Luke was on the very verge of experiencing a full blown melt down but he held himself together with much difficulty until he arrived at the office.His heart was probably pounding at the speed of a million miles per second as he sped down the freeway. Once at the office, he called an urgent meeting with his executives.“Luke, is everything okay? You sounded worried over the phone.” Nina asked as she walked in.“The ruling council are asking to see the event centre. I’ve already sent them the address but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re one day early. The centre isn’t ready yet.”“Shit.” Nina cursed under her breath. “This is bad.”“Exactly.” Luke concurred as other members of the executive committee walked in.“Sir. Is everything okay?”“No, Jerry. Absolutely not.” Luke replied to his head of Public Relations. “The ruling council are on their way to the event centre right now. What’s the status of development since this morning?”Mrs Lee, a petite Chinese lady who was the hea
Nina watched, feeling downcast and useless as Fiona sashayed to the door to welcome the ruling council with a big smile. Both men took one look at her gorgeous face and their stiff expressions morphed into huge smiles. The woman, however, did not smile even one bit.“Luke.” Yvette, the leader of the council called, “We’re ready for the tour and we do not have a lot of time.”Luke snapped out of his daze and hurried over to lead Yvette and her entourage into the room. “Welcome. This is where the business conference will be hosted.”The men who flanked Yvette looked about the impressive hall, their eyes widening in pleasant surprise. Yvette, her face still as hard as stone, scribbled something on her notepad once in a while as she walked deeper into the big space, inspecting the chairs, tables and the technological equipment on stage.Luke gave the men a tour of the hall as Yvette wandered off to check out the place on her own.“The tables are made of quality German oak. The padding o
Luke was sure he’d never driven so fast in his entire life. After the former event centre had been burnt down and he probably owed Fiona God-knows-what for setting up this new one, he couldn’t afford for anything else to go wrong.The conference was in three days. If anything else went south, it might not hold at all.Rage shot through his bloodstream as he drove into the underground garage of Antoine’s hotel for the second time that day. Luke switched off the engine and just sat there for a few seconds, his gut simmering in anger at the reminder that someone he’d thought was a close, dear friend was actually his worst enemy.“I will destroy you, Andrei Konstantin.” He said to the silent car. “I will burn you to the fucking ground.”Three minutes later, Luke was walking into the gleaming restaurant of the five-star hotel where Antoine currently lodged, a million thoughts swirling in his mind, when someone fully dressed in black bumped into him.A soft curse slipped past his lips and
CONFERENCE DAY.The day of the conference was finally here and Luke was a nervous wreck. He hadn’t slept at all the previous night. He was up throughout, making sure that all the finishing touches were added to the hotel rooms and the event centre to ensure everything will be perfect for the billionaire businessmen who were arriving from all over the world. Some of the business men had already arrived the previous night and so far, there were no complaints. Unable to sleep because of the threatening message he’d gotten three days ago, Luke woke up by three AM and drove to the event centre to give it one final onceover.When Luke arrived, he was surprised to see that all the lights were turned on inside. Suspicious because the security guard had not informed him that anyone was in there, he snuck up to the main entrance to find that the door was already wide open.His pulse pounding wildly, he looked around for anything to use as a weapon. His eyes caught a broken steel pipe in the
All too soon, ten AM rolled in and it was already time to kickstart the conference. After making sure that all the security guards and other personnel were in their proper positions, Luke assumed his place at the door in preparation to welcome all his esteemed guests.Five minutes to the door-opening ceremony when the hall would be properly unveiled and opened to all the guests, Fiona came over and stood beside Luke, her lips pulled in a wide smile.Luke, however, was not in the mood for her shenanigans today.“What the hell are you doing here, Fiona?” He asked, annoyance clearly written on his features.Fiona’s smile did not falter.“What do you mean? I’m here to welcome the guests by your side, of course. You obviously need a woman by your side for this one and Yvette thinks I’m the best woman for the job.”Luke stared at her for a moment, anger and retribution boiling deep within him. He wanted to snap at her but a devious plan crawled into his brain and he held himself just in tim
Finally, the doors were opened and all the guests were ushered in with a handshake or a pat on the back, depending on who it was.From the expensive, luxury cars parked in the garage to the custom made Armani suits and blinking diamond studded Rolexes, one could tell that this was a gathering of the extremely wealthy.Everything and everyone screamed wealth and class.Luke and Nina got to know a bit of what to expect from the business men from most of their behaviours. While some were warm and kind, others were cold and stiff. Luke’s guts twisted at the thought that Antoine was right. Not everyone liked it that the business conference was being hosted by one of the freshest faces in the industry. To some of the men here, Luke’s age and achievements was an insult to them.Finally, the last guest walked into the hall. Luke turned to greet him as expected and froze when he saw who it was.Often called the tech demon of the business world, Chinese businessman, Mùchén Bowen, was one of th
Luke stared at Nina for a split second, unable to believe his ears.“Wh-what?” He asked, his voice dripping with disbelief.The entire hall fell silent as everyone stared on, shock written all over their faces.“Luke? Any problems?” His grandfather asked as he made his way to the stage.Luke turned to him immediately and shook his head.“No, grandpa. None at all.” He said quickly. “We’ve just encountered a tiny glitch in the system controls of the car, our engineers are currently dealing with it.”Luke’s grandfather gave him a sceptical look.“Are you sure? You don’t seem fine, Luke. Talk to me.”Just then, one of the engineers climbed atop the stage and called out to him.“Sir, we’ve found the car. We’ve also found the fingerprints of the person who took it.”
“What did you say?” Luke asked in disbelief.“The car was found and has been returned to its position, your lordship. Our engineers have checked it and nothing seems to be wrong.”“Is this some kind of sick joke? What the hell is going on here?”The engineer shook his head.“Yes, sir. I actually do believe someone is trying to play games.”“Where were the guards when the car was taken? Where was it found?”“Er… Luke?” Nina called, her lips pulled in an uneasy smile.“Yes?”“You’re still on stage.”Appalled, Luke turned to see nearly half of the audience looking at him like he’d gone psycho. His ears heated in embarrassment but he was saved when the MC climbed atop the stage and said;“Your lordship, you’ve got barely fifteen minutes to showcase your invention. The judges are waiting.”That statement immediately propelled Luke into action.“Yes, yes, of course.” He regained control of the microphone and addressed the crowd.“I’m deeply sorry that you all had to witness that but we see