“Good morning, Mr. Nathan”, his secretary greeted as he passed by her office.“Morning Kathy”She got up quickly, gathering her files as she attempted to catch up to him.“Sir…the…”, she stopped a little to adjust the files in her hand.“All our shareholders and partners, are they seated?”“Yes sir but …”“The directors of the Voxx groups?”“Ye..yes”, she said, distracted by the task of keeping the tipsy files in place.“But sir…”“And the Heads of departments?”“Yes sir. They are…”“Great”, Nathan said, as he took a turn to the left. He was about push the conference room door open when Kathy finally caught up to him to stop him“But sir…”, she said in a rather exhausted tone. A file slipped off the pile on her hand.“Yes Kathy?”“Mr. Charlie…”“What about him?”“He's arrived.”“Is he in?”“Yes”“Perfect”Kathy handed her boss his work phone.“Escort him to the conference room. Meeting starts in fifteen minutes”“Yes Boss”, Regan's deep-voiced reply came through the speaker. The call t
Alistair walked over to the large window in his office, watching the reflection of those behind instead of the breath taking view of the city below. The lower office staff were arranging the office, a silent yet stuffing activity for him. He wanted them to distract his thoughts, but they pretended not to notice him, a character they played out too well and so unknowingly, it seemed so normal.Back to the thoughts. He looked down, finally acknowledging the beautiful view of the city from his window. A speed boat breezed through and it seemed funny to Alistair how the big companies always had their headquarters situated on the island part of the city. Alistair blinked, and suddenly he could see the younger version of himself in the reflections instead of the cleaners. He could see himself walking, the awkward and unusual memories he had of his first day at his father's office.“Alistair”Till that day, he wondered if he was actually meant to have been there. His mother never took him any
“He's here sir”“You ******* dumbass, what do you mean he's here?”“De Capuedo”Charlie groaned inwardly. How the **** did the idiot get through security. And what the *** is he doing here?!“No, no, no. The ****!”The door swung open suddenly and all the guards were alert, gun raised up and bullet bulked, with their fingers to the trigger. For a moment there was suspense and Capuedo's men gave way for him to emerge.“Signore Charlie … He he he…”, Capuedo's croaky, Italian coated words waved through the tense room, his usual intimidating, Italian laughter following. Laughter that was never intended to induce happiness.“Now, this isn't so much of a warm welcome, is it? Ei? Come on now. Sorely, you can do better than this, Charlie”He moved to the couch at the center of the room, taking his seat as he occupied almost half of the curved sofa.Charlie snapped his fingers as a signal to his men to put their guns down as Capuedo simultaneously did the same with a wave of his own hand.“Wha
“Woah..”The slippery trunk handle slithered through her hand, hitting the ground rather gently than harshly. But not gentle enough for Mrs. Moore. As usual.“Layla!”“Oh .. sorry Mum”, Layla apologized rather too hastily, a distracted apology as her eyes seemed glued to the magnificent building in front of her. She could see the inside already through the glass or rather she could see through the glass that framed half of the building, living room upward.“Get the other things from the car, Layla”, her mother's strict tone lashed at her, snapping her mind out of captivation. Layla's small, quick feet went down the stairs.“Welcome Madam”, the doorman greeted Tricia as she stepped in.“Thank you.”He offered to take her bag from her but she declined.“Oh dear, that wouldn't be necessary”, she said, smiling kindly at him.“Thank you”“Yes ma'am”. He nodded in approval and dashed outside to help Layla.Just then, Alistair came out of his room, headed for the stairs. When Tricia saw him
That was her mother's way of telling her to leave. The seemingly hingeless door closed behind her as she walked out, questioning herself for the hundred and first time why her mother sometimes treated her like a piece of rag. Euphoric really to think that the old woman had started to change back when they'd moved to the countryside.But no. Her mother was just as was worse as before. The energy had returned the day they'd received Alistair's information. The same day she'd dared to ask her mother about her father.Her father. Well, that was another topic on it's own. Tragic that Layla didn't even know a thing about him, talk less of knowing what he even looked like. Her mother had utterly refused her of knowing anything about him and would shut her up every time she attempted to ask. And the day she'd seen those pictures, with the cut out parts and burn patches, she just knew her curiosity wouldn't let her. They were pictures of the younger version of her mother, pictures of her mothe
“Misterr Charlie”“Oh great. You're here too”, Charlie said, sarcastically excited. “Urghhh”“How have you been?”“What does it look like to you?”“I just saw Capuedo on his way out. Looks like your debt's been extended”“Oh please. Your subtle insults are the last thing I need right now”, he said, yet again struggling with the lighter in his hands.“You are right. You need way more than that if you want to fix this silly negligent mistake of yours”“*@ you. This is both our mess”“Right. Because as president of the Voxx Group, I should be keeping watch on snitches. I was the one who should have done a better job. I was the one who should have cleaned up blood traces and picked up the goddamn gun instead of being a bloody coward”“Well maybe you should have. You should have taken the bloody gun, because neither Nathan nor Alistair are supposed to be alive right now!”“Oh shut the @#&@ up Charlie. If you weren't such a freaking coward, they'll all be dead by now!”Arghh!”, He growled
“Sure. Tell her I'll be down in the next… five minutes”, Alistair said, checking his watch to make sure he was time accurate.“No need”, Layla said from behind Regan. Regan stepped aside so she could come in.“I'm here already. Or am I not allowed to see my God brother”With Alistair's signal, Regan nodded and left the room.“Why not?”“Well there's sure a lot of protocol here”“Good morning Layla”“You look nice”“I know right”, Alistair said, taking a step back.“Oh please. Save it”They both laughed. A happy, hearty kind of laughter.“You look really nice too, Layla”“As always”, she said, giving a half twirl.“And this hairdo is my new favourite. God! He does wonders”“Who? The hairstylist?”“Hell, yeah”, Layla said as she moved towards his master bed.“So why did you insist I accompany you today?”, She asked, flunking herself on the bed.“Cause I need your help”“My help?”“Yeah. Your help. I'll tell you more about it at the office”“Okay …”Alistair went over the large mirror to
“Woohoo! Yeah!”The champagne popped open, foam flowing freely from the mouth. Layla laughed freely, pouring into the tall tulip glasses for each of them. She downed one glass in excitement and their reactions only made her burst in her unladylike laughter, at least so her mother had often described.Well to her it was. But to Alistair, it was probably the sweetest sound he'd heard…“To Layla”, Nathan's deeply sensuating voice pierced through the silence. Layla poured herself another glass and clicked her glass with Nathan's.“To mee”, she said giddily but this time sipping out of the glass.“And to Alistair”, she said, turning to him.“For getting his father's company back, for being ever so loving to Mum and I and for this beautiful job offer. Thank you so much Alistair”“It's nothing”, he said, taking up his glass as he smiled, a bit taken back that she'd known it was him. Not for long though. He could already guess from Nathan's awkward behavior of avoiding contact as soon as she