Let's Play A Dirty Ass Game, Mr. CEO

Chapter 24: ELEVATOR RIDES

LAURA

"The nerve of that man!" Mara’s voice bounced off the elevator walls, hurting my ears. "The nerve of Tristan fucking Pierce!"

"For god’s sakes, Mara. That’s enough."

She had been ranting non-stop since I mentioned Tristan’s business proposal in the most conversational way possible. And just like I expected, she was strongly against the idea of working closely with Tristan again, and was ready to go above and beyond to make it a failure.

"How could you sit there and let him tell you that to your face? He expects he can just pick top models like yourself from street corners and make them into the face of his ridiculous company?"

I leaned against the wall and shut my eyes, struggling with how to break the toughest news to her.

"Spite and scandal aside, have you ever considered that this could be good for the brand? Pierce Holdings is—"

"Nothing as long as we both are concerned. I don’t care how good it could be."

It stung that she was putting sentiments above what could be good for the brand I’d worked hard to build. But it was just who Mara was, unapologetically.

A blunt bitch even to the ones who mean a lot to her.

Mara would definitely bite my head off if she found out the PR team already scheduled a meeting with Pierce Holdings.

A fresh wave of clarity had hit me at 6am, when I woke up with a bad headache. And while I got ready for work, I decided that I would have to act professionally if I wanted Tristan to follow suit.

He wouldn’t take me seriously if I kept dropping my guard and flirting with him shamelessly.

So I got on a call with Charlotte and laid out the relevant details of the offer from Pierce.

"This could work as a good deviation strategy, ma’am," Charlotte’s tone had been high-pitched with relief. "We could milk good while at it." She had gone ahead to suggest a joint board meeting with Pierce Holdings, where the terms of the offer could be properly explored and analyzed.

Skeptical, I had run the offer by Harlan for clarity’s sake, skipping all the parts about how Tristan flirted with me with hot eyes and words...and I flirted right back.

"Pierce Holdings is good for a lot of reasons," Harlan had encouraged me to go ahead and schedule a meeting. "We should hear them out, at least."

So I gave Charlotte the go ahead right after the call. Pierce Holdings had been contacted, and a meeting scheduled for 8pm already.

The time had been agreed upon by both PR teams. It would be easier sneaking about at night trying to be in a meeting with a scandal partner.

"Have you spoken to Harlan?" Mara’s voice rifted into my thoughts. "What does he say?"

"He’ll be here soon."

The elevator dinged on the executive floor of the fashion house and she stormed out before me. "Let me know when Harlan arrives. I’ll convince him myself why we don’t need the deal."

°°°

"Why did you hide this from me?!"

I winced, rearing back from a furious Mara. I feared her high pitch might ruin my auditory nerves one of these days.

Somehow, she had gotten wind of the meeting and stormed over to my house just when Harlan arrived to pick me up, billowing fumes of fury.

"I’m sorry, Mara." I hung my head in a meek act, shoulders heaving. "I wasn’t sure about—"

"About what? Tell me! I’m your best friend, Laura. Chief Operating Officer of your company. And you didn’t think to tell me that you already scheduled a meeting with Pierce Holdings? Or did you purposely sneak behind my back?"

"Come on, Mara. It probably skipped her mind. Cut her some slack." Harlan leaned his ripped arms against the top of the car, watching us with a light of amusement in his eyes. "Besides, it’s nothing official. The meeting, I mean. We just want to hear—"

"It does not matter," Mara cut in bluntly, and Harlan clamped his mouth shut. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his alcohol flask.

Then he silently slid it across the car to her and got into the vehicle.

I was left to face my best friend’s wrath alone. My eyes fell to the bag clutched between her fingers.

"Uhm, what do you have there?" I cleared my throat and risked a glance at her face.

She was still simmering. "None of your business."

I heaved a sigh and my shoulders drooped in genuine exhaustion. "I’m really sorry, Mara. There’s no excuse for what I did."

She nodded slowly. "That’s right. Exactly what I wanted to hear." Then she grabbed the flask off the top of the car and tossed the content down her throat, walking towrds the backseat.

"Alright out," she snapped as she snatched the door open.

Harlan fell out with his jaw hanging in surprise. "What? Why?"

"Well because I have to change into some nice clothes." She turned around and met my gaze squarely. "If this meeting stands, I would be there to stop the worst from happening."

Ten minutes later, we were on our way to the meeting. In less than thirty, we arrived at a private resort that had been carefully chosen by Charlotte and her team.

Peakside Resort was tastefully furnished from the exterior to its interior. It was all walls and floors of black marble and glistening lights from chandeliers that looked as big as cars.

"You’re sitting right next to me." Mara walked closely on my right, and Harlan on my left. We powered through the lobby like three corporate assassins, ready to slay.

"Hi," she flashed a tight smile at one of the front desk attendants. "Reservation for Phoenix."

The attendant slid a key card across with shaky fingers. "5th floor, ma’am."

Mara snatched it up and sashayed away. I shook my head as my gaze followed her. She just could be so really dramatic when she wanted to be.

The three of us got on an empty elevator. The doors were about to slide shut when a smooth hand slid through and stopped it.

"Pardon the interruption." A young man stood there wearing an apologetic smile. "The CEO would like to get on."

A bad feeling began to bubble in my chest even before the man stepped aside..

So when I saw Tristan standing there in his tall, dashing glory, his eyes instantly meeting mine, I knew it was about to become a hell of a ride.

What I did not know was the depth of the hellishness that truly awaited us.