Chapter Fourteen

"I wanted Kelly here from now on because as you know, she will be taking control of the company soon and I want her to be ready." Raymond began, referring to Dimitri. "Now that she is here, and you have heard what I said during the meeting, will you reconsider and stop your plan to buy my company."

"No I will not" Dimitri replied simply, his mouth set in a grim line as he returned Raymond Darcy's cold stare.

If you could burn a hole in someone's head with a stare, Kelly was sure Dimitri would have a big hole in his forehead by now, judging by the way her father was glaring at Dimitri, his jaw tense and jutting forward slightly. But she needed to understand this well first.

"Wait a minute," she began, and the two men turned their attention to her, as if they had just remembered that she was in the room. She turned to Dimitri, "I just want to get one thing straight. You want to buy my father's company?" she repeated, almost as if she couldn't believe her ears.

Dimitri said nothing, but he simply nodded his head.

Her gaze moved from Dimitri to her father. He was still glaring at Dimitri, his eyes shooting daggers at him.

She shook her head and returned her attention to Dimitri, "Why would you want to do that? If you buy the company, doesn't that give you control over it?" she asked.

"You are damn right it does"  Dimitri replied.

"That is not going to happen, Dimitri" Raymond thundered. His lips tightened and his nostrils flared outwards. "Don't mess with me, Collins, or I will come after you with everything I have, and trust me it will not be pleasant."

"And I look forward to it" Dimitri replied calmly, an unconcerned expression on his face, like Raymond Darcy's threat meant nothing to him.

"Mr Collins," Kelly began, and Dimitri lifted an eye brow. Seriously? She was seriously going to continue referring to him as Mr Collins? They were way past the last name basis, she had to know that. He almost laughed then. Kelly noticed the look and decided to ignore that too. Being in the same room with him was distracting enough, and she definitely wasn't going to add to her discomfort by getting distracted.

"What do you intend to do with my father's company, if you do get control of it?" she asked Dimitri.

"I intend to break it up into pieces before I sell it, it's worth more that way" he said truthfully.

Raymond Darcy jumped to his feet. Anger blazing in his eyes and Kelly put a hand on his arm to calm him down, but he wasn't listening. His eyebrows lowered and pulled closer together, and vertical wrinkles appeared between them.

"Well, that's quite a plan, Dimitri, but if you think for one second that I'm going to just sit back and watch you turn Thirty years of my life into scrap or some kind of garage sale, then you are sadly mistaken. I have told you, I can get my company out of this mess, I just need to get that contract"

"Damm it, for God sake, Darcy"  Dimitri flared up, pushing his chair backwards so suddenly Kelly flinched, he rose to his feet, and stabbed a finger in Raymond's direction. "You said that months ago, damn it. I gave you a chance months ago and you didn't deliver. This is the best thing to do to avoid loosing millions. I don't know what to say to you anymore. What the fuck do you want from me?"

"I want you to leave my company the hell alone" Raymond thundered.

"I can't do that. I own ten million shares" Dimitri replied, his voice a bit calmer now, but he still sounded really pissed.

Kelly sat in her chair, aware that none of them were in the mood to listen to her at the moment. She would have to talk to them individually, get to the bottom of this once and for all. She didn't want her father to lose his company. She knew how much time and money he had invested into the it. He wanted her to have it, and she even if she was nervous, she wanted it. Growing up without a mother, she'd wanted her father's attention, but most times, he was always too busy, and at a point she'd stopped trying. She had moved from the house to a boarding school and then off to college.

But now he wanted her... Needed her around. She could see in his eyes how much he wanted his company to stay running.... How worried he was about it. This company could bring them together. It belonged to her father... It belonged to her... To their family, and she couldn't just let anyone take it away.

"I will buy your stock back"  she heard her father say.

"You can't do that, the company is going bankrupt. You don't have the money" came Dimitri's reply.

Raymond sighed deeply, obviously loosing his temper again, "That won't be a problem as soon as I get this contract...."

"If..." Dimitri cut in, "Don't talk as if you are sure about it.... You can only buy back the stock If you get the contract. And I just told you, I'm not willing to bet on that.... Not anymore. Besides, I don't know why you are making such a big deal out of this, you are going to benefit greatly from what I want to do. You will get a lot of money from this too.... "

"I'm not interested. I'm rich enough. All that matters to me is my company. I want my daughter to have it"

Dimitri's gaze dropped to Kelly's, but he looked away immediately his eyes met hers. He knew that he was very attracted to her... Maybe even had a soft spot for her, but he wasn't going to let that get in the way of his business. Nothing and no one came between him and money, and it wouldn't start now.

"Well if she's going to be taking over the company, don't you think the first thing she should learn is being punctual to meetings?" he asked.

Kelly wanted to kill him that instant. "I was busy looking at some papers my father wanted me to go through. I was busy" she said, glaring angrily at him.