CHAPTER 6

Marcus Evans had never seen his daughter's jaw drop so hard that it popped, but he bore witness to it that night.

"Are you alright? What is it?" Marcus whispered to his daughter.

The jaw pop was so audible that some of the people around him heard it and were looking at his daughter strangely.

Audrey herself was having some difficulties closing her jaw. This was not what she was expecting to see. She tried to lean to Michael, perhaps he could explain what was happening.

But Michael ignored her completely. His eyes were fixed on Iryna Gallagher who sat directly in front of him from across the table.

Michael swallowed and pulled his shirt away from his neck. He blinked hard hoping that the image in front of him would vanish.

But no matter how much he did this, she was still there staring straight at him. He couldn't help but remember what a friend had told him some time back.

'Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.'

Her predatory sharp stare sent shivers down his spine. His back became so cold that he thought he had severed his spinal cord.

"Is she alright?" The female CEO of a prosperous newspaper asked Marcus.

Marcus barely nodded at her statement and held his daughter. He was about to stand up and take her aside when one of the numerous men in black suits acting as security held him down and said menacingly, 'Closed meeting.'

Iryna cleared her throat and the whole table went silent again. She pointed directly in front of her, toward Marcus. "Is there a problem there?" She spoke in a very stern voice.

Marcus felt a cold sweat break throughout his body. "She is having difficulty with her jaw, it seems—"

"Take care of it," Iryna interrupted. She referred to the man in a black suit.

The man immediately grabbed Audrey's jaw without delay and popped it back into place. He returned to his post as if nothing had happened and stared straight into nothingness.

"Oh thank you very much, Mrs. Walters," Marcus said shakily.

It was surely a bad debut for him to impress the young woman. He glared at his daughter and Michael, he would curse them if anything were to happen to his cash supply.

"I am very sorry for the delays," Marcus apologized. He almost choked at the intimidating thick aura that was hanging in the large hall. Even the color of the lights illuminating the room where on the depressing side of the color yellow.

Iryna ignored him and looked across the table. She took in a deep breath and cleared her throat.

"Good evening, Ladies and gentlemen present at this table. A few days ago, I lost my husband, Fred Walters," Iryna paused and looked down at the table.

Somewhere deep in her heart, she felt a tiny twinge of pain. Even though they had spent little time together, Fred Walters was her friend.

She might not have loved him as a husband, but she had come to care for and enjoy his company as a friend. She was hurt by his passing.

Iryna regained her composure and continued.

"But that doesn't mean all will end with him," she said in a firm voice. "He has passed on his legacy to me to continue and I will fulfill my duties as a wife so that all my husband built will not fall apart."

"So I will not let some mismanagement, which I have heard from some of you gathered here, drag my husband's effort to waste!" She cast her predatory glance across the table.

Gifted with striking green eyes from birth, her intense stare made some of the business associates present stir in their seats.

She clapped her hands and Jeremy, Fred's lawyer gave her a folder and returned to the darkness he came from.

Marcus frowned at the folder from where he sat. His mind told him he wouldn't like to know the contents of the folder.

Michael adjusted his tie and clasped his hands together. He was sweating under his shirt. He was already wishing he had never broken up with her.

The meeting had become very uncomfortable that he unconsciously sat at the edge of his seat. He wanted to be done with the meeting and scamper out of the room immediately. But that vicious glare...

"Inside this folder are all the expenditures, all the transactions made in all the companies that are under Fred Walter's name." Iryna brought out the contents of the folder and slammed the empty folder on the table, the sound echoing across the room.

Iryna took her time to look around the table and she saw some very uncomfortable CEOs looking away from her. She smiled at their demise. She was going to have fun that night.

"Hmm, let's see," Iryna examined the documents she was holding in her hands and looked directly at the CEO of Jameson's Auto, a very prestigious vehicle manufacturing company. The old man coughed and wiped his face immediately.

"Pumped in three hundred million dollars last year and the profit gotten at the end of last year was," she stopped and looked at him. "Nine hundred and seventy-five million dollars," Iryna said.

There was a round of applause around the table for the whooping profit generated.

"That is very much good work, but I am not quite happy with your staff Mr. James," Iryna said. The clapping stopped.

"Eh —what do you mean Mrs. Walters?" Mr. James, the CEO quivered at the corner of his mouth.

"Counts of embezzlement of funding; Bad treatment of workers; Do you want me to continue?" Iryna asked politely.

Mr. James stood up. "I am very sorry Mrs. Walters, I will try my best to recti—"

"Your funding will be reduced to one hundred and fifty million dollars," Iryna continued.

"Surely there is some—"

"—I? Make a mistake? Now that is an insult I will not take lightly. Apart from the fact that I pump in a lot of money, I know some investors bring in cash to keep it running. Three hundred million should have made you pass the one billion mark but you failed due to your incompetence, you will have to make sure to pass the one billion dollar revenue mark this year before I can think of pumping money again," Iryna said.

Marcus looked at Michael and back to Iryna. He hadn't expected her to know her stuff.

Iryna scoffed and looked down at her paper. "Oh this is interesting, Evans Modeling agency," she stopped and looked straight at Michael.