"Shut it right there, Claire," Claire's mother burst out sternly. "Why will you have a man like Gary and still insist on a good for nothing?!" She passed Brad a scowl."Can you not see the stark difference, Claire?" Claire's father held her shoulders tenderly and tried to speak sense into his daughter's head. "Can you not see that Gary is responsible? Have you ever caught him in a fight or the company of criminals?""Dad," Claire furiously shrugged his hands off her shoulders, "What are you insinuating? That my boyfriend is a criminal?"Claire's mother closed her eyes in frustration. When she opened them back, she shouted at Claire. "Will you stop calling him your boyfriend?!""I will not stop because he is! Brad is my boyfriend!""So you want to spend the rest of your life struggling to get your basic needs, is that what you want?" Her mother held her gaze, "Your father and I have always made sure you have everything. Now you want to leave a very suitable and successful man and go fo
Ava jerked up from her relaxed position. "What?" "You heard me right, Ava. I don't want any of my assets, liquid or fixed, saved with Trust Financial anymore." As Brad answered, Ava quickly got off the bed and walked to her work table. She turned on her laptop and quickly went through the business emails wondering if Trust Financial was going through some issues that put their customers' properties at risk. When she found nothing, she checked trending news headlines too but there was also nothing. "Ava?" Brad's voice sounded over the phone and she remembered that she was yet to respond to him. "Sorry, I'm here. I'm just checking if Trust Financial has any issues. Why are you withdrawing your assets from them?" "I don't think they have any issue, at least none that I know of. And even if they do, it's not why I want to pull out." Ava pushed away from her desk. Brad's tone was definite, not up for negotiation. She pieced together that whatever reason he had was personal. "Is every
Claire looked back at the car again. If her brief knowledge of cars wasn't failing her, she recognized the car as a Jaguar model. If she didn't know how deep Brad's pocket was, she might have been swayed but now, she just rolled her eyes. She could bet her pinky toe that the amount of only the necklace Brad got her would solidly be half the price of that car."See?" Gary was looking at the car with pride. "Very different from these junks that wretched man gave you." He fingered the teddy and shoebox in Claire's arms and she defensively pulled them away from his reach. Gary chuckled, "For real, how much is a bouquet? How much are all these things out together? It wouldn't even feed a street dog for a week. This is what you deserve, Claire. It is what befits a royalty like you."Cakure let out a frustrated breath. If only this had happened some weeks back, when she hadn't made the deal with Brad then she would have been stuck with the arrogant Brute and she wouldn't even have an idea."
Not long after Doris and Gary had settled in a seat, Claire's father joined them. As they chatted amongst themselves, some of the women in the room, young and old, kept throwing lustful gazes at Gary which further increased the size of his bloated ego.Even Doris didn't miss the glance that everyone threw at Mark. That gaze of longing, subtle jealousy as they wished that they were in her place. It made her even happier that her daughter would marry a man who is wanted and loved by all. Claire will be the talk of the time."So tell me, Gary, where are you from?" Claire's father asked. "I mean, you don't look like you're from here, and at the same time, you look like you are." Since he joined them, he had joined his wife in questioning Gary about his life and intention towards their daughter as though he was a suitor who had come for their daughter's hand in marriage.Gary chuckled and some of the girls sighed dreamily. "I'm in-between," he answered. "My mother is Russian while my fath
"Goddamn!" The caller hissed, "His father has been in the company for so long and there were no issues. His father's stay in the company added to the immense progress of Trust financial in the past years so what did you do that his son is insisting on not wanting our services anymore? We will meet and you had better have a sensible explanation because your job is at stake.""Yes sir," Gary stammered, finally able to get a word out then the line went dead.He stood there, where he had slowly walked to when he picked up the call, frozen. Of all the words that the CEO of Trust Financial yelled at him only one resounded in his ears - your job is at stake.He raked a hand through his hair. "Dammit," he muttered. He thought that whoever the client was, he must be a big deal. Why? He wondered miserably. Why will the richest customer of Trust Financial withdraw his assets from them? He hadn't received any call of complaint so what might have pushed the customer? And it wasn't only the branch
Claire nervously chewed on her lips as the call went through. "Please, pick up," Claire chanted.It was the third time she was dialing the number. Since she had left Rose, she had been restless. She needed to know where they stood."Oh God," she let out a frustrated breath as the ringing stopped without any response.She started to pace her room as she dialed the number again. She let out a small gasp and a breath of relief when he picked up on the first ring."Brad," she let out breathlessly and uselessly, unable to utter any other word."I missed your call. Why are you calling?" Brad said into the phone as he placed the call on speaker then lightly threw it on the passenger seat and focused more on his driving."I'm sorry," Claire stopped pacing and breathed. "I know you're upset, you have the right to. Tonight was fucked up but trust me what happened tonight was not my doing. It didn't go as planned, it was a disaster," she rambled out.Claire heard Brad sigh then there was the hon
Brad tried not to think about the way the night had turned out as he slowed down and drove into his garage. He just looked forward to seeing how mellow Gary would become after he lost his job.Brad's phone rang again and he grabbed it from where he had thrown it. He shook his head when he saw that Claire was still calling relentlessly. He placed his phone on silent and then headed inside. As soon as he stepped inside the house, the aroma of a freshly prepared meal wafted into his nose and he felt relaxed instantly. "Welcome back, sir," Maria stepped out of the kitchen the moment she heard the door. She was glad that he came in time for dinner that day. There would be no need to reheat the food."Thank you, Maria," Brad closed his eyes and sniffed the air. "What have you made for me tonight?"Maria smiled, "Grilled chicken breasts with roasted vegetables and a side quinoa.""Hm," Brad hummed, his mouth already watering just at the thought of the meal.Maria smiled and attempted to ta
Gary took in a deep breath as he parked his car in front of the cafe where the CEO had asked them to meet. Gary had not wanted to take the CEO seriously when he said he would meet with him because everyone knew he wasn't currently in New York. So he was shocked when he got a call from the same number that had called him the previous night. Immediately he picked up, he blurted the name of the cafe where they were going to meet, and hung up.The previous night, the CEO was in another country but he took an overnight flight to New York so that he could address the situation on the ground in person. Losing Mr Harrier is a huge risk to the growth of his institution.Gary brought out a mirror and arranged his hair then he smoothed his blazers before stepping out of his car. He checked the time as he made his way inside the cafe. It was 7:47 AM. He smiled when he saw the time, impressed at his punctuality.He had checked online and confirmed that the cafe had a VIP section. His intention was