The atmosphere was thick with tension and everyone in the conference room was sweating except HER. The old pal's breath stuck in his throat when she narrowed her eyes at him, whilst leaning back in her chair. The old man whipped his forehead roughly with the handkerchief. To not make the situation more tense, the young man quickly gave the old manager a warning glance as he said, "Well, Mr. Addison, I think it would be great if you stop this already and sign the contract. Our CEO is not a patient person as you can see."
The secretary said forcefully as he gave Mr. Addison a pleading look to get this over with in peace. The conflicted man shuddered when he observed the cold glare of CEO that was directed towards him and then looked at his companion who gave him a skeptical nod. This confirmation from his companion gave him enough strength to found his voice and he grumbled an 'okay'. Abelson quickly rushed from behind his CEO to place the contract paper in front of that old man, who was now getting on the nerves of his bad-tempered CEO.
Mr. Addison looked one last time towards his companion as he picked up the pen with shaking hands and when his companion again nodded at him, he looked down at the paper with teary eyes and signed the paper, his heart exploding with remorse, anger and hatred, some directed towards his son who had brought him at this point and some directed toward the cruelest woman walking on earth.
As soon as the tip of the pen left the paper, it was snatched by the eager secretary, who wanted to finish this as soon as possible. Their CEO aka Boss was a scary lady with killer looks, but scary. She won't tolerate any mistakes, she won't let anyone off the hook, and she would make anyone's life miserable, if they would dare to mess with her business or family, just like Mr. Addison. The poor guy's son was a dick, who wasn't capable enough to run the business, on which his father had spent his whole life to stablish and get debuted under KNIGHT'S COOPERATION, country's one of the richest and stablished businesses. Now to pay the debuted of his son off, he had come to negotiate, but little did he know that our CEO is as ruthless as a beast in fight and would take over his company?
Poor soul! The secretary thought, pitting the old man who was dragged on road by his own son, as he exited the conference room behind his Boss, Valencia Knight. She was completely opposite of what a man would think of a woman. No doubt, she was breath-taking, beautiful, stunning, magnificent and elegant, features of an ideal woman, a goddess to be accurate. But she was ruthless, unforgiving, strict in her rules and most important, the most powerful CEO in the New York. No one dared, and means NO ONE dared to ever mess with her.
Valencia stomped into her office, while Abelson walked behind her in the office.
"Bring me all information about his company and aid him outside. Make sure that he reaches his place safely." She ordered in her tough, professional tone as he nodded and went outside. When Abelson left, Valencia leaned back in her chair, resting her head on the back of the chair. She was exhausted because of working continuously from the past 10 hours. Although it was 10 in the morning; she had been working all night. Being an owner of five restaurants, three malls and various investments in different fields of businesses wasn't easy to handle, especially when you were a woman and every predator's eye was on you, waiting for you to make a slight mistake.
She rubbed her temples between the pad of her thumb and index finger, chasing the pain away for a moment when the ringtone of her mobile snapped her back in the present. She reached the phone across the table with an exhausted sigh, but soon her exhausted façade was faded away when she saw the caller's ID and a beautiful smile was plastered on her face. She quickly answered the call as she brought the phone up to her ear, feeling blessed when the lovely voice greeted her.
"Hello Valencia dear! How are you? Did you eat breakfast? Have you even slept? I'm missing you!" She chuckled on the sudden outburst of the lovely lady on the other side of the receiver.
"Hello to you too Maa! I'm fine, I would eat in a few minutes, I slept well and I missed you more!" She told her grandma honestly, except the sleeping part and a sigh left her grandma's mouth.
"Don't lie to me! I know you must have over-worked yourself again. Please honey; take care of yourself for me." Her grandma pleaded. Valencia's heart tightened on the sadness in her voice. She loved her grandma the most in the world. She was the one for whom she had been keeping herself sane and she hated it when her grandma would get sad. She would make that person's life miserable who would make her sad, but regretfully, it was her who made her grandma sad this time.
"Sorry Maa, I would take a good night's sleep from now on, okay? Now grant me that beautiful laugh of yours." She said, hoping to make her grandma happy again, but when she heard nothing from the other side, she added for an extra effect. "Please." She pleaded and could already imagine the crackling smile on her grandma's face.
"Oh you naughty girl! You have to come and meet me if you want forgiveness." She offered the deal, so that she could meet her grand-daughter.
No doubt, she's mine grandmother. Valencia thought gleefully as her lips curled up into a smile, amused by her grandma's bargaining skills. "Okay, I would visit you this weekend, fine now?"
"But it's Monday today and I would have to wait for a whole week then? It's too much!" She whined like a child and Valencia couldn't help but to chuckle on her childish manners. She could act like a child at times, but Valencia loved her so much to care for that.
"Come on, Maa. You know that I have a business to run. Now if you would excuse me, I have some work to do." She said and they bid goodbyes to each other, ending the call. Her mood was lifted on its own after talking with her grandma. She loved her grandma so much that she could give her own life for her grandma's sake. Only a minute or two would have passed when Abelson entered in the office with the demanded file in his hand, while his other hand was holding a tray of breakfast.
Valencia looked at the tray with furrowed eyebrows and then looked at Abelson, whose eyes snapped between her and the tray as if he had forgotten about it.
"Oh, Miss. Andrea had called me to bring you breakfast." He informed and Valencia's gaze softened on hearing her grandma's name. Her grandma was a sweetheart no doubt. She thought as a small smile slipped onto her lips, but she hided it immediately as she remembered that Abelson was still in the room.
She cleared her throat as she motioned her hand, allowing him to place the package on the table. She immediately grabbed the file, opened it, already started to go through the details but stopped to glance up at her secretary, who still hadn't left her office. "What?" She snapped, getting irritated as the young man squirmed under her cold gaze.
"M-miss. Andrea told me not to leave your side until you eat your b-breakfast." He spilled the words, which angered thinking that he was working for her, not for her family.
"Well, you can get lost from my office now, if you don't want me to make you get lost from this company." She gritted through clenched teeth and the young man paled visibly before rushing out of there for his dear life, well the situation was like that.
She turned back to her work but her gaze traveled to the untouched food, which was staring back at her and her stomach growled, adding an effect in her hunger and she groaned.
Okay, eating for a while won't hurt my work, she thought as she placed the file down and pushed her chair back, getting up from it.
She walked towards the glass table, which was placed at the other end of the room and sat down as she devoured the heavenly taste of waffles and coffee after that. Her grandma knew her better than she knew herself, she thought as she thanked her mentally.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(On the other side):
"You useless piece of shit!" The hotel manager bellowed furiously at the young man, whilst hitting his back as the poor guy covered his face with his arms. Hit on the face was the most painful, so he had to protect his face as his back was getting all the hits.
"You are fired! I don't want a brat in my hotel, messing around and causing troubles." The manger yelled and the boy looked up at him wide-eyes, but the manager didn't gave him time to get through his pleading and forgiving act as he grabbed him from his collar and dragged him out of the kitchen and to the front of the hotel, all in front of the customers as humiliation stabbed the young man's heart. He would have begged for forgiveness but after this, he knew that the manager won't let him off the hook.
The old rag pushed him on the floor once they were out of the premises of the hotel and spited the words, laced with venom. "Go and don't bring your pathetic-self here ever again."
The boy lowered his head in shame as the manager left. He didn't know that what had he done wrong? Was declining the offer of a slutty customer wrong? Was being honest with his work wrong? Was he really pathetic? The thoughts were haunting his mind, but he dragged himself away from that pathetic place.
Maybe it was for his own good to be kicked out of that disgusting hotel, he thought as he made his way down the road. The city was as busy as always, everyone rushing to their works, everyone in a buzz of getting through the hardships of life. It had been two years since he had come to the city for a job. His parents were farmers and wanted to educate their only son, but after his college they didn't manage to bear his study expenses further and were sad for him, but he assured them that they had already done enough for him, which wasn't wrong. They really had done more than enough for him. Now he had to get through his life's hardships on his own.
Before coming to city he hadn't thought that getting a job would be that difficult and that self-humiliating. But he had to bear it, for himself, for his parents. Now he had to find another job, but before that he had to find a place to live as he was living in the storeroom of the hotel. He pulled out his phone and dialed the number of his dear cousin, who was also working in this city. He was stable in his life with a job and a girlfriend at his side, unlike him who was alone in this cluster of cruel beasts. That was how he saw people around him. And in addition to his suffering, he was unemployed now.
His worries faded for a while when he heard his brother's voice. "Hey Duncan! Wassup' man?" His cheery voice immediately soothed his tense muscles and he let out a relieved sigh.
"Hey! How are you?" he asked back and it got silent on the receiver's side for a moment, but then his cousin spoke, worry laced in his tone.
"Is everything okay bro? You sound worried." His cousin concluded and a small smile twitched his lips on the caring tone of his cousin. "I would tell you everything, but before that, can I stay at your place for a while?" He asked in anticipation. His cousin let out a surprised laugh from the other side, startling Duncan for a moment.
"Of course, you can idiot. Do you have to ask me?" His cousin spoke, which made Duncan smile brightly. Finally, he found himself at ease for now.
"Thank you, Abelson! I would be at your place in an hour." He informed and they hung up at each other after Duncan thanked him some more. When he slipped the phone back in his pocket his face was pulled into a big grin. Someone would have misunderstood him with a joker, the way he was smiling. But he cared less because he was going to stay with his beloved brother.
Little did he know what was he dragging himself into?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(A/N):
Hola Beautiful People!
It's my new book here on wattpad and just to inform the old readers that they don't have to worry about going on any other site to read this whole book. All updates would be done on wattpad, so rest assure.
And please tell me how much you liked the first chapter?
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