Chapter 3: I Will Find You

"Sir, you have lunch at noon with the CEO of Z Corporation, and a meeting with the board directors at two. Oh and-"

"That will be all Mrs. White. Clear my schedule for today, I have other business plans to attend to today." I gave a dismissive wave of my hand.

"But sir, you can't ignore the board directors again." She scrutinized.

Meeting with the board of directors was the last thing I wanted to do. I knew what the whole damn meeting was going to be about and I refused to sit through it. It was my life, my decisions.

"Mrs. White, I am the boss. The board can wait. Reschedule for tomorrow and I promise I will be there," I smiled coldly. "but as I mentioned before, I have other business plans to attend to. So if you could please clear my schedule I would really appreciate it." She let out a heavy sigh as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Right away sir," she tapped her tablet a few times. "was that all?" I could tell she was fed up with my bullshit.

"Yes that will be all. Thank you Mrs. White." She forced a smile before walking away.

'That woman has some nerve.'

Although Mrs. White could be exceptionally annoying at times, she was by far my favorite secretary. She knew how to do her job unlike all of the previous secretaries. She had experience in the work force, and was married. A huge bonus on my part considering most of my previous secretaries applied only to try and hook up with me.

I rolled my eyes and entered my office. Max sat comfortably on one of the sofas sipping on a cup of coffee.

"Maxwell, do you have any news for me?" I asked as I rubbed my head. I was desperate to figure out what woman dared to set me up.

"First off," he took a sip of his coffee. "I can feel the anger radiating off of you, so calm down. Second it's creepy how you say my full name when you're mad. Have you noticed that? Because I sure-"

"I'm not mad!" I shouted." What do you have for me." I huffed as I sat across from him.

"Geesh Bro chill. Here's what I got... nothing. Dude it's been two hours. Someone deleted the security footage from last night so as of the moment, I have nothing."

I rubbed my temple. How hard was it to find one woman?

"Damnit. Have you checked the guest list? Asked the servers and cleaning crew? Or any other people she may have come into contact with?" I needed this done today. The sooner I found her, the better. I didn't need the extra stress right now.

"No. Like I said, it's been two hours."

"So you're telling me it took you two hours to look at some security footage?"

"Oliver, it's more than that. Do you trust my skills or not?"

"Of course I do. I'm just..."

"Not mad, I know." I glared at him before grinning. "I'll find her Oliver. Deleted footage or not, I will find her."

"Thanks Max. I'm sorry for yelling, I just... really need to find this woman."

"It's all good dude. So... how is that meeting with the board of directors going?" I rolled my eyes, slumping into the sofa as I rubbed my temple.

"Wonderful. Just, absolutely, perfectly, wonderful." He snorted.

"You put it off again didn't you?"

"Yep."

"You know they aren't going to get off of your butt about it right?" He was right.

"It's my life Max. Why should they, the ones who have nothing to do with my personal life, care so much about me getting married?"

'It's my life. Shouldn't I be allowed to decide whom I marry, and on my own accord?'

"I know, but for some reason they are pushing for it. I did look into that for you... of course if you want me to tell you why?" I jolted upright at the possible reason.

'I didn't even ask him to look into it for me.'

"I think your mother has a part in it. Now this is the best I could come up with based off what I found."

'Of course. As her only son, she wants me to marry quickly to secure my position as CEO.'

"Okay." I rubbed my head once more.

"You know she does it because she loves you." He took another drink of his coffee.

"I know. And I love her, but I wish she would have more faith in me." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"You have a good reputation of dismissing all women. Even when we were younger you did that."

"I refuse to marry a money hungry woman. Speaking of which, once you do more digging, send me a list of all the women who attended that party last night, please."

"Sure thing. Oh and you might wanna do something about that headache of yours. It will only get worse before it gets better." I furrowed my eyebrows together.

"How did you know?"

"You've been rubbing your head this whole time. You only do that when you have a headache. You don't even do that when you're stressed. I've got some medicine in my bag, let me get you some." He dug around in his black bag.

"Thanks man." Only Max would know my habits. He was the only one besides my parents that were close to me.

"Sure, here you- wait wrong one. Oops," he put the little tube back and pulled another one out. this is the right one."

I got some water off of my desk and took the little pill.

"Well, I guess I will leave you to calm your headache, and I will go do some more digging."

"Okay. Call me when you get more information."

"Will do, I wanna see if this chick is at least pretty." He waved before leaving.

'Oh she's pretty alright. Pretty damn annoying.'

I was eternally grateful for Max. He had been my best friend since we were born. Our mothers were friends and hung out often, so naturally we hung out a lot. He watched me decline countless girls who always came my way, most of which were in it for the money.

I hated women that were only after me for my money and looks. I just wanted someone to see me for me. Was that too much to ask for?

'Apparently. And now I've went and slept with a woman who is the exact opposite of someone I want in my life.'

I sat down and began to do some of my own digging.

'It's time to get to business. I will find you.'

—

"What are you going to do now Bridget?" McKenna asked as she filed her nails.

"Well I have to think of something! Our original plan failed. She was supposed to stay put in the room and then we go in and cause a huge scandal with our icy CEO. "Oliver Hayes, ruthless CEO, sleeps with small town country girl." That was supposed to be it. Then once women hated him, I was supposed to go to him telling him how I didn't care about any of that. Then we get married!" I swooned at the thought of me walking down the isle, getting ready to marry Oliver Hayes.

"And you are obsessed." McKenna mocked.

I just rolled my eyes.

"If only that girl had just stayed put. The drugs should have been enough to keep her knocked out." I bit my nail.

'Each glass contained a large amount of drugs. Even one glass should have been enough to keep her until morning. However, that's not my real problem right now. I'm in big trouble for failing...'

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