Mac (Riders of Apollo #8)

Chapter Twenty-One: Evangeline White

The drive into the city is dreadful, chock full of traffic and no room to breathe. I knew I should've called Alaric but no, I decided to drive myself and a drive that normally takes twenty minutes took me an hour and a half. I pull up in the car park and fly into the reception area, they don't search me as I literally own the company and I head over to the private lift to the conference room. 

The room is in total uproar by the time I get there. I may own the company but I don't get involved with the every day things, I don't have the time to so when I get called in for bullshit like this, I get mad quick. I slam my files down on the table and everyone shuts up to look at me, each of them now stumbling over themselves to explain what's going on. "Enough." 

"I'm sorry for calling you in ma'am, we have a problem." The CEO tells me, clicking on the screen behind him. It shows security footage of an office downstairs that is usually vacant but is now replaced by one of the shareholders on the board. "He just turned up this morning, said he was going to use that office and he won't leave. He says that I'm not his boss even though I am."

I chose Adam for CEO because he's young, driven and smart, he also knows how to work people and how to move money but apparently this shareholder has taken their job too far. I made sure that the board never holds enough power to cause issues, all three of my business are run by other people but I still own sixty percent of the shares so they can't make large decisions without me. 

They don't like it, obviously, but they have to admit that their dividends are a lot larger than they would get with any other company so I end up being worth the hassle anyway. "I will deal with that, is there anything else we need to discuss?" 

"No, we've dealt with the other issue that we discussed the other day and our turnover has tripled this quarter despite our predictions so as a company we're doing great. The rest of the board is fine considering their dividend just tripled, I don't know what this guy's problem is." 

"Alert security that I may be dragging someone out kicking and screaming." I tell them after praising them on their work. I just walk into the office with the idiot in and he doesn't look up from his papers. 

"You're supposed to knock before entering someone's office, it's polite procedure."

"That's nice but since I own the company, this is in fact my office and you are not meant to be in it." He looks up then, recognising me immediately and his skin goes frightfully pale. He starts stammering unintelligibly and I watch him, letting him talk himself out. I approach his desk and yank the files out from under him, "you've been going through our private records that you have no right to access." I state dryly. "I'll admit, it's brave of you. What were you looking for?"

I take a seat opposite him, kicking my feet up on the desk and going through the papers to see what he's highlighting. "My dividend was wrong, I should've been paid more." 

"That's the thing Barney, you own seven percent of my company, so you only get seven percent's worth of dividends. You were not entitled to more money, you would've known that had you checked this page right here." I drop the open booklet on the desk in front of him before pulling out my chequebook, "I'm buying you out. Head up to HR with this and that," I point to the file next to him, "you're share will be dissolved into mine. Next time you invest in a company, make sure you follow the by-lines of said company. Good luck on your next adventure, dear, you're gonna need it."

I head back out, dropping off a few files downstairs before greeting the head of security. "Dorian, can you make sure he drops off that paperwork with HR and then leaves?"

"I thought you were gonna drag him out." He turns to me with an amused smirk. 

"I was but he conceded to me pretty quickly. Just make sure he leaves and then make sure he can't get back in, I really don't want to have to deal with this bullshit again." I sigh in frustration as I look over the cameras on Dorian's screens. His hand then moves to caress my ass, we used to have fun from time to time so I'm not surprised by this. I grab his hand and pass it back with a small smile, "I'm seeing someone now." I explain and his eyes widen in surprise. "Yeah I know, exclusivity and everything. It's weird." 

"Look at you growing up." 

"Ha ha, very funny." I smack him round the back of the head, "right, well, I best be off. Have a good day, Dorian."

"You too, Evie." 

Thankfully, the traffic isn't bad on the way out of the city and I find myself enjoying the twenty minute drive to the clubhouse, I doubt Riley will be happy with the fact I am now four hours behind schedule but there's not much I can do about it. Even as I walk into the building I'm clicking away on my phone answering stupid emails and sending e-files to the people that need to use them.

I swear I've reduced my responsibilities so much and yet I'm still stuck doing grunt work half of the time just because people are stupid and send things to the wrong address or there's a complaint with a customer who will only talk to the manager. "Eva!" 

"Yeah, one second." I respond absentmindedly, reading through an email from the head of shares for my real estate company. I swear sometimes they come up with the stupidest of things just to annoy me, I just tell them to bring together the same files I told them to bring together last week. "Sorry, right, I'm here." 

I put my phone back in my handbag to be immediately accosted by Riley and Peyton, both of whom seem a little frazzled. "Hmm, you look how I feel." I get smacked for that, yelping in surprise as both of them hit me at full strength. "Okay, okay! What is wrong with you two?" 

"The wedding is in a few days which means the bachelorette and bachelor parties are happening tonight because we'll need all day tomorrow to recover." Peyton explains and I nod along. "Which means we all need to get ready to go to the club."

"Ooh, strip club?" I get smacked again. "I suppose not. What are we supposed to do at bachelorette parties if there are no strippers? That's a serious concern of mine." I get smacked harder this time. 

"Get drunk, dance, talk." 

"That's just like every other night we go to the club." I whine, both of them gripping my hands to drag me into the hell that is the pink room. "Nope! I refuse to go in there, I'll never leave. I look good in this." 

"Fine, we'll be out in a few hours. Behave yourself." I raise my hands in surrender as Riley glares at me, her finger almost touching my nose as she glares at me. 

"I'm the one that needs to behave myself? Has she looked in the mirror today?" I grumble to the lads in the front room. They all laugh at me while I send another text to Luiz about the thing Lexie is asking for. "Wait so, if we're not allowed strippers, does that mean you guys aren't either?" I ask Boulder, crossing my legs and leaning back into the couch. 

"Nope, rules are rules." 

"Fine, I suppose I'll have to work around that small detail." I book a private room at the most expensive club in town with an elaborate three course meal and bottles and bottles of champagne. 

"What are you planning?" Bear asks, putting away half his beer in one gulp.

"Private room at the Vivre, three courses, endless champagne." 

"Wait, you can just book at the Vivre?" Romeo leans forward to look at my phone and his jaw drops. "No way, you're a VIP member, does that mean you get reduced stuff at all their sister places?" 

"Yes, I do. Actually, if you guys want me to I can book you a private room at the Luxure. It's more your style, steaks and scotch?" They agree immediately and Romeo watches me book them the best room in the place without any troubles. They always clear their reservations for me, it's adorable but I have been using them for business meetings from the age of twenty-two so I deserve it.