And they met again
1552 Words
Josh hangs up the phone. He had just rejected another contract and a lot of money. This time it was Barcelona Sporting Club, a big club in Europe.
"What's the part that no one understands that I don't want to pursue a sports career?" he sighs.
He knew that as the time passed, the clubs would give up chasing him. He was very good, but he was no Cristiano Ronaldo.
The phone rang again.
"Hello" yells.
"hell, who f****d you up and didn't call back?"
Josh chochkls.
"Sorry, I'm fed up with the calls from football club representatives."
"Maybe you should sign for one of them. You'd make good money and become famous."
"I don't have time for this. I have other plans, you know that."
Josh responds to his friend and assistant.
"But now tell me, are you calling me just to get on my nerves?"
"He's so sensitive today.", said David. "I called to tell you that I think I've found the perfect place for you to set up the company's headquarters. I'll send you the address via w******p, and tomorrow we can arrange a visit."
"That's good news. Once we have that settled, we can really start working."
"I just hope you know what you're doing."
"Me too." Josh smiles.
In six months, he had created Hope's headquarters, in a 7-story building, completely converted to offices, and where he occupied the top floor, as CEO.
After two years, Hope was at the top of American companies, with a turnover of several million dollars, having expanded to Europe and Australia.
Along the way, he bought some brands, which he expanded under HOPE's purview. He ran hypermarkets, appliance stores, retail sites, gas stations, and had just acquired an advertising company.
Two months away from turning twenty-six, he bossed men and women much older and with more years of experience.
"Josh, the CEO's secretary of Beautiful World, called to set up a meeting. It has to do with the advertising company we acquired. As I understand it, they have a 6-year contract with the company, already paid in full, and they want to know whether we're going to honor that contract or not."
"What the hell, nothing in the company's accounts mentioned contracts of this type. Are we going to work for free now? Set up a meeting for tomorrow, at 3 pm, and postpone my schedule for tomorrow to another day."
"In the Beautiful World or here?"
“Here, of course. By the way, the name of the company is not strange to me. What do they sell?"
"Don't make me laugh, don't you know who they are? It's just the biggest company in the country. They make and sell low and high couture clothing, cosmetics, and I've seen on the news recently they expanded into the accessories and shoe market ."
"Good for them. Go take care of everything and let me work. And get me a coffee."
"Yes sir!" responds David with a chuckle.
At two forty-five in the afternoon, Jacob, accompanied by Oliver and Carol, his assistant, entered the HOPE lobby.
Jacob looked around in amazement. I had never paid attention to the company before, because their line of business had nothing to do with trading in food products, but HOPE has expanded, and now it also manages advertising.
He didn't feel like being there, but the matter represented a lot of money, and he didn't want to leave the resolution of it in the hands of an employee. He hoped he wouldn't have to go to court to resolve the matter, mainly because breaching the contract would represent a significant loss, not to mention that he would still have to pay another company to do the advertising.
Oliver goes to the front desk, where a well-dressed and friendly young woman answers him. After a few seconds, the 3 had a visitor's card, and following the directions given, they waited for the elevator to reach the seventh floor.
The elevator door opens onto a wide, bright area. The whole environment exuded good taste. Waiting for them, there was a man who introduced himself as Mr. Cole's personal assistant, and led them to the meeting room, inviting them to enter. On the table, bottles of the best quality water and the finest crystal glasses.
The CEO's secretary enters, asking them if they would like coffee or tea.
Jacob accepts the coffee, while his other two decline.
David returns to report that Mr. Cole is finishing up a business call and will be there in a few minutes.
Jacob smiles and says it's okay, and David becomes apprehensive.
When he goes to Josh's office, he can't stop thinking that that man, in a dark blue suit, of the best quality, was not a stranger to him. He had seen him somewhere before, he just couldn't remember where.
knock knock knock
"Come in," says Josh.
"Are they there yet?", he asks.
"Yes, the only thing missing is your presence, boss."
"Don't forget to be professional in front of a stranger," says Josh with a laugh.
"Speaking of strangers, I think I know the CEO of Beautiful World. I don't know where he's from."
"Really? You probably saw it on some news. As you mentioned yesterday, he is the CEO of one of the biggest multinational companies. By the way, what is the name of the CEO?"
"It's Mr. Milles"
Josh stops. "It's a big coincidence", he thinks. "Its not possible."
Shaking off the silly idea, he says:
"Do you have the beautiful world dossier ready?"
"Yes sir," says David, embodying his role.
"So let's go."
Josh's secretary opens the conference room door for the CEO to enter.
Jocob and the others rise to greet him, but a dead silence falls in the room when their eyes meet.
Neither of them made a gesture or a sound.
The secretaries and respective personal assistants of the two CEOs looked from one to the other, not understanding what was going on.
Finally, Josh pulls himself together, walks forward with his head held high, saying:
"Good afternoon Mr. Milles, My name is Joshua Cole and I am the CEO of HOPE. Please take a seat so we can begin the meeting."
Josh and his team sat in their assigned seats and waited for Jacob to sit down, but he didn't move.
"Sir, are you all right?" asks Oliver.
Jacob wakes up from the trance he was in, looks at Oliver and nods, sitting.
He couldn't stop looking at the man he loved.
Josh was looking better than ever, wearing a suit from DIOR, so different from the simple clothes he wore in college.
David coughs, and Josh looks up at him, seeing in his eyes that he's finally put the pieces together. David makes an apologetic look and Josh nods and picks up the company file.
"It's from my knowledge that a contract was signed between Beautiful World and Publicart, which is now part of the HOPE group. I contacted my lawyers, who assured me that nowhere is it written that the contract was paid in full."
Jacob shifts in his chair.
"Obviously, if you show me evidence, I'll use it to sue previous owners for embezzlement. Do you have that evidence?"
Jacob couldn't speak, but when Oliver handed him a folder, he, with a great effort, said:
"Yes, we have that evidence."
"Can I see them?"
"Obviously", replied Jacob.
Josh gestures for the secretary to get the folder, which she does.
Jacob was out of breath. How could Josh be so serene? Little did Jacob know that inside, Josh was in tears.
The secretary passes the folder to Josh, taking a seat and preparing to take notes.
Josh leafs through the documents.
"Normally, I would have to verify the veracity of the documents, but this situation actually proved to be profitable."
Jacob tilts his head, not understanding what Josh means.
Taking a deep breath, Josh stands up and asks:
"Mr. Milles, can we speak in private?"
Jacob gets up and orders the assistant and secretary out of the room. Josh does the same.
When the two are alone, Jacob takes a step towards Josh, saying:
"Josh I...", but Josh cuts him off.
"Mr. Milles, let's keep this matter strictly professional."
Jacob felt his blood run cold.
"I noticed that there are still 5 years left in the contract, and that this year's campaign is not yet ready. Make sure that the campaign will be ready on the expected presentation date.
As for payments, I noticed that your company paid 2 million dollars for a 6-year of advertising contract. The campaign, the ad, the scoreboards, the internet, radio and prime time TV, 2 months in summer and 2 months in winter. Am I right?"
Jacob nodded.
"For 6 years, a campaign of this intensity was undervalued, but that's to be expected when the previous CEO wanted to grab the cash and run."
"What are you trying to say?" says Jacob, trying to be professional.
"Nothing matters anymore. We're going to propose a new contract with the current values of the campaign. If you accept it, you won't have to pay anything at all, but I need to keep these documents to hand over to my lawyers."
"A new contract with a new value?"
- Writer
