Chapter 118 VIP Section
JAMES’ POV
I parked my car right in the parking lot as I walked into the club. The first thing that greeted me was the bass that I could feel thrumming even underneath my skin.
It has been a while since I came here. The last time I did, I ended up with a girl in one of the rooms, and I didn't even have a problem admitting it to Melissa. She didn't like it.
It was a shame that she wasn't as understanding as Anna was. Anna understood that if I cheated, it was her fault. It was her fault that she wasn't doing something right.
As I looked at the strippers that were twirling on the pole, I realized that it wasn't going to be a bad idea to get some kind of distraction. In fact, it was the best thing to do at this point in time.
I was just about to approach one when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I frowned, turning around. It was Jimmy. I honestly wasn't all that glad seeing him.
“What are you trying to do?” He asked, and I gave him a fake smile, cocking my head to the side.
“Meet one of the strippers,” I answered honestly. He ran a hand through his face.
“You're married, James.”
I shrugged. “i don't remember being tied up in chains all in the name of marriage. I believe I'm a free man.”
I could see the disappointment written all over him. But he didn't say a word as he dragged me towards the VIP section.
“Are you trying to show me that you have money?” I asked, and he frowned.
“What do you mean? You know we always stay in the VIP section whenever I'm around.”
I rolled my eyes. I was jealous. Yes. I wasn't denying that fact. He looked the same as he did all those years ago. His hair wasn't thinning like mine. He looked well taken care of. He didn't have dark circles underneath his eyes. It wouldn't have taken me anything to deliver at least one blow to his face.
The fucker.
Why did he have to be so lucky?
“I did tell you, didn't I?” He asked, and I frowned.
“Tell me what?”
“About taking that drug from Anna. Stealing her formula wasn't right. Even if you wanted to steal it, you should have been smarter with it. You were so impatient, that you couldn't even wait for her to put her finishing touches. You just wanted to take everything for yourself. And that is the reason for your downfall.”
“What would you have rather had me do?” I asked, with anger brewing on the surface. “I was suffering. I needed an easy life.”
“And you forgot that she would have given you everything that she had without even arguing. If you wanted the formula, you know that she would have stood by you and given it to you, without even arguing.”
He wasn't wrong about that. But then, that meant that I would have had to stick with her when the drug was launched. I would have to keep her by my side. And she was nothing that screamed show-off material. She was constantly smelling of chemicals and cake.
A dangerous combination as she always said.
Maybe if I knew that she would suddenly glow so much if she was well taken care of, I wouldn't have minded. I would have kept her around. We would have created Celibrex. We would have found a way to make the world trust us even if the first drug flopped after five years.
She would have been the brain behind the success, and I would have been the one taking all the credit. All I had to tell her was that it was for the benefit of the both of us. She wouldn't have said anything then. She was that easy to manipulate.
How foolish of me to think that she could easily be manipulated after she showed up five years later.
I looked up, noticing that Jimmy was still looking at me, waiting for an answer.
“Stealing was fun,” I said without hesitation. “And I needed Melissa for the media. They needed to see what I had bagged.”
Jimmy threw his head back in mock laughter. “What did you bag? What exactly has she helped you with, in the company? From everything I watched in the news, she was nothing less than your little handbag.”
The words stung, but it wasn't a lie. Melissa was just for showing off and wearing whatever I wanted her wear. Whether it was comfortable or not. She wanted to be a model, but it didn't complement what I was doing. And I stopped her. As I should.
I looked up immediately, snapping my fingers in an eureka moment. “Maybe you can borrow me some money. I need to hire other chemists to find out what was missing in the drug. What made it suddenly relapse?”
“Why not try to create something else?” He asked. “You don't have to create yet another drug to cure the same thing, when Anna's drug exists.”
“Well, I need to push hers off the market. I was there before hers.” I hesitated before asking again. “Can you borrow me the money?” I asked, and he hesitated before giving me an answer. That alone told me everything that I needed to know. He wasn't going to.
I wasn't shocked when he shook his head. “I've already made major investments ever since I came to the city.
Would it be nice if I broke his nose or something? I quickly took a sip of the whiskey that was in front of me. I didn't have to lose my cool over something so petty. He wasn't the only person in the world.
“The only time when you would be able to push her off the market , is if you find a way to alter Celibrex.” He leaned back, laughing. “And that would be an extremely stupid thing to do.”
He might have said it as a joke, but that was the smartest thing that I had ever heard him say. I smirked to myself, hiding my smirk as I took a sip of whiskey.
A few hours later, I could barely walk as I knocked on my mother's door. The last place I wanted to be was at home. I didn't need Melissa chewing my ear off about getting drunk.
“Oh, James,” my mom said, but I barely even answered her.
I closed my eyes, hoping that she wasn't going to complain. She didn't do any of that. I needed as much sleep as I could, for whatever I was going to do.
I pushed past her as I walked into the living room, collapsing on the couch, falling asleep before I could even kick my shoes off.