Harry's shoe clanked on the cool marble floor as he walked to his corner office from the elevator. A trail of greetings erupted- " Good morning, Sir." He gave a slight nod of his head in response, not looking at the horde of employees as he treaded ahead.
"Good morning sir," he heard his personal secretary's voice.
"my coffee" he said.
"Right away sir,"
Hazel has been his secretary for a year now and the only one who stayed for that long time because, no one stayed for more than three months as his secretary, because he was so ruthless and arrogant, and cold aura.
Hazel followed Harry and entered his office with his coffee. He sat at his chair checking his coffee to be sure it's just the way he liked it, and hazel stood alert across the table.
Knowing her boss's temperament, hazel opened with the good news," I got a reservation at LaAmbrois for you and your friend, at 2pm today."
LaAmbrois was a Five Star fine-dining French restaurant. The reservation for it was to be done weeks in advance since it was the current hottest spot in town.
This earned hazel a quick glance from her boss. "LaAmbrois? I asked you to book a table anywhere. Why the fancy one?" Clearly hazel was trying to soften out a blow.
Hazel had been his longest secretary. And it has been 3 years for him to become the CEO officially, even though he has been in charge of the company before his father passed away.
"Well...." Hazel trailed, " your 9am meeting with the PR from Channel 9 has been cancelled."
"Cancelled?" he asked, well aware of who cancelled it.
"Umm.... Your stepmother personally cancelled the meeting." Hazel informed him, waiting for what is to come.
Harry stopped reading the briefs that hazel had meticulously arranged on his table last night. He pressed his back on the leather chair and sighed, "what is mother up to now?"
Harry's problem with his stepmother went back a long way 12 years to be precise. She was the MD of the Dreamz group of companies, which dealt in all sorts of businesses.
"She is cooking something," Hazel told him, "I overheard her PA setting up a meeting with the company lawyers and then with her accountants too."
Hazel's information gathering skill was one of the things that he appreciate about her. He set her off with a wave of his hands. Walking over to the huge glass windows, Harry took in the view ahead- the city skyline and the morning sun shining brightly, and reflected.
After his college, he started working in his father's company as an intern, every summer for 3 years and 2 years during his MBA. And took up most of the works due to his father's illness- A total of being associated with the firm for 12 long years.
Somina was a mentor and father. The man had vision; he knew how to convert those visions into tangible assets yet he had a heart of gold. He was a businessman and a philanthropist. He got married to Leyla when Harry's mother died of cancer. Since then Leyla became jealous of harry because his father loves him so much and would do anything to make him happy.
Slowly by the dint of Harry's hard work and acumen, he made himself visible to the world, as a ruthless billionaire by taking over alot of companies in a ruthless way.
When he began at Dreamz group, they were hardly a dozen people. Now they had more than 5000 people. It's now the biggest company in the States. He toiled hard to make it grow, for his father. And Somina had seen this. He admired his dedication to a firm, which had been on the back burner ever since it's conception. He knew how hard he worked to take an underdog, an underperformer and carve a name for it among the competitors.
But 5 months ago, before he passed away, in a move that stunned Harry, Somina made an addendum to the company article. All his companies would go to his only child, but in case of the Beta toy company, even though Harry will be the owner, the management control would be divided between the CEO
Harry
and the MD
Leyla
. This meant that most of the management decision would require both their agreement.
Leyla, who was now the MD of the Dreamz groups of companies, had started despising Harry who was now the owner of all his business empire. She was like a dog with a bone- once she harbored ill feelings for someone, she wouldn't let it go. Since Harry had equal powers in Beta toys, Leyla try as hard as she may, to crush him.
Over the past 5 months, since Somina's death, Leyla had approached the board of directors to back her decision in removing Harry as the CEO. Fortunately, for Harry the directors valued results and Harry had always been able to deliver.
Today, Leyla had cancelled an Important meeting with a potential advertisement source. And as per the information from Hazel, she was in talks with the company lawyers.
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose- Leyla was up to something and he was sure it would be something fatal, since she never hide her hatreds for him ever since she married his father.
…...…………....…
★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Hazel's first job out of college was in Dreamz. She had interned here, from her undergrad and became Harry's secretary for a year now.
Harry's late father, Somina was Hazel's mentor when she was in college, she first met him when he came to her college for a function as a chief guest. His speech, his determination, the way he talked about his companies- moved her. She applied for here first internship to Dreamz industry.
