Bitter Sweet | (Published) ✔

Prologue

SAMPLE CHAPTERS AHEAD (1-15). FULL BOOK IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON FOR PURCHASE IN PRINT AND EBOOK ON NOVEMBER 17, 2022 :)

Ibrahim Tarkan

I was finishing my paperwork after the meeting. Endless blank pages of sketchy words, irrevocable plans, and mounting incomes filed one after another, a never-ending tale to a forgotten business.

My eyes blurred from lack of color, watering as I blinked to bring moisture back. I sighed, a knuckle cracking and a numbing ache began to clench around my hand. Leaning against my chair, I stretched, my gaze landing on the scenery behind me.

Baltimore wasn't as big as New York City, but it was a good place to have less competition. Skyscrapers seemed as if they touched the skies. Cars were zooming past one another on the roads, birds chirping. I sighed. This was the life.

I turned back to my paperwork. My eyes scanned over charts and graphs of our company's income this month. The board of directors had filed into my office earlier about new property investments. Earlier, I had asked my secretary, Thomas, to take notes, cringing at his caricature drawings of the directors on the graph. I should have known he was barely paying attention. Why did I give him this job?

Thomas was my companion in life. I had decided to give him a job at my company, considering the fact that he was organized and methodical about proceedings. Well, most of the times. Thomas was a known jokester, which is probably why he was quite a ladies' man. He also got on the directors' nerves.

Speaking of the devil. "Hey, you got the paperwork done yet?" asked Thomas, poking his head out the door.

I tilted my head at him. "Have you ever heard of this thing called knocking?"

Thomas deadpanned as he walked into my office, "Very funny, Tarkan."

"It was a genuine question," I smirked.

"Genuine question my ass," he grumbled as he took a seat in the leather chair in front of me. He handed me the files, "Those are the notes from today."

I quickly skimmed over them. "You certainly are attentive to detail," I observed as I checked how accurately he pinpointed every point and advice the directors gave us. He even took notes about the exact measurements of the new property.

"Don't let it deceive you. I was bored as hell during that meeting."

"I can imagine," I chuckled, deeply. I signed the last page of the paperwork and checked my watch. "Did you send someone to pick up my brother?" I asked. My brother and I were suppose to meet my grandparents for dinner today.

"Did that a while ago," he replied, checking the clock on the wall. "He should be here right about-"

Knock Knock.

"Now," he grinned. He stared at his hands as if he yielded magical abilities to bend time, "I think I'm a wizard."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Trust me, being a wizard is a little too far fetched even for you." I got up to answer the door.

"You know, maybe if you weren't such a dick to people, you would have found a wife by now," scowled Thomas.

I opened the door, completely ignoring his comment. Wife? Yeah, right. I was still in my prime years. I didn't need a woman to drag me down and keep me tied to a family. I was used to my independence that the idea of marriage seemed like a faraway land to never be touched. I didn't mind. Marriage seemed too constricting, too complicated.