NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 22: A Deal Is Made!
(Casey)
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With a sigh of relief, I smoothened out the surface of my skirt as I got to my feet with my hand outstretched. Kevin, the CEO of Klevah TV got up as well, took my hand into his meaty own, and shook me hard. He was grinning from ear to ear as he wrapped my hand with his two hands and shook me.
Kevin was a beefy man, and he was one of those men who looked like they ate everything simply because they could afford to. His tuxedo looked too small for him and they strained hard against his body, he was always sweating and was always mopping up his face with a hanky. He looked like any other regular man that she could come across downtown Silicon Valley.
However, I knew better than to judge the man by his looks. He was a millionaire who was running one of the most competitive TV stations at the moment. He had gone to great lengths to get this brunch in place, and I had only been dribbling him. That was a business strategy on my end, and now, I had him right where I wanted him. He had exclusive rights to cover everything concerning the wedding. His station would be the first to broadcast and if other stations wanted a piece of the action, they would have to go through him.
Now, as he shook me hard, I smiled as I slowly retracted my hand.
"Thank you for such a lovely meal, Casey." He said as he adjusted his bowtie, twisting his neck from one side to the other. He then picked up his glass and finished the wine before turning to leave.
Just then, the waiter materialized beside us and was about to ask Kevin for the bill when I motioned to the young man, "Just add it to my tab. You can send the bill to my office, my assistant, Liam would handle it."
Kevin smiled at me, "That's so sweet of you. No worries, the next meal we grab, it would be on me."
I nodded sullenly, choosing not to say anything as he picked up his briefcase and walked out of the restaurant. I watched him walk through the swinging doors, and once he was gone, I lowered myself back into the seat. It had been a grueling experience bargaining with him. Kevin was a stubborn man and bringing him down to my level had been extremely tasking. Especially having to do it while thinking hard about everything else that was going on in my life.
Right now, I desperately needed to talk to Kira. It was well past mid-day and I needed to know if she was going ahead with her threat of having the 1000 guests, or if we would stick with the 150 that Uncle Leo wanted. However, every time I called her, it rang for a while and then went to voicemail. I wondered if she was busy with something, or if she was mad at me for leaving the hotel the way I had done.
Every time I called her, I remembered our conversation that night and wondered if she was ignoring my call the same way she had been ignoring the call that fateful night. And now that I thought about it, I couldn't help but wonder who had been calling her that night because Kira had gone to great lengths to make sure that I didn't know. This was the first time she was keeping something from me, I knew that I was supposed to feel bad about it, however, I just couldn't do that. I was also keeping a huge secret from her and I was sure that no matter what she was hiding, it couldn't be worse than my sin.
I took out my phone and dialed her number once more.
"Where the hell did you keep your phone, girl?" I muttered irritably when the call went to voicemail yet again.
I shook my head as I tried to clear my thoughts. I needed to talk to Kira as soon as possible because time was no longer on our side. Especially with the kind of changes that she was planning.
I think they found something.
The words rang in my head, seemingly from nowhere. However, I remembered it clearly. It was Joan's voice from when I had spoken to her on the phone. Someone had been stationed outside Kira's room last night, and now remembering her weird behavior while I was there, I couldn't help but wonder if the stalker had seen anything.
"Oh, for fuck's sake." I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose. Things were getting worse, the more I thought about it, the more terrible it got. It was as if everywhere I turned, something was depicting just how bad our situation was.
Just then, my phone began to ring. I checked the screen and gave a sigh, it was Jace. I had already lost count of how many times he had called me today alone. I still wasn't ready to speak to him. I knew that just listening to his silky voice could weaken my resolve to stay the hell away from him. I was about to cut the call when my finger froze over the screen.
At that moment, I realized that I was getting way in over my head. If there was one person that I could tell about everything that was going on, it was Jace. He was the only other person who knew my secret and he had just as much motivation to protect said secret as I did. I had to tell him everything if I was going to get to the bottom of the matter.
I can't keep something as sensitive as having a stalker to myself. Besides, Jace was in a better position to help out, especially with his ties to the police. I needed his help if I was going to solve this. With my mind made up, I nodded sullenly as I made to answer the call. However, at that moment, the call went off.
I gave a sigh, berating myself for not being fast enough to answer the call. However, only seconds later, the phone began to ring again. I already knew what I was going to say, so with a deep breath, I answered the call and placed it on my ear; "Jace, we need to talk."
"What the hell are you thinking?" Jace's voice was harsh through the phone, it sounded furious. "Do you even know how worried I've been, trying your fucking number all day and you're not picking my damn calls? What the fuck, Casey?"
"See, this is not the time for all this." I said. "There is something more important that we need to talk about!"
"I don't care. I don't give a flying fuck! If you really wanna talk to me, then you better come to my office right now!"
And without another word, the line went dead in my ear.
I felt fury ball up inside me like molten lava as my fingers tightened around my phone. Then, without another word, I grabbed my purse and stormed out of my office! I was going to kill that prick!