Not What It Seems Ch. 07

"Tell me the damages being done, IF, and I mean if we don't get either contracts." Jared sighed his frustration. Haltor was a sneaky bastard, Jared didn't know how the hell he knew about his potential partnership with Alexsander Petrov and Tao Zhang. It was driving him crazy how Haltor knew so much about the company. Strangely Jared wanted to put the blame on Alin, it was still hard to trust her, though he shook the thought from his head knowing she knew nothing about these two potential deal.

"We lose 13% of the market in Russia and 24% in China. Both of these are likely to cost us over $5billion in revenue. It would be almost like a domino effect; we lose these two markets and all other markets will be dominated by HTU." Tom added cautiously, "Jared, I'm just worried at the extent Haltor knows about our company. I mean I don't understand how he knows so much."

Jared considered Tom's words. It was true. It seemed Haltor was always one step ahead of them. "Listen Tom, I want you to find out about everyone who was in the meeting three weeks ago concerning the contracts and I don't care how you do it, but I want to know who is behind this shit."

The contracts had been on his mind the whole morning. He just didn't know how the fuck Haltor could know so much. It just seemed the disaster of five years ago was waiting to happen again. After discussing things over with Tom, Jared was convinced someone in the company had been trading company secrets with him. If he knew who it was, he would literally fuck them up.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Alin found herself humming happily all morning. Even finishing off some work on a Saturday didn't deter her lifted mood.

Her day wasn't as productive as she had hoped, her mind constantly wandering off to things. Maybe it was wrong, but she found herself thinking about all the things he did to her, the way he made her feel. It was already nearing four, so when her phone rang, she excitedly picked it up without looking at the caller ID.

"Hey-"

"Alin"

She froze recognizing the voice instantly.

"Alin, Alin you there?"

"Y-yes, John, I'm here-"

"I thought you hung up on me-"

Alin felt guilty. She hated herself for putting him in this situation. Not only did she humiliate him, she now made it seem he was in the wrong. The sadness was evident in his voice.

"J-John, I would never do that." She whispered quietly.

He didn't' say anything for awhile, and Alin thought he had hung up, "John? Are you-"

"Alin, I miss you."

She took a sharp intake of breath, unable to respond to his confession. It made her feel even worst and guilty that these past weeks with Jared, though an emotional rollercoaster, made her feel more than she had with John for the past year. It was true that seventy percent of the time with Jared was spent arguing, but with John...she felt nothing.

"John, please don't-"

John was not one to beg. After what she had done, he knew he no longer loved her, in fact his feelings toward her was battling between lust and hatred. It infuriated him that he wasn't her first. That thought had turned him on so much so he was looking forward to branding her as his. Now that she was no longer worth anything to him he just wanted to truly fuck her.

"Alin, see me on Monday-"

"John, I can't-"

"Please" he pleaded desperately.

"I-"

"See me as a friend for lunch, whatever you want to call it, just...I want to see you Alin. I care about you. Please...as friends?"

John held his breath waiting for an answer. He really needed her to say yes.

"Okay" she whispered quietly before she could stop herself. She cared about John, yet she knew if Jared found out...

John was beyond relieved. "I'll pick you up at say 12 for lunch on Monday?"

"John I have one request, can you make sure we go somewhere quiet? You know because I- because..." She trailed off.

"I understand. Alin you have no idea how happy I am. Thank you!"

After finalizing the plans they had bid their goodbyes. Alin was still very much confused over what she had just done. It was true she saw them as friends. Though seeing an ex-fiancé would definitely get people talking.

John was over the fucking moon. Not because he wanted to see her. Maybe a little but he wanted to stir shit up. He knew full well she was Jared's weakness so fucking up their relationship was bound to help him distract Jared in order for him to get the contracts.