Prologue
Chaos, explosions, screams, drums, thumps.
Every chaotic and frenzy sound that once could think of in the world, drummed in Adrian’s head in that moment.
He continued tapping his finger over his forehead, trying to pulsate an external source as a reason for all those noises but soon he stopped tapping his finger, as shifted his elbow from the arm rest of his swivel chair.
The loud noises in his head turned in to sheen whistle, that faded, as his name got called over and over again, distracting him from his chaotic thoughts and the voices in is head finally disappeared, as he finally opened up his eyes, with the distant and fade sound of his name being called out, finally becoming clearer. As his eyes opened up, the view of the entire Manhattan city, burned in Adrian’s eyes. The city – twinkling and sparkling with sunlight being reflected on the glass buildings, just like the once that he sat in. it was a moment of great self reflection for him.
“Adrian!”
As he heard his name called out again, he rose his hand up in the air, preventing his mother to call him out any further, who kept on calling his name to get his attention.
The woman sighed, shaking her head and placed her own fingers around her temples, massaging them gently.
Noticing Adrian’s hand being raised, a pin drop, murderous silence, spread all across the entire office, that covered up more than half of the entire floor.
The office rested on the top most floor of the building, signifying the power of the man who possessed it.
But the power seemed to be feeble at the moment, since all those present in the office had their foreheads wrinkled with worry.
Sitting in his brown leather swivel large, facing the glass wall of the office, was Adrian.
The large mahogany desk that was right behind him had his name plate, ‘Managing Director – Adrian Sarmiento’.
Adrian’s head was bowed down, with his hands fixated in his chestnut hair, that had sharp streaks of brown and light streaks of dark blond in them. His thick eyebrows were knitted together, showcasing how anxious the man was at that moment.
His coat hung behind him on the chair’s backrest, leaving his formal shirt on display over his ripped body, the sleeves of which threatened to tear away, as his elbows flexed upwards and rested on his thighs, with him bowled downwards, pondering with great perplexity over the information that he had just received.
He ran his long fingers down towards his temples that he massaged softly, squinting his eyes shut tightly. His eyelashes, thin yet long, still protruded out of his closed lids, resting over his perfectly structured face. The jawline, sharp enough to cut through someone’s fingers. The nose as straight as a steal beam, perfectly balance right in the middle of his face, splitting up his contoured cheeks.
As he continued rubbing his temples, he pondered hard trying to figure a way out of the problems. He closed his fist every one in a while, the one that rested on his thigh. The urge to pick something inside the office and thrash the place blindly was too strong to overcome, since he felt losing his everything. But he was not going to do that. or better – just couldn’t do that.
He moved one finger down to his jaw, rubbing the side of his face, right beneath his sideburns, his fingers brushing against the slight stubble grown on his face that was slightly tanned, still having the signs of his weekend over the Turks and Caicos, celebrating his ascension to the upper most level of the corporation chain of the Sarmiento Enterprises, thinking that he had won and finally defeated and broken the hierarchical chain.
Little did he know that a technicality still awaited him.
“But Mr. Diablo, there still had to be a way around this condition. It can’t be necessarily an obligation for Adrian to have to marry that girl to become a CEO.”
Joy, Adrian’s mother, rose her voice. Finally someone piercing through the killing silence. Having her skin obviously worked up with filters and Botox but she still showed sign of a mature age, with her hair having all turned grey and slight lines present on her forehead and corner of her lips she sat on the leather couches, placed at one corner of the office, opposite to the wall filled with books, awards, pictures of Joy with her son Adrian and obviously an expensive wooden framed, Harvard Degree, belonging to her son Adrian.
The man, who sat across the coffee table, on another single sofa chair, his hair all blown away from his head, greyed and left only on the sides and the lowers side of his head, simply shook his head in utter disappointment.
“Sorry Joy! There is no escaping this one.”
The man scratched his belly, as he also felt anxious but mostly hungry as he delivered the news to the Sarmiento family.
“But why would Mr. Sarmiento even make this an obligation?” Adrian’s secretary, Jared, who stood in front of Adrian’s desk rose the question. He wore a simple blue dress shirt over formal pants, standing erect with his iPad in his hands, his hair slicked back, mirroring his boss’s style, whom he always copied and tried his best to impress.
“Turns out, it was the girl’s father.” Diablo announced, making Adrian groan slightly as he heard those words.
“The Girl’s father? Ross? But he was such a loyal subject to us and if anything, he was the one who trained Adrian and it is because of him, that Adrian was able to impress all those on the board. He taught Adrian everything. He had been loyal to us all along. He can’t do that.”
Joy argued and Diablo once again scratched his head, as he pondered on those words.
“Yes, but I think when the girl’s father donated, Adrian’s grandfather his kidney, it somehow shortened the man’s life expectancy and he knew that he would not live much. That’s why he had made Percy, Adrian’s grandfather, promise to look after his daughter. So, Percy’s will, under a miscellaneous clause state, that if Ross is dead, then only the member of the board, who shall marry his daughter, will get to be the Chief Executive Officer of the Sarmiento…”
“Enough…” Adrian finally spoke up placing his head in his hands showcasing how exhausted he already was, both mentally and physically, “You don’t have to repeat it again.”
Everyone in the room fell in to a state of complete taciturnity. Scared of what Adrian might do next physically. Since, the guy didn’t possess a good record of how he usually acted under pressuring circumstances.
His voice coarse, as he obstructed Diablo from speaking any further. His mind was still spinning with a mixture of emotions. He didn’t know whether he was angry at his grandfather for dying and leaving behind a spear on his head to deal with or if he was emotional at the remembrance of his mentor and most subconjunctival matter was that very mentor’s daughter, whom he once found loathsome and annoying to the core of his heart.
Diablo fell tacit to Adrian’s orders, knowing very well that the man was full of gist and power and was someone not to be disobeyed against.
“Mr. Diablo, does anyone other than you know about this? The board just declared its favor in Adrian’s ascension as the CEO and Freddy and his son Zion, are still in fumes. They would do anything to sabotage my son’s position. ” Joy asked, suddenly panicking at the thought of the news leaking out of that room and others rushing to get the girl for themselves of their sons.
“No! You know Joy, I am loyal to you and your son. I would never do anything to sabotage his position. That’s why when I heard about his ascension to the CEO’s position, I immediately began the paper work but in my father’s old papers, that he had left for me, I found some legal documents that he had kept from when he used to work for Percy. I found the will and immediately came rushing here.”
“What if we don’t tell anybody about it?” Jared suggested and Adrian seemed quite intrigued by his recommendations but Diablo’s immediately negative response, threw him off right away.
“Tch! Can’t be done.”
“Can’t the clause in the will be challenged or nullified in the eye of the court?”
“You would be taking a huge risk, leaking out this information, taking the matter to the court. I would suggest to keep this information just within these walls for as long as possible. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend, telling this little piece of information to the girl as well. And that’s why you should act upon it, as quickly as possible or else, things could get hard for Adrian and his hopes of becoming the CEO.”
“Why?” Joy complained, with quite agitation.
“Because this is something that would come out eventually, if not now than anywhere in the future when the matter of the ascension would be raised. The board of directors, will officially vote next week and many of the stock holders and investors will always be present at the ceremony. I would recommend that you get your hold on the girl. Because she is the last and only thing standing between your son and that seat of the CEO. He had the vote but he doesn’t have the girl. Having that girl would confirm his position as the CEO and then nothing could ever stop him from becoming the CEO.”
Just like the last nail in the coffin, Diablo concluded his consultation and guided the lost souls, in the best way possible in his opinion.
Jared felt, highly disappointed and saddened for his boss, who had been nothing but like a friend to him.
He glanced back at Adrian and saw his reflection in the glass wall, that told him that Adrian was completely shaken and lost at the moment and pressurizing him any further would not be considered as a good idea.
He stepped ahead and attained Joy’s attention.
“Mrs. Sarmiento, do you have any idea where this girl is now? Because, I have never heard about her and from what I have just found out, she was once close to the family? Since her father was our MD’s mentor?”
Joy shook her head, as she looked down at her empty palms, clamped together in her lap, resting over her perfectly creased formal skirt that ran up till the middle of her calves.
“No! After her father passed away, she just vanished. I sent many men after her but she was nowhere to be found….”
Suddenly Adrian got up from his chair, making a gentle squeak sound, that got everyone’s attention in the room.
Everyone looked at him, as he walked up close to the wall, looking out at the sparkling, sun reflecting skyscrapers and towers, that made up the city of New York. The city of dreams and success hungry businessmen, who was willing to step on to anyone and destroy anything just to rule over the city.
Adrian had worked hard his entire life to achieve the position of the CEO. He had remained laser focused and had given up a regular and joyful youth, unlike his cousin Zion, who had lost the confidence of the board of directors because of his reckless behavior that they believed would destroy the company.
Even though, Zion was next in line to take up after his father as the CEO but his lose behavior made him fall behind and Adrian had worked very hard his entire life to reach where he stood in that moment.
Ever since, he was ten and known about the business of his family, he had wanted nothing more than to achieve the top most position. He controlled half of the enterprise already and many people believed that without his single signature, not a bird could flap its wings in New York. He was that powerful already and he only imagined how immense his power would become, if he ever took over the position of the CEO.
He had many great connections, ranging from the secret agencies to the mafia, so to have the girl handled in a under the table way, would not be difficult for him.
“Does the girl has to be alive to complete the condition?” he asked, speaking for the first time on the matter and as his words only disappointed Joy and Jared, not surprising them, Diablo on the contrary was definitely amazed at the audacity of the boy.
“Of course! That’s what the will states. If the girl is dead in any case, then the position of the CEO would go out of the family. Anybody would have it but no one in the family shall…”
As Diablo spoke those words, Joy gasped slightly, placing her hands over her chest, horrified at the thought of her son’s hard work, that he had spent sweating for his entire life, going to waste.
“Adrian worked so hard for this company, how can they just snatch his hard work away only because of a mere objective person, who does not even know anything about this business. We don’t even know where to find her and…”
As Joy continued with her rant, her words faded to her son, Adrian who looked out at the city, the place he planned on ruling soon. His vision then focused on his reflection on the glass in front of him. the reflection was weak, low and faded but something that mocked Adrian and told him that he was still powerless. A mere girl, whom he loathed once and was annoyed by her mere presence around him, was now going to be the deciding factor of his future.
He was the one who always won and this time, he was going to make sure that no stone remained unturned.
“We don’t even know where to find her. she could be anywhere or she could be dead for all I know of.”
Joy continued with her rant but paused when Adrian turned towards everyone else in the room and looked at his assistant in particular.
“Jared! Prepare my jet for LA. Let’s go and get the girl.”
With that he stormed out of the office, making Jared run towards his desk and prepare in accordance with Adrian’s order.
Joy and Diablo were simply left stunned, as they looked at each other and only rose their hands and shoulders in quite the stunned manner, realizing that Adrian perhaps knew about the girl’s whereabouts all along.
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Hey! This is my new book, which is me trying something different for the first time. It is different to what I usually write and I hope you guys find it interesting to read and enjoy :)
Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3
