30. The con Artiste

Oliver’s POV

I watched her work from where I and Eric were sited at the diner she works for. The dinner was a little bit small and cozy, not the popular kind— quiet and somewhat empty. We were only about six in here if I had counted correctly.

The people I had a meeting with thought it would be a great idea if we could have it in a quiet diner and they suggested this.

She kept glancing at me repeatedly, probably wondering what I was doing here sitting with no snacks or drinks on my table.

She had on her the usual apron the waitress wore, a tee shirt, and a cap. She looked beautiful even in the ugly diner uniform, she could no doubt make anything look good.

A brunette-looking guy came into the restaurant, she smiled at him as he walked towards her. I could perceive the scent he had on him—he had a demon scent attached to him. He was all black, his hair scattered in various directions sort of in a spiky well, making his blonde strands stand out.

I knew they existed, but it has been a long time since they were seen. They operated only when summoned. Was he one of them? Or was there something I was mistaken about?

She talked to him unaware of the kind of thing he was—he made her laugh, throwing her head back. I could notice the familiarity that hung in the air around them. She knew him. Everything clicked, he was the man whose scent was in her the day she had come home late. Were they having an affair? If so I am about to murder someone

The sound of footsteps walking towards me made me snap my head away from her, raising up at the two figures that were looming in front of my table.

The two people that Eric had introduced me to arrived, they were both bears but a low ranking one. Each of them did nowhere look like a businessman but the quality suit they had on did cover for that— the first one was a little bit shorter than the other, the second one had a scar running down his neck into his body covered with the gray suit he had worn.

“Good morning Alpha Oliver” the tallest one of the two greeted. Each of them took the two empty seats in front of me.

They called over a waitress, Freya being the only one available to come to our table. She didn’t spear me a glance as she looked towards the men.

“What would you like to have?” She brought out a pen and a notepad.

“Just black coffee, for the both of us” he referred to his second. They had reached Eric for a business deal with us. They stated their terms and it was favorable, their company name wasn’t something that would be on the news, just an underdeveloped company.

“And you sir?” she turned to me looking down on her notepad. She wanted nothing to do with me, I would too after the stunt I had pulled out there.

“A cup of black coffee, little milk, and 1 cube of sugar” I have had my fair taste of coffee at restaurants but that was nothing to my taste. I decided to make my specifics detailed to avoid errors.

She glared at me before looking at Eric “Just water”

“Shall we begin?” Eric spoke up.

“Sure” they both responded. “I am Cedrick and this is my brother James” he introduced.

“We would create everything needed for a successful new design” The man who I have come to know was Cedric spoke up.

“We just need you to sign here and here” James demonstrated at the file he opened down in front of me on the table.

Freya chose that was the right time to appear. She looked at me doing a weird gesture with her neck towards the men.

Eric looked at me also perplexed as to what she was doing.

“They are fake” she shouted frustratedly when she realized we weren’t getting her weird movement. There was a visible annoyance on her face that she had to spell out what she meant to us.

The eyes of both bears cut to her and they looked ready to pummel the shit out of her.

“They have come here a few weeks back, plotting a plan to collect money for the job they were to do. Then come back later with stories of how they were scammed, when in fact they are the real scammers.” she continued despite the glares of the men on her.

Cedric was a variety of shades of black. Standing up suddenly sending his chair going back. I was thankful the diner was empty of customers else this would be on the news and a damage to my company.

“Mr. Cedric, I think it is best you sit down let us handle this matter gently” Eric proposed

He ignored him and faced Freya “What the fuck is this bitch saying?” He voiced out angrily. “Don’t listen to a word she has said. She is probably those waitresses that go around spreading rumors that they have heard. Stupid whore” he looked at me.

I moved faster than He could register, gripping his neck with my finger “ utter another disrespectful word at what is mine again and you would regret it, I would cut your tongue and make you swallow it” I snarled, tightening my grip on his neck. He turned a shade of red trying to pry my fingers away from his neck.

“Oliver stop, the workers are watching” Eric whispered—at this point, I didn’t care. He had crossed a limit by calling Freya a whore. She was one but only mine.

“Let him go, Oliver. You would make me lose my job” she whispered pleading. I let him go roughly, watching him struggle to catch his breath as a fair-looking lady came to stand beside her.

“What is going on here?” A blond woman questioned, looking at Freya for an explanation. She was beautiful in the way older women were. She had an elegant build to her. She wore a grey dress. Something told me she was powerful but I knew nothing of the position she held.

She looked at her sheepishly “Mam, there was just—“

“We just had a little disagreement about a pending matter, we will take our leave now” I button my suit jacket. Walking out the door, Eric hurried after me. I don’t know why I did that but I had felt the sudden urge to protect her.

I entered the back seat of my car, Eric sat in the driver's seat, driving back to the office.

I was still pissed, boiling with rage. As for the bears I was going to torture them, not only for them thinking they would be able to fool me but also for the words they had said to Freya.

“Do you know the lady back there? It seemed to me he had touched a sore spot for you to react that way” he looked up at the rearview mirror waiting for a response.

“She is just someone I know.”I looked out the window not elaborating. I couldn’t give him a clue she was my mate but everything I had displayed out there was screaming in that direction—I just hope he doesn’t figure it out.

“It didn’t look that way,” he muttered.

Ignoring him “Arrange a meeting with James and Cedric right now. There are some pending issues that are yet to be solved” I ordered immediately after I and Eric had entered the building. “And I want everything about them and their company on paper in an hour.”

I overlook the employee scurrying away at the sight of me. It had become something I had expected and was used to—it had become a tradition.

“I already told you what they had told me about them” he parked outside the building.

“That’s the thing, I don’t want what they told you but what you found out” I looked at him pointedly. I admit I was reckless to just arrange a meeting just for the words I had been told about them.

*****

A knock resounded throughout my office.

“Come in”

The knob door as the door to my office opened, and Eric came in with the expected guest.

I stood up and walked to them as they were sighted. They were two bears but they were no match for my wrath.

I sat down on the table, directly in front of them “Did you think some fancy suit and nice words would make you worth enough to handle my business?” I asked, rolling the pain in between my fingers.

“About what that bi...girl had said—“

“Cut the charade, Johnson” His eyes widened at the mention of his real name.

Freya was indeed right, they were both liars and now they were going to pay for messing with me.

“Let’s get to the fun part”