She had never met with him before, not officially though, she had never had any reason to, he was Keith's rival in business so there was no situation that necessitated their meeting.
No situation necessitated their meeting, until now.
She sat in his well polished office, just looking around and mentally comparing it with Keith's office. It was just as large and just as airy, it did seem like the two of them had quite a similar taste in design.
Getting to set up a meeting with Jeremy Xiu himself of the Aviary was actually much easier than she had thought it would be. Unlike with Keith where you'll have to be booked, she had come in today, requested for a meeting with him - with a sort of lie that she was a business associate of the Cassian family, a family The Aviary had done a fruitful business with some time ago - and she had gotten the meeting with him in less than an hour.
It seemed Jeremy Xiu had less things to do and more time on his hands, she reasoned. This made her smirk, he was then likely to take her up on her offer as it seemed The Aviary could do with a smoking contract.
She held the glass of wine he had offered to her as per her request and just swirled the red liquid in the glass. She had a smile on her face and she focused on the glass and it's contents. She had stated her reason for requesting this meeting and was just waiting for his response.
Jeremy stared at her for a minute after she had stated her true intentions why she had requested for a meeting with him, and then he chuckled.
"So let me get this straight," he stared and adjusted in his seat so he was leaning forward, resting both hands on the desk, "You came all the way here from.... Cassian you say?"
Laura nodded with a smile, "Yes, Cassian. Freddy Cassian."
"Right, Freddy Cassian, you came from him to tell me about a business deal his own associate has with Ortho Speare and you want me to do what about it exactly?"
Laura leaned forward, "I'm sure you're aware of the kind of man Freddy Cassian is? The kind of business he does?"
Jeremy nodded, "I am aware, yes."
"Good, he has associates, just like you have. Now, an associate of his is having a heavy shipment of gold and things he wants to import into the country and he has made this deal with Ortho Speare."
Jeremy held out a hand to stop her, "I don't see why this information should be revealed to me."
"In a minute you will," she replied to him and continued, "These goods are worth more than Ortho Speare and the Aviary put together, now what if, say, Ortho Speare suffered a glitch when importing and The Aviary just happened to save this said associate from suffering a huge loss on account of Ortho Speare's incompetence?"
Jeremy paused to ponder on what she had just said, and a frown came to his eyebrows, "Wait a minute, I might be interpreting what you just said wrong, are you trying to...? Can you be more plain?"
Laura chuckled and leaned back into the chair, "I couldn't be more plain Mr. Jeremy Xiu, feel free to interpret it however."
Jeremy's frown deepened and he became serious, “The Aviary is an importing company, Miss…” he trailed off, gesturing with his hands and asking for her surname.
She smiled and crossed her legs. “Jones. Laura Jones.”
“Right, Jones. The Aviary is an importing company and we do not do body guarding duties, neither are we super heroes that we would swoop in to save some goods being imported by Ortho Speare.” he sighed and leaned back. “If you haven’t heard, we are rivals.”
“Precisely why I have come to you, Mr. Jeremy Xiu. Ortho Speare will fail to successfully deliver these said goods, and that is why I need your guys there to save the situation, be the hero and take all the credit.”
Jeremy half smiled. “You say “Ortho Speare will fail” like you are very sure about it, seeing the future now, Miss Jones?”
She laughed lightly and cocked her head to the side. “Well, you could say that.”
He narrowed his eyes at her but she just flashed a smile, leaned back and crossed her legs, all the while drumming her fingers on his desk.
"You have an ulterior motive, don't you? What do you want to get me involved in?"
She spread her arms open, "Just an opportunity to top Ortho Speare, you could take this an opportunity. An open one that would guarantee you success."
She watched him keenly, but he didn't seem to budge, didn't seem to show the slightest bit of interest, and that got her to be on edge. What if he went to Keith with what she had just said? Maybe she should have given him a fake name and not Laura Jones.
“I will not be part of something as illegal as sabotaging another company for the glory of it.” He said with a stern face. “If that is all Miss Jones, I suggest you leave as I have work to do.”
She smiled but didn’t move to stand. “You say that because you do not know whose goods Ortho Speare is importing, you do not know the worth and that is why you are turning me down.”
“And I do not care to know.”
“You know Mr. Xiu, I could have taken this offer to other importing companies…”
“That’s another option for you.” He interrupted her impatiently but she was not quite finished.
“...but I needed a trustworthy company, one that can get the job done without loosing any of the goods as you can see…” she leaned in forward, placing her lower arms on the desk. “…the goods are quite precious to its owner and Mr. James Donovan would not want anything happening to his items.”
Jeremy looked up at her in surprise. “Did you say James Donovan?”