NYLA STEPPED INTO the unfamiliar room before she was greeted by a hostess.

"I'm afraid we are quite booked right now." She said in a way of greeting.

Nyla smiled tightly. She was used to people in certain establishments assuming that she didn't have money based on her skin colour. If only they knew.

"I have a meeting with Mr. Giordano."

The hostess looked down at the computer in front of her before profusely apologizing. "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Giordano didn't give us an image of who his guest would be."

Nyla didn't reply but she found it hilarious that the hostess was putting the blame on Darius instead of admitting her mistake.

"If you could lead me to the table...?"

The hostess blushed. "I'm sorry, I'll lead you right now."

Nyla followed her through the brightly lit room and she couldn't help herself from staring around. There were many men and women dressed in suits and dresses, so she was sure this was a popular place for lunch meetings. Even thought Nyla went on her fair share of meetings, she let her clients choose the locations rather than forcing something down their throat. Although this meeting was quite different from the rest. After her meeting with George, Hyeon had told her she needed to be at Petra's Bar and Grill for lunchtime.

She was ushered towards the end of the room where she saw Darius seated with a newspaper in his hands. He was wearing thick black framed glasses that surprisingly went well with his charcoal grey suit. In fact, the glasses made him look more handsome—and smarter too. A crimson tie finished the look and was knotted sophisticatedly at the base of his throat.

He didn't look up as she sat down in the seat, but he did speak in a gravel tone. "You're late."

She placed her black Michael Kors bag to the side. "I had another meeting that ran longer than it was supposed to."

"I hope that isn't how you treat all your guest, if so, you'll be out of business in record time."

"Not all, just you." Nyla said with sickening sweetness.

Darius still didn't look up from his newspaper and the two of them sat in silence until Nyla couldn't hold it anymore. "Could you please put down the newspaper? It's extremely rude."

Darius slowly put down the times paper he was holding. "Oh, I was just wasting your time because clearly, you don't care for my time."

"Oh, for goodness sakes," Nyla snapped. "If you're going to be that petty, I'm going to leave right now, and you can plan this event by yourself."

She snatched the paper from the table and folded it neatly beside her purse—although she wanted to crumple it and throw it at his face.

"What were you looking at?"

Darius shrugged his shoulder. "The stock market, other news, celebrity gossip..."

Nyla didn't know if he was being serious. "You read gossip magazines?"

"How else would I keep track of where I've been? After all, someone who's one of New York's richest man needs to feed his ego." He said the words lightly, but it was enough to drive the point across to Nyla who sighed.

"Did I ever apologize for my rudeness on the night of the gala?"

Darius looked thoughtful. "Hmm, no you didn't but I will accept any apology that's given by the great Nyla Malhotra."

Nyla wanted to throw her napkin at him, but the waiter chooses the perfect time to step in.

"Good afternoon Mademoiselle and Monsieur are you ready to order?"

Darius said his order and the waiter turned to Nyla expectantly. She didn't want to embarrass herself and say she hadn't opened the menu, so she ordered the first thing she saw— a Pesto Chicken Penne.

"Any drinks?" he asked.

"Just water." Nyla said.

Darius ordered an iced tea and Nyla shook her head.

"What?" he asked catching the movement.

"Tea is supposed to be warm. Cold tea shouldn't even be called tea!"

"For your information, iced tea is one of the best inventions, so you can keep your thoughts to yourself."

Nyla held up her hands in surrender. "I didn't know you were so touchy about you cold tea."

And then Darius did something Nyla didn't expect, he stuck out his tongue.

"You can't be serious, you just stuck out your tongue at me? That's so childish!"

They were interrupted by their meals arriving. Nyla cocked an eyebrow at the waiter, "That was fast."

The waiter smiled. "We strive to achieve the best customer experience, let me know if you need anything else."

Nyla nodded and tucked right into her food. She'd only had her green tea in the morning and a bagel while she was coming into the office. It had been hours since her last meal.

Wiping the corners of her mouth on the napkin, she turned to Darius. "So, you have any ideas of what we should do?"

Darius held up his finger indicating he still had to swallow his bite. "I was thinking of setting up a carnival type thing. Have rides, bouncing castles, good music. I mean kids like that kind of stuff, right?"

Nyla shrugged her shoulders. "Don't look at me, I don't know much about kids but sounds fun. I'm sure you can call in a few athletes to come and join the event."

"What makes you think that I know any athletes."

"Your various magazine covers and paparazzi shots."

"Fine, I'll make some calls." Darius said, talking a sip of his iced tea. "What are you going to be doing?"

Before she could reply, her phone went off and she winced, looking at the caller ID. "Sorry, I've got to take this."

She picked up the phone, not bothering with a hello. "What's wrong."

"Just got news that the paparazzi are lurking around the street apparently a lot of celebrities like eating out at Petra's. I would say your best bet would be to make sure you leave separately." Hyeon spoke on the other end.

"Understood," Nyla said in a tight voice. "I'll see you back at the office."

Darius looked up after she finished the phone call, "trouble in paradise?"

She smiled sweetly at him, "No, everything's fine."

"No offence, but your smile says otherwise."

"Just drop it," Nyla said in a voice that left no room for discussion. "Let's talk about something else."

"Okay, how about you tell me what you pitched to Marcus at the golf course."

Nyla took another bite of her delicious pasta. "That's privileged information. You don't show your cards to everyone before putting them down now, do you?"

He gave her a charming smile. "You could show them to your friends."

"I don't think we constitute as friends, acquaintances would be a better term."

"You've met my brother, I think that makes us more than friends, how about best friends?"

Nyla knew by the twinkle in his eyes that he was just playing her. "Are you always goofing around at work? No wonder they say you're not as successful as your father."

Immediately Darius' postured became more rigid making Nyla regret what she had said.

"When the time calls for it, I can be the CEO that I'm needed." He said coldly.

All emotion was gone from his voice and Nyla almost shivered. She'd just learn more about his personality. He had been playing nice with her but if needed be, he could act like the shark in the room.

So, Nyla did the only thing she could think of, replace that coldness with fire. "I think Zonex's stocks are going to be higher than yours in a couple of days."

Darius raised a single eyebrow but refused to rise to the bait.

"What, you thought I believed your whole gossip magazine charade? You were obviously looking at the stock market, trying to see where the competition is."

Darius seemed to relax a bit. "So, it seems I was."

"By tomorrow, Zonex's stock is going to be increasing about ten percent."

Darius took the bait. "And how do you know this?"

Nyla smiled. She'd been watching the movements of the company and the constant trips to Maryland meant one thing, Zonex was seeking FDA approval. Based on her preliminary research and consulting one of her company's chemist, she knew they would be approved. The timeline matched up and any day now, they would announce their success to the world.

"Just have a feeling."

Darius snorted. "I'd think you'd make a terrible trader if you did everything based on instinct, but I'll humor you. We can make a bet for the outcome of Zonex's stocks."

Nyla immediately shook her head. "No way, it'd be insider information and I'm not a big fan of orange—even if people do say it's the new black."

Darius picked up the newspaper from atop of Nyla's purse. His eyes glistened with excitement. "Fine, we will make another bet on two other companies located on the stock market."

Even Nyla was enthralled by now, she couldn't wait to see when Darius lost. "What does the winner get?"

Darius thought about it for a moment. "If I win, I want to know what your pitch to Marcus was."

Nyla began protesting but Darius cut her off. "And if you win, I'll be your personal chauffeur for a day."

"Don't need you to be a chauffeur, but I would like to take your car for a ride."

"Absolutely not."

"I'm giving away privilege information, the least you do is put up your car. Or are you afraid of losing?" she taunted.

The muscles in Darius hands flexed for a moment before they relaxed. "Fine, you get my car for one day if you win. Which you won't." he added after seeing Nyla's smile.

The both cast their bets on which companies stocks they thought would rise the most in the next week. Nyla wrote down their agreement on a piece of paper—she didn't trust people's words, but contracts could be trusted. The two of them signed their names and shook hands.

Heat surged through her body, but she ignored it. Darius' hands were rock solid and they both held on for a second longer, each silently urging the other to back down. Finally, Nyla let go and she could almost swear that she saw Darius's mouth curving upward, hinting he'd won their silent battle.

Nyla didn't like it.

"Ah, I knew you looked familiar."

Nyla looked up to see a burly man in his mid fifties. He was dressed in expensive black suit which screamed wealth. His salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back to give him a more youthful look.

Darius stood up to shake the man's hand. "Good to see you Tom. I didn't expect you to be here today."

Nyla's eyes went back to the man, his name seemed familiar, even more so, he looked familiar. She couldn't place it, but she'd seen this man somewhere. Darius glanced back at Nyla and gave her a smug smile she couldn't quite understand.

"This is Nyla Malhotra." He introduced her to the man.

Tom shook her hand. His fingers felt like they were made of steel and Nyla nearly winced. "It's nice to meet you Sir."

"You could join us if you'd like." Darius suggested.

Nyla almost shot him a glare but in the last second, she morphed it into a smile. "Yes, please join us."

Tom shook his head. "Nah, I'm meeting a pretty lady in a bit. Just saw you and stopped to say hi. What a coincidence aye?" he grinned at Darius.

"A good one." Darius replied with a smile of his own.

"Well, I don't want to be interrupting your date any longer, so I'll take my leave."

Nyla was about to interject that they weren't on a date when Darius lightly kicked Nyla's shoes. She glared at him but got the message.

"It was a pleasure to meet your Ms. Malhotra. I hope you can keep this boy on tight reins, he loves having his fun." Tom grinned to himself before leaving.

Nyla watched his figure retreat when it hit her. "That's Tom Saunders."

"Yes, it is," Darius replied nonchalantly.

Nyla swore softly and said in her most deadly voice. "Why didn't you tell me that you were friends with the CEO of one of the companies we bet on?"

Darius shrugged his shoulder. "You never asked so I didn't say anything." He smiled. "You might as well tell me what you and Marcus were discussing right now."

"You shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch." Was Nyla's smart reply but he had her.

She played fair by selecting a company she didn't have close ties with, but it seemed like Darius hadn't extended her the courtesy of doing the same thing. She'd gotten a better idea of what kind of man he was, ruthless—one who would doing anything to win. She still had some cards left to play and if fate was in her hands, she'd be driving his car next week.

Her phone buzzed, and she saw the text lit up the screen.

Hyeon: Someone from Mr. Reeds office has stopped by and is asking about you.

This was bad timing. Nyla quickly texted back that she was on her way.

"Cheque please," she called to the waiter walking by them.

Darius frowned. "What's the rush, finish your lunch at least."

Nyla shook her head. "Don't have time, emergency meeting."

She grabbed her bag from the side and tapped her heels impatiently. What was taking the damn waiter so long.

She turned towards her companion. "Do me a favour and pay for me please? I'll pay you later."

Darius nodded, and Nyla shot him a quick smile. "I'll be in touch about the event soon. Thanks again for paying for me."

Before he could reply, Nyla exited through the doors forgetting about Hyeon's earlier warning. Camera's flashed in her face and blinded her until she couldn't see.

"Is Brad Pitt in there with his new girlfriend?" One of the paparazzi members asked.

Nyla was confused for a moment before she regained her posture. "No, he's not."

There were several groans before multiple camera's slid down from her face. She pushed through the crowds until she found her car. She stepped in and sighed in relief.

"Anthony, get me to the headquarters as fast as you can." She said to her driver.

He winked at her, "Yes ma'am."

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I'll be working on this story for NANO so hopefully I can get more updates but no promises because my finals are coming up. Please comment or hit the vote button if you enjoyed this chapter :)