Two months had passed since me and the group graduated, many went on vacations which even I will admit I went on a sailing trip around the Mediterranean with Olivia, rented a Vineyard Villa on Lake Como, travelled to Qatar, saw an F1 Race, spent two weeks in the Bahamas and now I had been home in New York for a month preparing for my first meeting with my Board of Executives at Winters Group Headquarters which opened at it's original design of a little over a kilometre tall.
I sat in the back of the black and grey armoured Maybach S680 that was assigned as my personal transportation vehicle, there was also three more ordered for me, and it had been only then that I found out that because of the bulletproof glass, armoured plating increased engine power, and ballistics proofing, every vehicle cost me a million dollars.
Pulling up to the tinted glass building that was now the official Headquarters for Winters Group, Elijah got out of the front of the car, before opening my door, and letting me out.
Stepping out of the black leather seats, I pulled my grey wool blazer closed. I had wanted to be presentable so I dressed in a medium grey suit with black shoes, and a black turtleneck shirt, with one of my simpler watches on my wrist.
Climbing the concrete steps and getting to the door I walked into the entryway with black marble flooring, pale grey walls, dark steel metal accented most surfaces of the sophisticated and simple lobby with the Winters Group Logo in the middle of the floor illuminated through frosted glass.
As I made my way towards the elevator the receptionist greeted me from her desk who I acknowledged with a curt nod, before pressing the button to the two hundred eighteenth floor of the building.
Eventually the elevator dinged and I stepped inside the metal car along with one more person who was sharply dressed, and I mentally approved of how well my staff presented themselves to the world, because we did actually get a few visitors on the official opening of the new building while the former building was rebuilt into a bank.
When the car began moving I stiffened my posture as I prepared for my meeting.
At the fiftieth floor the doors opened and the person I had been standing next to got off before the doors closed again and brought me to my requested floor a little over thirty seconds later.
Stepping out I passed a desk and saw one of my members of staff go wide eyed at my appearance, before moving in the opposite direction.
So I'm intimidating to my staff, I might have to address that in a later meeting.
A moment later my assistant Kaylee walked up to me holding a folder that would give details on my daily schedule.
"Good morning Kaylee" I say taking the folder from her and tucking it under my arm.
"Good morning Mr. Winters, your coffee is on your desk, I don't know what you like so I left it black".
"Black is exactly how I like it" I say taking the folder I had been given and holding it in my hand before pushing open one of the twelve foot tall doors to my office, that looked exactly how I had designed it.
Opening the folder I read off the first few things before stopping in the middle of the room.
"Kaylee" I say turning to face the mousy brown haired girl.
"Yes sir".
"Please tell the Executives that the meeting will begin at eight fifteen sharp, no exceptions".
"I will get right to it, anything else".
"Every file on each of them, I will want to see them, after that you may return to your work" I say.
"Yes sir" she says and quickly heads off to do her job.
It was odd being a mere nineteen years old and I was the CEO for one of the largest companies in the world, yes others had started their businesses so early but today would mark day one of the rebuilding of this entire corporation.
As I dropped the file on my desk I walked to the window, and looked over all of New York City from Manhattan to Jersey City, and the hustle and bustle far below.
Interrupting my reverie was the sound of heels clicking on the floor followed by a whistle.
"Damn I have a really hot boss" I hear Olivia remark behind me and I turn to face her with a amused smirk on my lips glancing from her to the door which was closed.
"Don't flirt with me Miss Thorne" I say looking over her dressed in black low heels that I knew were Louboutin since she asked me which heels this morning, along with a knee length pencil skirt, white turtleneck blouse, and black blazer over top. Around her neck was a simple golden necklace, with the matching pair of earrings hidden behind her hair.
"Why not Mr. Winters" she replies with a smirk.
"Because I have a meeting in five minutes, and if I walk in late because my COO flirted with me, that isn't setting a good example on the first week that I've been here, especially since I won't be an easy boss, I have shit to do".
"Well don't be too hard on your staff" Olivia says sitting down in one of the two chairs in front of my desk.
"All within reasonable expectation I will be, I'm also the boss of everyone in my company, not their friend" I say leaning against my desk and drumming my fingers on the underside of my desks top lip.
"You're my boyfriend sir".
"I'm aware of that, also as Chief Operations Officer you should probably be working and earning your massive salary".
"You offered that percentage remember".
"Two and a half percent on paper isn't much, in practice it's a fuck ton" I mutter.
"You should have thought about that" she laughs.
"At least I know that this company makes over three hundred billion as of right now" I say standing as I hear a knock at the door.
"Come in" I call and I sit down at the exact moment Kaylee sticks her head into my office.
"Mr. Winters everyone is on their way" she says.
"Thank you" I say, and she closes the door to likely return to her responsibilities.
"Time to give jobs to top business students" I muse standing from my chair.
"How many people do you think quite today".
"I'm giving them all an offer, I will pay them their salary equivalent of five years, on top of a two million dollar retirement fund, these are after all a bunch of people that can afford to take their families to Disneyland every year" I say passing where Olivia was now standing.
"Well you did say out with the old in with the new for this company".
"In terms of staff yes" I affirm opening the door and letting Olivia walk out before me, as we both make our way to the elevator.
Stepping inside we were carried down to the two hundredth floor, and let off before I led her to the meeting room which when entered revealed twenty black straight backed chairs with the majority filled, along with a window along the side of the room giving a view straight over the end of the Hudson River.
"Good morning everyone" I say receiving some responses but not many as I went to the end of the table and sat down with Olivia next to me.
"As you all know I am the next CEO of this company, and I know that it will be a big difference for everyone in this room, each of you is the Executive Director for a different subsidiary of this company, but things will be changing drastically. I know it's a heavy statement, but it's true this company has remained stagnant in development since my father's death" I begin, immediately capturing the attention of everyone there.
"What do you mean stagnant growth has remain roughly the same for the past five years" one of the Executives says.
"That's the issue, without anyone to actually give any of you direction progress came to a halt, ladies and gentlemen that is not what this company was when it was built, it was a defiant company that big businesses didn't want to prosper but it did, now we are competing with the likes of Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Saudi Aramco this company was once the largest in the entire world, but it's long since fallen under harder times, three hundred billion is a big number I will not deny that, but Winters group has long stopped growing and the competition is gaining. I plan on changing that, but it requires a massive sacrifice" I say looking around the room and I can see the worry and concern.
Time to find out how many are here solely to line their already deep pockets.
"Winters Group needs full revamp, all buildings are from the early two thousands when this company actually began growing. Equipment needs replacing, new technologies designed. I'll be blunt this company needs to be fully redone from ground zero, and to be expanded that means the entire worth of Winters Group will be spent all two point nine eight trillion dollars".
"You're going to bankrupt this company on the premise of you not liking what has happened here while you were still in school" one of the Executives said seeming rather outraged.
"Yes that is what I'm saying, and what will happen. Should you not like it I'm offering each of you compensation totalling five years of salary, along with two million dollars to walk away now. That is if you do want to leave".
"I'll take it, I hope to get my cheque soon".
"And you will get it, now please leave you have ten minutes to be packed and out of this building, or security will remove you" I say calmly, watching as half the room went to move all of them the remnant executives from when my father built this company.
As I watched them leave I took note of who it was and was doing the math, the few that were left were all young, which in a way made sense these few people had careers to span out and taking a risk was always going to be something they'd be willing to do.
"What do we do now that so many have left this company" one asked a young man who I recognized as the CFO of Winters Group.
"Hire new people that can help rebuild this company, Winters Group will go broke I won't deny any of you that, even I will lose because my personal stake is also betted in this company. But I can promise every person in this room that in a years time every person who just left will wish they had stayed to help, by New Years we will have invested in growth in a total of twenty six countries, our buildings and equipment will be replaced gradually, and with inside growth and self investment Winters Group will be how I believe it was always supposed to become" I say leaning on the table.
And I damn well hope this pays off.
Several hours later once my meetings had been over and compensation cheques were sent out totalling fifty million dollars, I stood in front of my office window looking over New York City.
"What's the plan for all your assets and mine?" Olivia asks walking over to stand beside me.
"Our assets will be frozen in a week time, only once we duplicate our asset worth will we be allowed to have it all back, this is truly a ground zero project but I think it will be worth it" I say.
"No more Pagani's until you've fully rebuilt your company" she laughs, knowing how much I enjoyed driving my cars especially the bespoke Italian art pieces in my garage.
"No more luxury until then" I confirm. "But it will be short lived".
"How do you know that?".
"Because I won't give up until I've ensured Winters Group has become the privatized economic powerhouse it was always supposed to become".
"That's a big goal".
"Good thing I won't be doing it alone" I say giving her a soft smile, and I know that I'm not wrong to do this. It might take a while longer then I might think but I was going to rebuild this business even if it took me the rest of my life to do it.
That's the end of The Billionaire Admirer, and it has been a journey, I appreciate all the views, comments, and reads really every one of you is amazing and I really can't thank all of you enough for just taking the time to read my book. Also tomorrow The Billionaire CEO will be started. Anyways
Peace✌