"Good Evening, Mr Sterling."
Her dark blue chiffon blouse that was paired with pants were now wrinkles and creased, her brown hair stuck out at odd places and her eyes were darkened from lack of sufficient sleep.
Ethan beckoned for her to come into the office.
"Good evening, Miss Sanders. What brings you to my office?"
Leia stilled the inner rage in her heart as she listened to his question. The freaking son of a bimbo. What? So now he was pretending not to know why she was at his workplace?
"I came to talk to you sir."
He pointed to a chair beside his desk for her to sit. She sat quietly with her hands clasped on her lap.
"Well, hurry and speak up. I have another engagement tonight." he glanced at his watch and it made her uneasy.
"I-I heard from the landlady, Mrs Evers that you bought the property." She stammered.
"Yes I did, and?" He asked. He was all business today, there was no smiles on his face unlike Monday night.
"And that you're going to demolish the school tomorrow." She finished.
"Yes, that I intend to do. I believe you must have been done evacuating your materials from the school. Demolition begins at twelve noon."
"You can't do that, Mr Sterling!" she blurted out.
Ethan cocked a brow. He was taken back by her response because he really wasn't expecting one. "I can't because.." he asked her.
"The law demands that you give us at least a month to evacuate." she tried to explain.
What did he expect from a lawyer of her caliber. Of course she would know about cases like this. Her father specialized in property law.
"Oh, and if I don't what would you do? Sue me? Or call your lawyer parents on me? Last time I checked, you aren't on very good terms." He taunted her with a sinister smile.
He watched as her eyes subtly widened as he said the last part. It really was true that her parents had cut her off.
Her teeth gritted in anger. "Leave my family out of this. I am a certified lawyer and I am perfectly capable of taking a case against you in court." She replied in a dead cold tone.
It seemed her family was a sore subject for her. Ethan decided to taunt her further.
"But you won't because you can't take a case against me in court. You'll never win."
"Of course. Your legal representative said the same thing." She muttered to herself. If there was anything she had learnt in this short life of hers, it was that those who deserved justice rarely ever got it. Especially when money, power and influence was involved.
She sat silent for a while, staring at her clasped hands on her laps.
"You're right, Mr Sterling. I know I can't win." said in a half whisper but Ethan heard her loud and clear and he smirked in triumph.
When she finally looked up at Ethan, there was no defiance in her eyes, only plea.
"That's why I'm here to plead with you to give me more time, at least two more weeks, so that I can inform the parents and the guardians of these children and find a quick alternative before they can find another school for these children. Please."
The last word she had said was accentuated with a lone tear that fell from her left eye.
Ethan's eyes narrowed in disbelief and another emotion he couldn't quite describe. Was she crying right now? Why was she crying? For some children?
Suddenly, he began to feel hot and uneasy in his seat. He had seen and been around people crying before, never had he been moved or shaken. Nothing had moved him to the point of tears before, not matter how serious it was.
So why was she crying?
Leia wiped the tear with the back.of her sleeve and continued to speak.
"I apologize if I had offended you the other night. I really do. Just give us two weeks more and we'll be out of your property."
As she spoke, more tears fell and she tried to contain herself to no avail.
"Fine."
She looked up and met Ethan's cold and annoyed looking face. "What?" she asked in disbelief.
"I said fine. Two weeks it is."
* * *
Ethan had told Lawrence to let the construction workers know that they were not to disturb Leia for the next two weeks.
Stage one of his plan had been successfully carried out. Now it was just stage two left.
He dismissed Lawrence for the day, promising him a bonus for the was he handled and treated the woman while she was waiting.
As he drove his sleek jet black rolls royce back to his house, he saw the woman trying to hail a cab.
She had really surprised him today. Her tears were something he wasn't prepared to see. He thought she was all though judging from the conversation on Monday night.
His felt the need to stop and offer her a ride but he didn't. This woman had a effect on him and he had to be careful around her.