The Mysterious Chairman Keith

Chapter 21

NEXAGEN TECHNOLOGIES 

Lucas and Jamie were already making moves on how to pull Manuel down.

“You’re late.”

Someone said behind a tinted glass door as Jamie and Lucas approached the big building of the Nexagen technologies.

They looked, trying to get where the voice was coming from and then Lucas noticed the tinted glass in front of them and guessed the sound should be from there.

Jamie stiffened instinctively.

Lucas didn’t. He adjusted the cuff of his tailored suit and replied evenly, “We’re right on time.”

They had booked an appointment with the Nightingale's only rival and the CEO of Nexagen technologies, Tommy Lyden.

The glass door opened on its own accord when they stepped on the monitor.

As it opened, it revealed the interior of the company, it was so magnificent that they forgot to breathe for a second. 

“This is the only company that can match with the Nightingales…” Jamies muttered, not turning his gaze away. 

Lucas tapped on his shoulders, “stay focused, you mustn't show any form of weakness here.” 

Jamie stepped forward, his eyes scanning the space, and then he froze all of a sudden.

He knew those faces.

Men in dark suits, pretending to be executives, aides, or security consultants, but Jamie recognized them instantly. Former Nightingale board members. Disgraced department heads. Executives who had “resigned quietly” after internal scandals that were never explained to the public.

His jaw tightened.

“So that’s where you all went,” he muttered under his breath.

Lucas heard him and he knew what he saw, the people that once worked with the nightingales now working under Tommy.

“I told you,” Lucas said calmly, not even glancing at him. “Nothing disappears in this world. It only changes ownership.”

Just then, a few armed security guards came forward and escorted them. Jamie noticed how tight their security was, the cameras mounted almost everywhere.

Nexagen didn’t just protect its assets. It anticipated threats.

They entered the elevator and the ride was silent, none of them spoke now that those securities were with them. 

They only had one mission, and that's to make the Nightingales disappear by forming allies with companies on the same level of growth as them. 

Jamie leaned against the wall and clenched his fist in his pocket, his eyes looking distant. 

He was striving and was almost at the top when Manuel brought him down, all because he was now the chairman and CEO. 

One moment the world decided he was no longer worth protecting and there he was looking for a shield.

The elevator chimed softly.

“Remember,” Lucas said in a low tone as they stepped out, “you don’t speak unless I tell you to.”

Jamie scoffed. “I’m not a child.”

Lucas stopped walking and the guards behind them paused too.

Lucas turned slowly, his grey eyes cold. “Then stop acting like one.”

Jamie swallowed the response that burned at the back of his throat.

They walked again.

When they got to the end of the corridor, a lady was standing there and beside her table, “secretary” was written on it.

She was holding a book and a tablet and immediately she saw them, she lifted her gaze.

“Mr. Lyden is expecting you,” she said politely. “He requested to see Mr. Darwin alone.”

Jamie’s head snapped up. “Alone?”

Lucas didn’t look back. “Wait here.”

“What?” Jamie grabbed his arm. “You bring me all the way here just to…”

Lucas leaned in close, his voice dropping low. “This meeting is the reason you’re still relevant, Jamie. Don’t ruin it with your ego.”

The doors opened and Lucas stepped inside and it closed behind him. 

“Fuck!” Jamie said, returning his hand to his pocket.

___

Inside, the office was massive and well decorated.

Tommy Lyden sat behind a wide desk made of dark glass, his hands folded neatly in front of him. 

He looked unbothered and relaxed exactly how people with much power enjoy watching others come to them. 

He smiled.

“Lucas Darwin,” Tommy said smoothly. “It’s been a long time.”

Lucas walked forward unhurriedly and took the seat opposite him without waiting to be invited. “Not long enough.”

Tommy chuckled softly. “You still you….”

“Still alive,” Lucas replied. “Which is more than I can say for most men who underestimate me.”

Tommy’s smile didn’t falter. “You didn’t come here to trade insults.”

“No,” Lucas said. “I came here to trade futures.”

Now Tommy leaned back slightly, interested. “Go on.”

Lucas folded his hands and looked at him. “My son’s career was sabotaged. Publicly humiliated and destroyed.”

“Ah,” Tommy said knowingly. “Jamie Darwin. The golden boy who fell from the sky.”

Lucas’s jaw tightened when he said that. “I want his spotlight back. His name restored, contracts reopened and his Influence returned.”

Tommy nodded slowly. “And in exchange?”

Lucas didn’t hesitate. “Nightingale.”

The word hung in the air and they both went silent for a second.

Tommy looked at him. “You want me to dismantle a corporation that’s been standing for decades.”

“I want you to own it,” Lucas corrected. “Piece by piece.”

“And the current chairman?” Tommy asked casually, as though discussing the weather.

Lucas leaned in. “Obstacles are meant to be removed.”

Tommy studied him for a long moment.

Then he laughed, his laughter echoing through the building.

“You really haven’t changed,” Tommy said. “You still think you’re the one bringing the leverage.”

Lucas’s expression didn’t change. “I am.”

Tommy reached for a tablet on his desk and tapped the screen. With a flick of his finger, he turned it around and slid it across.

“Eighteen percent,” Tommy said calmly. “That’s how much of Nightingale I already own.”

Lucas looked at the screen as though not surprised.

Shell companies. Offshore accounts and many more.

Eighteen percent.

Lucas exhaled slowly.

“So,” Tommy continued, standing now, walking around the desk, “tell me, Lucas, did you really think you were the one knocking on my door first?”

Lucas looked up at him. “You have insiders.”

Tommy smiled, staring directly at Lucas. “Had and still have. Some of them are sitting outside with your son.”