Thorns of betrayal

He stepped into the boardroom with a man.The formal wear mixed with the serious attitude created an official feeling the people who wear already in the luxurious room stood up in greeting as a sign of acknowledging his presence. After taking a look at the bunch of people before him, everyone follow suit. No one deared to make a sound. He opened a few right away, without looking up, he gave a cue to a young man for the presentation to begin.

"The new aim of our store will be to sell jewelries at a lower price so our customers..

He was cut short by a cold remark.

"You mean to tell me you want to lower our profit margins? He rolled his eyes and went through the file.

"This company is built off if integrity and quality, my father did not build the company for it to be simply mediocre. If there is no better pitch by Tuesday noon, you will be fired. He boomed, the room suddenly feeling ice cold. He got up and left the room without a bit of emotion on his face.

He sat on his shiny black office chair, as he goes through the office file when Mr James his personal assistant stepped in through the entrance.

"So you are telling mr this whole time you have found this predicament entirely unimportant to report to me? Yet according to our charts, our sales have decreased by a whopping 30%. He said showing it to them on the office flow chart.

The man was caught off guard, not expecting to be asked all of the questions at once. Silence filled the room and darkness covered it like cloud.

" Well sir, that's not really the source of the problem. Actually, when your father was active CEO and president, he loaned about fifty million dollars to mr. Parker of the Parker stores after their project failed. It was originally twenty million, but they continually asked for more after asking for more and more eventually, your father passed away. That money has been restricting out advertising and growth budget. As the story unfolded, it caused Andrew to think how come he had never been awar of this?

"Parker owes us fifty million dollars? And they haven't paid any yet?

"Start a brief overview of this case, write it and get it to me as soon as possible.

"sir please give me time to review it and create bring out a proper case. Mr James said.

"Sure you can go and get it ready, take your time.

Few hours had passed since mr James had left to write the case.

Mr Andrew was standing staring outside through his office window with different thoughts running through his mind when James walked in interrupting his train of thoughts.

"I assumed you have gotten everything sorted out. Andrew questioned.

"Yes. Mr Andrew, James assured handling the paper over.

He flipped through the pages. " good to know you are taking work seriously, and finding ideas on solutions.

"Well sir, I don't think the Parker family can pay us back anytime soon, with their sales versus their spending, I don't believe that we can get even a reasonable fraction of our money back anytime in the near or even the distant future.

"What exactly do you mean? That we have just lost fifty million dollars to our highest, advancing competitors?

He said furrowing his eyebrows as he picked his briefcase and stepped out of the office heading straight to his car.

The chauffeur opened the door for him as he settled in. He maneuverd the car out of the building while Andrew sat quietly lost in his thoughts. His train of thoughts was cut short when his phone began to ring.

His cousin was calling him

"Hello Andrew" she said with her cheerful voice, but his cold response made her wonder.

"What's wrong? Are you okay? She asked concerned.

"Well, a company owe us a huge sum of fifty million dollars, I don't know what to do now and James believes they can't pay now" Andrew said.

"Which company if I may ask?

"Parker stores, he said buthis cousin went silent.

" oh Parker stores, I see ehm i have an advice for you. Since money isn't available at the moment, we will have to go with a no price-price factor. Well you see mr parker has a daughter. When a kingdom has financial troubles, there will be a kind of agreement to join hands and strengthen their bonds.

" go on Andrew said suddenly interested in what could amount to fifty million dollars.

"A marriage to be precise, prosperity would reign and their problem would be fixed. Are you suggesting a marriage between I and mr parker's daughter?" Andrew asked with a cool demeanour, catching on quite fast.

"when her father passes, you will be in part ownership of the inheritance. This can include a partial ownership of their business and more than the money they owe. Thereafter, you can do whatever suits you with the company plus you get to avoid having to pass through the strenuous court process of claiming back your money." His cousin ended with an intake of breath. It was a last minute idea and there were there is no other options. Andrew wore a mask, and under it was the layer of questions: Is this really a beneficial fix? Is it even a viable solution?

"So you're saying that a marriage should amend his debt therefore furthering us by part ownership and inheritance? How are we sure they will agree to such an offer?" Andrew enquired.

"Well if we bring in the facts, this is Mr. Parker's best option. I have things to do now, talk to you some other time." Andrew hung up the call and sighed heavily.

After about fourty five minutes drive, he pulled over at the front of his mansion. The chauffeur opened the door and he went into the mansion. He called his personal assistant ordering him to set up an appointment with Mr parker.