Chapter 47: Conquest

5 December 2025

Angelica hated flying. Hated it with a passion.

She wasn’t afraid of flying. That would have been an entirely different issue. No, she hated it.

Flying meant people. The cavalcade of bodies at every step of the process. Checking in. Bag drop. Security. Boarding. Each of these involved queues and masses of people pressed near. All too often, that also included being touched.

Angelica felt a particular disdain for being a woman when she had to fly. Much like using the Tube, airports were occasions for random men to touch her up. And with her large breasts and sculptured bum, she felt like a particular target for gropes.

She also suffered from the good fortune of looking far younger than her age. Despite being thirty-eight - almost forty, her mum wouldn’t stop telling her - she could pass for a decade younger. Which meant she attracted the attention of decidedly younger and less mature men. And as a divorcée with a daughter finishing A-levels, the last thing Angelica needed was some too-cocky wanker hoping to move from living with mummy and daddy to a fling with her.

The best part of flying was the actual flight. She could put in her AirPods, fire up her tablet and pretend she wasn’t packed like sardines in a tin. To that extent, the longer the flight, the better. At least then she had time to decompress between the unpleasantness of before and the looming unpleasantness of after.

She had wished she could have flown back the night before, rather than getting up extra early to catch the 07:00 from Lisbon, but the demands of the trip wouldn’t allow it. The Portuguese investors not only insisted on a 16:00 start time for the last meeting - which was ghastly enough - but would not consider concluding the day without petiscos washed down with an imperial. That made it impossible to get back to Heathrow on Thursday night.

Instead, Angelica planned the next best alternative. She booked a room at the Meliá Lisboa Aeroporto, so she could literally walk from her room to the terminal. Any little thing to make the travelling experience less obnoxious was appreciated.

The three-hour flight passed comfortably enough. She pored over the agenda and supporting documents for the board meeting. There was the usual rigmarole of recommendations from the auditors. The financial reports were positive yet again and promised generous Christmas bonuses for executives and staff. And then there was the new business.

The Richmond Project.

Acquisitions of real estate were typical enough. But why was Bob Edwards teaming up with Marcus Stone on this project? For that matter, since when did Bob trust Marcus with anything?

Bob was the epitome of conservative and safe. He almost never took a loss, but he rarely produced a blockbuster return either. Just knock it around, he’d say.

Marcus, on the other hand, was known for taking a punt, especially with other people’s money. He had accumulated a black book of high rollers who were willing to take big risks for bigger returns.

Angelica drew a big red digital circle around the agenda item. She’d pay a visit to Bob before the meeting to get the rundown on this mysterious programme.

***

It was long enough before Christmas that Heathrow wasn’t thronged with holiday travellers. That combined with the early hour made for a slightly more civilised experience through passport control and the Green Channel for customs.

Once Angelica cleared the secured zone, she searched for her driver. Her PA had obtained approval from Elaine to book a private car for the trip into the City to make the timing work. If she had to wait for an Uber, even a Lux, the chances of arriving after the 13:00 start time would increase.

As it was, this was going to be tight, and she didn’t like that feeling. The hour before the quarterly board meeting was invaluable time for catching up on developments as well as the personal updates. Especially for Angelica, who spent most of her time on the road, the face time was everything.

She spotted the nameboard with “O’Brien” printed in an unusually fancy script. Usually the drivers paid no attention to flourishes - they were men who had a single job to do, which was to find their charge.

Except the person holding the board wasn’t a man.

She was an attractive woman nattily dressed in a white collared blouse and black skirt. Her copper hair was pulled into a textured ponytail, with some of the wavy strands left loose to frame her face.

“I’m Angelica O’Brien.”

“Good morning, ma’am. I’m Sarah. May I take your bag and lead you to the car?”

***

Bob finished off a protein bar as he waited in his office. He was trying his best to remain calm as the minutes ticked down, but there were still more variables than made him comfortable.

The traffic from Heathrow wasn’t any worse than normal, although the rain added to the degree of difficulty. All it would take was one accident to turn an hour-long trip into a two-hour disaster. Thankfully, the GPS tracker on Angelica’s car showed she was less than five minutes out, which meant everything was lining up perfectly.

Most of the men would be wrapping up their business shortly before they would head upstairs to the Gold Room for lunch and pleasantries. The board meetings were always catered. Bob usually partook of the arrangements also. But not today.

He wasn’t able to consider a heavy meal. It was hard enough eating a light breakfast with his coffee.

When did I start feeling on edge before a board meeting?

Of course he knew the answer. This wasn’t any ordinary board meeting. This was the culmination of his coup d’état. And until it was completed without a hitch, the planner in him couldn’t relax.

Bob had already spent nearly an hour with Marcus earlier in the morning going over the presentation. Now that he had bent Marcus to his will, the younger man’s flair and talent for showmanship were valuable assets. With Stone supporting him, several of the board members probably would have gone along with the idea without being brainwashed. All they needed to hear were millions of pounds of potential returns combined with compliant women.

He chuckled louder than he should have. Obviously that second part wasn’t in the official dossier.

It was, as Marcus put it, the subtext.

His intercom sounded.

“Boss, Ms O’Brien is in the lift.”

He smiled at the sound of Ginny’s lilting voice.

“Thank you, Ginny. You’ll see to it that Sarah receives a special gratuity this weekend.”

“Of course, boss. We gingers take care of each other.”

Bob finished off his cup of tea, habitually adjusted his tie and made his way down the corridor. He knew exactly when to be at the third door on the left.

“Bob,” called the rich female voice as the well-dressed woman turned the corner. “May I speak with you privately?”

He nodded politely, maintaining a straight expression.

“Of course, Angelica. How was your trip?”

“It was successful, naturally. I only leave the country so I can come back as a conquering hero.”

They shared a pleasant laugh. Her reputation in the bank as a closer was well-known.

He stepped into her office, and Angelica closed the door behind them.

“Bob, I don’t know quite how to say this. The car service was odd. Rather than the typical male chauffeur, I had this daffy girl. She was polite and all, but she didn’t know how to manoeuvre the junction between the M4 and the A4. If I hadn’t directed her, we might have ended up driving straight into the Thames.”

“Come now, Angelica. She couldn’t have been that bad.”

“But that’s not the worst of it. When she opened the door at the kerb, she insisted on holding my hand as I got out, as if I were some sort of invalid. And then… then she bloody kissed me.”

Bob endeavoured to look shocked.

“She what?”

“Just what I said. She said ‘Thank you for your service’ in some breathy little voice, and she leant in to kiss me. I think that girl was mental.”

“I’ll find out what company we used and make sure to give the proprietor a good talking-to. How does that sound, Angelica?”

She hurriedly unpacked her briefcase upon her desk while snorting agreement with the plan.

“And Bob, make sure you get a proper refund as well. I have half a mind to lodge a complaint.”

Bob walked up to her desk and reached across to take Angelica’s hand.

“Hopefully that won’t be necessary, Angelica. You’re mine now, aren’t you?”

Angelica froze in place, and he watched as the viral luminescence flared behind her naturally green eyes.

“Yes,” she said dreamily. “Yes, of course, Bob. Of course, I’m yours.”

“Angelica, I don’t have a lot of time, so I will get right to the point. From now on, you’re going to do whatever I tell you.”

“Yes, Bob. I am going to do whatever you tell me.”

“When we have the board meeting, you are going to wholeheartedly support my proposal, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Bob. Of course I will. If that is what you want.”

“It is, Angelica. I want you to act as though everything is as it was before we had this talk, so that no one knows that you are now my obedient submissive.”

He watched as those words hit her like a physical force. Her knees briefly buckled as the pleasure ripped through her, and her pale skin flushed a bright rosy shade.

“Of course, Sir. No one will know that I am your obedient submissive.”

“Good girl, Angelica. I need the conqueror on my side for this project.”