CHAPTER-2: Are you ready, Ms Seth?

Dammit!

Of all the embarrassing things that could happen to me, I have to lose myself in the Governor's office.

Embarrassed and flushed, Kiara hurriedly crouched to collect the papers from the floor.

She felt someone’s piercing gaze on her. Slowly she raised her eyes and met the gaze of deep gray-blue eyes of the man.

Declan Sullivan was sitting behind his enormous desk with a nonchalant face.

He had not moved let alone stand to help her. His broad shoulders rested against the chair. One arm rested over the armrest casually while the other palmed over the desk.

His eyes were unreadable. He looked so unbothered that Kiara thinned her lips. He was the governor but certainly not a gentleman!

He didn't even bother to ask whether she was fine or not.

She averted her eyes from him and grabbed the stuff from the floor and got back to her feet.

“Sorry for this and thank you for your time, Governor.” She smiled politely to break the awkwardness that filled the atmosphere after her embarrassing fallout.

Declan gestured to her to take a seat. She obliged and looked at him closely. In pictures, he looked intimidating and he was, but not to forget breathtakingly handsome too.

His sharp jaws and aristocratic nose spoke about his authority.

Declan gave her a nod and Kiara slapped her mind to focus.

“Let's start the interview then.” She said as she pulled out the small recorder from her bag and placed it on the desk between them. “Ready?”

Declan Sullivan raised his thick eyebrow and asked with a faint smirk, “Are YOU ready, Ms Seth?”

Kiara’s heart skipped its beat for a second. She didn’t miss the mock laced in his thick tone.

Heat creeps her cheeks in embarrassment. “I assure you Mr Sullivan. I am much more organised than this.”

Declan didn’t react much. She turned on the voice recorder and opened the leather folder but then her eyes went wide in horror.

The file was as blank as white canvas!

Wait! Where did the question list go?

She was reading the questions in the car. Then where the hell did that file go?

Kiara closed her eyes as she recalled the checking procedures. She gave her file to security guards. Something must have happened there.

Kiara knew she had to take matters into her own hands now. She couldn’t crash this interview. Roger would eat her alive.

So she would improvise.

She cleared her throat and asked him the first question that came to her mind.

“Mr Sullivan, what motivates you to enter politics?”

The governor felt such a strong urge to laugh. Such a unique question. He forgot how many times he had answered this.

“People. I want to help people. I have seen their miseries, the homelessness, the people who suffered because of the corruption in this state.”

Every word that rolled off his tongue filled the atmosphere. He looked like a man who had been obeyed his whole life.

Kiara smiled. Her gaze held his, confidently this time as she asked him the next question from what she read about him on the internet.

“People believe that you care about your image and power more than the service to people.”

Declan's eyes curled at the corners. “People elected me as their Governor because they believed in me. I always had power and image. It's nothing new to me.” There was a hidden meaning behind his answer.

“People often change their opinion about you. Do you think they do it out of fear?”

He raised his chin. “Why would they fear me? They should fear the laws, not me. I am here to help them and do the right thing for them.”

Kiara nodded. “Mr Sullivan, there was a journalist who did a background documentary on you right after you became the Governor of New York two years ago. He brings out some disturbing facts about your links with some dangerous people. That journalist died in an accident after two days with a video message that he lied about you because of your rival Mr Stone.”

Declan's eyes hardened. He was not expecting this question. He made sure Victor had every question checked before this interview. Then what the hell was this?

He answered in a cold and low tone. “The journalist mentioned clearly that he lied to destroy my image. What do you need me to answer about it, Ms Seth?”

Kiara swallowed at the sudden change in his tone. “I am asking Mr Sullivan, there were questions about his death. Mr Stone accused you of that journalist's murder.”

Inwardly, Kiara thanked her online research she did quickly on this topic.

Declan's jaws twitched. The girl was getting under his skin.

“Ms Seth. The man who could stoop to the level of lying to destroy my image, Couldn't he lie to boost his ego which couldn't accept defeat? I was a businessman, not a murderer before becoming the Governor of this state.”

Kiara nodded, then remembered another thing. “But I heard you have links with the crime world, Mr Sullivan. The Irish Mafia to be precise. In fact you were named as the ‘IRISH WOLF'”

Silence fell heavily. The atmosphere of the room suddenly turned cold but only for Kiara.

He gave her a smile. A dangerous one!

“Do you have any proof of my connection with the Irish Mafia, Ms Seth?” He asked, “You should not believe in the rumours. Everything you read on the internet is not generally true.”

“Are you calling those news articles about you, false?” Kiara challenged.

“I am calling rumours, Ms Seth. Rumours!” He mentioned, unbothered.

Kiara's questions were raw and edgy. They were irritating Declan.

“Then what about the title you hold? The Irish wolf.” She didn’t stop.

“My ancestors were from Ireland. Hence the title, Ms Seth.” He curtly answered.

“Do you have any real questions or are you going to question everything you read on the Internet about me, Ms Seth?”

Kiara gave him a meek smile. “I am only trying to end the curiosity people have about you. Everyone wants to know their Governor closely.”

The nerve in his temple started to tickle. Declan grabbed a pen from his desk and started rolling it to divert his mind. “People should know about the work I have done for them, not about such baseless rumours!”

Kiara nodded. “As you said everything about you on the internet is a rumour, Mr Sullivan. Because there is one more thing which made headlines two years ago and that was your marriage. Is that rumour too?”

His blue eyes suddenly flashed cold. Kiara however, was unable to notice such change, “It is said that you married Sila Sokolov, sister of Russian Billionaire Vladimir Sokolov, for a period of only two months? What went wrong that she divorced you and married Klaus Barbieri?"

Declan’s knuckles turned white and the pen in his hand broke into two pieces.

That was the limit of his control.

The Irish wolf she referred to burned in fury as his eyes went to the electric recorder set on the table.

“Turn that off!” He ordered in a steel tone, gesturing at the electric device with his eyes.

Kiara looked up in surprise. “What…”

“TURN. IT. OFF!” He whispered tightly while his gaze turned colder.

“But Mr Sullivan, I cannot do it. I need to record…”

“RIGHT NOW!” He almost roared.

Kiara flinched. Her breath caught in her throat, instinctively, her hands went to the recorder. She clicked a button to shut it and threw it inside her bag.

Declan rose to his feet, his gaze never leaving her. His eyes turned dark and dangerous.

She dared to take HER name!

Still he managed to maintain the mask of dignity as he declared walking near her, “This interview is over.”

The look he gave her said it all.

Kiara swallowed the thick lump firmed in her throat and tried to calm the situation once again. “But Mr Sullivan, you have not answered my question yet. I will end it after…”

In a heartbeat, Declan circled the desk to reach her and hovered over her sitting form. Kiara’s breath hitched.

“Next time Ms Seth. Learn how to take interviews rather than acting on your own. Improvising and audacity would take you nowhere but into danger.” He nodded slowly, his hot breath falling over her face, suffocating Kiara in a weird way.

Kiara’s hands shook with fear, as he lowered his voice, “And if this interview gets published, I will personally show you why I was named the Irish Wolf!”

Kiara’s body froze in fear. Then the door of the office opened and the uniformed officer entered.

“It's time to leave, Ms Seth.”

The warning literally panicked Kiara and she didn’t think twice before bolting out of his office.