Loved

Hunter’s P. O. V.

———————

“Good morning Mr Jaquish, Mr Harwood ” I greet the two men who I am familiar with and giving them a handshake which is obvious that they grudgingly accepted.

Well Dad was right.

I sight Lily at the left end of the table and I acknowledge her with a nod.

But the third man in the room was a strange appearance to this party. And from my apprehension he looks to be my age more so or a tad bit older.

” And may I ask who?” Referring to the gentleman who is currently undressing my secretary with his eyes.

” This is Mr Hayes, my nephew and the one to take over my business. So he is right to be here to know the companies he is up for ” Mr Jaquish answers glaring at me with his last words.

You’re angry. Hint taken.

” Well then, nice to get to meet you Mr Hayes ” I extend my hand to him for a handshake also.

He finally takes his eyes off Iris and pays me the slightest attention.

” I’m not sure if I can say the same, but who is this lovely lady behind you?” His eyes going back to what it preferred interesting.

” That’s my secretary, so may we get down to the main reason for being here” I take my seat at the head of the table and wait for Iris to take hers beside me but someone seems to not be ready for this meeting.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

” May I know your name?” Mr Hayes asks Iris who was currently going to sit beside Mr Harwood which is almost at the opposite end of the rectangular table.

” Miss Shawn, but you can call me Jules” She offers him a bright smile and a handshake.

Oh, so she can give answers freely to someone she just met.

” Jules. I like it. Call me Darlington ” He responds and plants a kiss to the back of her palm.

Meanwhile Mr Jaquish and Harwood just watch in admiration.

Is there really no one ready for this meeting?

I clear my throat to get back their attention ” Shall we begin?” My focus on Mr Hayes and he is aware of it.

” Of course we shall, you can have a chair here love” He taps on the seat by his left hand for Iris.

” Her seat is here Mr Hayes, thank you for the suggestion ” I look to Iris with an expression that clearly says ‘need I remind you this meeting is your fault’

And I believe she understands because she smiles ” Don’t worry Mr McConnell, I’ll be fine beside Darlington ”

Then the bitch takes a seat beside Mr Hayes which makes her sandwiched between him and Mr Jaquish.

I sent her an are you serious look but she ignored me anyway.

” So no need for time wasting ” Mr Harwood finally comes to his senses ” We all know why we’re here, and need I say, I am not at all happy with the reason ”

” Yes Mr McConnell, you see there is a reason why a contract was made. To ensure all parties keep to their word, which you have remarkably failed to do ” Mr Hayes now deemed it fit to concentrate.

” Well, there’s also something known as lucrative interest. If I see no profit from your side, why then invest?” I direct my question to the present Mr Hayes .

” Lucrative interest comes in only when a contract hasn’t been involved yet. Meaning you had to have thought about that before putting your signature on a paper ” Mr Jaquish counters.

” Since we began in our little trade all we’ve recorded was losses” I continue. ” I don’t think any businessman would love to be associated with losses”

” Need I remind you Mr McConnell that contracts are like marriage deeds, for better for worse till death do us part or rather in this case till it is of no use” Mr Hayes replies while dropping a file on the table and Iris picks it up.

” Well your business is of no use to me anymore so your argument is invalid ” Iris opens the file and starts reading it.

” Our deal says we have to be valid for at least ten years before we can consider it useless ” Hayes finishes off.

I look to Iris to know if what he said was true since she is the one holding the contract.

She lifts her head and catches my eyes on her, when I lift a brow that silently asks my question she nods in response.

So that dude read the contract.

” Your business manual says when something is inactive it’s noted a stale worth, which may I add is your business to mine” I pipe up and wait for a counter.

” Mr McConnell, that same business manual states the right to sue to court any business that dupes the other which you firmly did” Mr Harwood states.

” I did not dupe anyone ”

” How would you refer to a case where we deposited our share of money promised and you gave half at the beginning, proceedingly we kept on depositing our share but you never dropped a dime as our agreement had stated. This means you’re gaining from us but we are losing much more than expected because of you ” Mr Jaquish explains.

” Plus, we thought we received the share. Because your firm sends a receipt every month to our office. Only till we checked the balance before we found out something doesn’t add up. So if I am to take this to the court, it will be considered as a deliberate fraud”

Deliberate frauds can close down a company for good and my dad is going to kill me if such a thing happens.

I can’t let them sue me for all its worth.

I look to Iris to know what she has to say but she only flashes a wide grin and shakes her head in a negative reaction.

She has nothing to add? I thought Dad said she will be useful in the meeting? She literally just heard a sue to court and she’s willing to say nothing?

” Excuse me for a moment, Iris may we speak outside?” I get up and walk out the door to wait for her. Counting numbers in my head so I can cool my upcoming temper.

” My name in official gatherings or wherever is Jules”

I have bigger issues.

” Why the hell are you not saying anything?”

” Because it’s nice watching your ass get lashed. You stepped on very wrong toes Mr ” She poked my chest and it looks like she’s trying her best not to laugh.

” This is funny to you? They’re threatening to sue us here” I slap her finger away from my chest.

” I’m aware” She shrugged.

God help me, if I’m going to jail there is no harm in adding murder to my charges.

” You’re aware? And you’re going to do nothing about it!?” My brain is calculating the best way to kill this girl without leaving prints.

” Well, Darlington looks like he could give me a job though ”

My glare was probably forming lasers behind my eyes and I can’t wait for them to shoot out.

” They can’t send you to jail ” She adds

I laughed at her stupidity.

” Oh yeah, how so?” Sarcasm wrapped all over my words.

” Well if you read the contract you signed you’d know how ” She turned sharp on her heels and started heading towards the door but I gripped her hands to stop her.

” You are staying by my side” My voice low but serious.

” Really? Why? It’s not like I’m a sight to behold or something ”

Ha, funny.

” I’m aware, but it seems like Mr Hayes-”

” Darlington ”

” Mr Hayes is brainwashing you of your mortal reasoning. So by my side. Pronto ” I let go of her hand and walk back to the hall.

” Where’s my princess?” Mr Hayes just learned to get on my nerves.

” I’m here.” Iris enters and goes to her former seating position.

I assumed she was going to ignore my order and return back to where she was but she just picks up the files she left there and walks to take the seat by my side.

All this while the entire room remained silent for her.

” Mr Jaquish I’m sorry but you can’t sue my boss to court ” And she began.

” Why is that?” Mr Jaquish answers with much more interest than curiosity in his tone.

” Because in the deal you signed with Mr McConnell, it states that you were to give a sum of seven fifty thousand dollars right?”

All men in the room nod in agreement.

” But following from Bank statements to office records, the only amount to be deposited was four hundred thousand ” She reads down the papers in her hand again.

” Yes, we stopped depositing when we realized he was just fooling us” Mr Harwood joined the debate.

” Hmm… I see and when was that? Because your last deposite was recorded two months before the last receipt was sent to your office ” Did she really look into that?

” Receipts that were false-” Mr Harwood urged to continue but Iris had more in mind.

” When you had your first meeting, you deposited only two hundred thousand, meanwhile Mr McConnell deposited half the price promised” She interrupted

” Yes” Mr Jaquish who now thinks silence is the best spoke.

” But on your agreement he was to drop only two fifty thousand on the first, but hence he dropped more the receipts were only sent in recognition of the time it was meant to be deposited ” Iris argued on

That wasn’t my plan but it seems to be a better cover up.

” And we were following up the rule too” Mr Harwood interjected.

” No, you stopped once you realized there was no increase in your balances. You are not after him because he did not fulfill his part of the deal. You’re after him because you planned on duping him of his money too but it didn’t work out” She analysed and I was really shocked at what she could pull out.

” That’s not our plan” Mr Harwood speaks again.

” But that is what it will look like when the court gets to hear of it” Mr Hayes who was now watching iris, intrigued by her character stated.

” Thank you Darlington ” She flirtatiously remarked at the young man who was eyeing her like she’s a prized bull.

” Fine, we would not take it to the court ” Mr Jaquish says as he adjusted the collar of his shirt.

” I was hoping so. And we apologize for any inconvenience caused so far, we promise to keep to our end of the deal from now onwards if you keep to yours” She packed up the files in her hand and stacks them on atop the other.

” We will. Thank you for the meeting miss Jules, I hope to see you another time” Mr Hayes says as he rises from his chair alongside the other gentlemen to end the meeting.

” I don’t think so. Thank you for attending the meeting ” I rise and give a handshake in her place.

The young man eyed me waringly before walking out the room with his associates.

I look to see Iris still seated by my side.

” So Dad was right huh?” I tell her and she just rolls her eyes at me before standing up and leaving the hall too.

I smirk at her in response and turn my attention to Lily who is still by the end.

” Hand over the minutes to her when you’re done ”

She just gives me a nod and I leave the room.