The Billionaire's accomplice

Breaking apart...

GABRIEL

It has been a week and I received a call from Antonio Avilez, Helene's father, for some reason, I was expecting the call, I knew that he would call me, but it was sooner than I expected. Uncle Tony, as I used to call him, asked me to meet him at Golden Pavilion Hotel, a five star hotel owned by Avilez family. My schedule was full, but I told Jacob to make some adjustments in my schedule so that I could meet him. My instinct told me that he wanted to discuss with me something personal.
And i was right.

He was already waiting for me when I arrived at the Hotel, we were to meet at the Mezzanine of the VIP dining Hall. I arrived early before lunch time but still, he came ahead of me. He  was known to be  a very punctual person, no one could beat  him when it comes to punctuality. I have not seen him for a long time, the last time was months ago during the acquisition ceremony at Kalahari.

He was a shrewd businessman, he knew which type of people to play with his hand, and which type of people to deal with seriously.  He was one of my father's closest  friend and business associates.  He could be kind and cruel at the same time and would do anything for his daughter who grew up spoiled and pampered.

As I made my way to the still half bustling restaurant, I immediately saw him sitting in the VIP area, it was the usual place where a man like Uncle Tony who loved to show off would meet acquaintances and business associates. He was wearing a business suit, and he immediately got up when he saw me.

"Uncle Tony, sit down please, no need to get up." We shook hands.

"Oh,  never mind, you are Gabriel Montelibano,  Chairman  and CEO of Montelibano Group, I should give you that much respect." He laughed.

"You were my father's closest friend and also like a father to me, please, we don't need that kind of  formalities."

He roared into laughter, obviously amused.

"Let's eat first?" He summoned the waiter with the waive of his hand.

"Hmmm...actually, Uncle Tony, I can't stay for a long time, i have a board meeting in half an hour, but I can have an Espresso please."  The waiter left after taking our orders.

"I'll go straight to the point Gabriel,  I know you are a very busy man, actually I wanted to see you because i want to discuss with you about Helene."

"What about Helene?"   I was right, It was what I expected.

"Helene  was back and I heard you were seeing  each other again, it is about time to talk about your marriage, it is long overdue."

"Uncle Tony...." It was high time for me to make things clear  to him and his family.

"I know, i know what you want to say. Me and your Aunt Carmen wants to apologize for all Helene's  shortcomings. That child is so free spirited and  sometimes immature, and  we always felt that we were  somewhat responsible, we spoiled  that brat  too much being the youngest child. But she became  serious and mature now, and she had changed, this time she is certain that she wants to marry you."

"I understand from where you are coming from Uncle Tony, I really do, but our engagement was a long time ago,  I did not call off the engagement in public  because you know how much I hated public  gossip and scrutiny most especially when my personal life was involved,  that's why I kept silent, though we are seeing each other now, it was because we just  remained  friends and associates, I don't think we could really end up  together as husband and wife."

"But Helene loves you, she really do, she was crying last night when I spoke with her about this."

So Helene spoke to her father, I wondered what else and how much did she tell him, did she tell what was real or distorted the truth?