Chapter Three

All hands except Edward's were raised in support of Director Phillip's idea. That was a 7 to 1 vote and of course, it meant that Philip's idea was what they were going with.

Edward looked at them all with contempt, arising from the shame that was brewing in him.

"Gentlemen, that'd be all for today. Thank you" Bruce said and the board members got up from their seats to leave the room.

While Edward was about to leave, Bruce called him back as he also got up from his chair, with only them both left in the room.

"Edward, this erratic behaviour of yours has to end. You can't be coming to a board meeting late. Didn't Business School teach you that? If they didn't, your father should have taught you better." Bruce said with all seriousness and it appeared to have hit a rib of Edward's who gave him a death glare as an immediate response.

"Don't you talk about my dad"

"Why not? He was a great man. He taught me a lot of what I know." Bruce replied sharply.

"Mmmppohh" Edward mockingly uttered before he continued speaking. " And that's because your father was busy screwing the cook in your mother's absence, right?"

"Don't you dare, Edward!" Bruce replied with anger emerging from his voice.

"So, the Almighty Bruce can be hurt. Who could have thought? And he happens to be a mum's pet as well. Whoa!" Edward was on a mockery streak and he was finding pleasure in every word he said.

"There's only two ways this ends, and none of them ends with you standing upright and keeping that ugly smile on your face" Bruce replied with a fierce expression.

"Ohhh! What are you gonna do? Tell mummy to come smack my ass or to come watch you take on me with those muscles?" Edward laughed maniacally as he spoke.

Bruce didn't take these words lightly as his countenance was as if hell had found a home in his eyes as he began to clench his fists preparing for a fiery knockout of one of Edward's teeth.

While he was in this split second of premeditation and executing it on Edward's face, Melissa stormed the room swiftly and she panted right on entry.

"Bruce, you have a call and it's urgent" Melissa said as Bruce turned his face away from Edward and towards her. That pacified the rage he felt in that moment, and Edward recognised that he had to leave now or continue with this altercation which might end with him nursing bruises given his physique in proportion to Bruce's.

Edward stormed out and slammed the door hard behind him. Melissa did not have a message for Bruce. She had been listening in when she didn't see Bruce step out of the room and she came in to intervene and this was a rescue mission that came in handy for Bruce.

"Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, really" Bruce said as he adjusted his tie firmly around his collar and she packed his bag for him as they headed to the elevator.

Upon their ride in the elevator, Bruce looked towards her without really knowing whether or not to say anything.

"How much of that did you hear?" Bruce asked as he was curious.

"Mmmm….just the one part where he said something about you being handsome and having Superman muscles." Melissa said with a broad smile that almost actualised into a laugh.

Bruce found her expression and the words she uttered right here funny and he laughed, maybe a little harder than he'd have wanted.

After Bruce laughed, Melissa had to stop her laugh abruptly too as they both put on their work faces very quickly again as the elevator doors opened.

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It was 5:09 PM and Melissa stepped into Bruce's office about to inform him that she was leaving for the day. While she stood, waiting for him to get off his phone to give her an audience, a message entered Bruce's phone. It was a picture, and not just any picture. It was a steamy nude picture of Georgina Capaldi, a Brazilian model he once had an affair with, and to him, she was no more than a streak of good nights of pleasure and ecstasy.

Attached to her photo was her address which she pinned in the GPS. Clearly, she was in New York and she wanted to hookup or hang out with him, and Bruce was not the type to grace such invitations. He thought about what to do, but couldn't think of anything instantly.

He raised up his head and saw Melissa had been standing there,not wanting to interrupt him.

"I'm leaving already. I've emailed you the schedule for the meetings next week and I've attended to all the calls and appointments as you requested." Melissa said.

If there was one thing Bruce admired about Melissa, it was her dedication to work with utmost consistency. In that moment, it became clear to him what he had to do.

"Melissa, do you have plans for tonight?" Bruce asked without much of an expression on his face.

Melissa was stoked. She was literally having a serotonin erection in her head as he had never asked her anything pertaining to her private life before.

"No. I don't. I'm free…" Melissa said with a smile of a two year old as she unconsciously tucked her right hair behind her ear.

"Okay. How about we have dinner together and a few drinks, maybe?" Bruce replied.

"Errrmmm" Melissa was having one of her "he makes me stutter" moments and Bruce decided to help her out.

"Great! I'll text you the address. See you there" Bruce said before returning to his phone to reply Georgina.

Melissa was throwing an exciting circus in her head. Did Bruce just ask her out? She was a lot more awkward than she'd have envisaged as she kept blushing from ear to ear as she walked out of his office.

"Meet me here at 8 tonight" Bruce sent this message to Georgina and locked his phone's screen right after and packed his bag to leave work for the day.