The Devil's Harem

Chapter 142: Once enemies, now partners

Chapter – 142

“My... My... Who do we have... ?” Alex walked into his office, jumping. There was this lump in his heart all this while since the time Jessica left him in Ullu. He wanted to call her, but he did not have her contact details. Alex had her email, but it didn’t feel just right to mail her. So when Mary told him that Jessica was here, he sent the three ladies away and rushed his way to his office where Mary had invited Jessica.

But as soon as he looked around, he found another person sitting beside Jessica, and he almost stumbled upon his own feet. Along with Jessica, Daniel was also there, grinning at the dancing Alex.

“Ahem... I did not know you were also here,” Alex said and, straightening his back, walked to his chair.

“How have you been?” Daniel smiled and greeted Alex.

“All good... All good...” Alex nodded.

“Just two weeks ago, you were an intern, running around those ladies in the PR department,” Daniel looked around the office, “And look at you now... Swish... Boss of many.”

.....

“Isn’t that great,” Alex looked proud, “What do you think? Want to jump the ships?” Alex suggested playfully.

Daniel just smiled, hearing Alex, but Jessica was agitated. Alex was continuously trying to poach her staff and irritate her. She knew to some extent that Alex was doing it intentionally, trying to irritate her. But even then, she couldn’t control herself.

“Can you stop doing that in front of me?” Jessica asked.

“Stop doing what?” Alex looked innocently at Jessica, but under those glaring eyes, he soon gave up, “Okay, fine,” Alex said as he sat straight.

“Ahem... So what brings the almighty Jessica to the doorsteps of my humble company,” Alex tried to put on a poker face and act serious.

“I would like to have your company merge into Theation,” Jessica came out dominant from the beginning.

She had expected Alex to go berserk and lose control. In fact, she wanted him to get enraged. Considering how, in the last few meetings, he had been getting the better of her, she was desperate for a reversal.

But on the contrary, Alex smiled, looking at Jessica, acting arrogant. His eyes moved down her face to her breasts as he remembered sucking on those round melons. That night she was completely opposite of how she had carried herself in front of him on numerous occasions.

That smooth white skin, those soft lips, silky hair, and her moans that filled the room, Alex started to remember all of them again. His eyes closed, and his hand slowly waved in the air, trailing that curvy figure of Jessica’s. ????????????????????????????.cｏ????

“Hey... What are you doing?” Jessica did not know what he was doing, but she felt a tingling sensation down her body as Alex moved his hand.

That abrupt shriek broke Alex’s imagination. When he looked at Jessica, her hands were around her arms, trying to save herself from something.

Shaking his head, Alex decided not to drift into his imagination anymore. This was already the second time today.

“I am sorry... I don’t think I heard you right, Miss Jessica” Alex politely started off, “You don’t actually mean it, right? How about we get back to why you are actually here?” Alex leaned back on his chair and asked Jessica. He was sure after all they had gone through, Jessica would not be brazen enough to act so ungratefully.

True enough, Jessica was not here to gobble up George’s company. She was here to propose a collaboration. But it has to be kept in mind that she was totally against this, but the pressure was high enough to make her come here.

Daniel, from the side, felt the tension rising. He was here precisely to make sure that Jessica won’t start a fight with Alex. Originally, Karen was supposed to accompany Jessica here. But she backed out at the last moment, citing a sprain in her ankle and Daniel was dumped to take the brunt.

Trying to ease things up, Daniel intervened, “You have some keen sense, hahaha...” Daniel said, “True. We are not here for anything of that sort. Jessica was just trying to ease up the atmosphere.” Daniel used the excuse.

“I know... I know...” Alex was back to the casual mood with Daniel, “I mean, true, the civic morals are on the downfall, but people would still know how to act grateful, won’t they?” Alex asked, looking at George but still stole glances at Jessica.

“... So, what is the purp... Oh... I am really sorry,” Alex stopped in the middle of what he was saying, “I totally forgot to ask. What would you like to have, tea, coffee or well, the weather says otherwise but something cold?” Alex asked.

“No, we are fine,” Jessica refused before Daniel could say anything.

“Well, it’s not right to not serve you something... Even though you came unannounced. This is kind of rude in a sense, but as the saying goes, ‘Guests are Gods’. So you will have to have something,” Alex didn’t leave the chance to comment his sarcasm, “How about we go with coffee. Everyone loves coffee,” Alex suggested. He saw Jessica wanting to open her mouth, but Alex beat her to it, “Unless there was an idiot’s sperm that fertilised your egg.”

And with that, he picked up the phone and asked Mary to send three coffees inside.

“Now, if all of what Miss Jessica said was a joke. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing two extraordinary faces?” Alex continued from where he left.

“We are here for a collaboration,” Daniel finally got to the point.

“Like in working together on something?” Alex asked, interlinking the fingers of his two hands.

Daniel nodded when met with the surprised gaze of Alex. And Alex was right to be surprised. Asking to work together out of nowhere was indeed shocking, that too with someone everyone wants to work with while you are on fire and ice terms. Alex and Jessica were ready to kill each other if they crossed paths. Things changed, and they were like friends. But the next moment, they were in uncharted territories. Things were always uncertain between the two of them.

“Now that’s a big opportunity,” After a brief pause, Alex opened his mouth, “But that makes me all the more uncertain.”

“Uncertain? Uncertain about what?” Daniel asked.

“The future of this collaboration,” Alex said, “What if Theation were to leave my company hanging in the middle of the project?” Alex asked.

“Why would we do something like that?” Daniel asked and, being a legal pundit, brought out the contract, “Breaking the contract will only hurt Theation. We won’t gain anything from it.”

“Well, you should ask your boss,” Alex gestured towards Jessica, “She is an expert in ghosting and leaving without a word,” Alex said. What he was directing towards was Jessica leaving in Ullu without a word.

“This...” Daniel, on the other hand, thought it had something to do with all the differences Alex and Jessica had all along. Now there was nothing he could do to sort out the differences between them, so he had to take the back seat now and let Jessica sort it out.

Now that night was taboo for Jessica. She had not shared a word of what happened in Ullu with anyone, and she was not going to do it now.

‘Why are you bringing that up?’ Jessica raised her eyebrows and gestured, looking at Alex.

‘You should have thought about it before leaving without a word,’ Alex had a smirk, looking at Jessica.

‘We can talk about it in private some other time,’ Jessica looked at Alex, pleading.

‘You didn’t even give me a call asking if I was doing alright after all the beating I took for you. Aren’t you the ungrateful type?’ The smile on Alex’s face turned into a frown.

‘Weren’t you brimming with energy all night? Even in the morning...’ Jessica looked at Alex in disdain.

‘Still, it does not explain why you left without talking to me,’ Alex changed the goal post.

‘Why should I have to tell you when and where I am going?’ Jessica looked at Alex with a smug.

‘That...’ Alex had no answer to it.

Meanwhile, while Alex and Jessica were staring and gesturing at each other, raising their eyebrows, shaking heads, smiling and frowning, Daniel was left in the dust. He did not have an iota of understanding of what was going on.

“Ahemm... How about we discuss the details of the collaboration,” Alex cleared his throat and suggested, “We can have our respective teams get in touch with each other. Draw out the plans based on your requirements, and then I will have someone take over the project from our side.” Alex suggested.

“... And let’s start off with a single project. It will help us understand if the two companies are compatible working with each other.” Alex continued. Collaboration between two companies in this field was nothing new. Generally, on big projects, a single company is not always willing to invest a large sum of money. On the off chance of things going wrong, the losses can be phenomenal.

“You will have to be in charge of the project,” Jessica said, “That is one of the conditions we have. And to be honest, this is something which is not negotiable.”

Hearing Jessica, Alex looked weirdly at her and then towards Daniel before saying, “I already have a lot on my plate. And my job is to see if everyone else is doing their job right and if they need anything. I have no experience in heading over a project.”

But despite hearing Alex, Jessica just shrugged her shoulder, “This is something the main lead of the project wants,” Jessica said, “And to come clean with you. This collaboration, this is something which she wanted.”

“You are saying all of this,” Alex said, pointing at Daniel, Jessica and himself, “We all are sitting here because of a single person?”

Jessica nodded, “Yes.”

“Who?” Now, this got Alex curious. To be able to bring the almighty Jessica to do their bidding, the person must be insanely capable.

“Veronica.”

* * * * *