Exclusive Sneak Peek: Green by Shareeka Elliott
Paparazzi and newscasters had been planted outside Adams’ Accounting since three in the morning. The first sign of drama was almost eight hours later. The talking heads couldn’t be anymore thankful when Evander King’s Bentley pulled up in front of the bricked establishment. When the man himself stepped out of the backseat of the classic car, the newscasters wasted no time in trying to breach his space. That was until his bodyguards appeared before them like smoke, daring them to test him that morning.
Evander sucked his teeth lightly, trying not to let his disgust show in front of the world. To him, the whole situation was a private matter and he wasn’t huge on the media trying to use his name for fodder. It was already bad enough that he had to punish a sister for misusing his money. He was disappointed at the very least that he entrusted his monies to a team of women and they would allow an embezzlement ring to take place under their nose.
He wasn’t sure whether he felt compassion or utter distaste for Christian Adams. Evander had spent hours watching the same news clip over and over trying to decipher whether he felt like the woman had stolen his money or not. He memorized every eye blink. He committed to memory the way her face flushed with either embarrassment or terror. The way her eyes widened was the part that pushed him over the edge to believe the woman had no clue what was going on. Still, he was so angry that he could grind her bones into dust. Fifteen million dollars was a drop in the bucket to him but the fact that someone would steal his money for the longest time to fund their lifestyle was beyond him.
There were many changes he went through in the past few years since his father’s death. The organization that his father ran wasn’t the same that Evander wanted to run. He’d put in too much time to build an honorable organization to have someone steal from under his nose. The anger he felt almost overtook him when he thought about it.
Evander never met Christian Adams in person as his financial advisor had recommended the team to him. Since he trusted his advisor, it was a no-brainer to entrust his money there.
Adams’ Accounting had shiny marble floors that sounded at almost every click of the heel when you stepped through the foyer. The walls were a beautiful sheen of muted grey. The lights were bright but not offensive to anyone who walked through. The showstoppers were the shiny golden elevators that added a kind of panache to the space. Seeing his reflection through the doors as he pressed for the top floor, he smirked. Whoever decorated the space went for understated elegance. A person could almost forget that they worked there.
The doorbell dinged and Evander stepped inside. Once the elevator reached the tenth floor, he stepped out, his eyes landing on the secretary’s desk that sat on the opposite end of the hall. Evander walked over, looking down at the lady who looked up at him with a raised brow. He was two seconds off of asking if she’d forgotten her manners when she straightened up.
“Good morning. Mr. King, I presume?”
Evander smirked and nodded in response. The brown skinned lady smiled politely and motioned for him to take a seat. He turned and saw a row of two brown, blocked leather chairs adjacent her desk. Evander bristled inside but took a seat. The more he sat around the more his energy swirled within him. He was already on edge and the more he had to wait, the more displeased he became.
“Ms. Adams will see you shortly. She had an overseas phone call and it’s running a little long,” the secretary explained. “Would you like any coffee or tea, Mr. King?”
“No, thank you,” he answered. “Just make sure your boss meets with me at her first convenience.”
The secretary’s eyes widened at his tone but she said nothing in response, and he thought her the wiser for it. In his mind, Christian Adams should have already been at his office begging for every bit of mercy he had. The fact that he had to come to the lady’s home court was beyond words to him. He wondered if she even had an understanding of the importance of money as it stood in the world or if she were one of those ladies who had nothing else better to do than to start a business with their rich father’s money. Not that he was against it, but he had better respect for a person who had to fight for theirs. Granted he had his father’s money, but his situation was different than most. Buddy King didn’t just give anything to anybody.
He made you fight for it.
“Ms. Adams will see you now.”
The secretary knocked him out of his reverie, but the words put a smile on his face. Standing tall, he followed behind the pretty secretary, thinking he might’ve asked the woman out had he not been so obstinate in cursing her superior out in every way that he could.
All of those thoughts ceased however, when he had laid eyes on the boss.