Chapter 7 Love Chain

As the elevator went up to the top floor, Zarif kept looking at Isabelle over his shoulders like he was planning to attack her or something. Her gaze was directed forward so she didn't notice his red eyes on her.

He put his hand out, facing it towards her bag and used his powers to take out the flash drive in the bag.

"I have a job interview here today and I'm really excited." He began saying to distract her from noticing what he was doing.

"Oh, really?" She asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Well, I hope you get the job." She said with a smile.

"Thank you so much," Zarif replied as the flash drive floated into his hand.

As soon as he grabbed it, the colour of the drive changed from purple to maroon and he used his powers to put it back into her handbag a second before the elevator bell dinged and the door slid open.

They both came out and before going their separate ways, Isabelle turned to Zarif.

"Good luck with your interview," She told him.

He only smiled, nodded and walked away in the opposite direction from her.

Isabelle got to the small office room where the meeting was to take place and thankfully for her, the investors were just taking their seats. Her boss shot her a disapproving look for her tardiness and she hurriedly took her seat at the table.

"Welcome everyone! As you all know, Clinton Corp is a company dedicated to solving the real problems that plague our world's economy. We have spent almost a century creating this platform that is completely aimed at giving young people the chance to better their lives as well as the lives of their countries and today, we have arrived at a point where we can achieve this with just the tap of a button." Gerald Hitchens, the manager of the Clinton Corp headquarters began.

While he spoke, Isabelle took out her laptop, turned it on and put in her flash drive. She opened the contents of the drive and was shocked to see that it was filled with pictures and videos of Gwen's bachelorette party and not her presentation. She didn't understand how she took the wrong drive because she was sure she had taken the purple one. She tried her hardest not to let her facial expression reveal her anxiety. She hadn't prepared enough for the presentation and really needed her notes but they weren't here. She collected herself and decided to improvise her presentation without her drafts and graphs.

"This is Miss Isabelle Gilmour and she's our main consultant here at the firm," Gerald introduced her, "She's done all the necessary research and has prepared a presentation that will convince you to invest in making our vision an attainable reality...Miss Isabelle!" He gave her the stage.

"Thank you, Mr Hitchens," Isabelle said and cleared her throat.

She closed her laptop, stood up from her seat and faced the four investors. She took a deep breath and finally began speaking.

"How can one company reach out to billions of people worldwide and affect their lives positively? The answer is simple; Technology..." She began.

It wasn't what she had planned but it was the information she wanted to give. She kept speaking and as she continued, her words flowed more freely and she laid the whole plan out on the table. She had the attention of everyone in the room and her confidence grew, making her bring up vital points she didn't even have in her original presentation.

"...and this will surely give us the platform that will change the world's economy, for the better." She finished after a few minutes of speaking.

While the decision of the investors was being deliberated amongst them, Isabelle excused herself from the office because her job there was done. Now all that was left was to hope that she had managed to influence their decision positively.

Mr Hitchens shook all the hands and saw the investors out of the office. As he walked past Isabelle, he whispered to her, "See me in my office this instant." He said humorlessly and she could feel that he wasn't happy.

Isabelle was worried that she had screwed up and her presentation wasn't enough to convince the investors because it lacked all the technicalities and graphs and most importantly, crunched numbers and calculations of potential risks. She didn't know what this would mean for her job but it obviously wasn't going to be good.

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After work, Isabelle called Josh on the phone so they could come up with a way to meet up so she could give him back his car. He asked her to drive back to her place and that he would meet her there and she agreed.

When he arrived at her place, he knocked on her door and she let him inside. He was so eager to find out if her presentation was successful that he asked.

"Did you manage to convince the investors?"

She didn't look happy and it made Josh get the impression that it wasn't a good day at the office for her.

Meanwhile, Zarif was standing outside her building, using his demon powers to watch and listen in on their conversation. He felt that Isabelle would be upset that her night with Josh was what caused her to be late and unprepared for her presentation. He expected her to lash out at Josh and hoped it would cause a rift in their newly hatched relationship and maybe even crack the love chain a little.

The wide smile on his lips became an even wider frown when he heard her reply to Josh's question.

"It was wonderful," She said happily, "They loved my presentation and even claimed that it was the best pitch they'd ever heard. They want to begin immediately and they want me to oversee the entire process."

"Wow! That's amazing." Josh said and hugged her.

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Zarif, on the other hand, wasn't happy at all. He was so angry that he caused the headlights of the trail of parked cars on the street to light up and explode violently. He turned around and walked off, accepting his failure this time but, he would surely try again. Soon, very soon!

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A few days later, Josh was in the office of his wine company that he named after his mother; Helena's Redness. It wasn't as big as Clinton Corp which was his family's business but it was rapidly growing and he had started it all on his own.

He and Isabelle had gotten a lot closer these past few days and he was contemplating whether he should tell her the truth about his family owning the company that she works at. He didn't want anything to change between them so he wasn't sure if telling her the truth would affect their relationship.

With that on his mind, Josh decided to focus on work instead so he decided to call in his assistant to go through his schedule for the day.

"Miss Jones, can you please report to my office?" He called her with his office phone.

The assistant walked into his office with a box in her hand that was filled with all of her personal stuff. She was in her early thirties and was a single parent to one kid. This job was her life and it was how she was able to provide for her child but from the looks of things at that moment, she looked like she was resigning.

"Miss Jones, can you please list out all the itineraries I have on my schedule for today?" Josh asked without raising his head.

"I'm sorry Sir but I can't. I'm resigning." She said and handed in her letter of resignation.

Josh lifted his head and saw that she was ready to leave and he wondered why because she had been working for him for the past six years and she always seemed happy.

"I don't understand, Miss Jones. Did something happen?" he asked in concern.

"Something did happen, sir, something wonderful. It happened so quickly last night and I decided to quit my job just this morning. I decided to come to the office today to tell you in person." She said.

"Well, what happened?" Josh asked. He was very fond of Miss Jones and she wasn't just his employee, she was also his friend and he cared a lot about her.

"I won the lottery last night sir." She said with uncontainable joy.

"Really?" Josh asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it myself but it really happened. Ten million dollars sir, ten million! I've decided to go back to my hometown with my son and invest the money into a business that I've wanted to start for years now. It's been my dream and now, I can make it a reality. I know it's short notice and you've been so good to me these past years and I'm sorry but I just feel that this is a sign from G..." Miss Jones began to trail off when Josh stood up and hugged her.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Miss Jones. I am so happy for you and I wish you all the best in your ventures. I will miss you though. I don't think I'll be able to find anyone as efficient as you." He said with a smile.

"I do have someone in mind to replace me. Her name's Jennifer Cassidy and she's my niece. She just graduated from college and she needs a job. She's very smart and loyal, and she's efficient and hardworking and..."

"She sounds perfect, Miss Jones and if you're recommending her then I'm sure she'll be great. Make sure to tell her to show up here at the company tomorrow morning and I'll give her an interim position as my assistant and if she does well, the job will be hers permanently." Josh said.

Miss Jones was grateful to Josh for everything he had done for her and before she left, she gave him a hug much to his surprise as he was not expecting it.

"Goodbye, Sir."

"Goodbye, Miss Jones and good luck."

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The next morning, a young woman stepped out of a taxi right outside Helena's Redness and gave the driver her fare.

"No need, Miss." The taxi driver said, refusing the money.

"What? Why not?" She asked in surprise.

"It's my good deed for the day." He replied.

"Wow! Thank you then." She said with a smile.

"You're welcome." He said.

As she walked over to the wine company, the taxi driver shape-shifted into the angel, Gabriel. He watched her go into the building with a smile on his face.

"Like Father said, 'If love is to be prevented from being shared among two destined souls, then it is merciful to give those souls new love so they still experience it'. I've seen into your souls, Jennifer and Josh. You both share something strong and similar and you're both a match for each other.

"Hopefully, this proximity to each other will pull Josh away from Isabelle and closer to you and the love chain will be broken," Gabriel said aloud before driving off.

He had caused the chain of events to happen the way it all did, from Miss Jones winning the lottery, to Jennifer getting the job and her getting here safely. Everything was God's plan and his attempt to break the love chain and win the bet he made with the Devil.

Jennifer went inside the building and was directed to Josh's office. She knocked on his door and heard his deep voice invite her in.

"Good morning, Mr Clinton. I'm Jennifer Cassidy and I'm here for the interim position to be your assistant." She said charmingly.

"Good morning, Miss Cassidy," He said and shook her hand. As soon as they touched, there was a little electric spark between them but it was so little that neither of them felt it,

"Please, take a seat."

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"So, this is how my Father intends to go about breaking the chain?" the Devil said, watching from Hell.

"I can make sure it doesn't happen, Father. Just say the word and I'll kill the human so she doesn't affect our plans." Zarif said hatefully.

"As much as I would like that, God and I agreed not to sabotage each other's attempts. If any of us do, then the other can call off the bet. We need a new plan...and fast." The Devil said.