His Beautiful Addiction

''Any news from the victims? ''

''I think they're still pressing charges, but we've not heard anything from them since today. ''

The man explained and Nicklaus nodded, standing up from the chair;

''Okay, investigate further on the broken CCTV, and who tampered with it. For now, the meeting is adjourned.''

With that, he walked out of the boardroom.

He had a meeting scheduled after this, he had gone over to Lorries for the meeting and he had Tiana supervise the affairs in the company for the meantime; as soon as he stepped out of the office, he called her;

''Hey… ''

''Baby, you need to get here ASAP, the investors are throwing a fuss and I'm doing my best to calm them down but it's not working, they want to see you immediately!''

Tiana blew as soon as the call connected; she had tried calling him earlier, but his phone wasn't connecting.

Nicklaus sighed;

''Tell them I'll be there in a few minutes. ''

''Okay, I'll do just that. ''

With that, she ended the call.

Nicklaus heaved a sigh as he walked towards his car; nothing was looking good at all. Now that he was sure that the contaminated drinks weren't from Lorries, how would he prove it?

Douglas was a very calculative person for him to make this move; he would have made sure it was fool proof. And the longer he took, the graver the consequences became.

After the meeting with the investors, he would need to meet with grandpa, after which, he had an interview, which he couldn't object to. He had to say something about the matter at hand; keeping quiet would be very grave.

He knew this would come, but he didn't know it would be this soon.

Nicklaus sighed as he entered the car, and the guard closed it after him, driving off to the company quickly.

…

''So what do you want? ''

Nicklaus sat on his chair like a king, his face as indomitable as ever; Tiana was amazed as to how he could look intimidating even with the matter at hand, a part of her felt proud.

''I hear that you all made a fuss in my absence. Why is everyone quiet now? Are you all tongue tied? ''

His left brow raised questioningly as his frosty expression darkened;

The angry investors who ranted earlier were now panicky, but then, they were not terrified of him anymore because they knew that he was in a tight corner now.

One of them cleared his throat bravely;

''The Howells Corporation is in a huge mess now, we are no longer interested in investing; we want to pull our funds.''

He spoke but made sure to avoid Nicklaus daring eyes;

Tiana swallowed hard after he finished talking; earlier, they were threatening hellfire and brimstones earlier, she didn't expect that they would talk so meekly now;

Nicklaus was quiet for a moment before he burst out laughing;

He laughed so much that the investors wondered if something had gone wrong with him; after a while he stopped;

''You see, I'll like everyone to speak for themselves; I don't want anyone complaining they were unjustly treated when something happens after this short period of misunderstanding. '' 

he stopped, making sure they understood what he meant;

''Now, if you want to destroy every relationship, you have with the Howells, I want you to stand and walk out that door, but remember, there is no turning back once you leave through that door, and no matter how much you plead, I would never listen. ''

Tiana's eyes widened in awe;

How was he so smart?

He was telling them to leave and at the same time threatening them to dare!

Her eyes shifted to the investors around the table and she was stunned. Each one of them was panicky, no-one dared to even stand up.

They faced indecision at that moment, because his words were very ambiguous,

He had said a short period of misunderstanding, which meant that he was close to finding a solution. And if they left, they would have severed all ties with the Howells Corporation for life! But what if he was just bluffing? Would they all go down with him?

''I'm going to give you all a minute to leave, you are free to leave no-one will stop you. The time counts now. ''

Nicklaus spoke coolly, leaning back on his chair, like the god he was, and closing his eyes casually as though he wasn't bothered if they left or not.

The investors didn't even know what to do, they all cast each other glances, but no one dared to stand up; if they dared to leave and everything got better, he might come after their family businesses, they couldn't risk that.

Nicklaus opened his eyes after a minute passed and unsurprisingly, everyone was still seated, even the man who had spoken earlier.

He smirked and glanced at each one of them;

''Well, I think this meeting is over, am I right? ''

He asked in an authoritative tone and they quickly stood up and left.

Tiana watched them leave one after the other until they had all left; she turned to look at him and almost at the same time, he slumped back in his chair, heaving a sigh.

Standing up from her chair; she walked to him, she stopped for a second before she leaned down and hugged him.

''You did well. ''

She knew what he did; even though the company was in trouble, he had done his best to keep the investors. He might not have had any solution yet, but he made them feel as though they would lose a lot if they left.

Nicklaus stood up from the chair so he could hug her properly; he needed this hug right now.

Tiana's hands went around his torso as he leaned into her, his head falling low.

She was the only one who could understand how he felt inside, and with her, he left himself be vulnerable. 

''The stocks are still falling, Beautiful. ''

He didn't want to check the news, but it was up on the billboard in front of the company, it was fuckin' everywhere and he couldn't even pretend that he didn't see.

Tiana took in a sharp breath; he must be passing through a lot;

''it will be alright, you can do it, I trust you.''