Admittedly, Bella Greene was an exceptionally beautiful woman who could make people stop what they were doing and stare in a trance. Then, they would notice her hot figure and be even more amazed. As the CEO of a modeling company, it only made sense that she had some of the greatest looks and shapes. Judging by how she was handling their talk, Bella was no slouch in diplomatic work either. Everything, down to her manner of speech, showed great skills. Javier put down his pen after signing the paper and held her hand for a shake. “You flatter me, Miss Greene. Please take a seat.”Both of them made themselves comfortable while Grace left to prepare some refreshments. While they waited, Javier and Bella began to talk. It was the first time the latter ever talked to her, but by God, he was amazing. Everything he said made 100% sense in accuracy and meaning, and the manner he projected reminded her of respectable leadership. His spectacular excellence was evident in the shock Bella f
Vic was too shocked to react. He had not imagined that the guys he had been obsessively looking for as soon as he had returned to his senses would be the new chairman and his secretary. Naturally, this meant he had to abandon his search. Arrogant as he was, Vic was not stupid enough to think knocking on the chairman’s door would be a good idea at all. He would have never realized that the woman he had been flirting with was the chairman’s secretary and the chairman was the one who had punched him. Worst of all, he had even paraded around in front of the chairman as though he owned the company, telling him that Vic was the one who called the shots…Randall elbowed his son. “What are you staring at? Everyone’s clapping. You have to clap!”Even if he wanted to, Vic could not bring himself to do it. Feeling disconcerted, he replied, “I found the guy who punched me.”Randall stopped clapping. “Who is it?” he bristled. “Tell me and I’ll tear him apart!”“It’s the chairman.”“Who?”Ra
The banquet ended, and the Bates were taken away by the cops. As the attendees dispersed, they had lost any mirth they had felt at the beginning and now treated their new chairman with only respect and deference. Javier returned to his office, where Derek gave him a thumbs-up. “That was incredible, sir! Just like that, you made them all defer to you like loyal subjects!”While the Bates were the ones being expelled, the entire act doubled as a deterrent for the rest of the company. He was showing his inferiors that he could easily dismiss a powerful investor of the company if he saw fit. What chance did those who had even less power have? Javier might not care about whatever meager profits Parsson Group could make, but he definitely would not sit on his hands and watch his underlings break the rules. He was sure that after his stunt, these people would learn to behave themselves.. He talked to Derek for a bit longer before leaving the building altogether. He then decided to dri
Javier led Xander to a jewelry store nearby. They entered, and Javier shot Xander a glance. “You know what rich alphas like to do? They buy all kinds of expensive sh*t for their girls like there’s no tomorrow! Since you insist on showing off how rich you are, then let’s play a fair game. Let’s see who can buy the most expensive jewelry! The one who doesn’t have enough money will f*ck off before he makes a huge fool of himself. Agreed?” Xander thought it was a fair game. The jewelry he bought would be meant for Grace, and besides, he was sure he could afford it. A necklace would only cost him about 3,000 dollars anyway. He eagerly agreed. Grace wanted to step in. She wanted to stop him before he crashed and realized he could not possibly beat Javier. She opened her mouth and began to speak. “Xander, listen to me. I don’t like you that way, but I’ve always seen you as my good friend, so listen to me when I’m telling you—”Xander cut her short before she could get to the point. “Do
Xander was furious. He refused to believe that he could not rival Javier when he had 500,000 dollars. He disregarded Grace’s advice to stop him and made purchases worth over 150,000 dollars.He felt that he was surely going to win this time and even pointed at Javier, who was at the door, arrogantly. “Go on, keep showing off!”Before he could get his fill of mocking Javier, though, the sales associate swiped the card and pulled double the amount of his payment from Javier’s card.Xander was stunned. F*ck, how much money did the guy have? Javier appeared to be around his age and he only had this much money because he had won a lottery. Where had Javier gotten his?Despite that, he couldn't care less about it now. All he could think of was squashing Javier and satisfying his ego by flaunting his money, so he went all out with the remaining 300,000 dollars in his card.“F*ck you, I don’t believe you could pay more!”As Xander snapped, he swiped his card again and barely made up the
Javier was only trying to scare Grace and did not actually follow her inside. After all, the latter had said that her younger brother was home. She would be put in an awkward spot if Javier went in and realized that there was no one home.Besides, he had told Cher earlier that he would go to her tonight and…Javier was someone who kept his word.The next day, Javier asked Cher to let the school know that he was on leave. He was not going to school. Cher was incredibly curious about Javier’s whereabouts and asked, “What do you actually do? You look busy all the time and you don’t look like a student even when you’re on campus.”Javier chortled. “As long as you know I’m not a student.”He kissed Cher and got her into the car before taking her to campus. Upon arriving there, and before Cher got out of the car, she stared at Javier for a while, hanging her head and mustering the courage to say, “I think…we aren’t compatible.”“Hmm?” Javier had not expected Cher to suddenly blurt someth
Javier was blunt. There was no need for him to be tactful with Bella either since he was speaking the truth.However, that was not what Bella thought, as she assumed Javier was too courteous, so she could not help retorting, “Mr. Kersey, don’t you know whether you’re being genuine or not? You—”Bella regretted it the moment the words left her mouth. Javier was her client, after all, and she ought to be polite. She forced a smile and shook her head. “Sorry, I was a little rash just now.”Javier waved. “Don’t, no need to apologize. We’re clearing this up today. I just want to know. If Taylor Kloss is here, will you have her as a coach?!”Seeing that Javier was relentless on the topic, Bella lost her cool as well. Her temper flared all of a sudden.“Sure, you have to get to the bottom of this, right, Mr. Kersey? Okay, we’ll get to the bottom of this!“As long as you get Taylor Kloss here, I don’t care what kind of conditions you have. I will agree to all of them!“But if you can’t
Javier was not actually lying. His work could be done no matter where he was. Turning on Bella’s computer, Javier connected to Reivaj Group’s internet to go through his reports easily. He went on his phone and signed on the touchscreen to look at documents that required his signature.Everything went on smoothly. Bella went to her secretary and asked about Javier several times but could only avoid him when she was told that he was still around.When noon came, she could no longer hide from him. They were business partners, and she could not possibly not offer him lunch. Hence, Bella hung her head as she went back to her office to ask Javier out to lunch.At the same time, Javier was just done going through the documents and signing them, so he stretched himself after deleting any relevant traces. It was during his little stretch that he accidentally pulled the drawer of Bella’s desk open.It was just a drawer. He could just close it if he accidentally opened it. It was not a big de
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