Hell’s Headed Somewhere

"Oh would you look at this," a sharp voice ehoed.

Jin brought his gaze up to see Miss Amelace walking towards his seat.

"What is she doing here?" Assistant Colton thought to himself.

Together with his CEO, they were inside an affiliated company based overseas. The head of this company, who turned out to be one of Jin's foreign investors, stepped down from his position. Leaving his only daughter to take his place.

"No way..." Assistant Colton muttered upon realization.

Jin stared blankly at Miss Amelace before reaching his hand out.

"Perhaps, you must be Miss Drool?"

Miss Amelace displayed a look of surprise.

"I'm impressed you know, Mister Young," she crossed her arms, "Now that you know my real name, I think it means we've become closer, haven't we?"

Assistant Colton rolled his eyes... mentally. He only imagined himself doing it to preserve workplace ethics. And because 'Miss Drool's' secretary was looking right at him.

Jin only stared blankly at her remarks. She was left with no choice but to drop the topic. She'd met him before, and he was aloof. But now, he seemed more distant. Freezing cold.

She pulled the chair in front of Jin and sat as if modeling for the seat manufacturer. "Well, I thought you'd be more surprised."

"Of course he won't be surprised," Colton's mind crowed once again. This time, with a mental smirk. "He never even cared about you as an actress in the first place."

For a few seconds, Colton stopped himself from grimacing. He watched Miss Amelace staring at his CEO like a sweet treat. Jin paid her no mind, however. And Colton was the only one left to suffer.

Eventually, after a minute, CEO Yang checked his watch.

"Colton, why aren't they here yet?"

He took his phone out before excusing himself. "I'll go check on them now, CEO Young."

He walked out of the room with heavy steps. Not wanting to leave his boss with Miss Amelace but he had a job to finish as soon as possible. With urgency, he strode faster.

Upon his exit, Miss Amelace smirked.

"Can you step out of the room for a minute, Secretary Min?" She said without facing her subordinate who excused herself in accordance.

Once both of them were left alone inside that room, she leaned her body closer to Jin.

"Just so you know..." she whispered, "No one's coming in here for a while."

She pinned her eyes on the door and a clicking sound followed. Outside the door, Secretary Min stood guard after locking both CEOs inside. Jin, as usual, displayed a look of disinterest.

"There won't be a board meeting. You and me, we're the only ones here today. I called this meeting just to see you. I'm so glad you ca--"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jin vacated his seat, and with long strides, he reached the door within a second. He was about to reach for the knob when Miss Amelace yelled.

"Stop!"

She dashed to the door, blocking his way. "I'm here to offer a deal." Her left hand reached out for her phone as the other one gripped the knob tightly. "I'm sure you haven't seen the news... but see for yourself."

A fresh live coverage from a few minutes ago started playing.

Right in front of his eyes, Jin watched as reporters flocked Zeirenne. Seeing her in that kind of situation was infuriating enough... but watching her get hurt was a different story.

He had a single motto in life: Those who hurt Zeirenne Lynn have nothing but hell coming their way.

He clenched his fist.

"Move."

* * *

As Zeirenne went to finish some works in her office, Dylan was left with things to settle. He had a huge crowd of reporters outside to handle. Once he was gone, all the employees captured their breaths as their shoulders slouched.

"That was so scary," One ZA employee said to another, "I've never seen Miss Lin like that before."

"You're right, she already looks intimidating with a smile on her face. I couldn't move a muscle from that rock-hard expression. Huhu."

"Well, we can't blame her if she's so pissed. She hates low-blows. Someone must have altered her voice to produce that despicable clip."

Four other ZA employees nodded. They knew their CEO. There was no way—NO WAY—Miss Lin would utter such words of cowardice. But unlike them, not everyone inside that building thought the same. There were other companies taking their headquarters as office.

About to head back to their jobs, one CF&H employee approached them. She was sipping a hot coffee in hand as she walked towards the group with her arms crossed. They all raised some eyebrows sensing this 'outsider' was up to no good. And their suspicions proved them right.

"Oh! You have that much faith in your C-E-O?" she said, putting emphasis on every letter.

She made a full-body turn as if putting on a show for everyone to see.

"Ladies and gentlemen, don't be naïve. This is how the business industry works. There's no way someone like her would reach that caliber without snaking her way up the ladder."

With a smirk on her face, everyone watched her with nothing but furrowed eyebrows. She cleared her throat, slightly embarrassed after failing to get the reaction she wanted.

Surely, ZA's employees lived up to their names. They were indeed very hard to provoke, and that made her more determined to go lower than low.

"I must say, the steps she took must have been undignified… and dirty."

One ZA employee stepped forward.

"What do you mean by that Miss—" she looked down to see the CF&H's employee's nametag—"De Leon?"

Miss De Leon had a smirk plastered on her face after getting the attention she wanted.

"I mean… good for her. She has a pretty face and a good figure. But I'm sure she used those assets to reach where she is now."

Gasps filled the entire floor.

"What? It's so obvious. All your major stockholders are handsome bachelors who surely have different intentions," she barked, "And guess what? As if digging those men were not enough, that gold-digging bitch even seduced our CEO. You'd be playing dumb if you haven't realized that by now, Miss... Cruz."

The ZA employee she addressed as 'Miss Cruz' gritted her teeth.

"Take back what you said."

"Never."

. . .