The Contract

Chapter 13 - The Make Believe

I pulled over in front of the tall building and glanced out at it, It read Empire. I know you're wondering what I was doing here.

Well, you heard the conversation last night. The board were refusing to believe that he could comply to the deal made in the will, they don't believe he had someone or...anyone!

That was a threat to me too, they were putting my 20 Mili at risks, so I had to prove them wrong.

I checked myself out in the mirror and nodded at my reflection. Today, I wore a grey body con dress with a thigh high slit.

I grabbed my bag and stepped out of the car. Let's do this, I headed towards the building.

Don't give me that look, I'm not doing this for Travis, I'm doing this for the money.

Uncertain board members equals no contract and no contract equals no money for me. I need the money!

I stepped into the familiar lobby and headed straight to the receptionist. She was already shooting me a smile, I stopped at her desk. "Welcome, Miss Vega"

I shot her a smile, today I was been nice.

"Yeah"

"You're here to see Mr Ferrari, I presumed"

I nodded. "He is at a meeting right now."

"That's no problem I could wait, aren't you gonna ask me if I have an appointment with him?" I asked and she chuckled.

"Not with you, he granted you permission and full access whenever you want. Do you need help with the office number and-"

"No, I'm sure I can find my way" I replied before heading to the elevator, I got off at the 45th floor and headed to the 7th door. It has be encrypted at the back of my mind.

I walked past few men in suits, they all threw second glances I stopped at the 7th door, pushing it open, I walked in.

The vast office was empty; Travis was still in his meeting. I walked past the three large sofas, their dark leather polished to a shine, and headed up the stairs towards his desk.

The entire wall behind it was made of glass, and I walked over to gaze down at the city sprawling below.

It was beautiful.

After a moment, I turned back to his desk. A small, gold plaque sat prominently on the polished surface. "Travis Ferrari. CEO," I read aloud, running my fingers along the engraved letters.

I settled into his chair, taking in the office from his vantage point. The black interior design added a bold, almost intimidating edge, and the desk was littered with papers and other essentials, giving a sense of his busy world.

I leaned back and slowly pulled open a drawer, finding it mostly empty except for a single file. Beneath it, there was a photo.

I picked it up, surprised. I couldn’t believe he still had this, a photo of us from camp back in high school. It had to be at least five years old. We had gone camping, got lost, and somehow managed to only have a polaroid camera on us.

The picture showed us with black stripes on our cheeks, me grinning and him pouting.

Travis had hated the outdoors.

I chuckled, tracing the photo. #Petra, it read in handwriting below. That was us. Pearl and Travis.

The door opened suddenly, and I looked up to see a man step inside. He paused, then a smile crept onto his face as he took me in.