by Alexis Angel
I look him in the eyes, standing straight as I wait for the man to blow up like a thermonuclear bomb.
"What the…? Are you out of your mind, Connor?" he asks me, and I feel a knot growing in my throat. "Why the hell are you resigning! This is great news!" he cries out, clapping his hands together as he jumps up to his feet.
I blink my eyes once, and then twice, as I try to process what he just told me. Great news? Am I still in my bed, dreaming?
Walking around the desk, Jonathan claps me hard on the back and lets his bright clear laugh inundate the whole office. "To be honest with you, I always thought that your vow was somewhat silly… And it’s a good thing that my daughter finally got some sense into her head and chose a man worthy of her. She feels the same toward you, I take it?"
"I… Yes…" I stammer, not knowing what to say. I’m so stunned right now that I can’t even think straight. And do you know who else looks stunned? Earl. His face has grown as red as a ripe tomato, and there’s a vein on his forehead that seems about to pop.
"No!" he cries out, jumping up from his chair so fast that it almost looks like there's a spring under his ass. "No! No fucking way!" he starts, looking from his father to me with a look of utter disbelief. "Are you out of your fucking mind, Dad? This guy and Clarise have been plotting together… And that’s not the only thing they’ve been doing!" he continues, raising his voice as he fishes out a flash drive from the pocket in his pants.
Here we go; I guess that now there’s going to be no turning back. Even though his father has given me the greenlight, Earl is still going ahead with that footage.
"Yeah, Earl, wave that flash drive around. It’s really going to help you out right now," I hear a woman’s voice say, and we all turn toward the doorway. Clarise is there, looking as beautiful as ever. Her lips are painted in a subtle red, and she’s wearing a tight black dress that, while modest, still looks sexy as hell. More than looking like a girl in her mid-twenties, she looks like a CEO ready to unleash hell upon her enemies.
"Dad, there’s something you need to know," she tells Jonathan, and I feel as if the whole room is about to blow up.
35
Clarise
"There’s no point in hiding it anymore, is there? Unfortunately for you, Earl, it’s all out in the open now," Clarise says, looking from her father to Earl with a winning smile on her lips. More than just a woman, she looks like a goddess right now.
"What Earl has in that flash drive is footage of me and Connor together," she continues, speaking to her father with a straight face. "He was blackmailing Connor with it, so that he’d back Earl’s newest idea."
"Is that… Is that true?" Jonathan asks, looking completely disoriented.
"That’s not… That’s not…" Earl tries to say, but he has been backed into a corner.
"Yes, it’s true," I nod, feeling as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. My God, it feels good to tell the truth. "Earl was pressuring me into backing his investment with Red Lion Aviation, and he was using whatever footage he has in that flash drive to have me side with him, but I just couldn’t do it."
"It isn’t true! They’re lying!" Earl cries out in utter desperation, his eyes darting toward the door as if he expected someone to come out of nowhere to save him. Unfortunately for him, his luck has just run out.
"Yeah? Then explain this," Clarise shoots back at him, walking toward the desk and slamming her phone down on top of it. She presses her thumb over the screen and Earl’s recorded voice starts coming out of the speakers.
"You still haven’t got it, huh? I have proof that the two of you were fucking. That’s right… I’ve got footage of the two of you going at it in the church." I can’t help but wince as I hear him mentioning me and Clarise fucking, but what the hell, Jonathan’s a grown man. The moment I told him I had fallen for Clarise, he probably figured out that we did more than just hold hands.
"You… recorded me?" Earl asks, turning to Clarise so fast that I’m surprised he hasn’t broken his neck. "How dare you!"
"I told you; you’re finished, Earl," she responds, that glint of supreme victory in her eyes. "Just for good measure, I also know that you blackmailed the church’s pastor so that you could get your hands on that footage… You’re the gift that keeps on giving, aren’t you, Earl?"
"Why, Earl…? Why would you do such a thing?" Jonathan asks him, sinking down into his chair in utter shock. It mustn’t be easy for a father to realize that his son is a gigantic piece of shit. "I don’t understand. Why is this investment so important to you? Why is the company so important to you?"
"I think I can answer that, Jonathan," I tell him, taking one step forward. "I’ve inquired about Red Lion Aviation, and it seems that the company is just a front for a drug cartel… They use the airline as their way of transporting drugs between continents. My guess is that Earl wanted a piece of the pie as well."
"No… No… No…" Earl repeats over and over again, sounding like a broken record.
"My own son!" Jonathan cries out, and I can see his eyes brimming with tears. Shit, being here and watching a tough man like Jonathan feel this crushed isn’t easy. "You’re fired," he growls, the sadness in his eyes being replaced with unhinged fury. "More than that, I’m going to disown you."
"You can’t do that!" Earl protests, but his voice sounds so weak that I don’t think his father even hears him.
"And I’m not going to stop there," Jonathan continues, reaching across the desk and grabbing Earl by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close until their noses almost touch. "I’m going to call the FBI right now, Earl. It’s going to break my heart, but you’re going to pay for everything you’ve done."
"NO!" Earl shouts and, before anyone can do a thing, he pulls back from Jonathan and bolts toward the door. He crosses the length of the office in two wide strides, but he isn’t fast enough for me. Right before he reaches the door, I extend my arm and hit him right in the neck. He folds onto the ground like a crumpled sack of groceries, both his hands on his neck as he tries to breath.
"Stay down," Clarise tells him, placing her heel on Earl’s chest and pushing him down to the floor. As she keeps him there, Jonathan calls the tower security, and they’re knocking at the office door just a minute later.
Two tall and well-built security guards stroll in, confusion washing over their face as they see Earl on the ground, being pinned down by his sister. They’re smart enough not to inquire about what’s happening, though, and they haul Earl out of the office the moment Jonathan tells them to.
As the securities drag him out, violent sobs make his chest rise and fall rapidly; tears fall down his face as he goes, and there’s snot falling from his nose and into his mouth, his desperate wails sounding like the cry of an animal about to be put down.
It’s not a pretty way to go down, but what was he expecting? You don’t try to fuck everyone over and expect there’ll be no payback.
"Dad … are you okay?" Clarise finally says, raising her voice so that she can make herself heard over Earl’s desperate cries.
"No, Clarise… I’m not okay. But I will be, eventually. I might've lost a son today, but I’ve gained another," he says, forcing himself to smile as he looks toward me. "I know this isn’t exactly the best moment to say it, Connor, but welcome to the family. Or whatever’s left of the family, anyway."
I stare at him for a long moment, not knowing what to say, and then I just bow my head.
"Thank you," I reply.
"We did it," Clarise tells me, closing the distance between us and wrapping her arms around me.
"We did it," I repeat after her.
36
Connor
"I’ll leave the two of you alone for a little bit," Jonathan says solemnly, going up to his feet and walking toward the door. "But don’t be late for the board meeting; I want the two of you there."
"Got it," I reply with a nod, and then turn my attention back toward Clarise as I hear the door closing.
&nb
sp; "Please, tell me this isn’t a dream," she whispers, both her hands on my chest as she looks up into my eyes.
"This isn’t a dream," I tell her with a smile, feeling more happy than I’ve ever felt. Who knew that love could be this good? Despite how hard it was to get to this point, it was all well worth it.
"You’re staying now, aren’t you?" she asks me, biting down on her lip as she anticipates my answer.
"What do you think? Nothing in the world will ever make me walk away from you, Clarise. I won’t let that happen, not again." I press my forehead against hers and pause for a moment, just savoring the closeness of her body.
Running my fingers through her hair, I make her throw her head back and then I brush my lips against hers, that strawberry taste of hers driving me completely insane.
"When’s that meeting going to start?"
"In ten minutes," she laughs, tucking a lock of hair over one ear. "I don’t think we’ve got any time to take care of this bad boy," she continues, taking one hand to my crotch and squeezing my already hard cock.
"That’s a pity. I already miss how it feels to be inside of you…"
"Oh, the holy man seems to have developed a taste for women," she laughs again, the sound of her voice so bright that I just want to pull her into me and hold her tight.
"Not for women, Clarise… I’ve developed a taste for you," holding her close, my hands on her waist, I smile. "And I’m very proud of you."
"Proud? Of what?"
"Of the way you rose to the challenge… Earl really had us against the wall, you know? But you pulled through. You proved yourself, Clarise, and I think that your father saw that."
"Ah, my father…" she sighs. "He’s devastated. He really thought the world of Earl… I guess that he thought so highly of my brother that he was blind to his faults. In a sense, even I was… I mean, drug cartels? What the hell was going on inside our own house?"
"Just let it go… I know it’s hard, but there’s nothing like time to heal wounds like these. Look on the bright side; I’m here… I’m here with you."
"You are." She cracks a slight smile, looking into my eyes, and kisses me again. "Just promise me that you’ll never leave. I want to hear you promise it."
"I promise you. It doesn’t matter what happens in the future, I’ll never leave. Why would I? You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me."
"That makes two of us."
Pulling her close to me, she surrenders to my embrace. We remain like that for a long while, standing in silence in the middle of Jonathan’s office. When we finally break away from each other, I walk toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that line the outer wall of the office. I look out into the city, the New York skyscrapers rising high, and I place one arm against the window.
"I can’t believe I considered leaving."
"This is your home now, Connor," she whispers, walking up to me and hugging me from behind. "What are you going to do about the Order?"
"I’m going to leave the Order," I tell her. I hadn’t even thought about it, but now it just seems so clear. I’ve outgrown the Order of the Temple, and now it’s time for me to do my own thing. Maybe, if Jonathan wants me, I can remain as an adviser in his company. If not, it doesn’t matter, as long as Clarise is by my side, I know I’ll land on my two feet.
"You know… I think that my father would be proud of me," I say, looking out into the distance. Even though my father always supported me when I decided to follow in his footsteps, I think that, deep down, he didn’t want me to become like him. He wanted me to be my own man, to look for my place under the sun and carve something beautiful out of my life.
And now that I have Clarise, I think I’ve done just that.
"Of course he’d be proud of you… what father wouldn’t be proud of having a son like you?"
I remain in silence, just breathing in as I close my eyes. The sun is climbing up now, and its warmness is seeping through the window, bathing my face. Smiling to myself, I let all the events that brought me here replay inside my head.
The funeral, my first time with Clarise, the feeling of being on the verge of losing everything… It’s funny how life goes, isn’t it? It’s like a rollercoaster, full of ups and downs. You think you know what’s going to happen next, but there’s always a surprise waiting for you at the next bend.
"Shall we?" I finally ask Clarise, offering her my arm and pointing at the door.
"Of course," she smiles, taking my arm and pressing her body against mine. We walk out of the office arm-in-arm, a radiant smile on both of our faces. A few employees look toward us, a look of surprise and admiration on their faces, but I don’t even care.
The only thing I care about is the woman next to me.
And I swear to God, I’ll love and take care of her for the rest of my life, come hell or high water. I know I don’t have a good track record when it comes to keeping my vows, but don’t doubt me on this.
This is the one promise I won’t ever break.
37
Clarise
By the time Connor and I stroll inside the conference room, everyone’s already sitting at the large table. There’s a total of twelve people around the table (fourteen, now that Connor and I are here as well), and closed dossiers sit in front of each one of them.
The board is made up of some of the toughest business operators in the world (and they all have deep pockets to match their toughness), and I can’t help but feel slightly intimidated as I take my seat at the top of the table, next to my father. Connor sits on the other side, nodding at the whole table.
"Hello, gentlemen," he greets them all, his tone one of supreme confidence. If I didn’t know it, I could almost say that Connor was the CEO of the company.
"Connor, Clarise," my father starts in a solemn tone. "I’ve already informed the board that Earl is no longer part of the company, so that’s taken care of."
"An unfortunate matter of events," a grisly man at the end of the table says, his long white hair making him look like the business version of Hemingway. His name is John, but everyone just uses his surname, Sullivan. "But, if I’m allowed to say it, it’s for the better. He wasn’t cut out for this," he finishes, and a few more board members nod their agreement.
"But still," Richard, another of the members, says. He’s still in his early fifties, not a single grey hair peeking from his perfectly combed hair, "we have to worry about the implications of what Earl was doing. If he was really involved in some illegal scheme, we have no idea if he has already pulled the company into something shady. We’ll have to review every single project he has worked on, and that --"
"I’ve already taken care of that," Connor says, pushing his chair back and going up to his feet. Placing his closed fists on the table, he stands as tall as a God. "The moment I had my first suspicions about Earl, I started a thorough investigation. I personally reviewed every single transaction he was involved in. Despite his lack of success and profitability, there was nothing illegal about what he did. Now, if he had managed to make the company invest in Red Lion Aviation, there’d be trouble. But he was stopped before he could do any damage and, as such, everyone in this room is safe."
"Now that’s impressive," Sullivan says, nodding his approval. "It seems that this young man really lives up to Edward’s reputation."
"Thank you, sir," Connor smiles, sitting back down and looking at my father, waiting for him to address the board again.
"It’s true," my father continues, "Connor’s been doing a great job ever since he started to work with us. But now, I have some important news to share with all of you. Taking into account what happened today, I’ve made an important decision."
I notice a few of the board members shifting in their seats, anxious to see what kind of decision my father could've made in such a short amount of time, but they seem to relax as my father opens up into a smile.
"Six months from now, I’ll be vacating my position as head of the company," he says, and that anxiousness c
reeps upon the face of the board members once more. With my father stepping down, who the hell is going to take the helm of the company? Earl was the one pegged to be his successor, but with him out of the picture… Unless…
Oh.
Can it be?
"During these six months, my daughter will be acting as interim CEO. After that, she’ll take the reigns of this company," he gives everyone a moment to allow what he said to sink in, and then he places one hand on my shoulder. "Despite being the leader of my family, I never realized the kind of man Earl was. If Connor and Clarise hadn’t stopped him, this company would've ended up becoming a ruin. As such, it’s time I step down and give my daughter what she deserves. I propose we move to a vote."
"Very well," Sullivan says, leaning back against his chair and grinning. "I vote yes," he continues, raising one hand up in the air. "I just don’t understand what took you so long, Jonathan. Clarise has been doing a tremendous job ever since she started assisting this board, and I can’t think of anyone else to follow after you."
"Seconded," Richard says, nodding solemnly and raising his hand up in the air. One after the other, all members of the board raise their hands. I watch it happen with my jaw hanging open, barely believing what’s happening right in front of my eyes. Is this a dream?
To have my Connor by my side would suffice to make this the greatest day of my life, but now this… Seriously, can someone die of happiness? Because I’m afraid that might happen right now.
"I don’t even know what to say…" I start, going up to my feet and addressing the board.
"If I were you," my father says, "I’d keep Connor as your senior adviser." He smiles at me, and then gives me a heartfelt wink.