The Devil's Harem

Chapter - 43

When they arrived for the meeting, the room was already filled with those from other departments. The meeting room had a layout with an inner circle of seats for the CEO and the department heads of the company, and an outer circle for their respective aides. There was also some sort of balcony above the meeting room, partitioned by a glass window, where some old men dressed in blacks, looking all gloomy, and grumpy were seated.

Alex guessed that they must be the board members here to gauge the progress of the company.

Leaving Alex behind, Karen sat on the seat which read 'PR head' in the inner circle. Alex, on the other hand, found a seat in the outer circle along with others. He was the only man among the other aides present there and one of the two men in the room.

When Alex walked into the meeting room following behind Karen, all the heads turned his way.

"Poor Daniel, he has got some competition now," The head of the Editing department, Shabnim, said. This was followed by giggles from the other department heads.

"C'mon, Shabnim. Knock it off. Karen is just a good friend, and you guys know that" Daniel, the man in question, could only reply helplessly.

By this time, Karen also joined them.

"Karen, is he one of the new hires of your department?" The head of the Finance Department, Laura, asked.

"Yes," Karen nodded, looking at Alex.

"Why would you bring him here? You know Jessica, she won't be that pleased if she sees him. You must have a lot of other competent females," Laura whispered to Karen, but others could still hear her.

"He is here to present the details of the project Jessica asked us to work on," Karen replied vaguely.

"Is he good?" Laura asked.

"He is fine for now," Karen replied.

"You sure are good to your newbies, getting them to see the meetings of the upper echelon first hand. Are you so good to all the newbies or just the handsome ones?" Shabnim, who was listening to their asked sarcastically.

Both Karen and Shabnim have been at odds for a long time, with neither of them backing down an inch when it comes to verbal squabble.

Karen wanted to reply, but before could, the doors of the meeting hall opened, and a lady in her early thirties walked in, followed by another lady carrying some papers. Everyone in the room stood up, Yes she was Jessica, the CEO of the youngest, yet one of the most successful companies in the entertainment industry.
Jessica, in her early thirties with ink-black, wavy, waist-length hair, wearing formal attire, looked more stunning than the models and celebrities who worked for her. As soon as she entered the room, the low buzzing of the staff ended. Jessica had the demeanour of a competent leader. She nodded towards them and sat down first, followed by the others.
After she sat down on her seat, Jessica felt an unpleasant gaze on herself, Yes, a man's gaze. She followed her intuition and saw a face that was unknown to her yet looked a bit familiar.

Yes, it was Alex, looking at Jessica very intently, not because she was beautiful, well, okay fine, partly because she looked stunning but also because of his father, who held her in high regards. Alex was trying to figure out why his father spoke so highly of her. Alex was going to closely monitor Jessica throughout this meeting and try and find the reason. He did not even look away when their eyes met, and Alex felt some hostility from her. He was not going to budge one inch.

Jessica looked at Alex with disgust. The guy in front of her was surely handsome, and to some extent, attractive, but that was no reason for him to stare at her. Not wanting to create a scene in front of everyone over such a small matter, she looked away from him and gestured for the meeting to start.

As the meeting commenced, Jessica first dealt with immediate matters regarding the company. Turn by turn, the financial, the legal and other teams brought forth the issues faced by the companies over the past month, how much was done and how much was left to be done. One thing that Alex noticed throughout the meeting was that the lady never appreciated someone's effort or smiled at them. There was always this dead, poker face with her.

When the meeting was nearing its end, Jessica turned towards Karen, "Have you made any progress regarding the matter I discussed with you?"

"We have some plans in the draft to work on. I can share with you roughly the direction we are going to focus on," Karen told Jessica.

Jessica nodded, hearing Karen, "Go on, tell me the details," Jessica gestured to Karen to begin. The matter of this publishing company was something very important and personal for Jessica. She wanted to make it work at any cost, but on the other hand, this was also the most opposed project by the board of shareholders. They were hell-bent on opposing the project they felt was not going to yield any profit, however long they wait. These board members were not getting any younger. They wanted to enjoy the remainder of their days in luxury, and if possible, leave a substantial amount of assets for their children.

"Let me introduce you to the one who is going to give the presentation," Karen said, and as she was about to call for Alex when someone cut her off.

"Wait!!" an old man interrupted Karen from the balcony. When Jessica heard the old man, she couldn't help but frown, 'And here I thought this old goat was dead. Well, better luck next time.'

"What is it?" Jessica looked at the old man with her deadpan eyes.

"Are you still going forward with that silly idea of yours? I don't think the board has given it a nod yet," The old man said, and the other grumpy old men nodded in agreement.

"Do I need your approval? For anything?" Jessica was through giving them face now. She tried her best to gain their approval, but they were not willing to budge even a little. Even buddha must have had a limit, and Jessica was far from a saint.

"You are going to use our money, so you need our approval," The man said as he rebuked her in his heavy tone.

"I own the majority of shares in the company, that too by a long margin. So, even if I bring this company to ruins, all of you can do is sit quietly, watch and enjoy the show," Jessica said with scorn on her face.

"You..." The old man's face turned red with anger. He was embarrassed, looked down upon in front of all these nobodies. Veins bulged on his wrinkled forehead, and soon he was out of breath, gasping for air. A young man beside him acted swiftly and helped the old man get back his breath with the help of the inhaler he had. It took some time for the old man to get back to himself, and till then, no one spoke a word. Getting his breath back, the old man pushed the man holding onto him. He looked at Jessica grudgingly and walked out of the room.

Jessica didn't even look guilty and tried to stop him. She turned towards Karen and said, "You go on ahead."

Seeing that Jessica was going to ignore them anyway, the other shareholders also left the meeting soon after.

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