Chapter 8

~Alistair~

There were many files on my desk which I hadn’t gone through yet. I had so many things to do, and with my uncle coming to the city a few weeks from now, I knew I had to take care of anything and everything that could cause him to find any fault in me. The old man never liked me and always said there was something suspicious about me.

However, I didn’t hate him. I liked the fact that he was completely honest about what he thought of me, unlike my maternal aunt, who always showered me with praises and acted like she loved me as much as she loved her own kids, whereas I could sense that she didn’t in the least like me at all. In fact, she wanted me dead, and once, she had poisoned my food, which I intentionally knocked over, then pretended to be sorry about, making them believe I had supposedly done that by accident.

Generally, my relatives had several doubts in their minds about me from the day I was introduced publicly in a family meeting as my late parents' choice of adoption. Some had even felt that my parents just needed to have someone to play around the house, or someone they could spend all their wealth on. However, when my parents died, and left me with everything they owned, the hatred they had for me grew. To them, it would have been better if my parents had donated all they had to charity organisations, than to give everything to me, as though I shared the same blood with them.

What no one ever got was the fact that I had worked so hard to earn their trust and had contributed in more than one way to the growth and stability of the company ever since I was 18. While my parents would have wanted to leave all they had to someone they shared the same blood with, it was impossible because they knew that Duke Group was going to go bankrupt in less than a year, and the only one who could effectively run the company was me.

All my other relatives were swimming in money, and I didn’t know why they were so pained about me getting all I had gotten. They were all among the company’s board of directors, and time and time again, they always revised all the activities within our various companies. They never found any reason to complain, and deep down, they knew that under my administration, Duke Group had even pushed to greater heights than before. We weren’t indebted to any company or bank, and we were number one in all our companies that were involved in different sectors of the economy.

My eyes were heavy and I knew I needed sleep, but I blinked the dizziness off. I couldn’t afford to let my parents down, and make them regret in their graves for choosing a total stranger to run their company, instead of someone who shared the same blood with them.

The marketing team had written so many gibberish, that I was tired of reading. Like I usually did, I began to wonder why my werewolf special abilities didn’t include “super reading” as well. I had seen the series of Kyle XY a lot of times, even though I wasn’t an avid lover of movies. The main character, Kyle, literally knew how to flip through pages of big books, and understand everything at once.

I could see more clearly, shape-shift if I wanted to, had super strength, was super fast in moving, and all of that, but why wasn’t I just good at reading super fast as well? I’d never liked reading or studying. I just did that because I had no choice. After all, no knowledge, according to a lot of people, was wasted.

I put in a call to the receptionist in order to get her to put a call through to the heads of the marketing and advertisement team for the insurance sector, in order for a meeting to be scheduled where they could explain and present what they had in mind, as I was no longer interested in reading what I obviously wasn’t understanding.

“Good morning, sir. I was about giving you a call,” She said, after picking up the phone.

“Oh? And why is that?” I asked.

“There’s a young lady here to see you. She’s with your entry card and claims to know you. Her name is Eliana. Do you know her, sir?” She asked.

“Did you say Eliana?” I asked, surprised that Eliana would actually pay a visit to my office, and that she even possessed my entry card, which I had been searching for.

“Yes sir. Eliana...Eliana Venator,” The receptionist replied.

I cleared my throat, and looked around, blinking my eyes rapidly, as my heart suddenly started to beat faster than its normal rate.

“Um...Send her in,” I said.

“Sir?”

“You heard me,” I retorted, then without hearing what she had to say, hung up on her.

I immediately left my seat to the bathroom, where I looked at myself in the mirror. I wanted to know if I looked presentable, and to make sure nothing was wrong with me. I had on a wine coloured suit, with black Italian suede shoes. My shirt was black, and my pocket square and neck tie were also wine. My black hair was always jelled, and I looked in the mirror closer to be sure that none of the hair had fallen apart, and was still neat.

Smiling at how ravishing I looked, I went back to my seat, and then on remembering the final touch I needed to complete my look, I opened one of the drawers to bring out a bottle of cologne, which had been given to me by Jenny a few weeks ago, before she started acting like a jealous lover, which was an act that was slowly beginning to tear us apart.

Before I could bring it out, I heard her footsteps only a few steps away, and I knew that in any moment, she was going to walk through the door, and take my breath away. The last time I had seen her was the day we had had sex, and that was three days ago. Since then, we had spoken on the phone for about fifteen minutes every night, before I excused myself because of work-related issues, and before she said she was feeling dizzy.

I closed back my drawer, then picked up my pen, scribbling what I didn’t even understand on a piece of A4 paper, and throwing a glance at my laptop every second, as if I was doing something important. I never cared what anyone thought about me. I mean, it’s none of my business, but for some reason, I cared about what Eliana thought. I didn’t want her to see me as a son who inherited his father’s wealth and became a billionaire through that. I wanted her to see me as someone who was hardworking, thoughtful, and attractive.

She was here already...I could feel her close to me, and suddenly, my heartbeat grew faster than it had in the last forty seconds, after the time the receptionist had called to announce her presence.

Her black silhouette heels clinked as she cat-walked into my office, wearing a broad smile on her face. I looked up from the meaningless thing I had been scribbling, and it took a whole lot of self-control for me not to gasp at how beautiful she looked.

She wore a wine mini dress, which was flare and had sleeveless arms, and complimented her simple, yet beautiful outfit, with a black shiny Chanel purse. Her brown hair had been let down, and glided to her waist, and I could feel my heart skip as she came closer to me.

“Hi,” I said, managing to not stutter, as I stood up, when she finally got to my desk.

“Good day, Mr Alistair Duke,” She said, extending her hand.

I took her hand in mine, then lowering down, kissed it with my lips. “While it is not a bad thing to address me in the manner you’ve just done, don’t you think we’ve become too close for you to still attach formalities to my name?” I asked, wearing a half-smile.

“You’re right about that, Alistair,” She said, and we both gave way to a chuckle.

“I like how you say my name,” I said, not knowing when those words had slipped out of my mouth.

“Then, should I say it again?” She inquired in a soft tone, seductively, coming closer to me to the point that her breasts were now on my chest.

“Yes,” I said, and tilted my head, crushing her lips gently with mine, and wrapping my arms around her waist. She responded with a raging passion, and kissed me back.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, and our lips parted from each other.

“Damn! I’ve missed you,” She said.

“Is that why you’re here?” I asked.

“Why else would I be here?” She retorted.

“To stare at this awesomeness?” I inquired, pointing at myself, as I slowly let go of her waist.

“You wish,” She retorted, then gave a small laugh.

“So, you’ve finally found out that I’m a rich CEO,” I said, looking into her eyes, trying to grasp what she felt as I said that.

“Oh! I already knew that. During the period that you ghosted me for no reason for a whole week, there was no way in which I could reach you, so, I searched for you on Google, and voila, I found out that the “Duke" in your surname was for “Duke Group”. Never in my life would I have guessed such,” She said.

“Wow. You could actually pass for an FBI agent,” I said, with a small chuckle.

“I know, right?” She played along.

“So, you came all the way from your place to see me, dressed like this?” I asked, pulling her to me, with my hands placed on her ass, groping it tightly, making a moan escape from her mouth.

She chuckled. “Dressed like how?” She asked.

“Dressed like a beautiful woman that you are. You look really stunning,” I said.

Her cheeks flashed red, an evidence that she was blushing hard and fiercely.

“Thank you, Alistair. My parents actually set me up with a blind date, and I decided to come and see you instead,” She said.

“That’s thoughtful and sweet of you,” I said, and planted a butterfly kiss on her lips, which made her smile, exposing her nice dentition.

“Yeah. I knew I was going to want to see you someday, that’s the reason I took your entry card while you were asleep in my bed three days ago,” She said, licking her lips.

“Oh, my goodness. I actually thought that I had misplaced it somewhere. When the receptionist said you had it, I thought I had left it at your place, and you had brought it to me. I never would have guessed that you are a little thief,” I teased.

“I’m sorry. I knew they wouldn’t have let me in otherwise. Besides, I didn’t know which of your company’s headquarters sector that you were based in, and I knew everything from the entry card,” She explained.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to explain. I’m truly glad and excited that you’re here,” I said.

She put her hands around my neck, and I was going to give in and kiss her red and inviting soft lips, until I heard footsteps approaching.

“Someone is coming,” I said to her, then told her to have a seat.

“How are you so sure about that?” She asked, slowly removing her hands from my neck.

I licked my lips in preparation to tell a lie. “I’ve worked here for so long. Trust me, I know when someone’s approaching my office,” I said.

She nodded her head, heeding to what I had said, and went to sit in one of the chairs from across my desk.

I sat back down on my swivel chair, and held her hands from across the desk, and we both smiled at each other.

As I had foretold, a knock sounded on my door, and I answered for whoever it was to come in. I knew it was Jenny from her scent, but she seemed to be with someone else, as she had knocked which was something she ordinarily would not do.

Jenny stepped into my office, and following her closely behind was her brother, Garrett, who I was surprised on seeing, as Jenny hadn’t given me a heads-up that he was going to be around.

“Eliana?” Jenny said, upon seeing the beautiful woman sitting down.

“You know me?” Eliana inquired, looking at Jenny for the very first time.

“No, she doesn’t. I’ve told her about you, so, she just made a correct guess. She’s my friend and personal assistant. Her name’s Jennifer,” I explained.

“Hi there. You’re one pretty lady,” Garrett said.

Eliana smiled and stood up from where she sat, then extended her hand for a handshake with Garrett, who shook hands with her, wearing a big grin. He seemed to like her, not erotically of course.

“I’m Garrett,” He said.

“I’m Eliana,” She said.

“Eliana was just leaving,” I said, then stood up, and walked over to her, removing her hand gently from Garrett's hand, then placed my arm on her waist.

From where we all stood, I could feel Jenny’s anger surge higher and higher, and I could sense the jealousy that hovered around her.

“Are you two going out on a date?” Garrett asked.

“No,” I replied.

“Why are you then wearing clothes with matching colours?” He inquired.

“It was just a coincidence,” I said, and started walking out with her.

“Wait. I left my purse on your desk,” Eliana said, and immediately rushed back to the desk to pick up her purse.

“You should have left it there, so, I’d have a reason to come to your place,” I told her.

She giggled, and stopped for a handshake with Jenny, who was being buried by anger and jealousy.

“We didn’t get a chance to shake hands,” Eliana told her, and extended her hand, with an innocent smile plastered on her face.

Jenny forced a smile and shook her hands.

“What’s that?” Eliana asked suddenly, her eyes fixated on Jenny’s wrist.

“It’s nothing,” Jenny said, and quickly put her hands back down.

“Looks like something to me,” Eliana told her, eyeing her inquisitively.

“Why don’t you mind your freaking business? I just fell,” Jenny told her, raising her voice.

“No, you didn’t. An animal bit you, and you should get that treated immediately, or it will get infected,” Eliana said, then grabbed my arms and walked out of the office with me.

“I don’t need anything to get treated. It’ll heal anyway,” Jenny called after us.

“How’d you know she got bitten by an animal?” I asked, surprised at how she had known.

“I studied zoology, and I graduated with a first class. Trust me, I know an animal’s bite when I see one,” She said, with a small smile.

“Wow,” I said, in surprise.

Never in my life had I thought she had done so well in college. All the news said about her was that she was the youngest out of four siblings, and was a typical princess, and after surviving a ghastly motor accident which claimed three lives, she had become antisocial and was slowly going out of her mind. No one mentioned she had attended college and had even graduated with a good result. I had thought she was an easy target, but getting to know her more was taking a toll on my heart, and I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to use her as bait for my revenge.