Adrian balled his fists and growled inwardly at Damien, jealousy and annoyance cursing through his veins.
All of a sudden, Damien no longer wanted to leave Harriet’s office. The fact that Adrian was there made him feel the need to stick around. He couldn’t trust Adrian, and it wasn’t a hidden fact that the man was in love with Harriet.
No! He just couldn’t leave.
“You should leave, Adrian. Harriett is a bit busy,” Damien said, and Adrian smiled, but it didn’t get to his eyes. He was beyond pissed.
“Weren’t you leaving, brother?” He asked, raising his brows at Damien.
“It’s none of your business, Adrian. Leave.” Damien said one last time before going back into Harriet’s office. Just before the door closed, Adrian heard Harriett’s tender voice.
“Damien! I thought you left. Is everything okay?” He heard her say, but before he could hear Damien’s response, the door closed, shutting him out.
To say that Adrian felt humiliated and embarrassed would be an understatement. He looked at Collin, who had an amused expression on his face, obviously mocking him.
Gritting his teeth in anger, he walked away briskly. Once he was out of the building and now in his car, he returned Evelyn’s call.
“Tomorrow.” He said as soon as she picked up, not even giving her a chance to speak.
“What? What are you talking about?” Evelyn’s high-pitched voice boomed through the phone, making him more annoyed than he already was.
“Carry out the plan tomorrow.” He said, gripping his steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles began to turn white from the force.
“What? Why? I thought we had agreed to do it next week? Why the sudden change of heart?” Evelyn said, sounding confused.
“It has to be tomorrow! Text him the address and get it done. I do not have the patience for next week…not anymore.” He said and ended the call abruptly.
“Fuck!” He screamed, hitting his steering wheel over and over like a mad man.
*
*
“Damien! I thought you left. Is everything okay?” Harriet asked, seeing him return when they had just said their goodbyes a few minutes ago.
Damien said nothing for a few seconds, hesitating about telling her about Adrian’s visit. After a little thought, he decided to tell her as she would find out later, since Collin had already seen him.
“Adrian was here.” He said, leaning on her door and her brows creased.
“He was? Why didn’t he come in?” She asked innocently and Damien shook his head at how naive she was.
“I didn’t let him.” He replied, staring intently at her. Confusion spread across Harriet’s face as she wondered why Damien wouldn’t let Adrian see her. He was her friend after all.
“Why?” She asked.
Tapping his legs on the shiny floor, Damien clicked his tongue and walked up to Harriett before he proceeded to settle down in the chair that was directly opposite her.
“You see, Harriett. Adrian isn’t exactly who you think he is.” He started, hoping that he’d be able to explain things to her properly.
“What do you mean, Damien? What’s wrong with Adrian?” She chuckled awkwardly, paying rapt attention to what Damien was about to say.
“How do I put this? He is uh…more like a cunning and pretentious liar.” Damien said, filtering his words because if he were to say what was in his heart, Harriett would wonder if they were actually blood related.
“What?” Harriett gasped and suddenly had a different thought. “Is this because you feel he wants me? If that is the case, then you are completely wrong about him. Adrian and I are just friends.” She said, concluding that Damien was being harsh on him because of his jealousy.
But, Damien waved his hands at her, dismissing her statement.
“No. That’s not it…maybe it is, but only a little part. I wanted to tell you this the second I found out but, I didn’t know how you’d take it since you consider him a friend.” He said and, Harriet suddenly got worried, but said nothing as she waited for what came next. Damien took her silence as his cue to carry on.
“He’s trying to kick me out of the company,” He said, and a loud gasp left Harriett’s lips, her eyes widening in disbelief.
“Oh my God! How is that even possible? Why on earth would Adrian think of doing something like that?” She said, deeply worried about the already destroyed relationship between the brothers.
“I have no idea. He mentioned it to Dad first and the next thing I knew, he was meeting with directors and shareholders.” Damien revealed, finally happy that he was telling her about it. It was like a weight had been removed from his chest.
“H-have you tried talking to him? You know, find out why he is doing all of this?” Harriet suggested, but, Damien knew better than that.
“It’s not going to work with Adrian. He just wants everything I have, he has always been like that, even while we were kids. I’m not surprised he wanted the company and,,,” ‘ you ‘ was what he wanted to say, but he held it in.
Checking his wristwatch, he saw that it was already 9:35am and he had a meeting by 10am so, if he wanted to be on time, he needed to leave immediately as his company was fifteen minutes away from hers.
“I should get going, my love. I have a meeting to attend. Don’t think about what I told you too much, okay?” He said and placed a kiss on her forehead.
He was too late with his demand as Harriett was already feeling terrible. She had no idea that Adrian was this way and had been letting herself get fooled by him.
To make matters worse, she even gave her son his name, not knowing that he was a covetous brother.
‘God! I am so stupid.” She facepalmed herself and hastily stopped Damien before he could exit the office.
“How’s your schedule tomorrow? I was thinking we could hasten the change of name for our son.” She said, and a broad grin broke out on Damien’s face.
“I’ll pick you up at ten.” He winked before leaving, not even bothering to check what was on his schedule. Every other thing would have to wait.
Thanks to the traffic in New York, Damien arrived at the company exactly five minutes before the meeting. He had arranged a meeting with a few of the major shareholders who hadn’t been approached by Adrian yet, with the hope that he could get them to side with him.
That wasn’t going to be hard for him to do because, unlike Adrian who was buying them with money, he planned to convince them genuinely, as anyone’s mind could be swayed if they were offered a higher amount. He didn’t want to risk that.
Twenty minutes into the meeting and Damien was already halfway through. He let them know that even if they took a sum of money from Adrian now to make him CEO, they would lose more from their shares because he was incapable of running the company efficiently.
Damien didn’t need to persuade them so much as they already knew he was right.
Thirty minutes later, he had convinced them all and gotten them on his side. The meeting ended, and he exchanged handshakes with all eight of them who had pledged their allegiance to him.
As he was about to step out of the meeting room, he saw a text from Evelyn.
Evelyn James 4pm, Tomorrow. Sterling Hotel, Room 206.