RUTHLESS MAGNATE'S SUPREMACY

Chapter 3

Rina and Niro remained rooted to the spot where they stood, unable to break away from the heavy tension lingering between them. Niro swallowed hard, his throat dry and tight as the bitter reality of what had just transpired between the two of them and his mother finally settled in.

"You truly are a devil, Jarren!" Niro spat out, his voice trembling with a mixture of raw indignation and uncontainable anger.

"You have the absolute nerve to call me a devil, Niro?" Jarren replied, his tone surprisingly steady as he swallowed back his own rising frustration. "Look around you right now! There are barely any people inside this building that I rightfully own. I honestly thought you two would come here with a shred of civility and decency, but instead, you show up demanding that I return Neri's money when she does not have a single cent sitting with me!"

"Just admit the truth, you simply refuse to pay what you owe!" Niro shouted, thrusting his right index finger straight toward Jarren's face to emphasize his point.

Deep inside his mind, Jarren felt a conflicting surge of dark amusement mixed with burning irritation. He thought to himself that perhaps the sharp strike from the back of his hand across Niro's cheek just a moment ago had not been quite enough to bring the man back to his senses. Perhaps Niro was practically begging for a second blow to clear his mind.

A long, exhausted sigh escaped Jarren's lips as he tried to maintain his composure.

"Niro, there has never been a single debt in my entire life that I have left unpaid. So whatever absolute foolishness or nonsense you are cooking up in that head of yours, I strongly suggest you drop it right now!"

"We are far from finished here, Jarren. A debt is a debt, and it must always be paid!" His finget pointed at Jarren.

In absolute truth, it was Neri who owed him a staggering sum of money. They had barely been dating for two short months on the fateful day when Neri borrowed two million dollars from him, claiming it was for urgent emergency matters concerning this very brother of hers, Niro. To this very day, Neri had never paid him back a single penny of that fortune.

"Let me gently remind you that this is not your personal domain where you can just point your finger at me as if I were some helpless little child, Niro," Jarren said softly. He reached out with a firm, deliberate grip, taking hold of Niro's forearm and pushing the man's hand down toward his side. "Lower your arm right now before your muscles start to ache." Jarren then extended his open palm outward, pointing clearly toward the grand exit of the sprawling corporate lobby. "The building exit is right over there," he stated calmly, even though he knew full well that both of Rina and Niro were intimately familiar with the doors leading outside. "I suggest you both leave this premises right now while I am still exercising enough restraint not to call the security guards to drag you out by your necks."

"You show no gratitude whatsoever, Jarren Corpuz!" Rina interjected, her voice still carrying a distinctly audible tremor of fear despite her theatrical indignation. "You entered our family circle, and I treated you as if you were my very own son. And yet this is the disgraceful way you choose to repay my kindness?" The terrifying reality of the situation lingered in her tone, yet she forced herself to stand tall. "Come along now, Niro. On another day, we shall return to collect every single cent that this man stole from your sister's money!" Rina declared with sharp emphasis, turning her back on him with dramatic finality.

Niro allowed himself to be guided by his mother's movement, following her step by step. Yet, just before he completely walked away, he paused and turned his head back to glare directly at Jarren.

"Your day of reckoning will surely come, Jarren Corpuz!"

"You can come and demand money from me every single day if you like, Niro. But you will leave empty-handed every time, because I do not owe a single thing to any of you!"

Jarren turned away without waiting for another word and walked directly toward the awaiting elevators. He stepped inside the metallic cabin, the heavy doors sliding shut to lock him in solitude. In an uncontrollable outburst of pure, unadulterated fury, he slammed the side of his foot hard against the interior wall of the elevator, the dull thud echoing loudly in the enclosed space.

When the elevator finally arrived at the executive floor where his personal office was located, he stepped out onto the polished flooring. He offered brief, silent nods to the various staff members of Corpuz Estate who respectfully greeted him with their usual warm morning wishes as he passed by their desks.

He walked straight toward his private office suite. The moment he pushed the door open and stepped inside, he discovered that Terry was already present, sitting near her workspace.

"Boss, how did your meeting go with Neri's father? Did he say he would help you bring his daughter back to your arms?"

"Terry, I am warning you, do not push my buttons today. I am in no mood for your jokes," Jarren responded coldly.

He pulled back his heavy office chair, preparing to sit down and process the utter madness of his morning.

Terry gathered a stack of formal paperwork from her desk and slowly walked across the carpeted floor toward where Jarren stood.

"You are practically never in a good mood anyway, Boss. Especially not since you and Nerissa officially broke up. But before you completely allow yourself to be swallowed whole by your foul mood today, why don't you just sign these important documents first?"

Jarren used his foot to pull the wheel base of his plush leather chair closer before sitting down heavily into the cushion. He extended his hand and accepted the documents that Terry passed across the desk.

"What exactly is this?"

"A contract termination," Terry answered plainly.

"Termination for what?"

"Boss, Nerissa herself brought that paperwork directly to our office earlier today. First thing in the early morning," Terry explained, looking at him intently.

"Is that so?"

Jarren pondered the revelation silently in his mind. If he had come straight to the main corporate headquarters this morning instead of making that detour to the Italian Cuisine restaurant, he likely would have run right into Neri in the hallway. Yet, he quickly reasoned that it would have made little difference anyway, given how entirely determined the woman was to finalize their complete separation and move on with her life.

"Terry, the sheer, unimaginable nerve of those Joans is astounding. Just think about it for a second. They should be the ones paying me a massive financial penalty for contract termination because they openly violated the very explicit clauses written inside this agreement. It clearly states that our business contract was strictly exclusive, yet they went right behind my back and entered into a partnership with Jimmy Terson." He let out a deep, weary sigh, running a hand over his face. "I haven't even recovered thirty percent of my original financial investment in their struggling company! And to make matters far worse, Neri's mother and her hot-headed brother Niro were downstairs just moments ago. They actually had the audacity to ask me to hand over Neri's money!"

"What on earth is going on with them? Have they officially joined the ranks of the notorious scammers operating in Manhattan now?" Terry joked lightly, trying to ease the thick tension in the room. "Alright then, just put your signature on those papers so I can personally deliver them to the Joans Group tomorrow morning. Nerissa specifically asked for a small favor, wondering if it might be possible for me to hand deliver the signed papers to them directly."

"The absolute, disgraceful nerve of that woman..."

"So what is the plan, Boss? Are you going to sign it now?"

"I am not going to sign this document just yet, Terry."

"What?!"

"You heard me correctly the first time. I am going to personally deliver these documents to the Joans Group myself."

"Boss?!" Terry gasped, placing both of her open palms flat against the front edge of the executive desk as she leaned forward in utter shock. "Please do not tell me that you are planning to go over there just to stir up more trouble?!"

"They feel completely free to drop by my establishment whenever the mood strikes them, Terry. Just a few minutes ago, Niro and their mother walked right into my building as if they owned the place. They acted as though they held the title deed to the whole property..." He slowly lifted his intense gaze to lock eyes with Terry, his fingers carefully neatly arranging the edges of the paperwork on his desk. "So I am going to return the favor and pay them a visit at their own headquarters, carrying the very papers that declare our contract officially terminated. But I will certainly not be placing my signature on them today."

"Boss, why can't you just focus all your energy on running Corpuz Estate?! Why must you insist on harboring even more conflict and dragging this out?!"

"The Joans family were the ones who started this entire war. They were the ones who gave me a clear reason to unleash the dark, ruthless side of Jarren Corpuz, a side that I kept hidden while being consistently gentle and patient whenever I was around them."

He exhaled violently, a harsh breath rushing from his lungs, and swallowed hard to clear the stubborn lump that seemed stuck deep inside his throat. After a long moment of heavy silence, he slowly leaned his back deep into the soft, supporting cushion of his leather chair.