THE HEIR'S REVENGE

chapter 30

A call came in when I was at the office, the next morning. I was reviewing the review Henry sent me last night while he was trying to confirm a meeting with everyone.

Everyone was in their office.

Anderson, Gerald. Everything was going fine just like an ordinary morning should.

Until my direct line rang. It wasn't my personal phone but the one that went through the main reception on the ground floor.

“Sir,” it was the receptionist. A composed and calm woman who worked really hard. She had worked for eleven years and was competent for this work. “Tjere a visitor requesting to see you. He doesn't have an appointment."

"Who is it?" I asked.

A brief pause.

I didn't have time for that but I waited. Patricia would never call me for nothing.”

"He says his name is Daniel Pierce," Patricia said. "He says it's a personal matter."

I was quiet for exactly three seconds.

Daniel was here. In the lobby of my own company he was asking for me.

I had not seen Daniel since the night I left Pierce house which was the night Emma told me that she married him. That same night, Victoria had told me that I was a mistake and nobody and Emna rejected me.

And he was here?

I'd thought about him very often after that. I also thought about what could have happened if we let go of our differences.

Why was he in my office unannounced on a Tuesday morning?

"Shall I send him away?" Patricia asked.

I thought about it for a moment.

Daniel coming here was a trap. He didn't do quiet work,not like his mother who was extremely careful. Daniel didn't care to know if you think he was after you. His mother operated despite the closed door while he operated through the front door where everyone could see and notice him.

This meant that yes, he had come to say exactly what I thought he came to say. He wasn't hiding, he was trying to tell me that he could find me wherever and whenever.

Well, I was willing to use his desperate mind

"Send him up," I said. "Put him in the secondary meeting room, not my office. Tell him I'll be with him in ten minutes."

"Of course," Patricia said.

I put the phone down and sat for a moment.

Then I called Henry.

He picked up immediately.

"Daniel Pierce is in my building," I said.

A brief silence. "I see."

I expected some kind of surprise or shock. “I asked the secretary to put him in a secondary meeting room. I want our conversation recorded.”

“Alright. I'll make sure of that.”

"No. I want him to feel like this is informal. One-on-one." I paused. "But stay close."

"I'll be in the corridor," Henry said.

I ended the call.

I spent the next ten minutes trying to review the materials in front of me but it seemed harder than I thought. All I could think of was Daniel and why he was here.

I drank my coffee. Again. Then again.

I was nervous and no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise, it was a lie.

I wanted to walk into that room like a man who truly belonged in this room.

I didn't want to walk in, surprised or shocked or even threatened or curious. I wanted to walk in like I owned the room.

Because I do, actually.

I stood up and dusted my shirt, fixed my tie and smiled at myself in the mirror. If Lily was her, she'd tell me how handsome I looked in blue.

When I walked into the secondary meeting room, Daniel was standing near the window.

He turned when I came in.

He looked better than the last time I saw him and I had expected him to look bad. He had always been the model of the Pierce's family, tall, educated and well dressed but not anymore.

He was still dressed in an expensive suit, if not more expensive than mine. He looked much better than Emma looked.

His face was thinner. His eyes moved to mine and then away and then back, the eye movement of someone who had rehearsed this moment and was discovering the rehearsal hadn't fully covered the reality.

I sat down at the table.

I didn't invite him to sit. I just sat, and looked at him, and waited.

He sat down when he realized that I wasn't going to say anything.

A gentleman, my foot.

I sat across from him at the same table where I had dismissed Hargrove's proposal a few days ago. The same room where I had a meeting with Anderson and Gerald. This same room was where I was going to have the meeting with the board room and we would discuss Victoria.

Daniel looked at me across the table.

"Ethan," he said.

"Daniel," I said back.

He blinked. I think he had expected something else from me. A different reaction. Maybe anger or coldness, or the performance of power but I was seated and had a straight face like I wasn't affected even by his presence.

My straightforwardness was already putting him off balance.

"I need to talk to you," he said.

"You're here," I said. "Talk."

He looked at the table for a moment. Then back at me. And then he said the last thing I had expected to come out of Daniel Pierce's mouth in any room in any building in any city in the world.

I didn't know what I expected him to say. Did I want him to apologise to me for all he did? Maybe yes or maybe no.

Maybe I didn't need his apology, I still wanted revenge.

But not Daniel, he wasn't the kind of man to come all this way to beg? Not when he was working with his mother who hated me so much.

I waited for him to talk but he kept glaring.

“I have a surprise for you. It'll be on the news soon enough. I hope you enjoy it while it lasts. It'll ruin your reputation too.”

I didn't get it until my phone buzzed.

It was the news.

Something about me having an affair with.. with.. Emma?