Pleasure BOOK 2: VICTORIA ✓

Chapter 1

    Simoun's POV

   Manila's skyline matched my mood. Gloomy. Dark. Brooding. I stood behind my desk in my office in the sky looking over the city I had made my home. But it didn't feel like home. The overcast day matched my mood, and it had been a mood I couldn't shake for weeks. I drew in a deep breath as I clasped my hands behind my back, thinking about all of the work I had in front of me.

      The contract with Onel was going well. The security programs I had created myself were in their first developmental stage. We were in the process of working out the first round of kinks before the software had to go underneath my prying eye, and then it would go through its second round of testing. My company would test all of the software until less than five bugs came back. A handful of bugs could be worked on while the product was in its launch phase, especially since the updates could be pushed through automatically with a tactic I kept password protected. Only I could okay an update like that, and keeping that personal touch on everything helped my product to be the best it could be on the market.

      And my bank account boasted of how successful that plan always was. 

      I heard my office door open, but I didn't turn around. I was tired and wholly unready for what Kai wanted to discuss. Work hadn't had its usual all encompassing appeal lately. Especially since I wasn't programming or building anything. But even though I had twelve other companies to manage, my obsession didn't seem to be with building my empire any longer. 

      It seemed to be focused around a beautiful woman I couldn't make myself forget. Kai cleared his throat behind me, and I sighed. I took one last glance at the stormy Manila landscape before I turned around, taking in Kai standing in the middle of my office. He held a folder and a tablet in the crook of his arm, and he was standing there patiently, waiting for me to give him the go-ahead. 

But I didn't.

 "Well, one of us need to speak," Kai started

"Then speak."

  "Your're private jet is already fueled at the airport, ready to take off any moment."

"I can't stand business trips that are back-to-back like this," I said. 

"First off, it's not back-to-back. This is your first travel after that week in Tokyo. And that is two months ago, Simoun."

 "Close enough."

 "You have to go to Busan, Simoun.  You're a keynote speaker at the biggest tech conference in the country. You agreed to speak six months ago." 

"I know," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

 "And you have to get into the air soon. You've postponed this long enough. If you don't get in the air, the storms will make you late and you'll be a no-show. You're at the top of your game after this contract with Onel Satoh. If you're a no show, it could cause him to back out of it." 

"He'll pay a hefty sum for it, too."

 "But he'll pay it. You know he will. And it'll tank all of the hard work we've both put into all of this," he said.

 "You could make the speech."

"I'm not Simoun Cardenas, the face of soon to be thirteen different companies that have single-handedly changed the way the technology industry works."

 "Nice ego stroking, but it won't be necessary. I'm going to Busan, but I don't have to be happy about it." 

      I watched Kai sigh before he tossed the stuff he was holding into the chair in front of my desk. Which only meant one thing: he was about to switch out of vice- president mode and dip into brotherly mode. Something I could really do without most days.