Chapter 7

“I've found nothing about this Leah Monroe.” Leo sat in from of William sighing.

“Same here,” said Theo.

“I didn't ask you to look for anything,” William said continuing to read a document for a new contract.

“But isn't it weird that a CEO from a company that is growing without signs of stopping is so unknown?” Leo frowned.

“No. I'm not that known either.”

“Don't compare yourself with her, Will,” said Max. “Even if people don't know many details of your life, people know you; if they see you they know who you are, if they hear your name they have a face and a brand that can be linked. There is nothing about this Leah Monroe except a photo from that fundraiser. If it wasn't Celia the one that told you about her I would believe is a fake identity.”

“Her company is relatively new, and she had let her best friend be the voice and face of it, but apparently, everybody who works for Lumily knows that she is the boss. So, not so fake.”

“Well, that is still hearsay,” murmured Theo. "Maybe we should go to the headquarters and find out if it's true.”

“With what excuse would we go there?” William arched an eyebrow at him.

“You are the father of her baby, just say you miss her and wanted to check how she was doing or something.”

William grimaced.

“I think it's way too soon to say that I miss her.”

“Whatever, it has been a week since you saw her, right? A visit is due.” Theo lay on the sofa as if he wanted to take a nap.

William bit his lower lip softly. It was indeed too soon to say that he was missing her, but he had thought about her every moment that he was not drowning in papers; be it while he was eating, exercising, driving home, or lying on his bed.

“You should leave early today, pay her a visit to her company, if you feel alone or nervous we can accompany you,” said Leo while pretending to remove fluff from his suit.

“I have a lot of work.”

“I thought you were the owner of this company?” Theo argued, getting more comfortable on the sofa. “Use your power.”

“And I thought you worked for this company, why are you here instead of your offices?”

“We finished all work that had to be done, and moved everything that could be moved,” Max said while checking his nails.

“Why do you even want to see her?” William put the papers on the desk tired of the conversation.

“She looks hot in the photos I want to see if it's true,” said Leo gaining a bad look from William. “Chill, I know she is yours.”

“I just want to see the mother of my future nephew or niece,” Theo murmured.

“I think we just want to bother a little.” Max got closer to William's desk and sat on a corner of it. “And we will bother more if you don't finish that and come with us soon.”

“I have to–”

“No. I checked your schedule for today and nothing important is due. I already talked with Johanna and she fixed everything for us to kidnap and bother you for a while.”

William just looked at Max in disbelief. It was a little hard for him to imagine Johanna, his secretary, doing something like that behind his back, but he also knew Johanna was close enough to them to follow Max's and the others' mischief now and then. He sighed and stood up, getting his phone and car keys in his pocket.

“The quicker I comply, the quicker I can get rid of you, guys.”

Max chuckled, Leo smiled and Theo got up from the sofa as if he was not trying to nap a few seconds ago.

“Let's go.” sang Max wrapping an arm around William's shoulders and dragging him out of the office.

In the lobby of Lumily, the four of them were looking around while getting closer to the front desk where a pretty blond was looking at them appreciatively.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. How can we help you?”

“We are here to see the CEO,” said Max taking the lead.

“What are your names?”

“William Solace, Maximillian Miller, Theodore Barret, and Leonard Pierce.”

The woman frowned.

“None of your names is in the system.” she arched an eyebrow at them. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Oh, no. It's just a social meeting.” She looked at him as if he said the most stupid thing she had ever heard.

“I'm afraid that will not be possible.”

“He is the boyfriend.” he pointed at William and pushed him a little to the front.

Now the woman frowned and looked at them from head to toe, contemptuously.

“Yeah, right.” All trace of welcomeness was gone from her voice. “If you don't have an appointment I'll ask you to leave, please.”

“No, but seriously.” started Theo. “I don't know why you're looking at us like trash now, but he is her boyfriend, for real. Don't you know who he is?”

“Sure. William Solace, founder and CEO of Rising Enterprises. But I don't really care who any of you is, without an appointment none of you can pass.”

“Well, go ahead and call her so you can see for yourself.” Theo seemed more offended than William.

“Listen, you are not the first to come and say the same thing since it was made public that Miss Monroe is the boss here. I'm tired of this so, could you please make my job easier and leave?”

All of them processed the info in surprise. She was pretty indeed but they found it weird that someone else had tried to fake being her boyfriend.

“Whatever, we are not faking it.” continued Theo. “Go ahead, call or we are going to make a ruckus that is going to be heard even on the tenth floor,” he said assuming that was where her office was. “Then Leah is going to be mad that we were even wasting all this time, do you want to make her mad?”

The woman rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone pressed a key and waited. Theo crossed his arms waiting.

“Sorry to bother, but there are four men here saying they came to visit Ms. Monroe even though they don't have an appointment... I know but they said that one of them is her boyfriend, can you believe that?” she rolled her eyes again. Theo looked at the others indignantly. “I know but maybe like this they will leave faster.”

“Woman, say that William is looking for her.” interrupted Theo more indignantly now.

“Yeah, yeah... did you hear him? Ask her, we will see.” she started to click and write something on her computer while she waited for the other person to talk with Leah. “Yeah? Ok.” she hung up and continued typing on the computer. “Go in that elevator and go to the fifth floor.” she pointed to an elevator and continued typing.

“Huh, too embarrassed to look us now?” commented Theo. She looked at him as if she was throwing daggers at him.

“In your dreams, Blondie.”

“Look who's talking.”

“Mine is dyed.” she moved a lock to her back.

“Good to know. It would be an embarrassment to have you in the community.” he walked away cutting whatever she could next.

In the elevator, William looked at Theo.

“Are you ok?”

“Can you believe her? Why did she look down on us all of a sudden?” he said fuming.

“I don't know, but don't get too worked up for it. You two looked as if you were going to start barking and biting each other.” the rest chuckled and Theo took a deep breath.

The elevator opened and they got out quickly seeing in front of them Benjamin Knight, the man that was previously known as the boss until recently. William looked at him from head to toe; wearing a grey suit with a black shirt, his dark hair combed back and a pair of green eyes looking at them from behind some prescription glasses.

“Welcome to Lumily, gentlemen. Nice to meet you, I'm Benjamin Knight.”

“Nice to meet you too, although not exactly who we were expecting to meet,” Max whispered the last part but Benjamin still managed to listen.

“I only let you come up because you might be able to distract Leah for a while,” he said looking at Max slowly from head to toe, then looked at William for a moment before walking away.

“Where is she and why does she need a distraction?” William followed him.

“I'll let you discover it for yourself.” he stopped at a door and looked a Max again while opening it for them. “Be quiet until it finishes and good luck.”

They entered, Max still looking at him while passing in front of Benjamin who was smirking at him. Benjamin entered too and closed the door behind him, and walked to the front of the room. William saw they were in a meeting room, with some desks in the front where some people were sitting, including Leah who was sitting in the far corner while reading some papers. The other desks on the other side of the room were all full of people, except a few at the back, so they sat there.

Apparently, the meeting was about Lumily fusing with some other cosmetic company. From what William could see they were discussing which company they were going to choose. He found it weird that a company so young as Lumily was already planning to fuse with another, especially when this one still had the potential to grow more until he notice that the company chosen was going to fuse with Lumily, not the other way.

A group sitting in the front was murmuring and chuckling while a woman was talking about price actions. After a moment, a man in the front started to complain. According to him, she was making mistakes in some numbers and said that someone who knew what they were talking about should come to the front instead. Leah shyly stood up and came to the woman to see the papers she had.

“Another woman? This field might be too hard for you girls.” he looked at Benjamin who had his eyes wider than normal. “You should take the wheels of this meeting, boss.”

Every Lumily employee looked at Benjamin who was palling looking around and then his eyes rested on Leah who was still looking at the papers.

“E– Excuse me, s– sir” started the woman nervously but the man interrupted her again.

“This is no place for mistakes and stuttering, girl. Why don't you and your friend sit so someone with more knowledge can come forward?”

William's body tensed; didn't this man know the 'friend' was the boss?

“Excuse me,” started Leah in a shy voice. “Can I know where the mistake was, according to you?”

“You don't know either?” he said mockingly.

“I just cannot find a mistake.”

“Ha! She avoided saying market numbers. It's important to know bid and ask prices to know how much the difference is and she obviously doesn't know.”

“That's it?”

“Excuse me?”

“Just because of that you were belittling her?”

“Girl, those numbers are importan–”

“It isn't like it would be important for you, either way,” she said tearing the papers in her hands.

William assumed the papers contained valuable information about the company the man came from, that would help to make a contract a possibility. And without those papers, no contract would be made. The man stood up fuming.

“How dare you?!” he screamed at her.

Leah looked at him in the eyes and took a few steps closer to him, while every one of her employees seemed to be leaning back. In the little time William had spent with her, he had noticed Leah was not the type to hold a gaze for more than two seconds, but now she was looking at the man dead in the eyes, not even blinking too much.

“As a businessman, Mr. Stuart, you should know that talking about numbers without thinking too much could lead to big losses. I understand you don't know about that anymore because people are not investing in your company anymore and the prices are either falling or static, but mine are rising by the second, so I usually recommend the people here to not mention exact numbers so nobody expect less or more than they should be really getting at the moment of signing contracts.”

“Be careful, girl,” he said through his teeth. She got closer.

“To be careful with what?” she challenged him.