Billionaire’s Achilles’ Heel

Crashed

Two weeks later, Mike could only guess that the mysterious girl he met at his club did not return when he did not hear from his bartender. Her image that lingered in his mind for days was starting to fade. It turned out a woman could slap him and get away with it after all. He was turning into his parking lot when he heard a banging sound as a motorbike came crashing on his sports car’s front wing. It was the same motorbike he spotted six times before. He remembered it because it always flew through traffic lights. He always thought it was a matter of time before it crashed to someone, unfortunately that someone was him. He got out of his car, ready to give the crazy dude a piece of his mind.

“Seriously? Are you blind?” he yelled, irritated.

Jessica looked at the six feet tall man taking big strides towards her. The smooth ivory skin, meticulously trimmed moustache and well toned masculine physique she has been intentionally blocking out of her mind for the past two weeks now right in front of her. This man looked so good on the grey designer suit which complemented his grey eyes and fitted him like a glove. The crystal white shirt left unbuttoned on the collar revealed his Adam’s apple. He obviously knew how to show off his best features. Jessica wondered why the maker would grant such looks to a sick bastard like him. Very few men have caught her attention, it’s a pity this one was her mission, she thought. “You are the blind one, I had the right of way” she retaliated, keeping her helmet on.

Mike hesitated when he heard the voice, the dude he was coming to scold was actually a woman “Excuse me?”

At the state department Lucas, Peter and Luther were listening to the confrontation between Jessica and Mike through the mic inside Jessica’s ear.

“Here we go again!” Lucas exclaimed bracing himself. In all his detective life, this was the first undercover mission he felt so helpless and always on the urge.

In the Spencer tours packing lot Jessica looked at Mike defiantly “I said you are the blind one because I had a right of way”she repeated her sentence slow and more provocative.

“Woman, this is my parking lot” he said sternly.

“Man, we are in the parking entrance. Your slot is inside not here” she responded, not backing down.

Mike shook his head, looking at his car and running his hand on the millimetre dent on it’s front wing. He was raised to never shout at a woman but this one was pulling his strings. This was a second incident a woman challenged him, it was either women were becoming bold and brave or he was becoming weak.

Jessica noticed him looking at the dent she made “Well, at least you have that tiny thing, I can’t say the same for my baby” she said, turning her eyes on her twisted motorbike. The wind was stronger than she anticipated. At the high speed she was ridding, it had propelled her hard into Mike’s car but she had no intentions of admitting that.

“This ‘tiny thing’ will cost me close to 100k”

At the state department, Peter winced and hoped that won’t come from their budget when this mission was over.

Jessica cursed inside, she was sure that her team was going crazy hearing that. They will definitely whine about it later but it was not intentional on her part. “That’s ridiculous! Why on earth would you drive such a liability?”she asked, shocked that such a tiny dent would cost so much. “Rich people always want to impress! I could buy two motorbikes with that” she added, intentionally pushing his buttons.

Lucas threw his hands in the air, getting frustrated. Jessica had managed to successfully infiltrate the syndicate. They had more information on the ground players but the middleman, their bosses and finally Mike’s involvement was still a mystery. Jessica was meant to make contact with Mike and see if he takes the bait. He was obviously interested in her the first time they met but Jessica was on her usual ‘piss off the billionaire’ mood.

“Just stop talking” Mike instructed, taking deep breath to calm himself.

“I don’t suppose you will be fixing my motorbike?” she asked innocently.

“Are you for real? You drive that thing like a mad man, crashed into my car in my own parking and you have the nerve to ask me that?” Mike yelled, unable to control his anger

Jessica smiled, intrigued. She was curious to know how far she could push him “Calm down dude, you will have a heart attack. We have established that this was your fault”

“Have we?” Mike asked sharply.

Jessica shrugged her shoulders

“Give me a moment while I pull out the footage” he said strolling on his smartphone while Jessica dragged her motorbike to clear the entrance for the Spencer tours employees who had lined up to drive into the parking lot. She removed her helmet, left it on her motorbike and walked back to Mike facing wind which blew her hair in different directions.

Mike had managed to pull up the footage and ready to show her that the accident was her fault when he lifted his eyes and saw the person he had been looking for but the last person he expected at that moment. “You!”he exclaimed.

Jessica narrowed her eyes as if to remember where she met him “Are you stalking me?” she asked with an accusing tone.

“What?”he asked. There must be something off with this woman.

“You heard me” Jessica persisted looking accusingly at his eyes.

“First of all, this is my property. Are you sure you are not the one stalking?” Mike hit back, it seemed he was granted round two and had no intentions of loosing.

“Dream on!” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

“Good morning Mr S, hello Jess” Leah Johnson, Spencer tours secretary greeted them curious to find out what was going on. The two have been standing at the parking entrance since she drove in.

“Morning Leah” they both greeted in unison.

“Is everything okay?” Leah asked.

“No, this entitled being knocked my motorbike and has the audacity to say I am stalking him” Jessica explained pointing at Mike.

Mike shook his head in disbelief, surprisingly not shaken by her disrespect.

Leah moved to Jessica’s side, tagging on her shirt “Ahh Jess, do you know who this is?” she asked lowering her voice.

“Miles, no Mack, no ..” Jessica responded twisting her hair lock as if trying to remember the name he gave her at the club.

At the state department, Sergeant Luther was shocked listening at the interaction. “She does not remember the suspect’s name?” he asked, worried. They had multiple briefings with her every afternoon and Mike was mentioned a lot.

“She’s messing with his head and ego. It gives the impression that he does not matter and their first encounter was not very significant” Detective Peter explained.

“That’s mean!”Luther exclaimed.

“That’s her second name, I would know because you even arrested me because of her” Lucas responded.

“Sorry, she sounded legit” Luther apologised recalling how he was ready to tear Lucas apart when he thought he was Jessica’s abusive fiancé.

“I know, you were going your job” Lucas said. He had no beef with Luther at all.

At the Spencer tours parking, Mike watched Jessica go through a list of names trying to remember his name.

“Mike Spencer, our CEO, your big bosses’ boss ” Leah finally interjected, unable to stand the awkwardness.

Jessica opened and closed her mouth, speechless.

“Anything you want to say before I fire you?” Mike asked, amused by her reaction.

“You were not my boss when I slapped you, you can’t fire me for it. That would be against labour laws” Jessica babbled.

“You slapped Mr S?” Leah was shocked.

“She did, she also told me that I had a superiority complex” Mike related Jessica’s insults to Leah while watching Jessica’s amusing reaction.

Jessica swallowed her saliva “It was an honest observation, you probably don’t get a lot of that. You can use it to grow but again I was not your employee when I said it. Now excuse me, I am late for work” she said running off.

Mike raised his eyebrows not knowing whether to laugh or be angry. Most people would shrink and beg for their jobs by now but she actually told him to use her insults to grow.

Leah’s eyes widened watching Jessica disappear, too afraid to say anything.

“ I guess I should be grateful for that” Mike shouted.

“You are welcome!” she shouted back and continued running.

“ I was being sarcastic!” Mike responded.

“I know!”

Mike shook his head and turned to Leah “Who is she?”

“Jessica Mayers, new café waitress, Sir” Leah responded with a shaky voice, too scared to even look at him.

“When did she start?” he asked.

“Two weeks ago”

Mike shook his head in disbelief, the person he has been searching for was right under his nose all along.

Two hours later, Mike walked into Spencer tours café. He had not not been in there for years. The cafe generated no profit for the company, he kept it for sentimental reasons because his mother started it.

Ryan was shocked to see him taking a seat and rushed to welcome him. Julian Reed, the manager of Spencer tours dealt with everything related to the café, he never had to deal with Mike “Good, good morning Sir” he stuttered “What can I get you?”

“Cappuccino please” Mike responded, his eyes scanning the place for Jessica.

“Jess, cappuccino please” Ryan shouted to Jessica who was behind the counter.

“Coming up” she responded heading to the back and emerged with a tray. “Here you go, Sir” she said politely placing the tray in front of Mike.

“Yuck! this is the worse cappuccino I have ever tasted” Mike exclaimed pushing the tray away.

“You should try the hot chocolate, then you will know injustice. If there was a hot beverage police, they would be useless if they didn’t arrest you” Jessica responded.

“Me? You made this thing!” Mike could not believe his ears. It seemed this woman blamed him for everything.

“You own this joke of a place, don’t you? Why do you keep it open if you have no interest in it? Why call it a café not employee’s depression hub?” she flooded him with questions.

“Jess!” Ryan exclaimed, shocked. He was the most intimidating person with seventy kilograms muscular body and that ugly scar on his face but would never dare confront Mike Spencer. His friend was right, even though she had increased the number of their drug dealing customers, Jessica was just too crazy. Her personality was not ideal for a side business that required a low profile.

Jessica shrugged her shoulders innocently “What? He’s the boss, someone must tell him the truth”

“What do you suppose I need to do for it to be a café, Miss Jessica Mayers?” Mike asked, intentionally mentioning her name she refused to give him on their first encounter.

Someone else would have shrunk if the boss asked such a question in that tone but it seemed to fuel Jessica on “Redecorate, bigger windows will bring in natural light, a bit of colour and most importantly, a proper certified coffee machine” she suggested. Besides her pushing his buttons, the place really did look depressing and the coffee was terrible.

“Fine”

“Like fine you will think about it or fine I will just fire you?” Jessica asked with a squeaky voice. “If we redecorate, I will reserve a table for you” she added.

Mike laughed at her attempt to manipulate him “I own the place, all these tables are mine”

His statement should have ended the conversation but Jessica wanted to make her point “They are not your tables when the place is packed with customers. You will have to stand”

Mike scoffed “You hardly get customers!” This café was the most unprofitable part of all his businesses.

“That’s because no one wants to invite depression in their lives” she sneered.

Mike realised that he was not going to win with his stubborn employee “I don’t suppose you want a tip for that terrible cappuccino?” he asked, standing up to leave.

“I don’t take tips from bad customers” she responded, picking up the tray with his hardly touched cappuccino.

Mike chuckled, his cafe might be dull but it now had a very colourful personality for a waitress.

Ryan sighed seeing his boss leave. He had made up his mind to fire Jessica but after observing the interaction between the two, he knew that it would be a mistake. Even when Jessica was rude, the way Mike looked at her did not change. It was as if he was grateful to hear her speak regardless of what she said or how insulting she was.

When a week passed and Mike did not respond to her suggestion to redecorate the place, to mess with his ego, Jessica started asking for donations from the company employees and everyone who came to the company. The café being directly opposite the reception was a huge bonus because everyone who came in passed by it and the colourful donation box. The Spencer tours male employees were the highest donors, an act that irritated their boss. Mike secretly agreed with Jessica’s suggestions but intentionally ignored her to pull her strings and curious to see things unfold. He, off course was a regular customer for the terrible cappuccino but finally got ticked off when his business rival Mathew White donated a large sum to spite him. To top it, Mathew would not stop telling everyone in the business sphere how he donated for Spencer tours café to be decorated, fuelling rumours that the company was in a blink of bankruptcy. Mike’s uncle, Petrose Spencer was not pleased with Jessica when he became inundated with calls from worried investors about their impending bankruptcy. Had Mike not intervened and volunteered to handle the ‘problem’, his uncle would have definitely kicked Jessica out of the company. Ryan had accepted that he will also be fired and regretted hiring the obviously stubborn crazy girl when Mike surprisingly arrived with contractors and interior designers to revamp the place up.

“Take this and buy everything you thing the café needs. If I ever hear another complain from you about this place, I swear I fire you” Mike threatened while giving Jessica his bank card.

“Thank you, Sir” she responded innocently with a smile.