Mr. CEO You Are Dumped

Like a fox

Mr. CEO – You’re Dumped

Chapter 27 – Like a Fox

Constantine’s P.O.V

I walk into the boardroom with my secretary by my side. Frank and Paul are seated with Barrister Stones, who hasn’t attended a single meeting since the past one year. He looks younger than the last I saw him in a meeting. His beards were shaved, unlike his usual self, and I figure that it is what makes him appear younger in my eyes.

I take my seat on the high center seat reserved for the CEO of the company, and Frank rolls his eyes at me. Paul, on the other is actually paying attention to me. He isn’t buried in the thought of his phone and it makes feel that whatever made them call for this private meeting must be very serious.

Barrister Stones brings out a couple of files from the bag he is carrying and drops on the table for Frank and Paul. He hands one to my secretary and she brings it to me. I drop it on the table without looking into it.

Barrister Stones stands to his feet and bows his head slightly in respect for me. It was a tradition that whenever a lawyer or attorney stood before a Mondragon, he was to bow his head to show respect and acknowledge the superiority of the one who stands before him.

“You may speak, Barrister Stones.” I gesture with my hands for him to begin the meeting.

“Mr. Constantine…”

“It is Mr. Mondragon to you Barrister,” I say with an authoritative voice, which leaves him silent for a short moment.

He makes eye contact with Frank and Paul, as though asking them if he could address me as such, and they nod their heads in approval of my decision.

“Mr. Mondragon, the company has a lot of uncompleted projects at hand and the board did not even approve most of them,” Barrister Stones announces and I finally decide to take a look at the document before me.

It was a compilation of all projects and business deals which the company was handling at the moment, raging from new car engine creations, new car models, the first fighter jet that my brother had started working on before he died and a list of all pending partners whom I have not accepted into the company, including the Lim Sardines.

“Why do you choose to bother me over such little problems?” I inquire of them but none say a word to me.

Frank stands to his feet. “Constantine. We both know very well the amount of resources and money we allocate each department to use for their expenditures. Recently, a good number of them have exceeded their limits and the head of these departments refuse to have an idea of the funds being used.”

He shows me an account of the total money spent by the company in the last few months of Elizabeth’s return, and I use that to my advantage.

“If all this spending happened during this short period of Elizabeth’s return, then I believe you guys should question her,” I yell and Barrister Stones scuffs.

“Elizabeth is not the one in charge of her company, neither is she in charge of fund disbursement. But she has questioned by the board, which is why we are here today with you.” Paul speaks as he pulls out his phone from his pocket and buries his face in it.

“So, are you people accusing me of stealing from the company?”

Frank smiles. “We are only saying that someone is clearly stealing from the company, right under your noise. We never said it was you.”

“You have done it not once, not twice but four times, and I would bet my life savings on the thought that you are stealing from the company yet a fifth time,” Paul declares and my secretary gasps on hearing his words.

Realizing that this meeting is about to get personal, I gesture for her to leave the boardroom and that she does without questioning my order.

Barrister Stones brings out yet another file from his bag and shares it to everyone among us. Turns out my brother had another will.

The Second Will of Roberto Mondragon.

It was a continuation of his first will and I guess since Barrister Stones had the document with him; it means Elizabeth has no idea about it as I am just learning of it today.

“What is this?” I ask him.

“Your elder brother wanted to ensure that there wouldn’t be any disputes between you and his children, so he made a second will that is to read only if the first will brings nothing but chaos to the Mondragon family,” Barrister Stones explains and my heart is filled with worry.

Asides myself, Robert was the most cunning man I knew, until his death that is, and I hate the fact that I had to be saying his name again.

“Roberto's Second Will is going to be read in two months' time and I believed it best to let you know as the eldest man in the Mondragon family at the moment.”

I stare at Barrister Stones in annoyance and he smiles mischievously at me. I flip through the pages of the document and although it had an authentic Mondragon seal; I hope that signature my brother wasn’t authentic.

Robert had a very tricky signature that even his wife couldn’t create a perfect replica of it after being taught by him.

I flip to the very last page of the document and there it is, my elder brother's signature, written in red ink, his favorite color and I am angered by because the document is an original.

“If you truly value your position as CEO and head of the Mondragon family, you have the next two months to make things right.” Barrister Stones declares.

I panic and make a rash decision. “Barrister Stones, you have not been present in the company for over a year and here you are making demands and stating rules for me to follow.”

He stares at me, Frank and Paul now paying close attention to hear what I have to say.

I take a deep breath. “By right, you are no longer the Barrister of this company as it states in the contract my brother offered you and as such, your statements and threats have no effect on my company.”

“What are you trying to say, Constantine?” Frank asks, his voice low and filled with worry.

“I am trying to say that he is fired. I expect him to pack his bags and leave the building at once,” I declare, and Barrister Stones chuckles.

“I’m sorry to disappoint Mr. Constantine, I truly am, but I do not work for you or the company.” Barrister Stones informs me and confusion hits me.

“I am only here as Elizabeth’s representative, as requested by her father in his first will, which I guess you never bothered to read. I am to act her as Second whenever she is not disposed to attend a board meeting, and this means you will be seeing more of me in the company.”

Barrister Stones stands to his feet and proceeds to where I sit. He takes the will, which he handed over to me to review and put it back in his bag. With a mischievous grin, he walks out of the boardroom.

Frank and Paul stare at me for a moment before they stand to their feet and walk out of the board on their heels.

I slam my fists on the table and yell in frustration, attracting the attention of my ever loyal secretary as she hopes to calm me down, but it is of no use.

I storm out of the boardroom in anger and my secretary trails behind me. She remains quiet as we both proceed to my office, but a strange sight catches my attention.

My door is slightly open and the doorknob, which has the fault of never returning to its neutral position once opened, is bent, and I am sure that I closed the door when I left for the board meeting.

I ask my secretary if she had come to my office during the board meeting and she responds with a no. I am uncertain that someone broke into my office and whoever be the fox, is still inside my office.

“Call Security,” I whisper to my secretary and she scrambles down to the security house.

I gently walk into my office and I am standing face to face with my little niece’s hot friend, Amelia, if I am not wrong.

She is holding a couple of files in her hand which she found on my desk and the fallout of her hand on realizing that I am in the office.

I close the door behind me, hoping to keep her occupied until the security gets there and I can have her arrested.

“What the hell are you doing in my office?” I demand, and she squeaks.

She is shaking in fear. “This is your office? No wonder the documents looked so strange. I thought this was Elizabeth’s office.”

She is lying and a horrible lie at that.

“Elizabeth’s office isn’t even on this floor. If you want to lie, at least make it sound true,” I inform her, and she smiles dramatically.

“Well, would you believe me if I say that I am here to clean your office?” she asks.

“And that’s an even more terrible lie than the first one. And so I ask again… what are you doing in my office?”

Amelia’s P.O.V

I am standing face to face with Elizabeth’s uncle. He is furious and not just at me, but wherever he is coming from must have put him in a really bad mood and seeing me in his office must have made things worse.

He moves toward me gradually and I am doing my best not to punch him in the face and most likely kill him in the process.

“Security will be here soon and you are going to jail for breaking into my office,” he smiles.

He is really enjoying feeling superior to me but I’m very sure ask that would change if he knows how good of a fighter I am and he will discover that soon as I am running out of lies to tell him.

“Mr. Constantine, I am sure we can come to a mutual understanding about this. Let me go and this won’t happen ever again,” I mumble and he laughs vigorously.

He charges towards me and I duck right in time, sending him crashing behind his own desk as I dash to the door. I pull the doorknob, but it doesn’t open. He stands to his feet and shows me the keys to the door, which he throws out the window.

“What the hell, old man? Why would you do that?” I ask him and he smiles.

“Like I told you earlier, security will be here soon. They are going to break down the door and have you arrested for trespassing,” he chuckles and it infuriates me.

“Don’t make me do this to you, old man.”

“Who are you calling old?” he bickers, and it doesn’t move me.

He charges towards me once more and throws his left arm at me, hoping to lock in a punch, but I duck below his arm and grab him, sending face first to the door.

“Ouch!” he groans in pain and it is like music to my ear.

“How dare you hit an old man?” he questions me and I giggle softly.

“I thought you didn’t like being called old?”

He runs towards me a third time and this time he puts his two arms out, hoping to push me down to the ground and just like the previous times, I duck out of his reach and I catch from behind at his collar, preventing him from what would have been a tragic fall and seeing that he is not willing to stop trying to attack me, I put him in a sleeper hold until he passes out.

I find a piece of paper and a pen on his table and write a note saying he is not dead and drop it on his unconscious body.

“He is in the office with the intruder,” I hear a voice from outside the office and footsteps, probably that of the security.

I panic and have no clue of what to do. The bang on the door and it doesn’t open. I know they will break it down and I need to leave before they do.

I walk to the window and notice a smaller building beside the office. The roof is not that far a jump from Constantine’s office. I take a deep breath and, with a leap of faith; I land roughly on the roof just before the security team breaks into the office to find Constantine’s lying down unconscious.

I gradually get down from the building and the eyes of people passing by fall on me. I act natural until I find a taxi and get in.

I get to the Mondragon Estate and Elizabeth is waiting outside with Dorian and Luke. She is the only aware of where I went to and I don’t think she will want Luke to find out.

“Amelia! You’re back!”

Elizabeth pulls me into a right embrace. Luke’s eyes are full of worry and I can’t bring myself to look at them.

We walk into the Estate and I pull Elizabeth away to talk to her in private and let her know how things went down.

“Did you find the document?” She asks with her fingers crossed.

I sigh. “I didn’t.”

She hugs me and kisses my forehead. I love her hugs. It always makes me feel safe and loved.

“I did find something else, though.”

Elizabeth’s face lights up at my sudden declaration. I knew she wasn’t happy when I told her I couldn’t find the document, but she was more happy that I came back in one piece and not in handcuffs or anything.

“What did you find?” she asks.

“Your uncle has a house outside of town, towards the mountains. That was the last place he met with your dad before his death.”

“How are you sure?”

I bring out a photo from my purse and hand it to her.

It was taken a day before her parents died and a very good reason for us to believe that there was something hidden in that house.

She wipes tears from her eyes as she looks at the photo, and I hug her. She sniffs her nose and looks at me, smiling.

“Did my uncle see you?”

I giggle. “Yes, he did. But after he wakes up, I don’t think he will tell anyone what he witnessed.”

“What did you do?” Elizabeth asks, laughing because she has an idea of what I could have done to him.

I tell her about my run in with her uncle in detail and we both laugh our hearts out until Luke calls out for us to join in the dining room.

“We’ll check out the house this weekend,” Elizabeth whispers into my ear, and we proceed to join Luke and Dorian.