Chapter 2: "I believe we have something to discuss, Miss Janssen."

Chapter 2: "I believe we have something to discuss, Miss Janssen."

Six years later…

Tess left the High Court after successfully clearing her client of all charges, her eyes brimming with joy and satisfaction at the number of zeros after the client credited her account. “As expected, clearing conglomerates of all the ‘false charges’ against them pays.” She looked behind her to see if anyone was following her before she walked towards the direction of a black van parked in an auspicious area by the court.

“Mummyyy” A cheerful voice filled the air as a little boy ran into Tess’s embrace. His peerless blue eyes and rich brown hair is particularly outstanding, at a glance one could tell he is the son of Ruben De vries.

Tess smiled widely at the sight of her intelligent son, wrapping him in her embrace, she graced his cheeks and face with wet kisses. “Luuk, my sweetheart.”

“ Ugh mother! Stop doing that, I'm not a kid anymore.” Little Luuk protested against his mother's show of affection, wiping his face with his tiny hands.

Tess laughed heartily, squatting to his height, she cupped his cheeks in her hands as her mind drifted far to 6 years ago. She had left the Netherlands for the United States to study as a law student but unexpectedly her first night with Ruben planted a seedling within her and little Luuk came to life.

Happy at first, Tess planned to tell Ruben about the good news but she heard he processed their divorce immediately she left and got married to his mistress, Brittney, the woman he brought to their matrimonial home on her first night with him.

Tess was broken once again, she mocked herself and swore to make Ruben's life miserable.

Everything about Luuk reminded Tess of Ruben, his blue eyes, silky brown hair, voice and personality, only that he is kinder and showers her with affection.

Everyday she's reminded of the man she never wants to see again, her desire for vengeance grows everyday.

“Mother, you have that crazy look in your eyes again.” Luuk’s eyes flashed with displeasure, his fingers eased the frown between Tess’s brows. Tess smiled dryly, the darkness in her eyes disappeared like it was never there.

‘’You're here.”’ An old healthy looking man walked up to Tess and Luuk. “How did the trial go?’’

‘’My trial can only end in one way, success.” Tess boasted with a prideful expression. “Thanks to my little smart son I found a loophole in the plaintiff’s claim, thankfully Mr Rodriguez is a cheerful giver to the public, locking him up will be difficult even for the judge. They just needed me to give them an excuse to let him go and little Luuk here found the best one.’’ Tess ruffled Luuk’s hair dotingly .

“ Haha This son of yours never fails to amaze me, your improvement over the last five years is said to be outstanding but for a kid his age, his IQ is monstrous. Your identity as Bluebird would only get stronger if you utilize his strength well.’’ Albert praised Luuk endlessly, his favoritism towards the little lad couldn't be more obvious. He watched Tess grow before her father moved to the Netherlands and although they were in contact he wasn't aware of the things going on in her marriage life until five years ago.

‘’Another job came in, for Bluebird.” Albert suddenly got serious.

Sensing the change in air, Luuk got up and left the back of the van to the driver’s side.

Tess smiled at her son’s sharp sense, but her heart ached at his maturity. He never for once asked for his father or cried to her about anything like every child will.

‘’The NIS in the Netherlands made a request for you to come down there to investigate a telecommunications company for illegally collecting and using their userś personal data but… ‘‘ Albert paused and took a deep breath. “It is Ruben’s mobile app development company, De Vries Group.‘‘

A light flashed past Tess's eyes and a wicked smile subconsciously crawled up her lips. Finally, a chance for revenge. She waited six long years for this.

‘’Tess, it's not confirmed yet if the company actually does this, it could be one of their employees singlehandedly doing this or maybe a competitor leaked the Intel to the NIS anonymously with fabricated evidence, don't let your desire for revenge interfere. I wanted to refuse at first but if it turned out to be true, then it's the perfect chance to drag him down.” Albert added at the sight of Tess’s twisted expression.

‘’No worries, my work is one thing, personal affairs is another’.” Tess replied but her expression said otherwise. ‘’When do I begin and what's my identity?’’

‘‘ Tess Janssen, Head Technology Lawyer for the biggest law firm in the city of Amsterdam Netherlands, Ro and Co. Big companies frequently use the lawyers of this law firm before signing a contract or while drafting their terms and conditions, it's the perfect identity to burrow into any company's system without suspicion, and of course Ruben’s company. De Vries Group is one of these big companies that patronize this law firm.”

“Perfect.” Tess could picture the look in Ruben's eyes when he sees her. But before that, she had to leave him a little gift in advance.

The next day, Tess sets out for the Netherlands.

“Son, we’re visiting my homeland.” Tess giggled, snuggling into the soft couch of the plane.

Luuk didn't question Tess throughout the journey, he only watched her expression alternate from viscous to sneaky to happy face, over and over again.

Feeling a massive headache coming up, Luuk ignored her and focused on the new hacker’s guide he bought online for 500 USD, squeezing his nose adorably at the sight of the easy program he mastered already, he mourned his hard earned money and the person that forced him to buy the program even though he knew it was dubious, his mother Tess who is currently gazing at the clouds solemnly in contrast to her excited self from earlier.

Luuk decided not to make trouble with her, whenever she gets like this he tends to leave her to recover quietly.

The plane landed at 12 noon, Tess rubbed her eyes roughly, turning to look at Luuk who is wide awake watching a video on coding as usual. “Do you not get tired of those?” Tess yawned at the sight of the boring strings of texts and numbers.

“Tch.” Luuk sulked.

Tess phoned Albert as soon as they alighted the plane. “Mmh, we’re in a taxi to the villa. It’s a quiet property where the rich and retired reside in Amsterdam, and it’s not too far from work.”

“Do you think you might run into him?”

“No, the estate is occupied by old people and I did a thorough search on the residents list.”

“Okay, call me when you settle down.”

“Sure.” Tess terminated the call.

…

In De Vries’ Main meeting room.

“What is this mess?” Ruben rebuked his employees sternly, his brows furrowed into a knot. “Advertising team, the budget was exhausted but the performance is 70 percent lower than expected, Care to explain that?”

No one spoke a word, the meeting room was dead silent, the workers shivering at Ruben's overbearing attitude, this time of the year is usually the worst for them. It's spring but it feels like winter.

One of them garnered the courage and raised his hand to talk, “M-Mr Ruben the application’s daily performance was originally doing well, within a few days it skyrocketed to 400 percent potential leads generation but-“ he gulped and continued ‘‘ after the s-scandal surrounding Miss Brittany surfaced yesterday night, the stocks and app performance plummeted to the negative.”

“And I don't pay you enough to fix that?” Ruben questioned.

Everyone in the room broke out in cold sweats, they wouldn't dare reply to that.

As the face of most of the company’s products, Brittany always causes troubles for the company whenever there is a scandal surrounding her but their payments are always doubled or tripled during these periods in return for fixing the situations and working overtime.

She is their curse and blessing.

‘’This meeting ends here, if by tomorrow morning the tech team hasn't taken down all the videos and photos circulating, the PR team hasn't released a worthy statement to clear the air and the advertising team hasn't done the necessary, you can all submit your resignation letters or prepare to be fired.”

Fired?! Once a person is fired from De Vries there's no hope for them in the tech industry anymore, no one wants to employ someone tossed out of De Vries.

‘’Yes sir.” They replied in unison, cursing the mastermind who leaked the photos and videos so that when they deleted the videos and photos, they only multiplied in number.

No matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find the person. It seemed like it was a ghost that did it.

Tess sneezed suddenly, it seemed like someone was cursing her behind her back, she had sent a welcome back gift for Mr Ruben the previous night through the internet and she hoped he liked it.

Ruben exited the meeting room angrily, of all time to cause disturbance Brittany chose this period, six years ago today, he was utterly humiliated by Tess and ever since then no matter how hard he tried to find her he couldn't.

He found out she traveled to the United States but even after spending millions to find her place of residence and information about her, he couldn't. It was as if someone deliberately prevented him from getting any information about her but knowing Tess, she is a weak and incompetent woman so how could she have a person powerful enough to protect her from his claws.

Even after spreading news of his marriage, she didn’t show up, her indifference itched the depths of his heart. He hoped she would surface after news of his ‘marriage’ went public but she didn't, like she didn't care at all. The young and innocent lady who was once infatuated with him just drifted away with the wind.

‘’Mr Ruben, Ro and Co law firm just sent the new Technology lawyer to review the contract with the new collaboration with the Chinese shopping application.’’ Thomas interrupted Ruben's thoughts.

"Alright, ask the secretary to escort them to my private lounge, I will be there in five minutes.’’ Ruben rubbed his temples, his head aching from the barrage of thoughts and conflicting emotions whenever Tess surfaces in his mind.

‘’okay.” Thomas replied firmly, relaying Ruben's message to the secretary outside the office.

Ruben settled his thoughts, regaining his professional countenance, he walked into the private lounge reserved for very important meetings.

He pushed the glass door open, his eyes surveyed the people in the room until his gaze settled on the woman sitting on the far end of the couch in the right side of the room, he paused halfway as he tried to take a seat.

Tess’s red lips curled upwards, looking like the devil's incarnate with her smokey eye makeup. Her sexy aura is further aided by her seductive red suit, flaunting her long legs as she sat cross legged, and with a smug look on her face, she winked at Ruben, her eyes filled with nothing but mockery.

Seeing the frown on his face and stress between his eyebrows she knew he liked the gift she left for him and the surprise she brought along with her.

‘’What are you doing here?’’ Ruben lost his cool, his usually calm demeanor shattered like thin ice.

‘’ W-what do you mean Mr De Vries? We are the team of lawyers from Ro and Co law firm on the new project with the chinese mob-“

‘’No, no not you, her.” Ruben dismissed him impatiently, pointing his fingers at Tess.

‘’ Oh Mrs Janssen? She is our new head of Technology lawyers from the United States, she might be young but is very competent. She is a lawyer with zero lost cases, a rare kind.’’ Mr Gerald boasted non stop about their new lawyer, he didn't notice Ruben's expression darkening with every word of his.

“Could it be that Mr Ruben has a problem with me

being here?” Tess talked for the first time, her eyes dimmed slightly as she spoke with a sly tone.

Ruben's fury grew stronger but he controlled himself, suppressing the raging emotions in his heart, he sat down reluctantly and the meeting began.

Throughout the meeting, Ruben's eyes never for once left Tess, at times she gazed back at him with a mocking smile in her eyes as she professionally went through the contract, garnering the praises of the other lawyers.

She smiled sincerely at their enthusiasm and welcoming attitude towards her and of course Ruben witnessed this, his heart burning with a feeling different from hatred but he could only interpret it as that.

As soon as the meeting was over and the crowd prepared to disperse, Ruben grabbed Tess’s wrist. “I believe we have something to discuss, Miss Janssen.”

Short poem based on this chapter. (Ruben’s POV)

Title: Karma.

“ She had me wrapped around her finger, enough to trigger buried emotions within me.

In her karma dress, she infiltrated my abode and made me look like the visitor, claiming her position in my life without uttering a word.

For a split second, she had me thinking about the times I was worthy enough to call her my woman.

The regrets sets in.”