Compelled ( 2nd book in the Forced Series)

Chapter 25

*unedited*

Chapter 25

Van continued to tap his fingers against the desk, annoyed by the lecture his father was delivering. The three way conference call with Mr. Steel, Zash and Van was dragging on because the older man meticulously continued to stray from the topic at hand. Though he was glad that Van was finally "coming to his senses", he was also feeling entitled to speak his mind about all of Van's many failures. He'd so far skilfully referred to Van as a "spineless squid" who did not know how to do anything unless his "cunning witch" told him to.

"Dad!" Van interrupted, "Stop, please. You've said your peace. Let's get back to the matter at hand."

Mr. Steel grumbled some more, "I have a right to say everything I've said so far."

Sighing, Van redirected his attention to Zash who was grimacing, "So Mr. Jones and Mrs. Little are the larger shareholders that are unpredictable. I'd like to get to them before the meeting tomorrow."

Zash shrugged, "Mrs. Little will be easy to locate. She is always in the office, breathing down finance department's neck. It's really Mr. Jones that will cause problems."

"If you hadn't–." the section on the screen with Mr. Steel went dark and the neutral message appeared on the screen stating that the call was ended.

Van eyed Zash who simply shrugged, "I'm glad I'm the one who did the dialling."

He muttered something, presumably to his secretary, then refocused on Van.

"I just sent word to him that we were having problems with reconnecting the call. If we are to blindside those against you coming back, we need to strategize now."

They spent most of the day combing through reports, personnel files and shareholder details, taking breaks to eat and throw taunts at each other. Zash was called away for an emergency around two, leaving Van to peer over the seemingly never ending stack of files that he needed to go over if he were to hit the ground running.

Finally, at around four, he got up from the chair, stretching out the kinks that had developed in his body as he made his way to the kitchen. The house was dead silent without Hazel there playing her favourite jazz-sounding music. He checked his phone again, for the millionth time that day, to see if she had texted again since they last checked in on each other.

Seeing nothing but his wallpaper of her smiling face, he put the phone to sleep and wandered out onto the back porch. Van he breathed in the smell of the fall evening and listened to the sound of their neighbour's daughter squealing in delight along with her mother's laughter.

Another sigh rushed to his lips but he squelched it, choosing to instead head back inside. His phone chirped the customized sound he had set for Hazel and he pushed the on button faster than humanly possible.

From Haze: I'll be home in an hr. Should i pick up dinner???

To Haze: Y... and yh

She replied quickly.

From Haze: Running an errand. See u in 1 hr

Not entirely satisfied with her answer, Van sent a kiss emoji and closed the phone.

An errand? He shrugged and ran his hand through his hair.

Van braced his arms against the cool counter tops and looked around the house. It looked more alive than it ever had, but without Hazel's presence tantalizing his senses, it felt empty. The familiar dread filled Van.