Ryan’s POV

The meeting had been going on for two hours now.

Instead of making progress, they were going backwards, and as a result, Ryan had a headache blooming right between his eyes. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The situation was not being helped by his arguing business partners.

"You need our codes to make sure that your system remains impenetrable, so we deserve a higher share," Lacy Duke, a highly skilled software engineer, was not backing down.

"Be that as it may, without my people providing muscle, all it would take would be a power cut for your fancy system to be useless, so why should we give ground?" Boris asked while glaring over at his twin sister.

From the way that he had his arms folded over his massive chest, it was clear that Boris was not about to budge either. Looking at the two of them, Ryan closed his eyes, and rubbed at the spot where he could feel his headache the most.

Up until recently, his partnership with the Duke twins had been great. Their security company being Ryan’s favourite one. Now, brother and sister were fighting like cats and dogs, and Ryan was caught in the middle. If they did not come up with a solution for their problems soon, their business would start to suffer, and if it suffered, then Ryan’s businesses would be at stake.

That was not something that he could allow to happen. As the CEO of multiple enterprises the security of each establishment that made him money was a priority.

After listening to the siblings bicker for a few more minutes, Ryan stood, both of them immediately falling silent.

"Mr Terrell?" They questioned in unison. Opening his eyes, Ryan looked at the two of them.

"This meeting shall continue another time, hopefully by then, the two of you would have sorted out your issues. Bare in mind that my patience is not infinite," With that

Ryan left, the twins resuming the argument before he was even out of earshot.

***

In an effort to try and get over being caught in between the arguing twins, Ryan had given himself two options, going out for a drink or calling Vivian over.

It had not even been that difficult for him to make his choice. Now, feeling suitably relaxed, a naked Vivian plastered against Ryan’s equally nude body, her blunt nails drawing abstract shapes on his abs. Ryan was doing his best to just enjoy the moment and not think about anything else. But he was not as successful as he would have liked because Vivian stopped moving her fingers over his stomach, a question flowing from her lips.

"Why do you seem so distracted today?" She asked, throwing her thigh over his lower body. Running his fingers over her bare back, Ryan contemplated whether to tell her the truth or not. But in the end he decided that it could not do any harm, so he told her everything that was going on.

"They are the best in the business and they know it. If I cut ties with them, it will be a loss for me. But I am worried that if this carries on, I will end up losing anyhow," After that Vivian was silent for so long that Ryan actually began to worry that he had bored her too much with his tale. Just as he was about to apologize, she spoke. "They are behaving like the kids in my class,"

Ryan snorted. "Tell me about it," Planting her hand firmly on his chest, Vivian levered herself up.

"No, you don’t get it. I mean they are behaving like pre-schoolers, so why not handle them like pre-schoolers. Whenever my kids don’t want to share, I give them an ultimatum either time out, or I take the toy away from them, and neither of them get it,"

Against his better judgment seeing how serious she was being. Ryan began to laugh.

"As helpful as that might be for your students. These two are adults. I cannot do that to them," Vivian shook her head.

"Of course you can, they are the best in the business right. Tell them if they continue on, you will go to the second best in the business. I guarantee you, they would not be able to take it.

Losing you as a client would hurt bad enough. But to lose you to someone else, that would sting,"

"Also let them know that you are fully capable of suspending the contract until further notice, it will be the adult version of time out. It would be leaving them in limbo, not knowing when they can come out to play again," The billionaire blinked at her in shock.

Now that she had put it in those terms, Ryan found himself staring at Vivian with wide eyes.

"What?" She asked, and Ryan grabbed her, maneuvering them until she was on her back.

"You’ve missed your calling as a business shark. The field of teaching does not deserve you," Vivian burst into giggles as Ryan started kissing his way down her body. When he settled between her parted legs though, her laughter was quickly replaced by needy moans.

***

Following Vivian’s advice, Ryan had set up a meeting with the Duke twins as soon as he could.

Now he was staring at the pair after just letting them know what would happen if they continued to fight amongst one another.

"As good as you are, the two of you are not the only ones in the market. Continue on like this and I will walk out of here and head over to your competitors. Is that what you want?" Moving in sync, the twins shook their heads. Sharing a look, they had a whole conversation and silence, then they turned back to him.

"Very well, Ryan Terrell. We have decided that we shall continue on with our 50/50 division of shares. There will no longer be any conflict from our side,"

There, was that so hard, Ryan wanted to say. The meeting had taken less than ten minutes and already they were done. Standing he left the twins behind. His mind already on Vivian. He owed her big time.