CHAPTER TWELVE.

“Good morning sir” Bruno greeted as Alex sauntered into the office, “i have been trying to get a hold of you but you were not answering your phone sir” he added and Alex stopped right in his tracks before narrowing his eyes.

“What happened?”

“The Italians are here”

Now this made Alex more confused, “why?”

Bruno sighed, his boss really forgot everything about himself and work?

“We were supposed to have a meeting with them last month but you pushed the meeting to this month so they are here”

Alex sighed, he wasn’t aware of this and he already told Bianca to meet him in the office.

Just as he wanted to say something, the door pushed open and Binca entered. She had a smile gracing her face.

“What is going on here? Why do you look so tense?”

Bruno scratched the back of his head before talking, “the boss seemed to have forgotten that we have a meeting with the Italians today. They already waiting for him in the conference room”

She turned her attitude to Alex who had an expressionless look on her face, she knew he was not ready and he was not to be blamed.

“You forgot you speak Italian right?”

“I do?” He couldn’t believe his ears and Bruno nodded.

“Don’t worry” the lady chipped in, “I will help you, now let’s go and ace that meeting”

By the time they entered the conference room, the Italian investors stood and bowed respectfully to Alex, he was a man who already made a name for themselves around the globe.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting” Alex said in English and they nodded.

The meeting began in earnest and Bianca was a good translator, by the time they finished the deal was Already sealed and Alex opted to send them back using his private jet.

“I am never a fan of offices” Bianca said as she sprawled herself on the sofa in his office.

“You are good with the language” Alex commended and she snickered.

“Oh please, you are a badass when it comes to the language”

“That’s technically Alex”

The two of them fell quiet while Alex opened his drawer and brought out a document before giving it to her.

Bianca stretched out her hand and collected it before asking, “what is this?”

“Gerald’s account book”

“How did you get your hands on it?”

She asked while flipping through it, her eyes kept opening wide as saucers everytime she opened a new page, this Gerald was sure a sly man.

“I had Clarissa bring it to me”

“And she did without batting an eyelid?” Bianca was stunned, not only was Clarissa love struck, she was a fool.

“What love can do”

He leaned back on his chair and allowed her to skim through the document till her heart content and by the time she was done, a confused look was on her face.

“I don’t understand” Bianca waved the document across her face.

“Every single penny recorded in that statement belongs

to me and my family”

“What?”

“My dad willed assets worth fifty billion dollars the night he was killed and Gerald has that and he also took the remaining assets of my dad”

Bianca sighed, this matter was much more than she even expected.

“That man is a bastard”

“More of a thief and a bastard” Alex hissed while balling his hand into a fist, “i will make him crumble at my feet soon enough” he added before turning his attention to her.

“When are you going back?”

“I told Williams to move over so I don’t think I will be going back soon”

His lips finally curved into a smile, “helping your best friend?”

“Technically I want Alex back faster than you know”

“I see”

Without saying anything again, he turned his attention to his work while Bianca continued to look at the document, Gerald had everything planned successfully.

****

“Hello ma’am” the receptionist greeted when Clarrisa sauntered into the company. She had a shopping bag with her and ahe looked so excited.

She nodded at the receptionist before making her way towards the elevator and that was when Bianca was coming out of it. The two ladies didn’t like themselves and they didn’t even pretend to know themselves when they saw each other.

The main reason why Clarrisa didn’t like her was because she thought Bianca had eyes for her man while Bianca hated her because she was too full of herself.

“I see that you don’t even want to leave my fiancé alone even for a moment” Clarrisa sneered while rolling her eyes.

Bianca smirked before turning her head to Clarrisa,

“what can I do? Your fiancé prefers my company to you”

“You….” Clarrisa growled but the lady interrupted her with a wave of hand.

“I pity you risa, you are more of a fool than I thought”

“The nerve of you to talk to me like that Bianca”

“You will go whining to Alex? Yeah you are good at that” the smirk on her face didn’t fade, instead it intensified.

“Why don’t you go back to your husband and child?” Clarrisa fumed angrily, Bianca always got on her nerves with the slightest chance she got.

Bianca leaned forward, “news flash bitch, I will stay here permanently” she didn’t even wait for her response before walking away, the sight of Clarrisa disgusted her.

Clarrisa stood there fuming in anger until the other lady disappeared out of sight.

“Ughhhh, I hate her” she gritted her teeth before pressing the button to Alex’s floor, they needed to talk.

***

Alex just finished a video call when his door pushed open and Clarrisa entered. She had a pout on her lips the whole time which made Alex to frown. She just dropped the bag on the table and made her way to the sofa without even saying anything to which made Alex more curious. If she was here to throw a tantrum then he wasn’t going to condone her.

“Why do you look so pissed off?” He finally questioned after a while.

“Maybe if you didn’t give your female best friend so much leverage over you, then I won’t have to feel so jealous or neglected by you” the pout on her lips intensified.

Alex so badly wanted to laugh, who told her she was on the same level as Bianca. To him, Clarrisa was nothing more than a stepping stone for him to achieve his goals.

“Are you actually jealous of my relationship with Bianca right now?”

Clarissa scoffed, “we are about to get married but I don’t even get to be close to you the way she is Alex, do you even know what she told me in the elevator?”

Alex sighed, he hated her lousy nature. One thing Jayden and Alex had in common was their intolerance for noisy people and Clarrisa was definitely one of them.

“She is planning on staying here forever Alex” this time she stood up and walked over to him, “is she planning on stealing you from me?” She continued to whine which was already making Alex tired. How could he tell her that she was forcing a fifteen year old boy in the body of this man to marry her? Didn’t she have any sense of awareness at all?

“Bianca is married for god sake, Clarissa”

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have an ulterior motive hiding under the shadow of being your best friend.

Alex stood up from his chair and walked over her before bending over, “I am your husband to be Risa, you should focus on only me”

She gulped seeing how close his face was, her mind drifted back to the kiss from the morning and color crept up on her face.

“Clarrisa” Alex’s voice filtered into her ears and she looked up.

Both their eyes met and she could feel the butterflies in her stomach,

“Instead of getting jealous over Bianca, why don’t we do something that will benefit the two of us?”

Her mind went far, shs was already imagining things in her head.

“What do you mean?” Clarrisa asked as she bit her lips.

“Why don’t we talk about your father’s partnership with me?” Alex answered.

She felt a light bulb go off in her head, was he kidding with her right now?

“Why do you look so flustered?”

This time Alex rose to his full length as a smirk tugged at the edge of his lips.

“Are you being for real right now?”

“You thought I wanted to ask you for something else?” He questioned while going back to his chair, he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“Do you think making me flustered is the best thing right now?” Clarrisa couldn’t help but ask, shs was visibly frustrated.

“Don’t think about sex and let’s get to the business of the day” the big guy announced and she froze.