Chapter 7 This Isn't Appropriate

Jade stood in front of the window of her office, shaking in anger as she tried to hold back the tears threatening to spill over her red-rimmed eyes. She was livid. Albert Warnock dared to blackmail her into that kind… that kind of relationship?!

Jade would never agree to something like that. She was running an enterprise, she was not selling herself!

At the same time, she blamed herself for not being experienced enough and for falling into such a despicable trap. Despite that, after wallowing in self-regret, she still had to face the current predicament she was in…

For the later stages of production, she was short of 950 thousand dollars. How was she going to fill the gap? Would she have to watch this tire company go bankrupt?

As Jade furrowed her brows in misery, someone knocked on her door and entered the office. She wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand and took a deep breath to calm herself, trying to conceal as much of her inner turmoil as possible.

When she turned around and saw that it was Javier, she put up an air of nonchalance and asked with a smile, “What do you think? Have you decided, Mr. Kersey?”

Javier did not reply to her question. Noticing the tears that still clung to her lashes, he instead grabbed a piece of tissue off the table and handed them to her.

Jade was taken off guard for a moment before she gingerly accepted the tissue and patted her eyes dry.

Watching Jade act tough despite being caught in a difficult situation, Javier felt some unknown emotion stir within him. He offered her some comforting words.

“It’s not easy being a female entrepreneur, more so a pretty one. It’s not just your rival’s traps over business profits you have to look out for, you need to be careful of sexual exploitation as well. Ms. Odell, you should give yourself a pat on the back for surviving till this day.”

Tossing the tissue into the trash can, Jade muttered under her breath, “Like you would know everything.”

Javier shook his head. “I don’t. But I could more or less guess what had happened and your red eyes just confirmed it for me.”

A self-deprecating smile appeared on Jade’s pretty face. “Even you saw it, but I didn’t. What kind of boss am I?”

“You can’t put yourself down like that. You were just blinded by the promise of profits,” Javier answered.

Jade nodded. What Javier said made sense. It affirmed the judgment she had made of Javier in her mind. Even then, she looked up and questioned the man, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Javier asked back without any hesitation, “Why should I?”

The curt retort made Jade pause. Well, he was not wrong. Why should he poke his nose into her business affairs and advise her when she did not pay him to do so?

After a brief pause, she continued to question, “Then, why are you comforting me now?”

Javier took a seat in front of Jade and toyed with his phone. As the phone twirled in his hand, he told the woman, “I’m not just comforting you. I want my business partner to learn from the lesson and grow wiser. In the future, keep an eye open and don’t fall into the same trap.”

“Business…partner?”

Jade only wanted to promote Javier to the position of Director of the Planning Department; that meant an increase in salary without any intention of allocating him any company shares.

Javier did not even look up as he continued telling Jade, “I’ve made the estimation for you. 950 thousand dollars will allow you to complete the project, barely. With 1.1 million dollars, you could finish it easily. But in order to perfect it, you’ll need at least another 300 thousand dollars on top of that for marketing and publicity.”

Jade was stunned. She had only ever considered these digits in her mind and had never brought it up to anyone before. How did Javier know?

As she was taken back in surprise, Javier finally peeled his eyes off the screen of his phone and asked seriously, “I’ll invest 1.5 million dollars and take over 51% of the company share. Would you agree to this, Ms. Odell?”

Jade sprang up to her feet in shock. “Is this a joke? Javier, have you lost your mind? Do you think 1.5 million dollars is just some number you scribble on paper? That’s 15 thousand 100-dollar bills! 15 thousand, Javier!”

Javier’s brows knitted together. “Yes, it’s only 15 thousand 100-dollar bills. The stacks of bills won’t even be enough to fill up your office. Why?”

His nonchalance infuriated Jade. She thought that this was too much of a brag.

“Only 15 thousand 100-dollar bills? Okay, I’d like to ask how many of those 100-dollar bills have you earned from working in this office and delivering food during the night?”

Javier finally understood. He must have unintentionally sounded dismissive of the 1.5 million dollars and triggered Jade who was worried sick about money right now. It was not like he did it on purpose though. Back when he was a child, he had once piled up the house with stacks of 100-dollar bills when he had been bored and had used over 120 stacks of them to fill up a small porch. But he gave up soon after, it was far too tiring. That 120 wads of bills? It was not much at all…

Straightening up, Javier told Jade sincerely, “Ms. Odell, believe me. I’m not pulling your leg. Honestly, I can transfer the 1.5 million dollars to you but I’m serious about my request as well. 1.5 million dollars in exchange for 51% of the company. Deal?”

Jade let out an exasperated sigh and plopped back down onto her swivel chair. She really had not expected this. She had thought that Javier to be rather decent and capable so his bragging and blatant lying took her by complete surprise.

What was she thinking, trying to make Javier the Planning Department Director. Thank goodness the promotion had not gone through. Otherwise, the whole company might have gone to Loony Town with him as well!

As she fumed in silence, Javier asked again, “Ms. Odell, do you agree to the deal?”

With a loud slam of the desk, Jade lashed out, “You’re quite persistent with your lie, aren’t you?!”

Exasperated, Javier could only repeat himself with what he hoped was absolute sincerity, “Ms. Odell, I’m not joking with you. This is serious business!”

“Okay, alright. Serious business, you say?”

The woman turned on her computer and pulled up the investment contract she had prepared for Albert Warnock. She revised a couple of the terms and hit print. The printer on the side squeaked continuously until it had coughed up the complete contract.

Grabbing a pen, Jade was swift and unhesitant as she signed her name on the contract before tossing it to Javier. “Here, a 1.5 million dollar investment in exchange for 51% of the company shares. I even added an extra term for you—if you can fulfill the contract today, I, Jade Odell, will be yours!

“Go ahead, sign it. You’re trying to trick me, aren’t you? Okay, I agree with your terms. It’s a deal then! Sign the contract!”

Javier was stunned. The sum and shares were fine but…

“Ms. Odell, this isn’t appropriate, is it?”

The corner of Jade’s lips tugged into a sneer. “Nothing right or wrong. I’ll have you know, I’m also still a virgin. So that’s a big bonus for you. Hurry up! Sign your name then transfer the money to the company account. Then we can leave and complete the deal. Go on!”

Hearing Jade’s explicit choice of words, Javier stayed silent. With a flick of the wrist, he signed his name on the contract as well. He then picked up his phone and, following the account number printed on the contract, deposited the 1.5 million dollars into the company’s bank account.

Watching Javier’s act, Jade found it too much effort to even scoff at him. Despite that, the man who was seated opposite of her had the cheek to tell her, “Check the company account.”

“Fine, I’ll do that now. Let’s see how much of a con you are, Javier.”

With a click and a clack, Jade’s fingers flew across the keyboard furiously. Jade logged on to the company bank account. After keying in her credentials and hitting enter, she looked up and mocked Javier, “Hold onto your horses, I’ll be with you very soon!”

She did not skip a beat as she said that but the instant she looked back at her computer screen, her eyes grew wide in disbelief. The six zeros lining up after the numbers one and five made it very clear that it was indeed 1.5 million dollars.

Her gaze traveled to the name of the sender—Javier Kersey!