Sparks Fly (An Aleheather Story/AU)

Chapter 9

"Good morning Al," José chirped as he made his way inside Alejandro's office. Alejandro looked up from his computer screen and glared at José.

"What do you want, José?" Alejandro growled.

"Oh, there's no need to get all worked up," José sneered. "I'm simply paying a visit to my baby brother." He peered over at Alejandro's computer screen. "Hard at work I see?" he snorted.

Alejandro studied José's face clearly - he had the same mischievous expression Alejandro knew all too well. He's definitely up to something.

"Save it, José," Alejandro snapped. "I know you're hiding something, so just spit it out."

"Ah, now there's that temper," José smirked. "Well, since you brought it up, I thought I'd let you know that I've made some good progress on the assignment Papá gave us last week." José made himself comfortable on the couch and propped his feet on Alejandro's coffee table.

"Get your dirty feet off my table," Alejandro grumbled.

"So I had one of my informants conduct a few, let's call it background checks on our key competitors," José continued, ignoring Alejandro's comment. "And at first nothing particularly interesting popped up. But then one thing did." He paused for suspense and turned around to observe Alejandro's reaction.

Alejandro had a horrible feeling about what José was going to say next.

"Heather Kasuga from Illuminate," José smirked. "Well, let's just say that she...wasn't exactly a saint in her younger years."

Alejandro felt a lump forming in his throat. "Wh- what are you getting at?" he glared at José.

José immediately sensed the desperation and panic in Alejandro's voice. Oh, this was going to be good. So good.

"I say we give Heather a little proposition," José began. "Either Illuminate dial down their marketing and sales, at least for the next little while until the Annual Jewellery Business Awards. Or...this information gets leaked and her and Illuminate's reputation will be ruined. I have a contact in the media who I've reached out to already, and they'd be happy to do a special article on this."

"Really, José? Resorting to blackmail with something that happened years ago? That's low, even for you," Alejandro gritted his teeth.

"Why do you care so much?" José sneered. "You and I both well know that this isn't the first time the company has done something like this, and you never objected previously, so since when did you suddenly become so soft?"

Alejandro instantly stood up from his desk and stormed over to where José was sitting.

"Don't you fucking dare," he growled.

"Or what?" José challenged, a smirk on his face. He was clearly enjoying this. "What are you going to do about it Al, huh? You think you're just going to show up and be her knight in shining armor?"

"Just give me the fucking media contact!" Alejandro yelled. He felt a wave of anger take over his body. He took another step closer towards José and leaned down, firmly grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

"In your dreams," José taunted, without flinching at Alejandro's grip. "I will also let you know that I've already discussed my plans with Papá and he approves, so I didn't even need to tell you this news at all. The only reason I thought I'd give you a heads-up was because, well, you're technically still the other Chief Operating Officer here. Although that might change pretty soon," he sneered.

Alejandro knew that José would not budge, and as much as he wanted to punch him in the face right now he knew he needed to firstly change tactics and do his best to remain calm. He took a deep breath.