The quarterly deal!This used to look like Mount Spectacular to Jade. A spectacular benchmark, yes, but also something she believed she could scale. Then a battalion of business difficulties joined forces with family members trying their damndest to frustrate her, and suddenly, Jade found herself facing grueling odds to meet her goal.However, all of that changed since Javier Kersey appeared. Even the most insurmountable of odds crumbled before him, like a famous landmark helpless before the might of a superhero! And now, even without any long-term preparation, he managed to push her into fulfilling the deal!As Jade’s fair, delicate hands flipped through the contract detailing the change to the ownership of Midnoon Tires, they trembled against her wishes. She was astounded that Javier managed to acquire their rival company at a slashed price of 780 thousand dollars. She was ecstatic that she had managed to hold up the end of her deal, thus freeing her from the nightmare of a politi
Matthew was exceptionally confident that Jade would not be able to fulfill the quarterly deal they had.Clement had called him earlier in the afternoon and said that production had recovered while the controversy surrounding Midnoon Tires had also died down. Midnoon Tires had also reacquired most of the orders that had flocked to Beacon Tires when the scandal broke out.In Clement’s words, Beacon Tires was only a step away from bankruptcy! That was why Matthew dared be so sure.While those in the meeting shifted their gazes toward Jade, the lady was calm and composed as she retrieved photocopies of a report from her workbag. She tossed them on top of the meeting table and everyone picked up a copy. Everyone got a copy except Matthew.When they saw the photocopied reports, they gaped. The Matthew’s lackeys who had been hollering shut their mouths then. This made Matthew curious. Snatching one from his underlings to see for himself, he was shocked at what he read and stood frozen lik
And lo and behold, before everyone’s eyes, Matthew crammed the fake report into his mouth. He could not have backed out even if he wanted to. As Jade said, he had made that declaration in front of so many people and could not lose his credibility as the vice general manager of the corporation.As he chewed, his eyes burned with a rage that looked like they could spew out and burn Jade alive. As an authority figure within the corporation, forcing him to eat the fake report was akin to having his face slapped. This infuriated Matthew.After swallowing the paper, Matthew glared daggers at Jade before turning around and storming out. He was too humiliated to stay any longer.When the monthly meeting had been wrapped up, Jade was in a great mood. The first thing she did going back to her car was to pull out her phone to call Javier and share the good news with him.Surprisingly, she could not reach his phone. The automated operator said that the phone was turned off. This put Jade on ed
As he observed the circle of men that surrounded him, Javier did not say a word. Instead, he proceeded to empty his pockets, tossing his items into his car. He was not even bothered to ask who had sent them. He could guess as much from Matthew’s barks earlier this morning.The bald guy snorted at Javier’s actions. “Don’t worry. We’re only cutting your ear off. We won’t take your things.”“You think too much. I’m just afraid that I have to waste more time looking for my stuff if I lose them while taking care of you guys.”Javier’s reply stunned the baldy for a few moments. He then guffawed and looked back at Javier like he was an idiot. “You? You think you can beat all of us?”“I, Sam Langdon, have spent years in the underworld. And you’re the first to ever amuse me even before I do anything to you. That’s pretty nice. To reward you, I’ll cut both your ears off so you maintain your symmetry. No need to thank me. I—”Sam was still speaking when Javier threw a fast punch. The baldy b
Matthew was taking care of Kendrick in the hospital and telling his son about how Jade had completed the quarterly deal. Kendrick had yet to find out that he would be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life, thus was unbothered and unruffled that he had the time to think about making others suffer.“Since Jade has completed the deal, we don’t have to target her business dealing from now on—”Kendrick was speaking when Matthew cut him off. “What do you mean we don’t have to? Of course, we have to. It's necessary that we do so!“What do Jade and her mother depend on for their livelihood currently? Beacon Tires, no doubt.“Think about it. If they don’t have Beacon Tires, how will the two of them survive?”Realization struck Kendrick. “I understand what you mean now. We will be taking away their livelihood when we bring down Beacon Tires. When they’re unable to survive and we Odells don’t provide them with any support, Jade can only send herself to the Dunhams!”Matthew wore a vict
Matthew knew nothing about finances. Similarly, he did not understand how Odello Corp. was being targeted financially when the company was not even listed. The deputy finance director explained everything to him, but it all sounded like a foreign language to Matthew. He just could not be bothered to digest it.“You’re the expert here. I’ll leave this to you. I’ll trust whatever you suggest!”The deputy finance director was quite moved. “I won’t let you down, Mr. Odell!”After the vow, the deputy finance director suggested that Matthew pull back all the corporation’s funds in order to face a possible incoming and bigger finance attack.Matthew sent out the order at once to direct back all the funds that could possibly be pulled back. His secretary asked softly from the side, “Mr. Odell, those stockpiles of raw materials for tires, they make up quite a substantial amount.”On one hand, it was the life and death of Odello Corp. On the other hand, it was tearing Beacon Tires apart. Al
After the financial sniping incident, Matthew suspected that Beacon Tires had something to do with the incident, as it was all too much of a coincidence. However, Mary Jane had already made plans for someone else to take the fall—under the pretense that a minor company had somehow been the instigator of the entire incident. By doing so, Odello Corp. would have no way of linking this incident to Beacon Tires. There was no way Matthew was going to let Beacon Tires off the hook despite not being able to link the two together.Over the next month, he coerced Odello Corp. into using all kinds of extreme methods to pressure Beacon Tires. However, all of these attacks were easily handled by Javier, rendering all of Matthew’s efforts moot, causing the latter to be extremely furious. At the same time, the young Dunham, who was the person pulling the strings from behind the scenes, was feeling frustrated as well.Judging by the man’s tone during their conversation, Matthew could tell tha
At Javier’s question, pin-drop silence fell over the party.Dick stood before him, his eyes emanating a look full of scorn. “What’s wrong? Do you not like what I said? Are you going to hit me just like you did all those years ago? Come on then!“If you dare touch a single hair of mine, I’ll send people to hound you and make sure that you end up dead! Go ahead! Try me if you dare!!!”Despite how arrogant Dick was at that moment, he did not dare do the same to others of their group because most of them came from wealthy families with decent careers and a certain amount of influence behind the scenes. However, he thought that Javier was just a useless piece of trash that he could mock over and over again without any fear of backlash! Right at that moment, someone suddenly crashed the party! A clean-looking, handsome man rushed in with a fresh bouquet in his hands. “Hello, my dear female schoolmates! It’s me…Zayn Dunham!”Zayn was one of Javier’s schoolmates and the biggest dra
As Bernadetta launched a barrage of kicks against the restaurant door, Mrs. Greene summoned 120% of her strength, holding the fort. The older woman had made a living terrorizing others with absurd accusations and downright unreasonable demands, but this time, she had met her match. Bernadetta James put the “man” in the word “woman”—in that she resorted to violence as soon as things escalated. In the end, it took both Mrs. Greene’s apology and a deal to provide Javier and Bernadetta with three days’ meals, all free of charge, to make the young woman stop. Then—“because I actually have a weakness against people sincerely appealing to my better angels,” according to Bernadetta—she amended the peace offer, changing the three days’ free meals to…a week’s worth. Back in the inn, Javier expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Bernadetta for rescuing him. “I can’t thank you enough for standing by my side when I needed it the most, Bern. But I can thank you a bit more if you refrain from using t
Mrs. Greene opened her flap and unlocked the floodgate, the spit during her tirade so profusive that she could water an old lady’s lawn. “It’s him, officers! It’s all him! He did this to his own camera just to remove himself as a suspect, but we know better than that! He’s the guy who stole my goddamn lingerie!”She turned and trained her finger on Javier. “You vile, disgusting, degenerate piece of sh*t! Ptooey!”‘Back at you! I'd rather spend the night with my left hand than with you!’ By this point in the morning, Bernadetta had arrived at work. Her heels clicked onto the floor as she sauntered toward the commotion. As soon as she heard what had transpired, she laughed, looking clearly amused. She trained her perfectly manicured finger on Javier and piled on. “Oh, it was him. I can testify to that! He stole Mrs. Greene’s bra because he is…the Lingerie Phantom Thief! By day, he is Javier Kersey. At night, he is Jo Ker, the Bra Stealer!” Javier threw his arms up in exasperation
Javier shook his head. By the time his vision was back to normal, the dog was gone. It had escaped! “What kind of hell spawned this little sh*t?!” Javier wondered to himself aloud. “Was this really an effect of the world changing? Is this an example of mutation because of the Storm? Or is there something else at play?”Baffled and unsure what to think, Javier returned to the dorm and told the residents to open the door. Inside, he found Florence huddling the frightened kids closely. She was white from fear, and yet in the presence of vulnerable kids, she had assumed the role of the protector without a second thought. “Hush, it’s alright! It was fake. Someone pulled a terrible prank and put on this white sheet and…” Javier made up a fib to explain the haunting away exactly because the truth could land him in a mental institution. No one would believe him—and for good reason too!Javier drove Florence back to the Yuzuian restaurant, where the latter’s electric scooter was. While
A resentful wail—interspersed only by sobs that sounded more like someone was being strangled—was echoing in the middle of the night while Javier and Florence could not see even a single soul out there? Animated by the power of “hell, naw!”, Florence dove into Javier’s arms for protection. Her hands were clasped firmly on either side of her head, hoping to block out the ghastly demand in her ears. Her eyes were squeezed so tightly shut that even a crowbar could not pry them open.Javier himself was just as terrified. He would have felt better if he could see the source of the voice rather than just hear a woman sobbing about getting her head back. At least he would know what he was up against! But just hearing it without any visuals at all?! Nooooope!Then, Florence hugged him in a “help-me!” sort of way. She was soft and supple—damn, that sexy figure in combination with her silky-smooth skin sure was welcoming. She was warm, and damn did she smell good! Nothing competed with fea
The dog barked in protest as it pointed its paw at Javier with the intensity of a mob before executing a monarch. The flames in its eyes were so bright that they could incinerate Javier into ashes in milliseconds. In the end, though, all that protest was for naught. Constance tied it up in the parking garage, while Javier watched in glee. Ah, sweet, sweet revenge! The stupid dog had thought it could set him up, had it? That would teach it!The look the Pomeranian shot him almost felt like a threat: ‘Just you f*cking wait, hooman!’‘Wait for what? How much can a stupid b*tch like you do to me?’ Javier scoffed in his mind. Now that the four-legged pest was gone, Javier turned back to Constance and talked about the new orphanage. As it turned out, despite the old woman’s sentiments for the building she had founded, she was a lot less obstinate and unreasonable as she might appear. “I mean, I don’t object to it completely. I know the new place is gonna be better, but…” She faltered a
Florence called half an hour later to tell him where they’d be having dinner. After leaving the inn in Bernadetta’s care, he hurried to the venue. Florence had picked a newly-opened Yuzuian restaurant. Javier had never liked Yuzuian restaurants, but since Florence had invited him, courtesy stopped him from asking the woman to change their meeting venue. He found Florence quickly enough and sat across from her. They placed their orders, and Javier began his performance: He started sighing and doing his best to look forlorn. It intrigued Florence enough to ask what was wrong, and Javier told her about his unfortunate beef with Constance that day.“It’s so unfair, man! Why would I bully a dog for no reason?” he moaned. “I’m sure Aunt Constance misunderstood. You’re a knightly, heroic, kind man! How could someone like you possibly get off on hurting a dog? I’m sure Aunt Constance was just too worried about the dog’s welfare to think things through. She didn’t mean it. I can vouch for
Herschel was dressed quite sharply today. It was the full ensemble—black leather shoes, black slacks, a white collar, and last but not least, the good old oil-slicked hair. The typical look of a high-ranking office worker, just as Javier had requested. Ordering him to get in his car, Javier asked, “You brought all the stuff I told you to?”“Yo, I would never forget the stuff my boss told me to bring. I’ve got all the preparations down pat. You can check ‘em if you don’t trust me,” Herschel replied. He fished an ID and some documents out of his leather bag. “See? All the documentation a journalist in the most important room of a news agency would have.”After a round-check and some instructions, Javier sent Herschel on his way to complete his mission. The man was strangely reluctant, though. “Boss, you told me you decided to work in that inn, right? Does that mean, you know, that you’re gonna call me ‘boss’ while you’re there?”Javier had almost forgotten he had mentioned this. It
Javier’s suspicion turned to Constance Hellman’s white Pomeranian. He turned to the director’s office and met the dog’s eyes. With its paws on the windowsill, it hoisted itself up to look out of the window. Seeing the dog cracking a lopsided grin and baring its fangs—beaming as smugly as a teacher’s pet who had managed to subdue everyone through the power of being the boss’s favorite—made it look both amusing and chilling. It would have been had the dog not caught Javier’s gaze, suddenly dropped the smile, and put on a face that seemed to be saying, ‘I’m just your average dog! Nothing to see here!’And then it feigned—yes, feigned—a yawn as its one last measure to cover up the fact that it had been laughing smugly to itself. ‘What. The. Actual. F*ck?!’ Javier thundered in his mind. ‘B*tch’s a natural actress! What’s it doing here instead of being interviewed on a talk show after becoming viral on TikTok?’In combination with Russell’s report, the incident inside the director’s of
As Javier was befuddled, Constance rushed in from outside and picked up the white Pomeranian gingerly to carefully check its injured leg.“Oh, baby, what’s the matter? Did you hurt your leg?”The white Pomeranian whined in pain and began twitching upon hearing Constance’s concerned question. This upset Constance so much that she admonished him sternly. “Mr. Kersey, I thought that you were a loving person, but I can’t help doubting your motive now.“I’m skeptical about you taking good care of the kids here when you’d even hit a cute dog!”Javier felt extremely offended. When had he hit the dog? He hurriedly explained, “Madam Hellman, I didn’t do anything!”Constance asked angrily, “You didn’t do anything? Why would it suddenly limp now and whine so pathetically? Why did it hurry over to me? Give me a reasonable explanation!”Javier was in distress as well. “How would I know? It was fine when I was carrying it just now, but it wanted to get down on the floor, so I carefully placed