SIGNED, SEALED...DESTROYED?

DAMIEN'S POV

11:59am.

It was almost noon and I think I was about to lose my mind as I sat down in my office, my hand under my chin as I tapped my feet incessantly against the floor.

What could I do?

The memories from the hospital came rushing back and I wanted to just hit my head against the wallㅡ Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. That's what I was.

There was a knock on the door and I immediately sat up, hoping it would be my lawyer that I had called to see me but instead, it was my assistantㅡMiss Samantha.

She walked over to my desk, a file in her hand and a smile on her face that never seemed to waver. She gently dropped it on my table and nodded to it.

“For you, Mr Hale” She nodded to it. “We received it from the board this morning and it said urgent so I immediately had to come deliver it to you”

With a sigh, I pulled the binded documents together and flipped it open, my eyes scanning through the words on it, each word seeming to annoy me as the meaning dawned on me.

I dropped it back to the table and looked up at her, a scowl on my face. “What is this?”

Her smile didn't waver but her gaze dropped to the open file then she shook her head. “I don't know, sir. I don't exactly check files that say confidential” She clarified.

“Well, you have my permission now. Go ahead and look through the nonsense in that document that they want me to sign”

She hesistated slightly then picked it up, her fingers softly tracing the spine of the documents as she expertly flipped through it, her expression remaining the same save for the slight furrow of her brows when she got to a particular clause in it then she looked up at me. “This goes against everything that Miss Carter said yesterday”

“Precisely!” I snapped, slamming my fists on my table then taking a deep breath to calm myself down. “She gave her clear rules and none of those bastards said a word about it but now, they're suddenly asking for this? Autonomy from her company?”

She sighed, not surprised by my outburt. “Well, I suggest you speak to Miss Carter about it then”

“Milena is going to say no. She was quite clear about it”

Samantha dropped the documents back on my table and pointed at the statement written in bold letters. “It's a good demand if we're going to invest on her business, you know? 40% ownership for the time of our deal, that's quite reasonable, is it not? I think they want to have a say in some things, legally…” She tapped her nails against it, her gaze fixed on me.

I don't think any of them got what they were asking me to do. They were asking me to tell Milena to give up her say in her company to an extent and they would raise the investment priceㅡ Right now, I wasn't even sure if she would want to have a merger with us anymore.

Not when I couldn't offer anything to herㅡAt least not what she wanted.

She had no reason to meet my company in particular, she only did it to have the upperhand over me if I was to be a donor to Theo but now… now that seemed like a faraway dream.

“Do you want me to mail this as well as draft an official letter to Miss Carter?” Samantha's voice pulled me out of my spiralling thoughts.

“No”

Silence followed and Samantha opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself just in time. “Very well, sir. You have a meeting in an hour with the marketing team, I've set up your schedule for the rest of the day and cleared out the meetings after 5pm” She informed me, droning on in the robotic voice I had become accustomed to.

“Thank you for that” I sighed, leaning my head back against my chair.

She turned on her heels to leave but suddenly turned around again as though she just remembered something. “I forgot to mention… Lady Hale called so did Sienna but I told them that you're busy and would not be able to take their calls right now”

My mum called? Oh fucking hell.

“Thank you, I'll attend to them later” I smiled at herㅡLies. I wouldn't attend to them later.

She walked out of my office and I was left to brood alone, unable to get the image of Milena and the little kid out of my mindㅡMy child.

How bad did I mess up? For a moment,I considered it. I considered asking to see her and telling her everything but immediately decided against it. She hated me now, she would despise me if I told her the truth.

My phone on the table beeped and I picked it up, my eyes widening when I saw a message from my lawyer whom I had been expecting.

“Done”

Without thinking, I swiped up his contact and hit the call button, placing the phone to my ear, my heart pounding in my chest.

He picked up almost immediately. “Mr Hale”

“Did it work?” I didn't bother to exchange pleasantries.

I had called him right after I had left the hospital to let him know that I needed his help in checking to see if there was another way that we could go about this without any trouble.

There was a slight pause on the other end. Thenㅡ “we can't bypass the legal red tape”

Fuck.

“I mean we definitely could but it'd take a week for me to get it ready and before you ask, it can't be shorter than that” He quickly added.

I wanted nothing more than to slam my phone against the wall but instead, I gripped it tighter. “Leave it. I'll think of something else. Maybe we'll have to leave the country for it”

“I'm afraid it still wouldn't make that much of a difference. You're known every where, you're risking your company as it is. And hers too”

I hung up without waiting for hear another word and I dropped my phone back to the table, groaning slightly.

Shit.

I hit the intercom button on my table

that connected me to Samantha's table. “Samantha?”

“Yeah?” Her voice came in almost immediately.

“Schedule a meeting with Miss Carter tomorrow. About Haven”

There was the sound of keys tapping from her side of the call then her voice came in again. “Reason?”

“Email the letter from the board. Make it work. Make it urgent. Miss Carter should be there”

“Done”