Sara showed up at work on Monday still in a daze. Saturday night hadn't been much in her favor, her sister Tonya fighting with Karen in the club, then bumping into her ex-husband, Lucas again and then he kissing her senseless. Actually she was more confounded about that kiss than anything else. How was it possible that five years later and his kisses still left her breathless? How could it have made her wanton as though there was not five years separating them? She didn't comprehend it.

Annoyed with her train of thought, she busied herself with work. There were clients to see to, and new designs to incorporate. She needed her job to secure her on her feet, not think about last Saturday kiss.

Her desk phone rang, breaking into her concentration and she answered it. "I need you in my office now." The demand was curt.

That gave her the chills. For the past two weeks, Jeremy had been pretty harsh on her. He acted like he understood why she had absconded at the house warming party but she could see past it to realize he was still enraged about the clientele issue. Her refusal to help him contact Caspian-Asiegbu had put a strain on their friendship and it was only a matter of time before he showed her his true colors.

She entered the office to find him writing furiously in the file opened in front of him. He gestured for her to sit and she obeyed.

After some agonizingly slow minutes, he looked up from his desk to study her effectively before commenting.

"I have a feeling this job is no longer to your liking, Miss Amadi." He was being very professional and she realized she hated the tone he was using.

"I don't understand. Has there been any complaints?"

"You tell me. When my own employee decided to withhold important information that can help this company grow, what else am I supposed to think?"

She eyed him warily. "What important information are you talking about?"

"You were once married to the billionaire, which ended in a divorce, hence the animosity between you two. I understand your misgivings, Sara, but that happened a long time ago! It should not prevent you from working for the good of this company," Jeremy said.

She was now fuming at him. He had the audacity to dig into her past, something she hadn't told him or anyone before for obvious reasons and he wanted to use it to his advantage.

"I know what you're aiming for but it won't work. Trust me, you have better chances of forming an alliance with him than I do. The animosity between us won't allow it. Did you not witness my humiliation at his party?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Minor things, if you ask me. You had been too conspicuous. If you joined me to talk to guests, he would not have touched you."

"You could not have prevented it. He would have done the same thing to you if we were close together, you know," she murmured.

"He would not have done anything to me because I had an invitation. You had suffered the brunt of his fury because of your relationship with him," he explained, getting exasperated with her.

Her eyes flew open at his words. Little wonder he had been so free at the party, gallivanting around like he owned the place.

"You had an invitation?" She was incredulous.

He was nonchalant. "Of course I did. I couldn't get one for you but it didn't matter. If you had stuck by my side all night, Lucas wouldn't have touched you."

He didn't tell her Donald was at fault here, for promising to get her an invitation as well and changing his mind at the last minute. He never liked the guy, he was a sneaky bastard, but without Donald, Valiant would be a sinking ship right now.

She wasn't placated by his explanation. In fact it infuriated her immensely. She stood up from her chair and pointed angrily at him.

"You are heartless! How could you do this to me?"

"I didn't know he was your ex-husband. You never told me!" Was his weak defense.

"You knew it was his party before we arrived yet you said nothing! How could you use me like that, Jeremy? You were supposed to be my friend!" She cried indignantly.

"I swear I didn't know..." he insisted.

"You're a liar! A despicable one at that and I hate you. And to think I helped you when you had problems with that woman and her husband. You're evil!" She grated out, before turning to march out of his office, ignoring his frantic calls after her.

Realizing his folly, Jeremy ran after her in quick strides trying in a bid to get into her good graces. He met her just as she reached her desk. Angrily, she snatched her purse and started stuffing her personal items inside it. She didn't acknowledge his presence nor attempt to look at him.

"I'm sorry, Sara. Really I am. I swear I didn't know you have a history with Caspian-Asiegbu."

She looked up at him when she was done. "The problem here is that you lied to me! I hate people that lie to me, people that use me for their individual gains. Lucas and I are enemies because he lied to me. And I'm sorry I can't help you with whatever you need. You'll have to find someone else to take my place in your bid to take over this company because I won't be helping you anymore, Jeremy. I can't work with someone who can exploit me the first chance he gets," she finished, turning to march out of the sixth floor towards the elevator.

Jeremy didn't bother going after her. It was pointless. He shouldn't have told her about the invitation, Donald warned him not to say anything and now he had lost an ally in the war against his father. He had also lost a friend.

His eyes found his office door and he frowned. Donald's plot to get Sara closer to her ex-husband still baffled him. He didn't know what that crafty man was up to and he didn't really care. As far as Donald can provide the connections he needed for his company, he would continue doing business with him.

And then he walked back to his office to continue with his work.

++++++++++++++++

There was a knock at the door, and knowing who it was, Donald strolled to go open it. Jeremy rushed past him into the apartment, fuming. Donald closed the door and headed for the fridge. He pulled it open and frowned.

"Want a beer? It's cold." He offered, picking two cans regardless.

Jeremy nodded, still standing in the middle of the room. "I'm furious, Donald. This is not going as I planned it."

Donald handed him a can before settling into the sofa. Jeremy eyed him before plopping into the armchair.

"What did you do?"

"I messed up, alright. I told Sara about the invitation and she flipped. She even went as far as saying she isn't working for me again."

Donald sipped his beer quietly, realizing bottled beers were better than the cans. "Why are you telling me this? What can I do for you?"

Jeremy stared at him in confusion. "I might lose this company! Can't you see? Sara is a very good asset to my company. I can't lose her. And if my father hears she quit, he might hire her just to spite me."

"What do you want me to do about it? It's not my company." Donald shrugged, wondering if he should go get another can of beer. He had a stressful day at work, with that workaholic boss of his keeping everyone on their toes because he must launch a new product into the market before April. Or was it May?

"Talk to your boss. Tell him about my company. Invite him to lunch with me and I'll handle the rest," Jeremy rattled out, grasping at straws.

Donald burst out laughing uncontrollably at him. He laughed and laughed and laughed until Jeremy started feeling like the biggest idiot alive.

"I can't do that. You know I lied to my supervisor to get you that contract. How do you think they'll react when they realize I kept half of the money allocated for that furnishing to you and me by contacting a smaller company? He'll have my head. That's what," he explained when he had controlled himself.

"I'm sorry buddy but I can't help you. I've helped you by giving you that contract and sneaking you into that party. I'm still not in the clear for those actions. I told you to keep your blabber mouth shut but you're the town crier. So you see, I can't help you anymore. But if my boss decides to relocate, I'll let you know. He mentioned something about doing so in the next five years," he finished with a smirk, chuckling at the irritated frown on Jeremy's face.

Jeremy had a forlorn look as he went home that night.

Later that night, Donald laid on his bed in deep thoughts. He never liked Jeremy even from way back in the day. The guy was always an idiot. All those rich kids that knew nothing but moved shoulders because of their parents wealth. He and Jeremy had become friends after the latter had failed his mathematics exam twice and was forced to repeat a class. Donald had been assigned to help him and their friendship had built from there. After school, Jeremy went outside the country to study while he had been stuck back here struggling.

Then he met a friend, Rocky Apia, in the University and their friendship had been as solid as a rock. Rocky was a lawyer, struggling to get by in life when he sneakily got into a high class party, met the sister-in-law of a billionaire and came upon money. Turns out Rocky and the billionaires' wife knew each other from childhood and so rekindled their friendship. Then suddenly Rocky made it big and brought his family out of their poverty. Donald didn't know much about what happened to Rocky afterwards but he was told by his family to distance himself from that issue so as not to encounter the same fate.

But he wouldn't though. He had lived 30 years of his life struggling, fighting to survive while his friend, an age mate of his, someone he was smarter than had made millions in less than a year. Yes, he worked for a billionaire but it didn't make him a billionaire. In fact, after ten years of working in this company, he'd still not be better than where he was right now. Family ties, girls, friends, cliques and numerous bills made sure he depleted his cash as fast as they came. He couldn't continue living like that. His parents had lived like paupers in order to save money and after 35 years of civil service had very little income to show for it.

He'd be damned if he lived like they did and that was why he had come up with this strategy. It had been an accidental search at the company archives when he saw it. Magazine issues covering the CEO's private life. He wasn't meant to see them but he had been nosy that faithful day. Later, he had brought the magazines home and took his time going through them. Only recently did he realize he had seen Sara before, so he had pushed for her relentlessly.

Bumping into Jeremy at the club where they first met had been his plan as well as telling him about the contract. Getting him to agree to keep the information between him and Sara had been hard but not impossible. The same applied to those invitation he 'could' not get for Sara and then meeting the woman at the party. Everything had been orchestrated by him and he was certain it was fail-proof.

Sara Amadi was his gateway to success even if she didn't know it. Yes, she was not drowning in cash yet but she'd be very soon. He only needed to tread carefully and work tirelessly in gaining her confidence. He would then use her ignorance against her when the time came.

He chuckled deeply, satisfied with his ingenious plans just before he drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I told you guys Donald was important in this book.

Fact: So I ran out of surnames when I was writing this book and I thought if I added an 'S' to Donald's name, it could be a surname. It's rare but it happens. So his name is Donald Donalds. It's not a typo. It's my genius mind at work. 😎

This chapter is dedicated to chukwudindu, my first follower. Thanks for making me happy.

Now, let's not forget to vote and comment as usual.

Thank you😍😘