Chapter 149 - 149

Ian had arranged for Seth to keep Manuel's sister and mother locked up until they could give them their options.

Seth also promised to show Ian who he was planning on selling Manuel's sister's hand in marriage too. According to him it was a vile man who was involved in a lot of shady business who was looking for a wife that would make him sound a little bit more respectable.

Since the Juan's case was still not yet public knowledge, their name was somewhat intact. It was only in those small circles that news of the bankruptcy and arrest had traveled. 

On the other hand, Ian was also eager to speak to Camilla, he wanted to clear things up with her.

He didn't deny that his hunger for revenge made him somewhat of a monster, he knew he was wrong to want it so much and it was something he tried hard to control and change.

Ian struggled as he didn't want his friend to think of him as such a horrible person.

The past two days, Ian and Camilla only spoke for work. As a matter of fact, Camilla had made it a habit to take her own car to the office, avoiding Ian at all costs.

Her cold treatment of Ian did not go unnoticed which led to Marco calling them each to his office. 

Ian knew that Camilla had been called into Marco's office to talk and he guessed that it was related to their unresolved argument. So when he too was called in after Camilla was sent out, he wasn't surprised.

"You know how important your relationship with Camilla is to your work, right?" Marco asked as soon as Ian closed the door behind him.

"Of course I do." Ian said with a sigh as he walked closer to the older assistant who was seated behind his desk. "Camilla doesn't approve of our errrr. . .methods." Ian said as he tried to come up with the best word for what their disagreement was about. 

"Trust me, I know, I got quite an earful from her when she came in." Marco said with a laugh as he shook his head. "I swear at that moment I didn't know who was the boss, her or I."

"She can be quite intimidating." Ian said with a weak smile. "I plan on talking to her. I agree with her, having the Juan's sold as prostitutes might not be the right way to do things."

"The Mafia changed their policy for you?" Marco asked as he found Ian's situation quite interesting.

"Seth said that he would find a way around their policies for us, yes." Ian said with a nod.

"It's not unheard of, but it's rare. Don't ask Seth to do this too often." Marco warned Ian. "The underworld has its own set of policies and honor codes. We don't want to put the Dean family in a position that will be detrimental to them."

"I would never." Ian told Marco as he looked the older assistant in the eyes.

"Right, the reason I actually wanted to talk to you." Maroc said as he opened a drawer and pulled out some files and pushed them towards Ian. 

Ian picked them up and saw that they were documents regarding several companies all over the world.

"In a week we will be flying to Hong Kong for a tech conference." Marco explained to Ian. "These are companies that the current President of Mor Co., a company that the Reyes Group secretly owns, has provided as priorities for partnerships. I want you to review them."

Ian nodded as he scanned the notes. 

"Of course you won't learn everything from their publicly available files, we have some industry insiders in certain countries, their numbers are there too." Marco explained. "While we are at the expo, I want you to try to get whatever gossip you can about them."

Ian nodded as he listened to Marco's instructions. 

"The president of Mor Co. will be there with his people too, but it's different when it's a small company like theirs and a big one like ours. Even if in essence we are the same company." Marco told Ian.

"Why is the Reyes Group keeping it a secret that Mor Co. is owned by the Reyes Group?" Ian asked as he looked at the documents in his hands.

"To protect the company from vultures that want to attack it." Marco explained. "Being a company like the Reyes Group has its pros and cons"

"I'm guessing that the pros are the already established partnerships and the name of the Reyes Group, that basically guarantees that it will be a success." Ian replied.

"Sometimes, but not always." Marco corrected the younger assistant.

Ian nodded in response as he listened intently to Marco. 

"The technology sector in our country is young, it's something that the Reyes Group has never entered before and our footing in the industry is not good enough." Marco explained. "The Reyes Group has a lot of enemies, and the Reyes Family even more."

"If they find out that the Reyes Family has decided to invest in this new industry they will attack it just to get the company and the family to bleed money." Marco further explained. "The Reyes Family wants that company to grow and survive on its own merits and not on the merits of a company that is generations old." 

Ian nodded as he understood what Marco was explaining to him. 

"I want you to settle your fight with Camilla before we leave as well as to settle everything concerning the Juans by then." Marco told Ian.

"I'll try to patch things up with Camilla later and finish everything concerning the Juans by tomorrow." Ian said.

"Good, the CEO wants to announce who you two are before we leave for Hong Kong, hopefully by then everything will be much better." He said with a nod as he dismissed Ian.

Ian quickly left the office and placed the documents away on his desk before finally going over to Camilla's office.

He knocked softly, but no response came. He decided to push the door open and call out to her.

"Camilla, can we talk?" Ian asked as he looked into the room, only to find Camilla busy with work.