Returning Red

#42: Gunshots.

I'm putting you six feet under

Isabella

"Good evening, Mr. West. How was lunch? I'm sure you had to your stomach's contentment?" I ask as I sit in the chair opposite him. 

His black eyes stare at me in confusion. Either his memory is becoming weak since he isn't able to jog down its lane as he's trying to place me, or he's identified who I am and he's wondering what the hell I am doing here. Either of them, I am extremely satisfied. 

My eyes fall onto the round table between us. He's sipping his last cup of coffee and I would rather he finish it before I put a bullet through his head. I can be kind. We all know how much we're going to savor coffee if someone told us it was the last cup of our lifetime. 

"Isabella Cosmo," he says blinking four times. Oh good, he's placed me. He was thinking the latter. "I wasn't expecting you here." 

I laugh, glancing at Ryan who is staring at Edgar West. His face softens when he looks at me. "A lot of things in life are unexpected, Mr. West." 

"Hmm," he nods looking at his coffee mug and begins to sip it. His face is an open book. I can make out the hundred different runaway plans he is hatching in his head at the moment. "I understand Austin Cooper won't be joining us anymore?" 

I smile as I shake my head. "Oh, no-no. He told me he isn't interested in buying Steinem either." I say and Edgar West pauses before taking his sip. "Funny move, trying to sell your company to my boyfriend." 

Edgar's face turns pale as he lifts his head to gawk at me. "Boyfriend?" 

I pout as I nod. "Haven't done your homework, I suppose?" I ask him and he rests his coffee down. Good, he finished it. I exhale a long, happy, breath. "In the field that we strive to achieve power in, Mr. West, we must always remember to do our homework. There are a lot of snakes in the industry, ready to bite us down."  

He gulped without meeting my eyes. He grabbed his briefcase that I deciphered contained the documents and stood up. 

"Well, if your boyfriend, Mr. Cooper isn't interested anymore to sign off the deal, then there's no work left for me to do here. I might as well take off." He gave me a plain smile. 

He straightened his blazer over his obese tummy and nodded to his guard, who I had already bought. His guard does not move. I cross my legs, one over the other as I sink into my chair. 

"But I have some work left with you, Edgar Francis West," My face turns cold and he shivers. "Take your seat, please."

Edgar gulps again. If he's smart, he'd obey my words and take his seat. But he isn't, which is why he hurries his belongings and starts walking to the door. "I would like to leave." 

My jaw clicks as Ryan blocks his path. "Mr. West, I'm merely asking you to sit down." 

Edgar spins around and glares at me. I motion to his chair and he slowly walks back, limping at every step. My eyes fall onto his legs as he sits down on his chair again. 

"I want to speak to my son," he tells me with his teeth grinding against each other. 

I smile more. "You don't have a son. If Carter is who you're referring to, didn't you divorce his mother two weeks ago?"