Chapter 74

As she pulled the door to step out she heard his voice and her heart stopped.

"By the way, remember we made a deal."

Calhoun knew exactly who he was employing the moment Zion mentioned the name to him. He knew that Alice Brentwood had been giving his Ariana a lot of stress in the office and he couldn't be happier that she needed a job and one of his workers was a friend of hers.

He had issues with the final signature because he knew that one would have his full name on it but he gambled with the fact that she would be too excited to check and the shock on her face said exactly that. Ariana had not checked to read what her boss's name was and what he looked like.

Ariana turned around to peek at him before running out of his door. Calhoun sat back in his chair with a satisfactory smirk. Now that Ariana was just a few inches away from him, all he had to do now was show her his love.

His phone started blaring, peeling him off his beautiful thoughts. He snatched the device off the table and frowned as his eyes settled on the number. It was his cousin, Matt.

Calhoun had a very strong urge to ignore it but since he was in a good mood after seeing Ariana, he decided to pick up the call.

"Speak!" He growled on the phone.

Matt squeaked and laughed awkwardly before he spoke. He wasn't expecting Calhoun to respond and much more speak to him like that. "That is a scary way to talk to your cousin... How are you?"

Calhoun rolled his eyes and tried not to be too rude. "What do you want Matt? I don't have all day," he said with a bored tone. He'll rather spend his time thinking about the things he would do to Aria than spend it speaking with Matt when he knew the fool didn't like him.

"Ah okay, I was in the area and I thought I will drop by and spend some time with you..." Matt finally said and Calhoun raised his brows at his words.

"What makes you think I would want to spend time with you?" Calhoun asked.

He knew that Matt's entire family didn't like him. Starting from his uncle to his wife. So he had pulled away from them and had spent his time growing his empire while they wasted their time on women and cars. Now they barely had any business to their name and they were jealous of him. It was strange that Matt would want to spend time with him now.

"I am your cousin, there is nothing wrong with spending time with each other..." Matt insisted.

Calhoun scoffed. He had gotten enough of the mind games. "I am busy Matt. Go spend time with your mother," Calhoun breathed harshly.

He ended the call immediately not waiting for the fool to add another word. It was obvious his mother, aunt Lily probably sent him to find out what his next step was. Calhoun wasn't stupid. He hadn't become this big in life by embracing his enemies.

He blocked the number so that Matt would not be able to reach him for now. Before dropping the call, he decided to call his secretary.

"Come to my office now," he said the moment she picked up the call. His time was very precious, he only wasted it on important people, not his enemies.

It didn't take long for Sarah to walk into his office. She adjusted her glasses and stood in front of his table.

"Good morning sir," she said

"Good morning. I want you to prepare an office on this floor for Miss Ariana Brown. I have met her and she is exactly what I need," he said firmly.

"Okay sir," Sarah said as the pencil in her hands moved over the jotter.

"Also, speak to the human resource department, I want Zion to be given leave. He had done really well with the contract we sent him to secure. He deserves a break and a token of appreciation."

"Okay sir," Sarah answered, jotting it down as well.

"Do I have any appointment today?" His eyes went to the pile of files on the table that he still had to attend to. Being a CEO was great but the workload that came with it was impossible.

"Sir you had asked me to clear up your schedule for today but... Miss Alice Brentwood insisted that she had to speak with you. We got a mail from her asking us to reject any application from Miss Ariana Brown..." Sarah trailed off.

Calhoun raised his eyes to meet her. He frowned at what she was telling him. Why would Alice dare to order him around? His company could employ whoever they wanted and it had nothing to do with her and her problems.

"When was the mail sent?" He growled making Sarah jump in fear. Lawson Group was a great place to work, every worker knew this but there was an unspoken rule, if you made the president angry, then you would get severally punished.

"Yesterday sir..." Sarah stuttered.

Calhoun brought his hands to the table and folded them. "And why am I just hearing about this now?"

The room suddenly became hot for Sarah and she gulped down her saliva as she looked everywhere except her boss's face. They had already given Miss Ariana her employment letter, she didn't think Miss Alice Brentwood's email would make much of a difference.

"Sir, I forwarded it to your personal mail. I thought-" she started to explain and he raised his hands at her.

"That's enough. Now listen to me and listen good," he said narrowing his eyes at the young woman in front of him. "Whenever Alice sends a mail or a call please direct it to Zion. I don't want to handle anything relating to her. And as for Miss Ariana Brown, she will keep working here for as long as I like and there is nothing Alice can do about it, understand?"

"Okay sir but what do I tell her now?" Sarah asked.

Calhoun cocked his head to the side and glared at her. "Tell her what I just told you, let her speak with Zion!"

"Okay, sir!" Sarah squeaked before scurrying out of the office.