In Love With Mr. Billionaire - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

This could have gone a different way.
James Marshall was the biggest bug buzzing over my life. His presence has always been an issue. Earlier, it was through my father's ignorance. Slowly and steadily he had crept into my professional life and tried to wreck it. That plan failed when I took over my company. He couldn't bring my father down because I had been standing behind, holding him back from falling to his destruction. But even if he had failed to push me down, he had used my company as a protective shield, a shoulder to climb the corporate ladder. And I had done nothing.
Then he tried to meddle in my personal life. The contract was still fresh in my head and I hated it now knowing it had caused problems between me and Caroline. Despite that, I had not done anything.
But that had changed. That had changed the instant I saw the red mark on Caroline's face. How many times has he hit her before? Though she had tried to pull back on the details of that part of her life, I figured it was enough. The fear in her eyes every time he was around was a dead giveaway. He had abused her physically and mentally so much that she had flinched in fear when I had touched her face. That was when I figured I had been too lenient on James.
Retribution was imminent, but it was going to be slow. His company, his most prized possession, was going to suffer. Slowly and gradually he was going to lose his grip over it. The business world, which he was so proud to be a part of, was going to become a dream he had once lived and spitted out of.
That last phone call from him was what made me understand that even that was not going to be enough. Destroying his business was not enough.
This could have gone a different way.
James could have gotten an easier out.
But if he was so keen on digging his own grave, I was not going to hold myself back from burying him in it.
"Meet me at Marshall's residence in the next thirty minutes with the documents prepared," I called my PA. It was a relief that the broken version was my personal phone and not the professional one. "And stop the work on his company shares. Let them be," I added.
The chauffeur took a steep turn to the left and I looked out of the car window, trying to get my anger within control. Anger was needed. The work I was going to do could hardly be done with a calm mind. But I needed to channel it towards the task and not on the man. Focusing on that asshole would make me want to chop him up into pieces and throw them away in a dumpster. Though there was no need for murder. I wasn't going to do it.
Caroline won't like it.
She had suffered enough.
It was one thing for choices to be taken away, to be abused. It was totally different to see that happen to someone you love.
I lost my mother too soon. The memory of that accident was vivid in my memory. I remember being angry at my father, at myself, at everything because there was nothing anyone could do to bring her back. I know what it was like to lose someone that important. But to see them in pain, then erased from your life, not knowing where they were, how they were, I cannot fathom how horrible it must be for Caroline to go through that.
I had a faint idea of what it was like though. Because every bit of anger that was coursing through my veins was on Caroline's behalf. She had endured it all, without retaliation. It was only fair for me to take on that job and wreck that bastard's life.
Since there were many modifications made in my earlier plan of action, and because the idea was still in the making as I headed towards the asshole's house, I needed to tread carefully. Business was my territory to maneuver, but with the latest improvisations in the plan, a backup was required. There was close to no doubt that after everything, James along with his wife and daughter were going to try and pull me into the legal procedures. They would not succeed, but why waste time battling them when I had the chance to squash them before they made a move.
With that thought, I pulled out my phone and took a deep breath. This was not something I wanted to do but had to. He owned the best security company in the country and that gave him access to almost all the databases that were there. That, along with his functional relationship with the government, provided him with an edge in legal procedures. No wonder why the man was so humble.
"The great Aaron Woodwords called me himself," VanAssche said as soon as he answered the call. "This is one of the many things I never expected from a man of a higher standard than mine."
Humility you see.
"I often tend to do favors, VanAssche. But right now, I want you to work on something," I said, getting straight to the point. There was no need to beat around the bush when I already knew the overwhelming love VanAssche had for his beloved uncle.
"You dialed the wrong number then. I don't work for people, Woodwords. It's the other way around."
"It's about that bastard James."
That was enough to pull VanAssche out of his amusing mood and get down to business.
"What is it now?" he asked, his voice cold.
"He'll be filing for bankruptcy soon. His company is done for. But he won't go down with dignity. He has none. He may get my company's name involved in it and probably sue me for the things I'm about to do. I want you to take care of the first two things and I'll manage the suing me part." It wasn't a choice, it was a need. VanAssche hated that bastard for obvious reasons, but that didn't mean he was going to let go of a chance to see me behind the bars. I could not trust him with it.
"I heard what you did to his company last night. What are you planning exactly? To destroy his business?" he questioned.
"I was until there were sudden changes in the plan. Not just his business now. I'm planning to destroy him," I stated.
"What did he do? Why now all of a sudden?"
"Ask Caroline," I said. "If she's comfortable enough, she'll tell you."
Caroline had told me that she was never able to tell VanAssche about James. Talking to him now, only made it more clear that he was still in the dark about it. Of course, he must have every detail about his business and could effortlessly predict his every move, but it was a tricky thing to know what went behind closed doors, inside the protection of one's home. However, he might have a clue or two about it. He was too observant of a man to not see the hints.
VanAssche took a moment before getting back to me. "Apart from the bankruptcy, are you going to sue him?"
"No shit!"
"Don't do it," he said, then went on to explain. "You'll sue him for whatever charges and he'll be sent to jail for a few months or years. The time served won't be long because he has connections that will come forward once he is behind the bars. Meanwhile, his wife and her daughter may create problems. I don't believe it would be anything you can't handle, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want their lawyers to disturb you every now and then. Let me take a look at the matter from here. There is tons of evidence of James' malpractice in the business field that I can get access to with just a click. Give me some time to dig up all the skeletons he is hiding from the world. I'll accuse him of non-bailable charges and he'll spend the rest of his life in a single cell. So go ahead and do whatever you want with him, just leave the legalities to me."
"Alright, VanAssche. I know you hate him but if anything goes wrong on your end, you know who you'll be messing with, right?" The threat had to be put out there.
"You're no threat to me, Woodwords, but your wife does scare me. So don't worry. You're safe," he chuckled. I rolled my eyes and hung up.
Moments later, the car stopped outside the asshole's house. Carter was already there, waiting for me. He showed me the documents and I rechecked the changes that I had told to be made. Everything was prepared. All I had to do now was go inside and greet all of them.
Carter walked past me to get to the door first. Lahaina answered it with an unusual scowl. There were going to be a lot of confused frowning and frustrated glowering in the next few hours.
"Step aside," I said when she simply stood by the door, trying to make sense of my sudden presence at her humble abode.
"How the fuck do you not know about it?" James' screams flowing through the door were music to my ears. It was good that he found out about it, and it was better that he was losing his mind.
"What have you done?" Lahaina demanded, throwing her head back occasionally as her father continued screaming the frustrated questions at someone that I was looking forward to answering.
"Step aside," I said, putting extra emphasis on my words. They didn't go through the first time, apparently.
She opened her mouth to speak again when Carter stepped forward to barge inside the house, pushing her away by his shoulders to make space for me. Lahaina protested as I walked inside. Though her words were nothing but random noises to me as I was finally facing my prey.
Whoever he was screaming at could finally take a breath of relief because the moment James saw me, he ended the call and threw his phone on the couch, where his wife was sitting with her head in her hands. Her misery was soon transformed to anger as she took in my appearance.
"Let me guess. You're not here to pay a visit to your father-in-law, now are you?" James said, trying his hand at sarcasm.
"The only reason I'll ever attend your funeral would be to confirm you're really dead," I answered with a straight face and brutal honesty.
Juliea stepped forward. Out of the three, she looked the most distressed. It made sense since it was her wealth that she—for some inconspicuous stupid reason—had decided to share with James.
"Why did you do it? It's my company! Why the fuck did you do it? It doesn't matter if you're the second-biggest shareholder in my company, I'm still the boss! You're not allowed to make the decisions and you are in no fucking way allowed to make the changes! It is my company! Get that in your head and get away from my business!" she screamed at me.
I stared at her in disbelief. Did she really dare to shout at me? I could feel Carter's eyes on me. No one disrespects me. No one dares to raise their voice at me. And this woman had the audacity to scream at me.
James stood next to his wife, glaring back at me with maddening fury. Well, it seemed it was required for them to understand that I wasn't here to have a conversation or to have a laugh at their misery. I was here to wreck their lives and the sooner they figured out that I was holding all the power, the easier this would become for them.
Perhaps it was me who had taken the wrong route. Words don't go through their heads that easily.
I moved my eyes to James and clenched my fist. Covering the distance with two easy steps, I went to him and punched him in the face with all my strength. Juliea took several steps back, her hands moving up to cover her mouth.
"Just because I don't raise my hand on women," I looked at Juliea straight in the eye as I said that. Her eyes were wide and horrified and I could hear her daughter cursing me in the background, calling me a bastard. Oh, she had no idea.
James took a few minutes to steady himself, which I graciously allowed him to have. He was going to have worse things to deal with in his future. He removed his hands from his face and looked down at his palms. They were covered in blood. His nose was bleeding and his cheek a little swollen. That was going to be an ugly bruise. A taste of his own medicine, for a start.
"What the fuck do you want from me?" James said in fury. He had learned his lesson, his voice didn't go up no matter the anger. "Why the fuck are you going after my company? Is yours not enough for you? All because I took a million dollars out of your uncountable wealth? I will sue you for it. I'm not letting you take over my company illegally!" The threat might have sounded a tad bit threatening if he wasn't stuffing his handkerchief to stop the nose bleed.
"You think I want your company, James?" I said, sliding my hands into my pockets. "You think I'm putting all this effort because I want to take over your company? What good will it do to me?"
"Then why? Why are my shares plummeting? Why are my executives resigning? Why are you trying to become the majority shareholder by buying my company shares and doing it in private so as to keep your company's name clear of mine? I'm not an idiot, Aaron. I know what you're doing. You don't want to get in a legal battle with me!"
"I don't want your company. You've milked my father's association with your business enough and that ends here. The shares I convinced your board of directors to sell to me don't belong to me anymore. That was only a way to get them away. Your employees are being offered better jobs at various places, including many of my firms and your associates have been sent a copy of your brilliant business ethics. I'll be surprised if they still want to work with you from now on, not like they would get a chance to make that choice though. Your company won't exist by the end of next month, so no, I'm not trying to take over your company," I said then turned to look at Juliea. "You're still the boss."
She looked away, unable to meet my eyes. James on the other hand was trying to gauge the limit of his destruction.
"Why are you doing this? Why do this when you have nothing to gain? You'll incur huge losses in the process too," James said.
"I indeed have nothing to gain, but I'll pacify myself with your loss. Remember all the investments and credits you got my father to make in your company? Me being the executive, I am now formulating new standards regarding that. According to which, you were supposed to return those credits a few months back to my company. However, the current situation of your company makes me doubt if I'm ever going to get it back. So here I am, demanding you pay me back, considering you are still the boss of the company," I ended with a smile. The other occupants of the room, excluding Carter, had gone as pale as bleached corpses.
"I'm paying you back nothing," James snickered. "The investments in my company were made by your dad and the credits and loans taken were without any conditions and clauses. Ethan is my friend and he knew exactly where to put in the effort to help a man in need. He never gave me a due date for a repayment. It was all done in goodwill. Your father was too stupid to keep records."
"He indeed was," I agreed and took a leisurely step forward. James took a perplexed step away, but calmed himself just in time so as to not make a bigger fool of himself. "So, I did that on his behalf."
Carter flipped open the documents and passed them to James, who had to put his bloody handkerchief away to inspect the files. Patiently, I waited as he absorbed the information. His bafflement soon morphed into exasperation as he threw the file away. The sheets of his impending doom falling to the ground like light feathers.
"You fucked up my company. You took away all my clients and associates and workers. How the fuck am I supposed to pay you back now?" James snapped.
His eyes were red, filled with hatred and psychotic rage. Was this how he looked at my Caroline before hitting her? Was it this rage that scared her beyond reasoning or was it knowing what came after?
I took slow steps towards him, keeping my gaze fixed on him. James gulped but didn't back away. The hatred on his face dissipated, the rage got tamed, all that was left behind in his eyes now was panic and horror of his own future.
"You're in debt to me James Marshall. I'm ceasing all of your accounts, breaking off all my company's ties with you and taking over all of your assets," I stopped when he was at my arm's reach. Juliea gasped and every bit of the remaining confidence and hope drained out of James. "Including this one," I added.
"No," James said, taking a step back. "This is forced acquisition. It's illegal. You can't do this." His voice was barely above a whisper.
"I already did it. The process has been initiated and Carter," I addressed my PA, my eyes staying on James. "How much time will it take to be finalized?"
"A few hours, sir," he answered back.
"Then let's start the good work from here," I grabbed James by the collar. He attempted to dodge but his reflexes—just like his brain—had rotted with age. With a fierce tug, I pulled him out of the house.
He struggled and tried to free himself of the grip. His attempts were decent but my hold was firm. I was determined to show him how it felt to be dragged out of a place that he used to call home.
"I will sue you, Aaron Woodwords!" Lahaina screamed on top of her lungs.
I paused to address her problem of comprehension. "Go ahead, sweetheart. I don't want Carter to drag you and your mother out of the house so be a good girl and oblige."
With that I turned around and hauled James out of the house. Juliea, Lahaina and Carter followed.
Once out, Carter locked the door, sealing it until further notice. I let go of James and he fell to the ground. The women standing there did nothing to help him.
"You will regret this, you bast—"
"Still being the cocky self, huh James. You never learn your lesson. Find yourself a place to live for a few days until VanAssche arranges a permanent cell for you," I advised.
"VanAssche?" he asked, horrified.
"You'd be surprised how fond people are of you," I said as I turned around to head to my car.
"Ethan won't be very pleased when he finds out about all this. You will have to answer to him," James shouted after me.
The chauffeur closed the door of my car, blocking all the unwanted noises.
Of course, my father was not going to be very happy about what I had done. But if he was unable to see James for what he was, then that wasn't my problem. It would be taken care of when needed. Right now, my work was done and James could fend for himself.