Prologue

Elena Davis

“Are you staying back again? El.” Annoyed voice of my office colleague and friend made me jump on my seat because of his sudden inversion in my cabin. I peeped out of my laptop to see his irritated face, leaning on the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Sorry, Theo. This will be the last.” I showed my most convincing eyes. I have to complete my remaining work before the weekend as we planned to go for an outing and I was going to take a day off. He narrowed his light brown eyes at me, trying his fake attempt to intrigue me, but I chucked at his attempt.

“Absolutely, NOT.” He rolled his eyes and came forward to shut down my laptop. We joined Accardo Hotels together nearly a few years ago. We've been working together since the beginning.

He is the head of the management department and I help him as he is senior to me. I am an assistant manager. He forced the laptop to shut down and started dragging me out of my chair towards the door.

“Ok, ok. I will come. You’re never going to listen to me.” I always do that. We are very close friends. He smirked at me, showcasing his glorious victory. This boy is always over the top.

“Then why do you tell me? Who is the boss here?” He faked his authority over me. He even faked wince when I poked his stomach with my elbow. We reached the elevator, and I pressed the button and we got in.

“Oh, come on. Fourth time a week is too much. There is time for a deadline. He reasoned with me.

“I know. Aren’t we going hiking? I am taking a week's leave after that trip to visit dad.” I told him the reason for my working extra as I wanted to visit dad, I miss him. He frowned at me in disbelief

“Are you sure about that? I will come with you.” I inquired with a concerned look on his face while we were getting out of the elevator. He has been my friend for a long time. He knows about me, most of it at least.

“Yaa, I am sure, and I will handle everything. Don’t worry.” I tried to persuade him to let me go alone and luck was on my court. He nodded in defeat and signed loudly. Hearing him, I burst into laughter

“Ok, bye. Theo.” I bid him farewell and approached my car in the parking lot. I sat and drove towards my apartment. He is just worried about me, because my dad is a drug addict. After my mom died because of terminal illness, he broke down and lost his mind.

Even though they are my adopted parents, they showered me with all the love available in this world.

Everything was perfect until mom passed and my life shook from its original place. It was more difficult for dad, as he loved her so much that he became silent for a few months and when he came out from his trance, he already lost his thinking capabilities.

Well, he promised me to stop his drug habits. He will definitely try this time. I trust him. So, what if he is a drug addict? He loves me like his own daughter, to a girl who doesn’t even know the name of her birth father?

For me, he is the most important person in my life. One day, he will definitely understand how important he is to me and stop taking drugs.

I saw the lights of my apartment were on, which means it’s time to meet my super cool roomy and my best friend, Lucy Branden. Theo introduced me to her nearly three years ago. He and Lucy were classmates in highschool.

We got along better than we ever expected and turned besties in no time, then we decided to become roomies. We rented an enormous apartment in downtown Miami.

I parked my car in my parking lot and went towards the elevator. In no time, I reached my apartment and rang the bell. I waited for a few moments to let her open the door but, when she didn’t I used my keys to get in. What’s wrong with her? Why didn’t she open the door? She always does.

I placed my keys and bag in front of the entrance table and entered the hall. I inspected it, but she wasn’t there. God, she is scaring me now. Maybe she is in her bedroom. I knocked but no response, so I opened the door and the view I saw made me shout at her at the top of my lungs.

“Pattyyyy.” She jerked in her place, looking upwards from her popcorn bowel. She stood up in defense mode on her bed, clutching the remote of the TV, she removed her headphones slowly. Asking mercy in her eyes. She gulped visibly

“Sorry sorry sorry sorry.” She chanted in front of me before I could scold her, with her fake doe eyes at me.

“You’re scared.” I yelled at her. She is a grown ass woman and still acting like a five-year-old.

“I know, I know. I promise, this will not happen again.” She begged me to make her eyes smaller. This idiot needs to learn a lesson.

“Only if you will do laundry next week.” Her demeanor changed, and she came down from bed and narrowed her eyes at me, holding her hands on her hips. I gave an innocent smile to her. She mocked me by wiggling her one eyebrow in the air.

“Ok,” she agreed in a small, angry tone.

“Go, get freshened up. I will reheat dinner.” She ordered while rolling her eyes at me, making faces showing her disinterest in cleaning clothes. A chuckle released from me from witnessing her childish behavior. She is not only a friend but a family to me.

She cooks for both of us, because I can’t guarantee the kitchen if I enter it. Me and the kitchen don’t go with each other, so basically I am banned from the kitchen, but I like to experiment with it.

I returned to my bedroom, which has dark lavender and white themes. I freshened up and changed into comfortable clothing and went into the kitchen. Patty was standing in front of the stove. A smile formed on my lips as I saw her cooking chicken. Wow, she made chicken to make me happy.

“Someone is happy.” She commented on my stretched smile at the chicken.

“Thanks.” I jumped on the chair, as it was impossible to wait for dinner. She laughed at my excitement because she knows how I enjoyed her cooking.

“How was your day? You are late, by the way.” She asked, while taking a seat in her chair as she served for both of us.

“Nothing special, just like every day.” I replied while stuffing food in my mouth and waved with my hand. She chuckled at my answer.

“Is Theo giving you a lot of work?” She questioned me because of my late arrival a few days ago.

“Nay, I have taken a leave after our hiking plan.” I confessed, while shaking my head negatively. She arched her eyebrows, showing her surprise and asking me why?

“I am going to meet dad.” As I completed my sentence, she banged her glass on the table loudly. I was prepared, though. She had a habit of talking less with her mouth and more with objects surrounding her.

“You know what happened last time?” She yelled at me with an angry voice and flaming eyes.

“He wasn’t in rehab, and that was an accident.” I tried to defend him. He is trying to improve for me. Last time he accidentally pushed me and my head bumped into the corner of the table. She cares about me a lot, but he is my father.

“It doesn’t matter, and that wasn’t an accident.” She argued in a bitter tone, shoving her plate far from her. She got up, glaring at me.

“Patty, he is my father.” I got up from the table and approached her, but she turned away from me.

“He promised me he will leave his drug habits. He will improve on me. Patty, and you know how much it matters to me.” She turned to a saddened expression. She didn’t look convinced at all.

“I know. He will never change like you. You can go on only one condition. I will come with you.” At least Theo listens to me, but Patty never did not go. She is so stubborn and cares about like an elder sister.

She was trying to fill the place of mom as my elder sister and I really appreciate that. I nodded my head to show my agreement to her condition. She relaxed a bit, but her facial muscles were tense.

“Have you told Theo?” she asked again while taking a seat and showing me to do the same. I sat down in a chair and resumed my dinner.

“Yah, I told him while coming tonight.” I answered her and took a spoonful of chicken from the plate.

“And he agreed?” She was surprised by my answer. I chuckled at her. She shook her head for a second and she continued too. My chuckle gave her an answer, and she continued her dinner, too.

She had a theory that he has a crush on me. I don’t think so. He was always a good friend to me and besides, if had a crush on me, he should have confessed long ago. It’s been nearly four years since we have known each other, and I witnessed nothing like that kinda from him.

Yes, he is protective, but not that kind. He is a wonderful friend and always remains. Theo and Patty are very close to my heart.

We both finished our dinner and we’re watching Netflix and relaxing on the couch as we both had a tiring day. Patty is a journalist. She works with famous newspapers and writes articles about them. She also does field work a lot of times.

We both were distracted because of the ring of my phone. With irritation I picked up the phone and saw it’s Theo calling me at this hour. I answered his call. I saw Patty was scrunching her nose because of the phone, so I walked into the balcony which is connected to the main hall. We decorated it with fairy lights and made a small seating arrangement beside the plants for evening coffee.

I could smell the fragrance of freshly watered plants mixed with the hint of Jasmine who blossomed newly just at the corner.

“Yes, Theo?” I answered his call. I was curious what he had to tell me? Maybe it’s urgent.

“El? Have you complained about the CEO lately?” He questioned me in disbelief, and the urgency in his voice was so clear.

“Ya, I had. Why?” I answered his question. What’s wrong with it? He was at fault. I don’t.

“Why haven’t you told me before about it?” His questions made me confused. He was perplexed by the unknown situation.

“Theo? First calm down and I told you about this, but you took it as a joke. What actually happened?” His reaction and tone of voice made me curious about it. There is something big about it.

“Chairman fired the CEO.” I was beyond shocked by his news. He took my mail seriously and even took curial action against it. I never expected that to happen.

“fired? I thought, he -“ I didn’t have words to speak. He was cursing continuously at the situation.

“Means, is there seriously something wrong with the accounts?” He was shocked too and questioned me back in his influential voice.

“Ya, I discussed this matter with the CEO, but he just waved at my questions and told me it’s nothing. I found lots of transactions which were never made and some transactions were totally unnecessarily done, like he was trying to shield something from people.” He left speechless after my explanation.

He didn’t have any argument against mine. Both of us didn’t speak for a moment to absorb everything and tried to compose ourselves.

“But why do you ask?” The main reason for the call was left behind in the background.

“New CEO is going to arrive in two days and the COO thinks you should assist him with fixing that problem.” His words left my mouth open. I was shocked to hear that.

“No, why don’t you do that? I am not a secretary. I am an assistant manager. That’s not my work.” I defended my position. How can they just change my job description in a night?

“They already issued an order for you. You will receive them tomorrow. I think you don’t have any options over this issue.” His voice was conforming to the helplessness of ours in this situation. My plans? What about dad?

“I think we have to cancel our hiking trip. As I have to babysit the upcoming CEO.” I mumbled to myself. I was sad that we couldn’t go for a trip and he was laughing histrionically because of my choice of words.

“Ya, I have to, but I am happy that your visit to your dad is prolonged for an unknown time. There is always something good in every bad thing.” He sounded happy with my changed job description. He hung up the call after that.

Well, the sudden change in my job description was totally unacceptable, but I pulled it on my shoulder, so I have to bear it now. I don’t have any option for that; I am totally stuck in this situation. Let’s see what happens ahead.