Chapter Eight
2025 Words
Riley's POV
I decided to relocate to London for a fresh start, probably I'd be able to fully heal from the betrayal and hurt in my heart. “Just maybe if I'm far away from Phoebe and her kids, I would probably get over them” I said.
“Could this be how Beverly felt when she found out that my secretary was pregnant for me?” I asked staring at my personal assistant Desmond.
“Were you talking to me sir?” He asked looking confused.
“No, I was talking to myself.”
“Okay sir”
“What date and time are we leaving?”
“Sunday morning”
“Okay cool, were you able to confirm if that reckless swine is getting ready to leave my company?”
“Yes sir, he officially announced that he is stepping down yesterday during the board directors meeting.”
“Those lousy men, is it possible to fire all of them? because I honestly aside I don't see the need for them, they only come to work when there is a board of director's meeting yet they are the highest paid employees and I don't like that.
“But sir they are old men, what could possibly be doing if the came to work every day”
“That's the reason why I should fire all of them, they should have all retired by now”
“You are right sir but don't you think that would be too unfair? Moreover they are the founding fathers of the company”
“But they all connived with the previous owner and sold it, so they shouldn't expect to keep collecting huge check books for doing absolutely nothing. I bet that Ricardo or whatever he calls himself paid them handsomely, so they should go home and rest.”
“If you so sir, what about other employees?”
“What about them?”
“Are they also going to loose their job?”“If I’m impressed”
“I don’t understand sir”
“There will be something like a screening process for all employees that want to continue working, their employment solely depends on them”
“When would you announce it?”
“Yes”
“Okay sir, but how do you intend to successfully carry this out?”
“It won’t be much of a big deal, it would be like normal job interviews”
“Okay sir”
“And I’ll start very early on Monday morning”
“Monday? When do you now intend on announcing it?”
“Monday morning”
“But sir shouldn’t you at least give them a few days to get themselves ready?”
“I'm asking them questions based on their current work line”
“Okay sir. Sir I recently found something that I didn't notice earlier”
“What is it about?”
“It is about the AD company that you just bought”
“What about it?”
“It has a few properties under it”
“What other properties are you talking about? I bought everything under the company name.”
“Yes you did but Ricardo Simmons is trying to play a dirty one on you”
“What do you mean?”
“There are a few residential apartments, cars and small businesses acquired under the companies name”
“How come I didn't know about this?”
“I just found out yesterday, that was the reason why he was trying to delay you from buying the company”
“How could that be the reason?”
“For over a week now Ricardo Simmons has been trying to change ownership for those properties”
“But the properties now belong to me?”
“Yes sir, he tried to change the ownership to his wife before you bought the company but it wasn't possible”
“Why was it not possible? Wasn't the company his?”
“It was but not one percent his. The founder of the company made a rule that no one is allowed to change ownership of anything belonging to the company unless he or she has at least seventy percent of the company and he didn't have up to that”
“This is ridiculous, so if I'm not wrong, the summary of all you are saying is that I'm basically just a shareholder?”
“You have over little over eighty percent of the shares”
“You are starting to get me confused”
“I'm sorry about that sir”
“You don't need to be, just explain better”
“Okay sir, In other for Ricardo to sell the company to you, he needed to own seventy percent of the company share and he only had about twenty five percent. Other shareholders contributed to giving him seventy percent of the company shares”
“Really?”
“Yes sir”
“That dumbass would have spent a whole lot of money to get that much shares”
“No he didn't, he didn't spend even a dime”
“That's so absurd, I knew those old men were dumb but I didn't know that it was to this extent”
“He told them about his plans to only sell the Ad company and leave out every other property owned by the company. He made a deal with them that he had plans of using the money he would get the buyer and open a new company, then register those other properties under the new company and give each of them seven percent of the company share”
“If you didn't know any of these earlier how did you then find out?”
“I began to suspect that something fishy was up when some of the shareholders began to contact me saying that they wanted to sell all of their company shares, even after buying from some of them, more kept coming so I decided to find out why, I was able to get one of them to talk”
“If you got the seventy percent before selling it to me, how then wasn't he able to still change the ownership of the company”
“You threatened that you would back out from buying the company if he didn't sell the company to you just few days after he got the shares”
“He could have just sold it to next time”
“You were the only one interested in buying the company”
“That's not possible, I even told him that I would pay him ten times more than the actual bidder”
“Unfortunately you were the only and highest bidder”
“But what I paid was more than ten percent of the initial price I was meant to pay”
“Yes, He and his shareholders decided to increase the price”
“Gosh” I said banging my hands really hard on the table. “I feel so stupid”
“I'm sorry sir, I should have done a better research”
“It's alright, the deed has already been done. Book a flight for two, we are leaving for London first thing tomorrow morning”
“Okay Sir” “You can go now” Wednesday noon I walk into my new company unannounced.“Where the f**k is that son a b***h called Ricardo Simmons? Tell him and those lousy old men to come out here and meet me now to avoid incurring my wrath”
“I'm sorry sir but Sir Ricardo went out to have launch with an investor” One of the female employees said,
“To have launch?”
“Yes sir.”
“What business does that motherfucker still have with my investors?. Where are they having launch?”
“I'm sorry sir but I can't disclose such information to you”
“Really?”
“I'm sorry sir”
“You fired”
“Sir?”
“Sir you need to calm down” Desmond whispered to me and I just ignored him.
“You heard me right, I bet you are one of the people that fool is recruiting for is new company”
“Sir I'm sorry, Please don't fire me” The lady said kneeling to beg me.
“You don't need to beg me, I already made up my mind”
The lady ran to a table picked up a paper and pen, scribbled something on it then brought back to where I was standing “This is where sir Ricardo is having launch with the investor, Sir please don't fire me”
“You are damn lucky that I'm in a pretty good mood this afternoon” I said and took the paper from her. “Let's go” I said to Desmond before we left the building.
By the end of the week we were able to stop Ricardo and his old minions.
“You can go back home” I said to Desmond. “I know we never discussed on you moving here with me, so you are free to go home, just don't forget to send down the best management team to me”
“I decided to not go back sir”
“Really? Why?”
“I've been your personal assistant for over twelve years and as it stands right now, I really don't see myself doing any other job other than that”
“Thank you, I really do not deserve this level of loyalty from you”
“I'm only doing my job. And I've contacted the best managing team in the world, they will be here by Wednesday”
“Okay, that would be great. Thank you once again”
“No problem sir”
“You are dismissed for the day or should I say the whole weekend, go have fun”
“Thank you sir”
“You can use the company card, spend as much as much as you want”
“Thank you very much sir”
“You're welcome. See you on Monday”
“Do have a lovely weekend Sir”
“You too” I said and watched him leave my hotel room.
Friday evening, I was in my room, bored ASF not knowing what to do, I picked up my phone to check if there was any fun activity happening this night in London.
“A mask party” I said to myself. “Sounds like something I should definitely attend” I said got up to get dressed but stopped halfway to the closet. “But I don't have a mask” I said and returned to my bed. “Maybe I should call the hotel staff and see if they can get me a mask” I said picked up the telephone and called the reception to make a special request.
In less than thirty minutes someone came up to my room with a mask.
“How much would that be?” I asked.
“You don't need to pay me now, it has been added to your room bill”
“Okay, thanks”
“I need a car and a driver, I have to be somewhere this night”
“Okay sir, I'll bring you a list and pictures of cars that are available for the night”
“That won't be necessary, I just need a black flashy car”
“Okay sir”
“The flashier the better”
“Okay sir, It'll be ready in less than ten minutes”
“Okay. I'll be down shortly” I said and closed my door,
I quickly put on my best tuxedo and a gold color tie to compliment the design on my mask. After getting dressed, I go downstairs ready to leave.
“This way sir” An employee said leading me to where my ride was parked.
“Where to sir?” The driver asked.
I tell him the name of the club, then he drives off.
- Writer
