"Are you okay, dear?" Stella asked from where she lay.
She had not missed how the happy expression slowly disappeared from Amy's face. The other women looked at her when they heard Stella's question. Amy gave a small smile as she nodded away.
"Yes, it's a spam message, she said as she put away her phone.
Emma chuckled from where she sat on the sofa in the sitting area. "I just remembered how this other woman scammed her ex husband of all his money because he didn't give her a single dime of what she was supposed to get as alimony."
"How stupid is he?" Anastasia shook her head.
"Did that even happen? That sounds like something you'd see in movie", Sylvia commented.
Emma was annoyed by the comment as she looked away obnoxiously. "Just know that it happened."
"By the way, is it possible to have our meetings here instead since the library will be closed?" Elizabeth asked a curious question.
"Will it be too much for you Stella? We can put it on pause and simply just visit you", Dorothy suggested.
"No, we can have our meetings here", Stella replied.
"Right? I mean it's a V.I.P room so we won't be disturbing anyone if we have the discussions here", Emma agreed.
"What about the library? Is it going to remain closed while Stella is away?" Sylvia asked.
"No, Emily, Ian and I will handle it. Oh?" Adrianne's eyes sparkled at a new idea. "Since Stella is down and I'll temporarily take her place at the library, does that make me the new chairlady?"
The woman was getting excited when her idea was quickly shut down by the rest of the women. As the discussion bloomed, two people were distracted by their own thoughts. Stella was the first. She had been triggered the moment she heard 'V.I.P room'. She knew they were not doing too well financially so how did Richard pay for such an expensive room or the surgery fee itself.
Amy was also drowning in her thoughts. Though she looked present and very amused by the development of things, she could not help but wonder what prompted that person to send her that email. Those three words kept replaying in her head.
'I dare you.... Why? Do they know I'm planning something?' she mused.
At Greco Pharmaceuticals
"Boss, was that move.....", Peter didn't finish his sentence as he fixed his trouser belt. He happened to be standing beside his boss when the person sent that email to Amy.
The boss was seated in their spinning chair as they stared at the screen in amusement. "Necessary? Wise? What Peter?"
The boss's tone was light and Peter could detect their good mood. But he did not dare relax.
"Boss, I'm not questioning you.. ", he walked back to the other side of the desk and assumed his respectful stance. He clasped his hands in front and kept his head hanging low.
He remembered what happened last time he dared to question his boss and would like to avoid a repeat of that. The boss could guess what he was thinking and chuckled in amusement.
"What do you think Peter? What kind of a move was that?"
Peter could feel the scorching gaze analyze him from head to toe. But he dared not look up. What did he think? Should he even speak?
"Are you going to talk or should I make you?"
There was a danger in their tone. Peter gulped and stuttered as a response automatically flew out of his mouth. "I-I-I don't know if it's a threat or- or- or- a protection."
The boss laughed and clapped their hands as the gaffawed in amusement. They had to wipe away some laughing tears and took a couple of deep breaths to calm down from their laugh. Peter thought he would get an answer but only heard the boss sigh after their laugh died down. He then heard the sound of their elegant long fingers rapping against the mahogany desk.
Did the boss suddenly feel arrogant because of the backing The King was openly showing to them? But it did not change the fact that Amy would possibly sabotage them. This was a woman who took down a whole corporation and even his goons had been taken care of. Peter was honestly worried. He could not afford to go down so easily after everything he has sacrificed.
The boss suddenly stood up and Peter followed after them as they walked out of the CEO's office. Bodyguards were already by their side creating a protective arch as they walked on. The bodyguards gave a knowing gaze when they saw Peter but the latter kept his eyes on the heels of his boss as they walked.
They took the elevator going down to the underground floor of the thirty five floor building. The boss hummed an unknown tune as they kept their eyes peeled on the decreasing numbers. A ding sound went off and the elevator doors slid open revealing a hallway with white walls and white tiled floor.
They walked through that hallway until they reached a railing where they could oversee the men and women in white coats and protective clothes covering their bodies from head to toe, goggles to protect their eyes, masks and medical gloves while they run tests to achieve the desired results for what they were truly working on.
"How far are we from being ready for the Corporate gala?" The boss asked and all the amusement was quickly replaced by seriousness.
"The Adalimumab is ready but, we should have our sample ready by then", Peter replied.
"You better. We can't afford for anything to go wrong, The King is watching", the boss reminded.
Peter felt a shiver down his spine at the reminder as he swallowed a hard lump in his throat. The boss's eyes fell on the hand of a certain scientist waving a formula in a test tube as he held it to the light.
A wicked smile stretched on the boss's lips. Amy Harper will not sabotage them, not after so much work and preparation has gone into their project; hence the message: I dare you.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l