บท 1: GOING BANKRUPT
GOING BANKRUPT
Her legs bobbed up and down, the itch between her thighs left unattended as her eyes narrowed at the bank statement in her hands. It was not satisfying, neither did it look good.
Maria could not get over the fact that one of her employees, the manager to be precise, had been stealing funds from her business for the past month. Her business was crumbling and she was watching it because there was nothing she could do. Just the week before, some of the investors had pulled out their assets and the ones left were reluctant on being associated with the business at all. It was almost like her lucky charm had expired.
So, it all started on the first Monday of the new year. She came to work that day in a black classy suit and expensive heels to finish off the look. The sun had nothing on her sparkling smile and Maria could've sworn a few guys winked at her from the corners of her eyes. As she entered her office, the panicked look of her assistant came into view and she almost tutted in annoyance. The girl was always worried about one thing or the other.
"Bad news," Clara announced and Maria almost doubled over at her wobbling voice. Surely it couldn't be that bad.
"What? Your fish died?" She said softly as she sauntered to her desk and placed her handbag. She wasn't one to worry over little things. With enough patience and hard work, it will all work out for good- she believed.
"Bad reviews, and a lot of them," Clara screeched, her hands flailing around.
"Definitely has nothing to do with me. My restaurant is a five-star business, prominent people enjoy visiting this place," Maria affirmed with a slight cock of her brows.
"The restaurant's website is blowing up with bad reviews and negative comments. We had about 4 influencers who visited the restaurant last week and they posted on their socials on how bad our food and services are!" Clara said, this time bringing the laptop to Maria's desk.
"It was so sudden it caught our social media handler off guard. It's so weird cause we've had many prominent figures visit us in the past and only had nice things to say about our services," Clara added.
The worse part was the restaurant's social media handles were tagged on every influencer's post that had over 100k views. On the bright side, there was a lot of engagement on their pages as their Instagram following increased by 50%. The power of social media was something else. Since the past week, there hadn't been any new visitors to the restaurant.
True to Clara's words, It was weird that the bad reviews were coming in all of a sudden. She didn't quite understand what was going on and thinking about it was causing her a migraine.
"Set up a meeting with our social media handler to see how we can change the narrative, and reach out to only our influential regular customers for now. We don't have enough money to do much fixing at the moment."
Forward to two months down the line and her restaurant had lost many of its valuable customers, not to mention her stupid manager who had been stealing funds from the business for the past month. The pesky idiot had relocated to another country just last week and his number couldn't be reached.
Maria sighed and closed the bank statement, choosing not to let worry eat at her as it would do no one any good. Clara stood in front of her with a sympathetic smile, her personal assistant was more like a good friend now.
"I'll be taking my leave now. Please rest well." Clara said before turning to grab her belongings.
Maria's restaurant had started three years ago, easily gaining the attention of the public and the wealthy men in the society. Soon after it was launched, it was classified as a five-star restaurant, the reviews were superb and they kept trooping in one after the other. Maria and her best friend, Athina, ran the business and while she was the brains of the business, Athina definitely was the spirit of the business.
Athina was the beauty too, considering she could pull businessmen and investors with that bold and sultry look of hers. More than half of the businessmen that came to spend lavishly and leave good reviews were here for Athina. Maria chuckled as she remembered how her best friend would shake her head and facepalm each time another man would desperately ask for her number and address.
"Men are so easy," Athina would say.
However, since Athina got married the December of the previous year, Maria found it hard to cope. Athina was her lucky bracelet and with her being so far away, Maria couldn't handle everything on her own.
A silver strand fell on her face as she sighed once more before picking up her phone to place a call to her mother.
"Hello dear, how are you doing?" Her mother's voice cut through the silence of the office and like a jolt, Maria's eyes filled with tears. She was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on and usually her mom would be her safe spot but not now. She couldn't tell her family the truth this time around because she was basically the breadwinner of the family being the first child. They would panic and her father would consider going back into the labor market regardless of his health.
"I'm good, mom. How is everyone at home?" Maria asked instead, masking her wobbling voice with a happy one although the tears still shone in her eyes.
"We're doing fine. When will you come home to see us? Ever since you got your place you never came home. Your siblings miss you so much."
"I'm sorry mum. I'll come home this weekend to see everyone. I've just been so busy with work and everything," Maria sighed, hoping her Mom wouldn't see through her.
"Okay, I hope you're eating properly?"
"Yes, mom. Now take care, I'll call you later. Goodnight." She quickly ended the call and looked through her contact list for Athina's number.
Hearing her mother's voice was all the confirmation she needed to know that she could not let this business slip from her hands. She had a whole family depending on her, supporting her and rooting for her and she could not disappoint them. Maria believed that if she could tell Athina everything that had been happening, they would be able to think up a solution.
Just as she was about to press the dial key, she paused to look at the time, it was 8 pm. Out of respect, she decided to call Athina the next day instead of disturbing her so early into the night. With her determination set in stone, she reached for her car keys and packed her belongings, it was time to retire for the night.
A faint smile framed her lips as Athina's wedding replayed in her head. Her best friend was married into quite a weird and extravagant family. The Martakis family.
Of all the male's Maria met that day, just one was quite interesting.
Quite interesting indeed. She subconsciously tightened her legs.
**
Reid stood near a treadmill as he watched the kids playing about. He wasn't a fan of children but reveled in the cute smiles that lit up their faces whenever they were playing or engaging in something mischievous.
How easy it was for them to smile and play without a care in the world, which was something he'd lost touch with. Throughout his adulthood, he still had not found anything that could make his smile as wide as the kids playing.
He couldn't even picture his young self full of smiles and wrapped in a bubble of love. It was so hard to remember a time when he was like the kids having fun as he was born into a family that valued their business and wealth more than family.
It was a family of mad people. The head was his uncle, who disowned his son, Colton for stupid reasons. He only cared about his company's image rather than the tarnished image of his son.
The only thing his uncle had cared about that instant was his company's image, he cared about his company's image more than his son's tarnished image.
Just like his Uncle, his father who was his lookalike behaved the same way. The arrogance and madness ran deep in the family, it would be a miracle if he and his cousin, Colton would be free from it. After all, blood is thicker than water.
Reid vowed to never be like his father if he should ever have offspring. The sole purpose of bringing a child into this world would be because of the love he and his future wife would have for one another. Although the chances of having the perfect partner like his cousin were so slim it was the last thing on his mind.
There still seemed to be enough time to enjoy his bachelor life before settling down with one woman for the rest of his life.
He shivered at the thought of married life but the idea of someone calling him dad made his lips stretch just a little.
Calling his father "Dad or father" in the presence of other people was a privilege he was denied as he debuted into the business world. His father, Jozsef Martakis was a stoic and mad man, who ordered his son to call him Boss and it had stuck ever since. The word "Father" was like a foreign language on his tongue.
Their relationship was more of an employer-employee, rather than a father and son that he sometimes forgot that Jozsef was his father.
The thought of his father always put him in a bad mood. A frown marred his face as he gulped the entire bottled water in his hand.
Even if he lacked the affection of a family, one thing he was happy about was the privilege of being born into a wealthy family. He lacked nothing as he had everything he could ever want at the expense of his black credit card.
Not did he only have the luxury of having the finest things that existed, he had power. Money was power and he was born to wield it.
Reid set his hat on his head and turned to walk back to the ranch. It provided him the little chance to lay low and clear his head.
The ranch he acquired a year ago had grown on him pretty fast that it had become his favorite place. As expected, his father was against the idea of his only child involving himself with a ranch.
It was the first time Reid had gone against his father and gone ahead with his plans. He'd been his father's pushover for too long and was finally breaking the cycle. He had had enough.
The sound of loud footsteps on the grass had him pulling his gun from his waist holder swiftly, alert at every movement as he turned.
He lowered his gun and tucked it back as he saw the familiar face of one of his workers.
"Is there a problem?" He asked as he continued making his way to the ranch.
"Your father asked you to see him. He says you should be at the manor before noon," The worker relayed the message he had gotten from the Martakis head butler.
Reid nodded absentmindedly and hastened his fast pace. He looked down at his shirt that had gone dirty with his faded jeans and boots that had seen better days. The boots were the only gifts he had gotten from his father since he hit puberty. He might not like his father, but the thought behind the gift made it hard to part away from it. Over 5k collection of shoes and he'd still pick the worn-out leather boots.
He decided to opt for a bath once he was in his bedroom. He could already imagine the disgust on his father's face if he stepped foot in the Martakis Manor like a stable worker.
The bath was a refreshing and quick one. He dressed in a simple cotton shirt and dark jeans which were the perfect outfit to ride his Motorbike. The adrenaline rush that came from riding the machine was unexplainable. The euphoria could be matched with one high on weed.
He was about to pick up the keys when he remembered where he was heading to. His father nagged about every single thing he did and riding a motorbike around Greece was not exempted. He took the keys to his Tesla instead and left the ranch.
Reid wasn't sure why his father called for him all of a sudden and did not inform him a day ahead like he always did. He had an idea it was on the case of him settling down which he wasn't ready for at all. The marriage talk had been dragging on for close to a year and he had still been adamant about choosing to have a family of his own.
He still had plans and goals to accomplish. Too many things on his head that there was no room to create a happily ever after fantasy that wasn't bound to last forever.
He couldn't bring himself to understand how Colton found it so easy to find the woman of his dreams. 'Soulmate' was what the love-stricken idiot had classified it as.
The picture was indeed nice. But even if he had one, he wouldn't be surprised if she ran for the hills in a heartbeat.
He arrived at his family estate after a long ride of listening to his favorite Rock and R&B albums. The Martakis estate spread for over 6 acres of land. Aside from the manor that occupied about 2 acres, there was a pool, a guest house, a pool house, a lake at the very end of the estate, and a massive amount of land occupied by smoothly trimmed green grasses.
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