Chapter – 18
Axel sat on the edge of the pool with his legs dipped inside. His cousins were having fun in the pool as he just sat there, feeling the calming effects of water. Sebastián was absent as he had worked.
The warm evening breeze soothed his insides and relaxed his mind as he sipped his berry smoothie. The sun was setting down, casting an orange glow on the surroundings. His grandfather owned a mansion on the sea-side of Madrid. It provided them privacy and came with an infinity pool overlooking the sea.
"Axel! Come, join us," Andrea hollered from across the pool.
"Later," he waved lazily and looked back at the setting sun. It was peaceful and he realized that he hadn't enjoyed the nature in a long time. He drowned himself at work and this break was much-needed. He felt rejuvenated and his body pulsed with positive energy.
"Axel!"
He grimaced at the sound of Vannina, which felt like throwing a stone into a calm water body. He didn't bother to turn around to look at her, nor he responded.
"Axel, how is your day?" She asked, plopping down beside him.
"It was good until now," he replied, casting a sideways glance and regretted looking at her immediately.
She wore a turquoise barely there bikini. The three triangle piece was not doing a very good job at hiding her assets and the straps were threateningly thinner that he thought it would rip open on its own if she moved.
"Wanna join me for a swim," she suggested seductively as her thin fingers traced his thigh over his swimming trunk. He swatted her hand away and glared at her.
She glanced at his body as if he was a piece of juicy steak. Axel analyzed the situation in hand and he couldn't get up without touching her.
"Not interested," he spat and jumped in, swimming towards his cousins.
He was a fast swimmer and before Vannina could reach him, he was at the end of the pool in the midst of his cousins, who was sending murderous glares at Vannina.
"Axel! That was fun. Come, let's race again," Vannina crooned.
"Vannina, he's not interested in you and he has already got a fiancèe. I'd appreciate if you could choose someone else as your toy," Andy said coldly, putting her body between Axel and Vannina.
"I can change his mind. How's she better than me? I showed my interest in him even before her," Vannina argued.
Axel gritted his teeth and her question only stirred the cold feeling he managed to suppress for so long. His eyes lost any compassion they had before as he eyed her with disgust.
"You hear me well and clear, Vannina. I made it clear to you several times that I am not and will never be interested in you. The reason that you are pursuing me even with the knowledge of my fiancèe is a proof enough that my girl is so much better than you. Hell, I can't even compare her to anyone. Now, I'd ask you politely for one last time to leave me the fuck alone. I can assure you that you don't want to see the bad side of me," Axel warned and his expression said he meant every word he spoke.
"There he said it, Vannina. You will leave if you have some dignity left," Andy sneered as the girls stepped before him.
Vannina's lips trembled as she turned abruptly and left the pool without a second glance at them.
"Hope she stayed away," Silvia commented, splashing the water in a lazy manner.
"No, she will come back again after licking her wounds. You took a huge blow to her ego, Axel. She won't give up that easily," Maria warned.
"Let her try. I am sure Samantha would enjoy skinning her alive."
"Hmm... so when are you going to introduce her to us."
"She's coming here on this Saturday."
"Whoa! That fast?" Marina exclaimed.
"Technically, she is coming here to see her friend and decided to meet me here."
"That's cool. Even Dani is coming here on Saturday," Andrea cheered. "Oh, oh my God Axel, tell me her full name is Samantha Danica Sinclair," she deadpanned with wide eyes as she realized something.
"Yes, that's her. How do you -" Axel's eyes widened as he realized Dani was none other than his Samantha. "Dani as in Danica?"
"Oh my God!" Andrea squealed and engulfed him in a bone-crushing hug. "I can't believe my best friend is going to be family. I'm going to go and have a word with her. She freaking dating a guy, who is my cousin and she didn't tell me about it."
"It would've slipped her mind," Axel reasoned.
"How could she forget this. We agreed to tell each other everything first. Wait, let me guess. You're her grumpy boss."
"Ah, yes."
Andrea giggled as her sister Gabriela nudged at her ribs, whispering something to her and Andrea laughed out loud.
"What's she saying?" Axel asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing. Just that we all would love to see the face of our mighty Grandpa when he finds out who your girlfriend really is," Andrea said in a 'duh' tone which made him wonder what she was talking about.
"Why?" He frowned in confusion.
"Axel, are you acting dumb or you really don't know."
"I really don't get it, Andrea."
"God Axel, Dani is a Sinclair. Does it ring a bell?"
Axel shook his head not understanding what she implied. “That’s her surname. What has it got to do with all this?”
"She is the daughter of Gregory freaking Sinclair, the chairman of Sinclair International," Andrea exclaimed, rolling her eyes and Axel's eyes widened like saucers.
The Sinclairs were on top of the business chain. Their line of business ranged from construction to retail. They pretty much had a hand on every line of business and ranked number one in USA market for over twenty-five years.
Getting a deal with them was like winning a jackpot for any upcoming businessman like him and Samantha worked for him. He couldn't believe his ears. He looked at Andrea with disbelief for a few pregnant minutes before he got his legs to move.
He hurried out of the pool and picked up his phone. Wiping his hands on the towel, he quickly browsed through his gallery.
"Is this the girl you are talking about?" He asked Andrea, showing the selfie they took at the party.
"Yep... That's her," Andrea confirmed and went on gushing happily at how cute they both looked together.
Axel's head reeled with this information.
Does it matter that she is rich?
No, his subconscious replied.
Why would she hide this from him?
Technically speaking, she didn't. You didn't even bother to know her full name until recently, his subconscious countered again.
That was true. He knew her as a person for over a year now and he concluded that it didn't matter. She never had a motive to hide her identity. It was all there for him to see and he simply didn't notice it or connected the dots.
He remembered the day at the police station. Even at that time, he didn't bother much to know the whereabouts of her family. Her father was an influential man and that incident made sense now.
His mobile beeped once indicating an email from Samantha and Axel saw red when he looked at the camera feed Samantha had sent him, that bastard.
∞ ∞ ∞
A single knock on the door distracted Samantha from her thoughts.
"Come in," she called as she went to sit on her chair.
Andrew poked his head in and gave her his trademark panty-dropping smile. Samantha just quirked her eyebrows and leaned further into her seat, making herself comfortable. An action which showed that she was definitely not affected by this handsome male in front of her.
He was definitely handsome with a chiseled jawline, his rich auburn hair combed neatly and his whiskey-colored eyes scanned her, appreciatively.
"Hello Samantha," he drawled in a tone which was a few octaves low from his usual tone.
Samantha was sure many women would find his voice, sexy and alluring, but sadly it doesn't work on her. It required more than a sexy smile and voice to turn her on.
"What brings you here, Andrew?" She asked in a clipped tone and her
expression said that she was clearly not interested in whatever he was going to say.
"Oh, nothing biggie. You became a general manager and I thought, I should just congratulate you properly."
Samantha leaned further and crossed her legs. She gave him a small smile as her hand turned the camera in the room on. She didn't understand why Axel would want to fix a camera inside every private office when she first noticed it, now she felt grateful.
"Thank you."
She tapped her fingers on the table as he sat comfortably on the chair opposite to her. Something inside her mind said he won’t be leaving that soon.
“I believe that is not the only reason you came here. What is it?”
Andrew gave her a confident smirk as he leaned forward on the table.
"Why don't we go a drink or two after work or maybe hit some club," He offered.
Something about his expression alarmed her and she casually picked her mobile from the table and opened the voice recorder as she answered him.
"I don't drink and I sure don't go to clubs."
Andrew gave her a look as if she was being crazy. "Ah, come on Samantha. You can surely do something. What do you say for dinner, then?"
"I'm not interested in you, Andrew. If you are here about something related to work, then go ahead, else you may leave."
A look of fury crossed his face before he masked it and chuckled under his breath.
"Playing hard to get, are we?" He chuckled again as he stood up and pushed his hands into his pockets in a casual way. “Now, I understand why Axel fell for you in the first place. Men like women, who pose a challenge.”
Samantha tensed, but managed to stay calm as she looked at him with the same expression. Her suspicious eyes watched his every move.
"Come on, Samantha. You know that I want you. Why do you have to beat around the bush? You hardly come to the cafeteria or other parts of the office. You're always with Axel, making it harder for me to approach you."
Samantha clenched her fists around her mobile and ground her jaw.
"Leave my office, Andrew," she gritted.
"You put on a good show, Samantha. You don't have to bother now as Axel is not here and he doesn't have to know about our little adventure," he said, walking around the table to come closer.
Samantha got up from her chair and opened her draw in an instant. Sitting on the chair made her vulnerable to his actions. She had enough space to back up and run out of office if things went out of her control.
"You joined as his secretary and now after one year, you are the general manager of this company. I am sure it doesn't come free of cost. Why don't we help each other? I am sure I have a few tricks under my sleeve that'll please you in my bed. What do you say?" He raised his hand and Samantha decided to act in that moment.
Her hands pulled out the taser from her draw and she tased him. Andrew fell down and his body twitched on the floor. She didn't waste time before calling the building security on speed dial.
Her blood boiled and there were no words to explain the full extent of her fury. She wanted to hit him badly at the same time, she didn't want to get anywhere near him. Throwing a few curse words at him she tased him again.
"You dare mess with me in my office? You're fired, Andrew." She shouted.
Her nose scrunched in disgust as she took note of the small wet patch that was starting to form in the front of his pant. The securities soon arrived and pulled his semi-fried ass from the floor. Samantha paced the floor angrily and continued to curse under her breath.
"Drag his smelly ass out of this building," she ordered. "And send the cleaners up on your way out."
Ugh! She kicked the chair and clenched her fists.
With Grace and her assistant no longer in the company, she will have to handle the human resource for a while. She sat down and started working on his contract termination when the cleaning crew arrived.
Tasing him felt like a good idea at the time and now her anger has not reduced a bit. She should've tased his ass a few more times, she grumbled at the thought.
Their HR division had three staff and she called the intern who joined them three months ago. A few minutes later a petite red hair entered the room with a knock. Her unruly curly hair was sticking out of her ponytail. She reminded her of the girl from the Storks movie she watched recently.
"Take a seat, Annie."
Samantha could tell that the girl was a fresher. Annie was recruited by Grace so she didn't know much about the girl.
"I realize that I don't know much about you. Why don't tell me about your education and other talents?"
The girl was nervous, but confident otherwise. Her record was a proof enough for her efficiency and Samantha thought why not offer her a place rather recruiting a new staff.
"I have a bachelor's degree in business major and I have taken more courses in accounting."
"Hmm... That's sounds good. I've seen the records for past three months and I'm impressed. You are punctual, you also handled some extra task given to you like an expert. Now that the place as HR Assistant is open, I would like to offer you the place."
Annie's oval-shaped face lit up considerably, "Thank you, ma'am. I'd definitely work hard to prove my worth to this firm."
Samantha gave her a professional yet friendly smile. "Good, I'll email you the rest of the details and in the meantime, you can shift your things to your new cabin."
After Annie left her office with another thank you, Samantha emailed the camera feed she received from their IT team to Axel, and sent out the termination letter to Andrew, marking Axel in the email.
She wanted to do more than just termination. However, she didn't want to ruin his life over this. Tasing him must have taught him a good lesson, he would think twice before approaching a woman again.
Chapter – 19
Axel was furious when he learned about the incident and the curse words he used during their call made her smile and warmed her insides. He went to jail for hitting a guy who talked badly about her and she could already imagine what would have happened if he was present in the office today. It took a good half an hour for him to cool down and Samantha forgot her own anger in the process.
She filed away the evidence for the future purpose for when he tried to create any trouble with her or the company. The rest of the day flew away with the amount of work piled up on her table keeping her busy.
Axel had called at least five times before she reached home to make sure she was all right. He had called once when she was in the car with her dad and she could tell by her dad's expression that he was pleased.
When Gregory learned about what happened in the office, he acted just like Axel and wanted to bust his ass. None of Samantha's words would cool him down until Narmadha spoke to him.
Men, Amelia mouthed at her with a shake of her head and Samantha chuckled. Eric was not yet home and the third round of fireworks would start when he learns about this incident. Ryan was the coolest of all the guys, so he just confirmed with her thrice if she had tased him for good and chastised her for not tasing him twice more and dry fry his ass.
Samantha felt drained by the time she finished dinner and managed to drag herself to the bed. Eric was once again late for dinner and he wouldn’t hear the end of it today. They will have to wait a little longer for his reaction to the morning incident.
After a short call with Axel one more time, she fell asleep, cuddling her pillow.
∞ ∞ ∞
The rest of the week blurred fast and soon it was Friday. Samantha stayed in office until seven p.m. and left only after they started loading their shipment.
She boarded their private jet at midnight and relaxed on the luxurious bed. She had enough time to sleep and for the first time in years, she stared at the ceiling, trying to catch the sleep that seemed too far.
Her mind was so excited to see Axel and she wondered how things changed so fast between them. The more they talked the more she liked him. She tossed and turned
in her bed for most of the night. When the sunbeams penetrated through her window she gave up and went to get ready.
She was glad that she chose to travel in their private jet. The shower was relaxing and she exited the washroom feeling all fresh. She had another one hour before they landed.
She chose a pale green sundress which ended a few inches above her knees. Sasha and Amelia took a full charge in packing her wardrobe during her stay here in Spain. Though she was going to be here only for two days.
Samantha blushed when her sister packed a few bikinis, in spite of her telling her that she would never use bikini in front of Axel. She took her time getting ready and carefully applied the makeup. She wanted to look good for Axel and at the same time, she didn't want him to get an impression that she tried hard.
She got ready just in time when the captain announced that they were landing. A rush of excitement flood through her veins as the jet bumped on the ground. An involuntary smile spread across her lips and she couldn't wait to get out of the jet.
Fortunately, there were only a few people in the immigration when she arrived. Her eyes searched the crowd to find Axel and her best friend. She knew Andrea was the granddaughter of Rodrígez and she’d assumed that Axel must be the cousin she spoke highly about during their college days.
A wide grin spread across her face as her best friend barreled towards her with a high pitched squeal, attracting attention from a few passers-by.
"Hey, your ass has gotten huge..." Andrea commented as she pulled her into a tight hug. "How the hell are you growing them up? Look at mine, it just doesn't get bigger than this," she complained as they parted.
Samantha chuckled at her friend who was always envious of her curvy body and round bottom. She always said that she would happily trade her body for Samantha's.
"It's hereditary and maybe the junkies I eat now and then, boosted it a bit."
"Now, I am so angry at you Missy. You are dating my cousin and I didn't even know about it. Hell, I didn't even know you had a boyfriend. We promised each other to share the details first," she chastised.
Perfect Revenge (Revenge Series Book 1) Page 13
