45. Cordial discussion

Shirleen looked up from the documents she was reading on her desk when the door to her office opened. Angela stepped inside without knocking and a small impressed smile appeared on Shirleen's face at the older woman's arrogance. A small part of her admired how the woman walked as if she owned the whole world and that everyone else was nothing more than tenants in that world. Her office occupied the executive suite in the Blackrose Incorporated thirty storey building that Angela owned where all her businesses were situated at least the legal part of her businesses. The day after the party both Angela and Adrian had approached her to talk to her about her job as the heir which apparently included her training in handling both the legal and illegal businesses Angela owned. Even with the uneasy truce between them Shirleen found herself extremely cautious of Angela especially since she did not know what the woman was planning in her devious mind from one moment to the next. What she had learned so far about Angela was her incredible business sense. Her board of directors trusted her to a point they rarely questioned her business decisions even if they seemed wild and risky. Shirleen had so far begrudgingly acknowledged that whatever she was learning from Angela was extremely valuable. The common ground they had found was layered by the fact that both tried to ignore the man that had tied their tragic fates together. Shirleen was slowly beginning to fear that she might hate her father the more she dwelled on the fact that his choices simply were to blame for their ruined lives. Shirleen pulled herself from her thoughts as Angela sat down on the black leather sofa to one side of the room and simply waited for Shirleen to join her. "I really do admire your arrogance Angela," Shirleen said with a smirk as she joined the woman, she was now at a loss on how to feel about her.

"My arrogance is what has brought me to where I am. It has served me well throughout the years," Angela said simply as if she is used to people saying that to her and she considered it a compliment. "Stacey tells me you are settling in very well and an extremely fast learner."

"I have never really lacked for intelligence since I was a child if that is what you are asking," Shirleen replied.

"Modest too I see," Angela said her voice full of sarcasm with a smirk on her face.

"Tell me Angela," Shirleen said seriously leaning forward. Angela turned to look at her, "At first I thought you were just joking about me being your heir but then I come back and suddenly I am being inducted into all your businesses and you are even letting me handle most of projects and different businesses. You are basically giving me free reign of your empire. From what I know you still have close relatives why didn't you choose one of them?"

"For as long as I remember my family has been locked in what I call a battle of wits but really it is a game of survival. My uncles and aunts were raised by a man who was one foot away from being a monster so they basically learned at his feet. Ruthlessness came naturally to them. They were never taught how to love only how to compete against each other. What happens when you learn at the feet of a man who was one marble from being a monster you make sure you are one. My father out of all his siblings managed to be crueller, more ruthless and more uncaring than the rest. He became an outright monster enough to make his father proud and so he became the heir. Though it didn't hurt he had an almost genius IQ that he used like a weapon and managed to turn the family into one of the five ruling crime families. My family runs on the principle of gift and punishment. You taking over the family is my way of teaching my family a lesson. To control them I drew a line that they know if they step a foot out of there will be consequences. This is punishment and a blow to their ego," Angela said conversationally as if it didn't matter one way or the other.

"Now I see why you are who you are," Shirleen said leaning back on her seat.

"I have never pretended to be anything less of a monster. Maybe once upon a time I had the chance to be less of one than the man who raised me but the chance was lost," Angela said softly. "My family is a nest of vipers and they require a firm hand to control them to avoid them spitting poison."

"You expect me to control a nest of vipers?" Shirleen asked her incredulously. "The more you talk the more I think you are trying to get me killed."

"You are a queen now nothing should be able to defeat you and that title itself will protect you from my homicidal family," Angela said with a grin.

"So why did you have your uncle killed?" Shirleen asked smoothly looking at Angela's face. Her investigator had already informed her that the man who had kidnapped her had later been found in one of his country homes with his truck wrapped around a tree and a car metal had penetrated through his chest killing him on impact during the crash. Somehow, she didn't think it was an accident. She had decided to ask Angela just to confirm her suspicion. Angela didn't answer instead she stood and walked to the door. She stopped and turned to look at Shirleen, "He found out something he shouldn't have," she said. Before she reached for the door it opened and a lean black man stepped through. He was dressed too casually to be working in the building. His clothes were too common and as far as Angela could tell he was more likely dressed to be able to blend in rather than stand out. He quickly stepped inside and held the door open for Angela. Angela walked out and stared at the closed door speculatively for a few seconds before she walked away. She has always been suspicious in nature and an unknown man she has never seen in her building was indeed on top of her suspicion list. She wanted to ask Pandora to run a facial recognition on the man but she refrained from doing so. She needed to come to terms with the fact she was sharing the building with the queen of the criminal underworld who had her own business to deal with concerning the criminal world. Knowing too much about the queen's business was dangerous for everyone involved.