The Rival CEO

Prologue

March 7 1994

The rain dropped mercilessly on the baby covered in pink woolen sheets and blankets buried deep under the wooden basket. Her tiny eyes wandered to and fro blinking the water away from its eyelids.

The baby's mother put the basket on the doorstep of the orphanage wiping her eyes furiously assuring herself shes's doing this for the well being of the child.

"Knock knock"

An old lady around her 50's opened the old door which made a horrid creaking sound. To her surprise she saw a baby hardly a month old staring at her with its big doe-like eyes. The caretaker took the child in her arms with sympathy and gave it a place in the orphanage.

***

January 2006

During the course of years the girl grew up to be a cute and smart one. Always responding with witty comments and sarcasm at a young age itself she was not much liked by the caretakers and other children.

"Give it back to me or else I'll tell Ms.Moody " yelled the fat, chubby boy named Andrew.

"Why should I ? It belongs to me" Caitlin said calmly.

"What's going on here ? How much times do I have to tell you Caitlin, be nice to Andrew. He's like your brother. Now get ready, a good family is coming to see if you can be their adopted daughter." said Ms.Moody

"I don't want to get adopted, adults are weird they will just ditch me once they get bored. I've heard enough tales about nice adoptive parents but I'm smart enough to know its not true Ms.Moody." said Caitlin.

"Enough bickering Caitlin. You cannot stay here forever, there is a whole big world out there waiting for you, I want you to put the dress you got for your birthday and be down here in ten minutes. Understood." said Ms.Moody irritated.

***

Caitlin stood before the mirror and looked at her reflection. She wore a pretty pink knee-length floral dress with her hair put neatly in two pigtails and wore pair of ballerina flats.

Her mind was disturbed by the thought that she would get adopted and leave the place she considered home. But in the back of her head she knew that this is for good, she will be free to do as she pleases and there will be no rules and curfews she will have to follow.

Hesitantly she walked into the room where her 'maybe' family were seated. Caitlin pulled the chair in front of the table and stared at the couple in front of her who gave her fake smiles. The lady wore a white halter top along a black pencil skirt with 6-inch high heels and the man wore a suit with a grey tie and polished, shiny black shoes.

"Ugh" she thought to herself. These people are snobby rich with such a 'i-know-it-all' attitude, she knew she would not get along with them well. Though Caitlin wanted to run out like a cave-woman kicking her flats off, she sat their calmly responding their questions with replies that would piss them off knowing they wont tolerate it for a long time.

She could see Ms.Moody nodding her head in disappointment as the couple walked out in disgust after meeting me. She could hear the couple whispering into each other's ears that even buying a dog is better than adopting her.

"Ouch, that hurt, I'm just human can't blame me for having preferences on where I stay and which stranger is going to whisk me away to hell" Caitlin thought.

***

March 2006

Caitlin couldn't stand one more month in this hellhole, everyone looked at her as a disgrace for purposely shooing away the couple that came to adopt her.

After a lot of contemplation in those three months she decided to run away. She knew it would not be as easy as stated but she could try, her desire to experience the outside world to her command overpowered the morals and discipline Ms.Moody had taught her since she was four.

Caitlin packed her belongings which could be all fitted into a tiny duffel bag. The minute hand in the alarm ticked at sharp twelve signalling her to wake from her short nap and rush out through the backdoor she and Andrew discovered when the were kids. She was going to miss him and Ms.Moody, no matter how much she denied it, the truth was that. This place was her childhood, but Caitlin was steadfast on leaving this place.

Running through the muddy sidewalks, she saw the bus that would take her to Seattle stop at the bus-stop. Knowing the bus frequency is quite slow she ran across the street without looking if the road was empty.

'Owww' Caitlin yelled as the sleek black limo was about to crash by into her side. She shielded her head and braced herself for any impact. The limo came to an abrupt stop, Caitlin saw an middle-aged man around his 40's step out of it.

"Oh My God! My dear child, are you alright ? I'm so sorry, I didn't see you coming. Its quite a foggy day" said the man frantically checking for any injuries.

" I'm fine old man, just drive more carefully next time. Don't want you getting into jail do we sir. Now if you excuse me I have to go somewhere urgently." said Caitlin annoyed by the fact she didn't catch the bus.

"Of course child, but you hardly look old enough to venture out in the night, where would a twelve year old want to go now ?" said the man

"Has your mother not taught you to mind your own business and not speak to strangers." replied Caitlin haughtily.

The man chuckled loudly amused at the child's reply, "It should be the other way around but you're running away aren't you?"

Caitlin was bewildered "How do you know, its not that obvious right"

He smiled sadly at her "I was a runaway too, but later I realized living alone is too hard and returned to my parents."

"At least you have parents" she said looking away.

"An orphan runaway, well that's the first I've seen. Come with me child, me and my wife have no children, we will take care of you." he said.

"Really, how do I know you're not a pedophile or a rapist or thief." said Caitlin her words dripping with sarcasm and anger.

"Do you think a thief owns a limo. I'm Gregory Banks, the owner of the Banks Steel Corporate."he replied proudly.

"Holy Guacamoley" Caitlin replied astonished. That company was one of the world's largest MNC's.

" By the way if you don't come with me you will probably land back in the orphanage you ran from. They must have notified the police by now, if you come with me there won't be any legal issues. Moreover after you turn 18 and you can be emancipated if you want" Mr.Banks said.

Caitlin knew those were wise words. She will land back there sooner later, the chances of running without being caught for six years were highly unlikely. Anyway, what has she got to loose.

Hesitantly, taking a deep breath she uttered the words that she never knew would change her life.

"I'll come with you."

Hey guys :)

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