Worst Fear 18

 

Chapter 18 

Mason 

“So, this is the designer bag I want. I could get it for myself, but I’d feel really special if someone else does.” 

“Is this even necessary?” I whisper to myself. I feel exhausted, barely following the conversation between me and Julia. Again, I was forced to come here. 

“Pardon? What did you say?” Julia asks me, I throw my face away to avoid answering her question. She looks at me with displeasure and then smiles. 

Somewhere in the bustling city of New York, in a well-established restaurant, the aesthetics are one of a kind, and sitting in front of me is Julia. Mother’s choice, well, she had been mother’s choice for a very long time, as long as five years. 

Five years ago… A distant memory pulled itself up from the depths of my mind. I tried to dismiss it, but it was too late. I can’t forget her no matter how much I try; it’s been a little more than five years since she betrayed my trust, killed my stepfather, and died. 

She probably deserved to be burnt to death. But then again, she had completely made me see women in a different light. 

Julia had been saying something that I wasn’t aware of. 

“It costs five hundred thousand, you think you can get that for me?” She asks. 

I give her a stink eye and face the Martini in front of me. I drop an ice cube inside, twirl it around, and have a sip. The familiar scent and taste bring a certain warmth, spreading through my body. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Julia seems aggravated. 

“Why would I randomly spend half a million on you? To what benefit?” I ask her, although she is my mother’s choice, I detest Julia. For five years, we’ve been supposedly dating, but I couldn’t give a barren fuck about her. 

She was different from Lydia… No! She’s a murderer. 

“Well, that’s fine. Another man promised to get it for me, so it doesn’t matter what you think,” she said proudly. It was probably an attempt to make me jealous. 

Pathetic! 

I should stop going on these dates with Julia; it’s an absolute waste of my time. I need to find someone else, I sigh. I’m not getting any younger. Mother wants grandchildren, so she’s pushing so hard to get me into a relationship. 

“Well, I’m glad that you have someone to afford that expense for you. I also hope he takes you out on dates and what not…” I take a sip of my whiskey once more. I really should look for an excuse to leave this damnable woman. 

“Excuse me?” Her tone suddenly changed. 

“Is that what you think about me? Is that how you’re going to react to your woman being taken by another man?” 

Ooh boy! What a bother. 

“Do you always have to be such an asshole Mason? You couldn’t even show the slightest bit of care or….” 

My phone rang out, cutting whatever she was saying short. I reached out happily and picked it up; hopefully, it was something related to the company. 

Chapter 18 

Ooh, please, Daniel better have something useful to pull me away from here. 

“Hey, I’m still talking; no business calls, remember?” Julia calls out, but I ignore her. 

“Daniel. Talk to me,” I say. 

“Hey, Boss, are you done with your date already? That was fast,” he asked. Daniel knew most of my plans for the day; he had, in fact, arranged this place for us. 

“More or less.” I lied. 

“So tell me, what’s the matter?” I ask him. Daniel hesitates for a bit. That’s never a good sign. 

“I think it’s better if you see this by yourself,” he says finally; I stand up in a panic. 

“Does it have something to do with our stocks? Or leverage over the economy?” I probe further. 

“Well, yes and no.” 

“Daniel. Give me context; I’m already on my way. What is the damn problem?” I ask, getting slightly annoyed. But there’s a pause over on the line. Then he speaks up. 

“Have you heard of a new company called. Kavas?” He asks. I let out a sigh of relief; thankfully, it wasn’t what I thought. The worst case scenario was that someone was buying our stocks and selling them at first cheap or something equivalent to that. 

“Is that the problem? You really had me on my toes, Daniel,” I say, sitting down and taking a sip of my Martini, finishing the glass at a go. I look at Julia; she’s still unhappy with me, and her hands are folded like that of a child’s; I immediately know I’m going to get an ear full of complaints from my mother. 

“Well, that Kavas company has completely taken over fifty percent of our services, networks, and customers…” 

I stop whatever I’m doing midway, my widening in shock, I knock the chair down as I end up running to my car. This is insanity. I hear Julia trying to call me back in a rush, but I couldn’t give a damn. 

“Fifty percent?” I shout 

“Fifty percent!” Daniel confirms. 

What the fuck? 

I rush into my car, start the engine, and begin driving down to my office. 

“Daniel, find everything you can about this company, its origin, motives, goals, sponsors, shareholders. Every damn thing.” I breathed out loudly, “And call for a meeting with the board of directors.” I cut the call. Driving as fast as I possibly can without getting the attention of the cops. 

A few minutes later, I arrive at the office and find my way up to the meeting room, where all the directors are gathered. 

“Give me an update. Who is the CEO? Where did he come from?” I ask, taking a seat at the head of the table. 

“It’s a woman…”Daniel slid in from behind me. 

“Excuse me?” 

“The CEO is a woman, Boss,” Daniel repeated himself. 

2/4 

Chapter 18 

“Oohh.” That was certainly unexpected; one would expect the competition to be a man, but if it’s a woman, then that makes things easier. Maybe I should not threaten her, perhaps a negotiation of some sort. 

“And her origin?” I demand. 

Daniel shows me a black screen on his tablet. “We can’t find anything on her,” he says. 

“What the hell? What do you mean you can’t find anything on her? Use your resources, use the FBI, CIA, do something…” I 

cry out. 

“Including special government agencies isn’t a wise choice; we risk ourselves being invested for no due cause…” Daniel stands beside me. 

The other boards nod their heads and give their advice as well; I force myself to calm down. 

“Well, what’s the name of the CEO that was given out?” I ask hopefully. 

“Alissa Brooks,” Daniel says, “That’s the only information we have on her, her name. That’s it.” I bite my lips in frustration. Of all time for someone like her to just pull up. Incredibly bad timing, but not only that, she offers the same services as we do. 

What I need right now is not a rival company. 

“There’s another issue, Boss,” Daniel trails up to me. 

“What is it now? Has she done something so absurd again?” I ask tiredly; Daniel purses his lips and then nods his head. 

“The services that we’re about to launch next week? Well, they’re releasing the same services in two days and for twenty percent off the price that was going to sell it,” he had over the tablet. 

I read through the content and was eerily shocked. “What the hell! Just how much money does she have to throw around like this? It’s possible that she’s a paper company owned by another man or something of the sort,” I complained. 

But Daniel shook his head, taking me to a different tab on the tablet; he showed me the record of the Kavas company in Canada. For five years, they had done nothing but grow and grow, spreading their reach to more countries. 

I bang my head on the table in frustration. 

“Someone, please, some good news!”I cry out in frustration. 

“Here, Boss,” one of the directors slid his device towards me so that I could read the contents. I picked it up and read it, a smile forming on her face. 

“She’s set to come over for the release of her new product,” I smile. I slide back and look at Daniel. 

“Track her movements; tell me immediately when she lands and her exact location. At this moment, she’s our top priority, being able to give out our services, but for even cheaper, she could cripple our company or make us reduce our prices; we’ll lose millions of dollars if that ever happens,” I said to Daniel he nodded at me. 

“But what are you going to do when you see her?” He asks. 

I smile at him. “Why? We’ll just have tea.”