THE TEXT

Zane's Pov:

“Sir… um are you listening?” The project manager who was presenting asked, drawing my attention.

I blinked, training my indifferent gaze on him. “Yes, and it sounded like it was written by a third grader.” I paused, gauging his reaction. “Get me something perfect by the next meeting, or kiss your job goodbye.” His face turned pale, as sweat dripped down his forehead. 

“Ok… Sir” He replied with a shaky voice, quickly returning to his seat.

“Next,” I said curtly, ignoring the fearful glance they were all casting at me.

A young man with thick glasses walked to the front, his body tensed with each step.

“Umm, sir… the.. project at.. no the project…” He stammered.

“Stop!” I barked out, the sound of his stuttering grating on my nerves. “So I have no single competent project manager, just a bunch of incompetent fools? No need to continue with the meeting, get me something good by next week, or else!” I stood up and stormed out of the room, leaving them shaking in their seats.

I slumped in my seat immediately after I got back to my office. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about a certain auburn-haired lady. I had always loved her rare hair color—it was like a mixture of brown and red. The pain in her hazel eyes, which always glowed, had no more light.

Each tear she shed felt like needles piercing through my heart. I felt like burning that asshole Sebastian alive when I saw that cut. It’s been a few days since I sent her that text, but I got no reply from her, not that I expected her to, her heart still burned with anger. There was once a time she couldn’t go an hour angry at me, but now… I had hurt her deeply.

“Alright, have some ice cream”

“Mmmm, you’re the best Z”

“Weren’t you mad a second ago?”

“I can never be mad at you for so long Z”

I had ruined everything with my own hands, but… I had no other choice.

“Sir, the men are downstairs” Jacob, my assistant came in, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Send them in” I adopted a more serious posture.

Two huge men walked in, they were the men I had sent to fetch Sienna the other day. They both had bruises on their faces, which were given to them by me.

“I have one question boys, how did Sienna’s stitch tear?” I tapped my finger on the table, not casting them a glance.

“Uhmm Sir… sir, she refused and your order was to get her here no matter what.” One of them stuttered.

“I do remember ordering you not to use force, moat especially not to let her get hurt”

“Sir you did, but she was too stubborn, we didn’t use force, we only held her and dragged her gently to the car, her stitch must have torn while she was struggling” He was shaking like a leave. The other one also nodded his head fervently.

I raised my arm and gave the first man a hard slap across his face.

“Your first mistake was calling her stubborn”

Pah! I gave him another one.

“The second mistake was not following my orders”

I slapped him across his face again.

“Third mistake was shifting the blame to her”

I slapped him across the face, this time hard enough that he lost his balance and fell.

“Forth mistake was letting her bleed.”

I turned to the other one and gave him three slaps in succession.

“First mistake, backing up your partner’s mistake. Second one, not following my orders, Third one, letting her bleed”

They were both out of breath and tired but I didn’t care.

“You both know you are meant to lose your arms for laying them on her.”

“Please, we’ll do anything” They began pleading.

“Anything huh? Ok, you do something for me and I’ll consider letting you off with a lighter punishment.” I stroked my chin thoughtfully.

“We’ll do it, no matter what it is”....

Now they stood before me with tense expressions, casting each other nervous glances.

“Did you do it?” I asked curtly, pulling out a lighter and lighting a cigarette.

“Sir, we've done the job, it was a clean job.” He said quickly, trying to sound as confident as possible.

“Proof,” I asked, extending my arm to them.

“Here you go sir,” he said, placing a phone in my hands.

“Arghh” The piercing sound of pain rang out from the phone, as a video played, and I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face.

“Nice work guys, I guess you aren't completely useless,” I said, evidently in a better mood than before.

“Uhmm, sir, do we still have to be transferred to the borders?” He asked nervously, not meeting my gaze.

I stroked my chin thoughtfully, they had done the job well, but I couldn't help but feel that they were getting off too easily.

“No,” I said curtly. “But, you have to get her forgiveness and let her slap you two times or more, whichever she feels,” I added, seeing they were about to sigh in relief.

They froze up, staring at me with their eyes wide open, and mouth agape. “Why do they look so surprised? Did they think they wouldn't have to apologize to her when she was the one they hurt? Idiots” I thought inwardly, gazing at them indifferently.

“Understood?” I asked, raising a brow at them, my eyes cold and unfeeling.

“Yes sir” They answered in unison, their voices laced with fear.

I turned back to the paperwork in front of me completely ignoring their presence in the office.

They exchanged confused glances at each other, probably wondering if they should leave yet.

“And why are you still here?” I barked out, shooting them an indifferent glare.

“No…nothing sir, we’re leaving now” They stuttered out and left my office in quick strides.

“This is sure to bring her to me” I whispered under my breath, recalling the sound of pain, his expression, and everything about that video. I couldn't help the mischievous smirk that crept onto my face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mr. Lawson, it's an honor to meet you in person,” Mr. Monroe said, extending his arm for a handshake, a wide smile on his face.

I cast his extended arm an indifferent glance and sidestepped him, taking a seat on the nearest armchair, while Jacob sat on another armchair.

Mr Monroe froze in his spot, as his face flushed red in embarrassment, but he quickly masked his expression in an unnatural smile, and sat down as well.

, but he quickly masked his expression with an unnatural smile and sat down as well.

“And you must be the famous assistant, Jacob,” Mr. Monroe said, extending his arm for a handshake with Jacob, his tone seemed polite but I could catch a hint of scorn in it, and I’m sure Jacob caught it too.

Jacob stared at Mr. Monroe’s arm with a poker expression. He just nodded politely, ignoring Mr. Monroe’s outstretched arm, and said, “Let’s begin the meeting” With a cold voice.

Jacob was really quickwitted and smart, that was the reason he’d been able to stay with me for years now. I was very much satisfied with Jacob’s reply.

Mr. Monroe’s smile froze as his expression distorted. I’m sure he hadn’t expected such a reply from Jacob. He thought he could be on the same level as my assistant, Foolish!

“We can’t begin the meeting on an empty stomach, I’ll order us some food,” Mr. Monroe said after he regained his composure, staring at me nervously.

“Let’s get straight to the point of this whole meeting” I spoke up, for the first time since I got there.

“No, I insist, we would talk better with our bellies warmed by food.” He said assuming a calm front, but his eyes which darted around nervously told otherwise. He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair and continued shifting in his seat. He was nervous about something, I could also see a hint of fear in his eyes. 

“You’re right, let’s have a meal first,” I said after a while. He was up to something, and I was as hell going to find out what it was.

Jacob only shot me a knowing glance.

Soon after, some waiters walked in and served a variety of dishes and wine. Mr. Monroe poured out some wine for Jacob and me and some juice for himself. Feeling my gaze on him, he quickly said, “My wife hates it when I drink, and I wouldn’t want to make the Mrs. angry.” He chuckled as if he had just made a joke.

“Let’s toast,” He said raising his glass cup, I also raised my glass cup and toasted with him, I brought the wine to my lips, and its fragrance wafted through my nose, but instead of drinking it, I dropped it on the table. “I’ll have the wine after my meal.”

“No, that’s not fair Mr. Lawson, I’ve already downed mine, you should really have yours, the wine’s really nice” He blabbed on, trying to get me to take the wine.

“If it’s so nice, then you have it” I said lazily, sliding my wine towards him.

“No, it’s yours. Have it so that we can begin our meeting” He said, sliding the glass of wine back to me, his tone etched with frustration.

“Why are you hell-bent on me drinking this wine? I might misunderstand and think it was drugged” I said, my deep chuckle tearing through the silence in the room.

Mr. Monroe evidently froze up, but was quick to regain his composure, “Why would you say that?” He chuckled nervously, avoiding any form of eye contact with me.

“Maybe, because my drink was laced,” I said, my voice getting icier with each word, and a deadly glint in my eyes.

“What sort of accusation is this Mr. Lawson? Why would you accuse me of doing such” He stood up, bubbling with fury. But despite his angry appearance, his eyes instinctively avoided meeting mine.

“Oh, I didn’t say you did, but if the shoe fits…” I said, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly.

He opened his mouth, but no words came out. I was tired of dragging this on for too long.

“Now, Mr. Monroe, my patience is very limited, so you answer each and every one of my questions correctly huh?” I said, adjusting myself to get more comfortable, this was getting fun.

“Zane you bra…” Jacob’s hard slap across his face stopped him from finishing his sentence, his glance bounced from me to Jacob over and over again, with his lips parted in disbelief.

“Tsk Tsk, you should really learn to follow simple instructions,” I said, shooting him a disgusted look.

He stared at me saying nothing. The sound of another slap rippled through the air, this time around, Mr. Monroe was brought to his knees by it.

“I’ll answer truthfully, every question you have” He cried out, his head facing the floor.

“What’s in the drink?” I began the questioning.

He hesitated, but seeing Jacob about to deliver him another slap, he quickly spat everything out. “An aphrodisiac, we planned to get you to drink it, capture some explicit photos with you and some women, and, release the to tarnish your image, and also affect your standing as CEO.” He didn’t miss a beat as he listed out their whole plan.

 That showed how much of a coward he was, he spat out everything, just after two slaps. He really had some nerve to think he could plot against me successfully. I’m sure he was promised a generous amount of shares or maybe a project.

I couldn’t help but wonder which of them was behind this.

“Alright, now drink the wine,” I said, sliding the glass of wine towards him.

“What?” He asked, his eyes wide in horror. Did he actually think he could just go free by telling his plans, he was more foolish than I thought.

Jacob slapped him across the face, this time Mr. Monroe spat out some blood. “Drink it!” I commanded once more. He cast a fearful glance at me and Jacob, weighing his options. Funny he thought he had an option.

Seeing Jacob was about to deliver another slap, he quickly took the lass cup and chugged down the wine to the very last drop.

The sound of a notification on my phone drew my attention away from the current situation. I lazily brought out my phone, but the message on my screen caused me to sit up straight.

I stood up swiftly and turned to Jacob, “Take care of things here, get Mr. Monroe some women to keep him company, His company is probably too much for him to handle, so take care of that, also we can’t keep Mrs.Monroe in the dark of what her husband did here all night” I gave him some simple instructions, I was sure he would handle it flawlessly, it was just a simple matter.

Mr, Monroe stared at me wide eyed as I strode out of the room in quick strides. He looked as if he was about to have a heart attack, but I couldn’t care less about that. The only thing on my mind was that message.

Tomorrow.

Dafe’s Cafe.

2pm.