Secured Sevenfold

Josephine´s POV
“This is my friend Zachary, he flew over here for a few days, I hope it is okay for you that he will join us for dinner tonight” I introduced Zack to my business partners. We had discussed what would be the reason for him to be here, at least for the outside world and we both agreed on playing it like this.

Zack behaved perfectly this far, the drive over had been pleasant and he knew all the right etiquette on how to attend a business dinner. I had to discuss a lot with these men and a lot was riding on this, I wasn’t really nervous, but the usual tension was around me. It was healthy to feel this way, it was the only way I could bring my top game.
“Well, miss Thompkinson, we looked at your proposal and there are several issues we would like to discuss before we sign this contract, I hope that’s okay”
“By all means, that is what we are here for, aren’t we” I replied with a smile on my face. I knew there were a few serious matters we would need to discuss before they could agree. I also knew there would be a few things we wouldn’t directly agree on.
“Let us order some good wine first, no business deal can be closed without a little alcohol” Zack smirked and I shot him an angry glare. I told him to be quiet during the dinner and only make small talk if it was really necessary, we didn’t agree on him meddling in the conversation.
“I’m not drinking, I will have to drive” One of the men replied curtly, giving me a disapproving look. This wasn’t giving me a good start, I had to take matters into my own hands before any more damage could be done.
“Gentlemen, we discussed point 1 through 6 in our previous meeting and agreed on how it’s in the contract now. Maybe we can start with those, tick them off, making sure we get a good start on our negotiations?”
They all nodded and got their pens out, ticking the suggested points off, I relaxed a little, only 10 more points to go.

We were half way through the dinner and made good progress when Zack suggested we’d talk about something else than business. I looked at him baffled, I was here to close this contract and these men would only accept a real formal approach. There was no other way for me to get them on board and now Zack was suggesting we talk about “something else”?
“Excuses me gentlemen, I have to talk to my friend for a bit.” I looked at the business men at the table and then at Zack “Can I talk to you for a minute, Zachary?”
I took him by the arm and guided him away from the table, when we were far away enough, I immediately started at him.
“We agreed on you keeping your mouth shut, all those little remarks, the wine thing, the talking about “something else”, you need to stop. These men are very busy, I had to work hard to get them at the table and I want to close this deal. As you might have noticed, they are very conservative and formal and I need to approach them like that in order for them to do business with me, so please behave like a good boy and let me close this deal” I padded his cheek softly with my hand and I saw his eyes grow cold.
Just as I was about to walk away he put his hand on my arm and kept me close to him
“You done insulting me and treating me like a little boy? You listen carefully to me, those men only want one thing and don’t take you seriously for one moment, they see you as a little girl, riding along on daddies success, so don’t have any illusions Josephine. You might be good at your job, but I’m great at mine and I can read those men like a book. And for your information… If you ever degrade me again, like you did just now, I won’t be held accounted for the consequences”

A shiver went over my body as he put his hand on the small of my back and guided me to the table. Did he just threaten me?!
I couldn’t believe he said all those things to me, all those mean things that made me doubt myself. I wasn’t good at my job, I was amazing and he was …. he was… he was just an annoying ass that was ruining my business dinner. I bend over to his ear and whispered loudly
“I’m amazing at my job! You know nothing about me!”
“I know you better than you think!” He growled back

The men on the other end of the table coughed “If we are interrupting something, we’d better go”.
“Of course not, we should finish our conversation about the contract” I replied hastily. I worked too hard to get these men around the table to let it be ruined by some… some…
I focused on the documents again, but I could feel Zack’s angry stare and the other men noticed it too.
“Miss Thompkinson, maybe it’s better if you let your secretary call our offices tomorrow to see if we will be able to make another appointment. Good night” They got up and walked for the door and I was too astonished to even go after them.
“I told you they weren’t taking you seriously” Zack commented smartly.

The anger boiled up inside of me. His strange behavior was the cause of all this trouble, he was the one that ruined this whole meeting. I had enough.
I threw my creditcard on the table and waited for the waiter to get it back to me and I stormed out, Zack right on my heels. I turned around and looked at him furiously

“Take me to your boss! NOW!”

Matt’s POV
It was late in the evening, I sat in front of my laptop, trying to have an overview over our current jobs.
But somehow I couldn’t concentrate, and I always couldn’t concentrate when I knew something was going wrong.
Something meant some job, and some job meant Zack or Brian had trouble. I could trust these two with everything, they were my best men and best friends, but they sometimes needed a little, let’s call it, guidance.

I took my phone out called Brian first, since I just recently talked to Zack, I guess it couldn’t hurt to see how Brian was holding up.
It rang but nobody picked up… Weird… normally he didn’t take long.
I left him a short message on his voicemail.
“It’s me Matt, give me a status on your job, how are you holding up? Is everything okay? I want you to give me an update, tomorrow at the latest.” I hung up.
Okay, that was settled.

Next I received a text, and I looked at it immediately.
You get a visitor in a few minutes, couldn’t help it. Zack

Oh a visitor in a few minutes, I guess that meant Zack’s evening didn’t go too well.
Honestly, I would have thought Brian would be the one with more trouble but I guess I was wrong.
I stayed behind my desk and closed my open files, I looked at the security cam and saw Zack’s car pull into the driveway, even before the car really stopped, the passenger door was thrown wide open and Josephine walked out, she wore a dress, hugging her curves, on the black and white screen I couldn’t make out which color exactly, but wouldn’t take me long to find out…
She stormed to the door and I had to grin, I thought her sister would be a handful, but she seemed to be even more.
I tried to remember the girls from my memory, couldn’t really come up with a memory where I had both of them in my mind, I was interested if it would come back to me, when she stood before me.
I saw Arin opening the door, but Josephine brushed past them, leaving Arin with a baffled expression, Zack walked in behind clapped his shoulder, my office door swung open and Josephine stood there.

I took a moment to take her in, a green dress, a nice long green dress hiding some nice parts of her body and revealing some others, she had been to a dance? Or a meeting like that?
I frowned a little, she looked at me with a frown on her face, not saying anything, when suddenly Zack and Arin stood behind her.
“Sorry Matt, she ran just past me. I didn’t-” Arin said and wanted to take Josephine’s hand to get her out of the room but I was too curious why she stormed into my office like that.
“It’s okay, Arin.” I told him with a nod and he vanished from the room.
“I need to talk to you.” Josephine finally said and looked at me with an angry expression which made my mouth twitch a little, but I tried to hide the smile from her.
“Alright, I can see that, since you stormed into my office late in the evening without having an appointment.” I said and she moved further into the room.
“I know, I normally don’t do that, but this is an important matter.” Josephine said and Zack walked in behind her.
“Fine, then take a seat.” I motioned her over to the office chair in front of my desk and she took long strides to go there, her head up high and sat down.
“Zack, leave.” I told him, keeping my eyes on Josephine in front of me.
“But.. I think I should also have a say-” Zacky said and I lifted my eyes to him.
“Leave, we talk later.” I said and he nodded, one eyebrow lifted in question but turned to go.

He was gone closing the door behind him. I got off my chair and walked around the table to stand next to Josephine to have a closer look at her.
“Matt Sanders, nice to finally meet you personally.” I held my hand out to her and she narrowed her eyes on me but took it.
“Josephine Thompkinson, same here.” She said and nodded while I sat down next to her.
“So you have a problem with Zacky? I assume that is the cause of your visit?” I asked her and she pursed her lips, debating what to say next.
“I don’t have a personal problem with you employee, well.. maybe, anyway.. But I cannot and I said this before, I cannot accept him being around me and disturbing my work. I had a business meeting this evening and Zachary ruined it. I mean this could have made me lose my customer, this is not acceptable, I want you to take him off this task. I tried to call my father, he would agree with me on this matter, he never wanted this to cause trouble in my business. And I think you are business man enough yourself to see that.” She finished and this time I couldn’t hide the grin on my face.
“What’s so funny?” She narrowed her eyes again.
“Nothing, all you are saying might have a reason but it won’t change anything. Josephine, I gave your father my word, that my best men would protect you. Zacky is one of them. I can’t believe he ruined any of your business meeting, but the only thing I can offer you is, that I will have a talk with him, we might be able to arrange for him to back a little off, but I see no chance in calling anything off.” I stated in a calm voice and I saw her eyeing me, her eyes moved over face towards my shoulders and I felt it like a caress on my skin. I sat up a little straighter and she snapped her eyes up.
“That is not enough.” She stated.
“It must be. I didn’t hear any complaints from your sister, maybe she can handle the whole situation better then you.” I knew that this was a low blow for her and immediately she stood up and pointed a finger at me, I followed her and we stood only inches apart, her finger hitting my chest.
“That has nothing to do with it, my sister has no business to lead. I will give him a last chance, but tell him to back off or I swear to god I will fix this problem myself.”
With that she stormed out of my office and I grinned while watching her swaying hips walking out of my house…

Notes

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