mr Derek Dawson of Flibort company."

"Yes sir," the line went dead and I got up to prepare for the impromptu meeting I was just having.

*****

Felix and I walked into the restaurant, only to see Mr Derek waiting. He sat in a gray suit, his side facing us, while he munched on the cookies and milkshake in front of him.

As soon as he sighted us, he rushed to his feet, bowing in intervals and welcoming me.

"Welcome Sir Alexander, to whom do I owe this visit?"

"One which would benefit us all," I said and he smiled. Felix stood behind me with a document he held.

"I happened to know about the unfortunate incident going on in your company, the lay off of so many staff because you couldn't afford to pay their salaries. Is that true?"

He adjusted uncomfortably on his seat, fixing his tie in a good way. He forced out a smile.

"It's true Sir Alexander, I'm working on it."

"How about I propose an offer? I give you 20 million dollars and you let me marry your child, Melissa, in return."

The greed in his eyes could not go unnoticed. I smiled to myself, knowing that I was doing a very good job. 5 million dollars was more than enough to solve his company's financial problem and I was offering him ×4 of that.

"Sir Alexander, that is quite a lot," he loosened the tie on his neck, feeling uncomfortable.

"I could take my offer away, to someone else entirely. It's up to you to decide," I used my knowledge of psychology on him. Indirectly I was referring to his rival company.

"Not at all sir, please give me a few minutes to weigh my options sir," he stood up and walked outside the door. I could see him from the transparent glass fanning himself with his hand and talking to himself out loud, without caring if people saw him as a mad man. After a few minutes, he walked in.

"I'm sorry for my unprofessionalism sir. I'll take the offer," he said, smiling.

"Good choice," I commended him.

Felix handed me the offer letter and he appended his signature after going through it.

I wrote him a cheque of 30 million dollars, handing it over to him.

"The remaining 10 million dollars should be used in getting a suitable beautiful wedding dress and accessories for my wife. I wouldn't like it if she wore something cheap. She's getting married to a billionaire, remember that."

"Yes sir," his eyes shone at the paper he held. "When would you like to have the wedding happen sir?"

"Tomorrow, there's no time for dilly-dallying," I said. "Get her ready by then, I don't care what you have to do to make her ready."

Who could believe it? In less than 24 hours I was getting married. I wanted to show her that I could use influence to get whatever I wanted. I wanted to get her, irrespective of whoever she thought she was.

I stood up, ready to walk out. I was obviously done with the meeting before I heard his voice call out to me.

"Sir Alexander, why your sudden interest in my child?"

I turned around, facing him, wearing a mischievous smile. "Just say that she did something that blew my mind away and ever since then I have had my eyes on her."

I was Alexander Pierce for a reason, the richest youngest billionaire in New York. I get anything and anyone that I set my eyes on and I have set my eyes on Melissa Dawson.