Take My Breath Away

"For her? Anytime. Just tell me when and I'll free up my schedule," Sheffield said, excited at the prospect. He loved that little girl.

Joshua got jealous. "You know, you keep trying to shoo me out. You were so busy you didn't even meet my gaze. You even asked me to leave. As soon as I mentioned Gwyn, you say you'll make time for her. I'm your best friend. How can you be nicer to a little kid than me?"

Yet his complaint didn't make Sheffield nicer to him. "How about this? Next time if you don't bring Gwyn with you, don't bother coming see me."

Joshua bellowed, "What the hell? Are we even still friends?"

"Yes—if you call Terilynn now and ask her when she's bringing Gwyn over. Otherwise, no."

Joshua was so angry that he turned to leave. "Hey, don't forget if you drop Gwyn off here, then you can snatch some quality time with your lady-love. Like, getting a room. There's some motivation for you," Sheffield reminded him calmly.

Joshua thought on that. He had to admit it sounded pretty good. So he took out his phone and dialed Terilynn.

Then, he slipped into Sheffield's lounge to start flirting with her on the phone, leaving Sheffield no chance to eavesdrop.

Sitting at his desk, Sheffield could do nothing but watch as Joshua closed the door to his lounge. 'Jerk! That's my private room.'

Ten minutes later, Sheffield knocked on the door and said, "Hey bro, I gotta leave. I have a meeting. What did Terilynn say? We nail down a time yet?"

Joshua didn't open the door until a minute later. His hair looked like a bird's nest. "Yeah. Before 10 a.m. tomorrow. Mind if I stay here a while?" he asked with a goofy smile. A red flush spread across his face.

"Did you use my bed?" asked Sheffield, staring at Joshua's messy hair.

Joshua looked back at the bed. When he talked to Terilynn, he had been so enraptured he couldn't help rolling on the bed, totally forgetting Sheffield was a neat freak. 'Oh, crap!' "Ha ha, sorry, man. I'll fix that for you right now!" he grinned.

Sheffield dragged him out and kicked him hard in the rump. "Come on, get out!"

Joshua flew into a rage. He put the phone to his ear. "Never bring Gwyn here, Terilynn. Sheffield's being an ass!" he said quickly.

Sheffield looked at Joshua, and started to see red. So he immediately walked over to Joshua and grabbed his collar.

"Hey, hey!" Joshua said. "I was just joking! I wouldn't do that to my best friend."

Sheffield calmed down some and released his friend's collar. Joshua asked, "Don't you think you owe me an apology?"

"Sorry, Mr. Fan."

"That's better. Dad, I gotta go! Talk to you later!"

'Dad?' Sheffield grabbed his phone and took a look at his call screen.

Along with the time he'd been on the call, Sheffield could see that he was talking to his dad. So, he tricked Sheffield.

Joshua ran away from him, laughing. "Terilynn was busy. We only talked for a few minutes and then she hung up. Before I could do anything else, Dad called."

Sheffield rolled up his sleeves and advanced on him. He was good and mad now. But before he caught up with Joshua, his friend had already run out of the office.

Standing in the doorway, Sheffield could only helplessly bellow at the man who just entered the elevator, "I'm so done with you! Don't come back!"

His voice echoed through the offices. Workers were standing up and peeking out of their cubicles. They all wondered what had caused their CEO's rage.

Tobias decided to brave Sheffield's anger. Seeing him, the personal assistant walked up to him quickly. "Mr. Tang, it's time for the meeting with Mr. Xu. We should go now."

"Alright. Give me a sec!" Sheffield smoothed his hair and went back to his office to fetch the documents.

After Sheffield refused to talk to Sexton's lawyer, the elder Qi started legal procedures. A few days later, two clerks from the court house came to Sheffield's office hoping to resolve this.

Sheffield was quite nice to them. "Thank you for coming here in person. Tell Sexton to go ahead with the lawsuit. My lawyer is ready. I'll see him in court."

The clerks wanted to get him to settle instead. One of them said, "Mr. Tang, I suggest you not go to court if you can avoid it. Your company will get a bad rep. You assaulted Roscoe Qi. He even included treatment papers into the court records. It says his injuries are of the seventh level. If it went to trial—"

Before the person could finish, Sheffield laughed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just think Sexton is so ridiculous. I know how badly he got beaten up. Seventh-level injuries? Does he think I'm an idiot? Did his kidneys shut down? Did I gouge his eyes out? If you don't believe me, you can go to the hospital and see for yourself. Roscoe's injuries are at maybe level 15. 10 at most. He must have forgotten that I used to be a doctor. Scratch that, you don't have to go there to figure it out. Seventh level, huh? No problem. I'll go to the hospital later and beat him to at least level seven, and then we'll go to court!"

The clerks' jaws dropped.

Sheffield thought for a moment and then continued, "No, that's not good enough. Tell Sexton I can arrange for first-level injuries if he wants. Of course, he'll have to file an amended suit, but that's the price of efficiency. That way if he really wants his son hurt, I can arrange it."

The two people looked at each other in astonishment and left.

When Sexton heard what Sheffield said, he slammed his hand on the table and yelled, "What a stubborn jerk! He'll never admit he was wrong! He thinks he can threaten my son and get away with it?"

When he calmed down, he arranged for more security guards at the door of his son's ward in case Sheffield would really beat his son to be disabled at level seven.

At this moment, his assistant came into his office and reported, "Mr. Qi, Mr. Tang of Theo Group wants to discuss the lawsuit over dinner."

"Which Mr. Tang?"

"Peterson Tang, sir."

'Peterson Tang?' "Humph! He just wants to try and talk me out of this! Tell him no!"

The assistant hesitated and reminded him, "Mr. Qi, we're cooperating with Theo Group on several projects. Why don't you meet with him? Anyway, they're in the wrong."

Sexton considered what the assistant said. The Qi Group and Theo Group were working together on major projects, so it was indeed unwise to strain the relationship. After a moment, he nodded and said, "Very good, then. Set it up."

On the fifth floor of Alioth Building

Peterson opened a bottle of 30-year-old liquor and poured a glass for Sexton. "Mr. Qi, I never beat around the bush. I'm here for my son. I apologize on his behalf to you and your son."

"Mr. Tang, your son wouldn't apologize, and even threatened to hurt my son further. I bet he doesn't know you're doing this," Sexton said with a sneer. Sheffield was always a stubborn hothead. He would never let his father apologize to the Qis.

Peterson explained, "My son's bark is worse than his bite. He just acts tough and doesn't know how to behave himself. We've known each other a long time, Mr. Qi. Please forgive him."

"Hey, Peterson, why haven't I seen this son of yours before? Why on earth did you put him in charge? Sterling's a good guy. Why not make him CEO? He is much more mature and prudent than Sheffield. I don't understand. Why did you choose him over Sterling?"

Sterling had been working for Theo Group for years, so almost everyone in the business circles knew him.