Emancipation

forty one

James's POV

I've been struggling to keep my mind straight since a couple of hours now. Oliver is explaining to me the possible law suit that our company can face if I go ahead with this new real estate deal in Texas but my father has been pushing me to seal this for a week now.

Being born a Clark might seem like privilege to some, until you have to step into the shoes of responsibility and suddenly everyone expects you to know things you've never done before. Thankfully, in my case, I started preparing myself as soon as I stepped out of high school.

My eyes roam around the file in front of me as I try to come up with possible solutions I can take in order to fix this deal without having a law suit on my back that can very easily drown the company name, which wouldn't go well with board of directors.

"Get me Alex on the call, this is a clear financial issue that her and Rosy should be able to clear with the owner. The property has been empty for years now, we want to set up biodegradable machines which shouldn't be an issue. So where is this law suit coming from?" I ask, referring to my CFO and COO who actually should be taking care of this at the moment.

"The owner is insisting on a specific deal because it's family land, wants us to keep a certain portion off limits and to be honest, he's a jackass and looks down at woman so he's been taking both of them lightly." Oliver explains and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Asshole." I mutter under my breath, nodding as I motion for Amy to hand me the accompanying files which she sets in front of me. My eyes roam around the budgetary sheet and I nod. "Fix me a video meeting with him Monday morning."

"Right away, Sir." Amy offers me her sweet smile that has honestly started to get on my nerves now.

Two nights ago, I yelled at her to get the fuck away when she tried to hold my hand. We broke off things the night I got engaged, because I might have lots of flaws, but loyalty is one thing I stick to. Moreover, I'd really break a guy's hand if he tried to make a move on Lillian.

A huge part of me regrets whatever we shared because it has been nothing but a pain in my ass. Her annoying tactics aren't the only reason I want to reverse the situation — I absolutely despise when Lillian begins to feel insecure about our relationship because of this woman.

If there was a way I could remove the doubts that cloud her beautiful little mind, I'd do it in a heartbeat. She has taken this week adjusting to the office environment, and I personally know she's doing great. I've seen the reports she submitted because she made me sit down yesterday after dinner and had me go through them to tell her the things I think she can work upon.

That woman sometimes frets too damn much for her own good. Like she has been anxious over our test reports. We both got tested couple of days back and were supposed to get the result yesterday but there's some delay by the clinic. I know I'm clean, and so is she but her mind can go to weird places at times.

When she lays in bed by my side at nights and tells me how she's afraid of the water and has never been to a beach, I realise there's so much of the world I want to show her.

"Anything else you wanted to discuss?" Oliver asks me, cutting off my thoughts but I shake my head. "Alright then, see you later."

After he leaves, Amy still sticks around which makes me take a very pissed off breath. This woman has started to get on my nerves, and I've started considering replacing her but she really does handle my schedule well, and I don't want to go through training an assistant again.