Chapter 3 Deadly Promise

The tall man ignored the question and instead drew a chair at the head of the table. He made himself comfortable on it before producing a file holder from which he brought out two documents and slid them over to both sides of the table.

Seeing his actions, Zina took a deep breath and lowered herself back into her seat. Relaxing once again on her chair, she ignored the document, opting to stare calmly at the smug man at the head of the table.

"Mr Oswald, this is a private meeting" Gabriel decided to speak up.

"Yes, but when I got wind of the meeting, I realized it greatly affects my client's interest. See you two are in a patent dispute over my client's product, I believe I have every right to be here"

"Miles, how did you get in and where did you get this news?" Zina asked, although unlike before, her tone held a confident calm. However, everyone in the room could tell she was very angry.

"I walked in, and I can't reveal my sources. What's important is that the information was accurate." Miles finally turned to Zina and replied.

Zina looked away from him, then glanced at Gabriel. Her pupils shrank as she watched Gabriel tapping his left index finger with his right. Her gaze slowly moved up to his face, but her expression fell at the sight of an unfamiliar person.

Andrea noticed Zina's gaze and she turned to see Gabriel's involuntary tic. She reached and pulled his right hand under the table, firmly but discreetly.

Their antics, fortunately, went unnoticed by everyone in the room; their attention had instead been captured by Zina, who was slowly gathering her things.

Rising, she started for the door, and her assistant Aika and their lawyer, a bald man who maintained his silence all throughout, followed behind.

"Mrs Freeman, this is your company, you can't walk out on us." Miles lost his cool and called behind her, but there was not even a pause in Zina's steps as she left the conference room.

Miles turned to the other party at the table, but while he recognized Andrea, Gabriel was an unfamiliar face, yet something about his demeanor put Miles off.

Without taking his file holder or documents back, he rose sharply and hurried after Zina.

"More drama than anticipated?" Andrea turned to Gabriel with a tender loving smile.

"Indeed, Mrs Freeman is an interesting person, but I don't see what Adam saw in her," Gabriel replied.

Andrea lowered her head and smiled, "You will, she is beautiful"

Gabriel frowned not realizing that Andrea was not talking about Zina's physical appearance, although, by looks alone, Zina was indeed very beautiful.

"Well," Andrea sighed, a helpless smile on her lips, "That was a spectacular flop".

Even Aika had left and now they had to show themselves out.

"I have a solution" Gabriel replied airily, his complex expressions washing away to reveal ease as he strode down the hallway relaxedly.

Andrea couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. While he had to limit himself to fit in with the likes of them, he was still Gabriel; someone far more intelligent than Adam, who was, for the duration of his short lifetime, known as the most intelligent man in history.

Meanwhile, outside Zina Innovations, on the walkway, Zina strode up to a black sedan parked by the side of the road, pedestrians involuntarily turning their heads as they walked past to take in her full view. Her graceful steps and striking beauty made it difficult for anyone to ignore her.

"Zina, hold up!" A figure rushed over and positioned himself in front of the car door.

Zina drew in a deep breath and took a step back to put some distance between them. She folded her arms and spoke curtly, "Mr Oswald".

"Zina, come on, how long are you going to resent me for something that had nothing to do with me?" Miles asked as he shifted on his feet and rolled his eyes around exaggeratedly.

"Had nothing to do with you?" Zina squinted and took another half-step backwards.

Miles opened his lips to speak, but Zina raised her palm, signalling him to stop.

"Miles you were my best friend. Going into my marriage with Adam, I told you I had no feelings for him. I also told you how frustrated I was that he never made time for me. Then he did, and what did you do?"

"Zina, come on." Miles' shoulders dropped, and he reached to touch her shoulder, but she sprang backwards, almost colliding with a pedestrian.

"Miles you slapped him with a lawsuit to bring down everything he had ever built, right after you stole the core of Extra Technologies, his life's work. Adam may have been a brilliant innovator but he was a horrible judge of character. And just when I got my husband back, you made sure we could never spend five minutes together without interrupting us with a threat to ruin everything that ever mattered to him." After saying all of that in one breath, she paused and took a long, deep breath as her gaze fixed on Miles.

"This war you started, I will finish. Killing my husband was not enough, now you want every shred of his existence wiped. Mr Oswald, I hope your war chest is full, because I will do to you, exactly as you did to Adam, and unlike you, I will not hide behind hypocrisy"

Turning around, she took a step but stopped and half turned to Miles, "and for free," she added before walking away, leaving Miles standing in front of the sedan in a daze.

How did things get this far? This wasn't the plan.

"I just have to make sure you see things clearly" Miles reassured himself before walking back into the complex.

The next day, all receptionists and security employees were fired. Although this was just a startup, it had the Lynch family name attached to it. Zina's display of power raised a series of discussions in the city for a long time. After all, no one member of the Lynch family has ever wielded such authority or displayed it on a whim.

"Andrea, I have to do this" in a black sedan in front of Zina Innovations, Gabriel was gently reassuring the worried Andrea.

"You will be there alone with her" Andrea protested.

"If you want, you can watch and listen in," Gabriel directed his gaze towards the tablet in her hand.

Her face fell and she raised her brows at him.

"I don't mind" Gabriel added.

"Just be careful," Andrea finally relented without commenting on his suggestion; obviously, she was ignoring it.

Gabriel nodded then opened the door and stepped out. Taking a moment to adjust his suit, he drew in a deep breath for the psychological effect and confidently started forward.

This time, Aika led Gabriel straight to Zina's office.

"Mr Auralis, I was surprised when you called to schedule this meeting" Zina rose from her seat as Gabriel walked in behind Aika.

"I never called" Gabriel replied as he took a glance around the office.

Zina had opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth hung open as she frowned and tilted her head.

She turned to look at Aika who shrugged and made a face back at her.

"But you're here," she said with a frown as Gabriel stared at her. His gaze was so intense that she felt like crawling under her desk.

"Yes. I have a proposition for you"

Stepping out from behind her desk, she pointed gracefully at the couch in the left corner of the office. As Gabriel opened his jacket button and lowered himself into it, she sat across from him, her hands intertwined on her knees.

"Thank you" Gabriel muttered as he accepted a cup of tea from Aika.

"As you know, Extra Technologies has been trying to get involved with the Z359 chip, and I know you might be hoping that their product is different, but it's not," Gabriel started, going straight to the point.