Fight and Regret

“What are you doing here Mr. Knight?”

Evelyn scowled at the man who was sprawled on her chair with his nose in the file. The moment she entered her cabin, she was stunned to find Xander there but what enraged her was that he was going through her stuff, something which she despises the most.

Hearing her voice, Xander lifted his gaze and connected with the brown ones.

“Doing a little research on my business partner? I should know how are you running this company?” He replied to her in a flat tone.

Evelyn fumed, her hold around her purse tightened. She marched toward him and snatched the file from his hands, “Just because you’re the major shareholder of my company that doesn’t give you the right to judge me. My company is doing well and so are my employees. Barging in my cabin, breaching my privacy? Are you even a businessman ’cause you lack basic etiquette, Mr. Knight?”

Xander leaned back on the chair and smirked, “The recent attacks say otherwise, Ms. Clarke. The company shares fell drastically last week and are still at their lowest. It’s all because their CEO is a namby-pamby 22-year-old girl who takes impulse decisions and didn’t even bother doing a background check of her clients.”

“I DID THAT!!” Evelyn shouted, offended by the way he was looking down on her, “The attacks were planned and I couldn’t do anything.”

“YES, YOU COULD BUT ONLY IF YOU WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN RECKLESS” Xander hollered as he jumped from the chair and glowered at her, “You just left the party out of nowhere, and on what basis? The message you got from Aunt Maria. You escaped the crisis but the others suffered because of the gift you gave to Ryan. No matter how much you deny Evelyn, you can’t run away from the fact that the reason behind that explosion was your secretary who handed Ryan a box full of explosives in the name of the gift. And it was you who told her to send that gift to him.”

Evelyn turned silent; she couldn’t find any words to defend herself as it was the truth. Xander must have investigated the accident and another reason why she failed to deny it was because Sara was indeed the culprit.

Evelyn herself had set up a team to find out about Sara’s betrayal. But whatever it was she needed to stay calm and defend her employees even when they were at fault. She was their Boss, she herself can act as a whistle-blower, exposing the company’s matters to an outsider just to get rid of the accusations.

Squaring her shoulders, Evelyn shot Xander a glare, “I admit my fault but still, that has nothing to do with you. You are here to work on the project so do that only. Don’t poke your nose everywhere. This is my empire, not yours and you’re not my business partner. I haven’t sold you my company’s shares. Evelyn Clarke has the sole ownership of Maria Estates so don’t fucking boss me around.” She snapped at him.

Xander clenched his jaw. He took a step forward that made Evelyn move back but her movements got hindered because of the table. She didn’t realize when he caged her between him and the table.

Towering over her frame, Xander ducked forward and placed his palms on the desk, trapping her between his muscular arms. Her breathing turned irregular because he was so close to her. Xander noticed her discomfort but didn’t bother to pull her to ease.

“You put your life at risk, Ms. Clarke. Miller threw himself on you, and again the credit goes to your stupidity. Worse could have happened but you escaped the inevitable. Isn’t that surprising?” He whispered near her lips. Evelyn was taken off guard by his question.

“I have heard that Ryan also tried to harass you before he lost his life in the explosion. Miller also met the same fate but here’s the twist Evelyn.” He paused and flashed her a sinister smile,

“The results of his post-mortem say that though the body was burned 60%, there were signs of strangulation. But again, the case was buried before the police could investigate it. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve the reports.”

Evelyn narrowed her eyes, she knew what he was trying to imply, “Why are you telling me this? Do you think I have a hand in spoliation?”

Xander scoffed, “I never said that yet you agreed.”

All the colors got drained off her face. Pushing him away, Evelyn jutted her chin out and shouted, “What are you hinting at? You think I will tolerate your nonsense just because Jonathan appointed you as the client. You’re standing in my building and accusing me of the things I never did.”

Evelyn was hurt. She couldn’t believe Xander was blaming her for everything. How could he even think that she can harm someone? His baseless accusations broke her heart, maybe because they came from the person whom she had once trusted the most in her life.

Xander shrugged his shoulders. Dipping his hands in the pocket of his trousers, he spoke “I am just stating the facts, Ms. Clarke. Jonathan said that you don’t remember anything about that horrendous day. But I have a hard time believing that you were just teleported to your house after being saved by your guardian angel. Why are you investigating the accident that happened two weeks ago and ignoring the things that are in front of your eyes? Are you playing the fool or you’re actually dumb?”

Her jaw dropped. Xander smirked at her shocked face, his words strike her in the right place.

Evelyn was in a quandary. Indeed, she wanted to tell someone that she wasn’t at fault, she was being framed but deep down, she didn’t want that person to be Xander.

Her conscience was forbidding her to reveal to Xander that Brandon was the one who brought her home but then again, she never confronted him either. She was so busy hunting Sara that Brandon completely slipped from her mind. She never tried finding out how come he found her at the hospital, neither she checked the hospital records also to know who even brought her there in the first place. Miller along with his employees died in that fire so definitely he was someone from outside. Maybe someone who killed Ryan too but that means that he was her friend not foe because he saved her, twice. If Sara was even working for him, Evelyn wasn’t at a loss too because her life was saved.

But Evelyn didn’t want to share these with Xander. The way he humiliated her, he lost her trust.

Taking a sharp breath, she closed her eyes to calm down before looking at him sternly, “The way you know so much about me, there’s no secret that you have already set up your team probing into the matter. But that doesn’t mean I am liable to answer you. Even if you were a cop, you need to put a warrant out, you just can’t barge in here and stand on my head, forcing me to clear your rumors.”

Xander didn’t like the way she was spurning him. Heaving a low growl, he walked closer to her, “Mr. Mason Gilbert is my uncle. When you started this company, he was your major investor. Uncle has now passed me the baton which gives him the right to look into the matters of the company where I have invested fucking 50 billion dollars. And that also makes you liable to answer me.”

“Then pull out your shares.”

Evelyn snarled rendering him speechless. She noticed his widened eyes as he didn’t expect her to say that to him.

Xander grounded his molars, “ARE YOU AN IDIOT? Your company would collapse in a day if I do so-“

“Let it collapse, why do you care?” Evelyn didn’t let him complete and shot back. She was sick of him.

“It’s my lookout. In your eyes, I am an emotional incompetent who isn’t worthy enough to run this unicorn then why don’t you replace me? Assign someone else as the CEO or take in-charge. If you have the upper hand then use your chance. Take this matter to court and I will deal with you there.”

Xander opened his mouth to argue only to choke on air. His gaze landed on her seething form and the red streaks covering her eyes. He wanted to fight back but a voice inside his heart was holding him back. He had already hurt her enough; he can’t afford to do that anymore.

Evelyn let out a dry chuckle at his silence, “Don’t give me empty threats Mr. Knight. My confidence doesn’t dwindle that fast. You aren’t the first person who had doubted my capabilities, I have faced worse in the last two years. I know I disappointed my company and yours too but I am working on making things right. But that doesn’t mean that I will let anyone point a finger at me and interrogate me with baseless facts. If you have enough patience, then wait till I resolve the matter and report everything to the committee or just withdraw your shares and get the hell out of here. I already have enough on my plate to deal with, I can’t afford to waste my time convincing people like you.”

Xander looked down, his fists clenching and unclenching. Evelyn also cleared his way and moved to the side.

“Now leave and don’t bother me again.”