ᴅᴀᴠɪᴅ ᴄᴏʀᴛᴇᴢ
Tonight I had dinner at the Santiago's and was currently waiting for Sabrina to get ready. My father had always told me it was good for business to have arm candy so I invited her along to the business socials I was partaking in.
Sabrina was dressed in a figure hugging blue dress, with her hair laid immaculately into a long sleek ponytail. I nodded in approval before jogging downstairs and requesting my car from the valet.
I pulled up in the driveway noticing a few cars and knocked on the door. We were quickly ushered inside by a beautiful woman in her 50's who I believed to be Mrs Santiago.
"Welcome welcome, come in!" She greeted us before quickly calling over Mr Santiago.
"I am glad you could come!" He ushered us further into the large house. We walked passed the large double staircase and into the dining room noticing a few people.
"Are you guys hungry?" Mrs Santiago interjected ushering us into the dinning room before we could answer.
"This house is really pretty" Sabrina said out loud causing Mrs Santiago to smile.
"Thank you dear, what is your name?" She smiled warmly as she showed us to our seats.
"Sabrina" she said shyly with a smile and Mrs Santiago returned it.
"Don't be shy! You can call me Renata" She said before returning to her seat.
We were introduced to the rest of guests at the table apart from the two seats which remained empty. They were positioned opposite me and Sabrina and on the left side or Mr & Mrs Santiago who were sat at the head of the large table.
Sabrina began to converse with a girl named Kiwi and I turned to Mr. Santiago who spoke of future business plans eagerly. He seemed like a genuine man although I wasn't too sure on his choice of partner.
"Sorry we're late" I heard a voice say. I looked up seeing Steve who was Mr Santiago's partner along with his father and a woman behind him. She shuffled in quietly staring at her feet.
"Its okay! Sit down son. How are you and my daughter doing? Have you started your wedding planning?" She quizzed them earning a soft sigh from who I now knew as her daughter.
"Yes mama, we are doing fine" she muttered confirming my suspicions and taking her seat and saying a polite hello to everyone.
"So Mr.Cortez! How are you finding it here so far?" Santiago asked.
"I mean, it's cool. Haven't had much of a chance to look around yet." I remarked
As we settled down and began to eat our food, I studied Mr Santiago's daughter. She took all her mothers beauty and class. She caught me eyeing her and looked down almost immediately.
ᴋᴀᴇʀᴀʜ
My cousin Kiwi hadn't acknowledged me all night. She was sat next to a woman who's name I had learnt to be Sabrina. Her beauty was mesmerising and although soft spoken she commanded attention when she spoke.
She was accompanied by the man I had seen walking into my fathers study. I assumed he was one of his new business partners from their conversations. He was cold and blunt with eyes that took everything in.
I felt my breath hitch as he glanced over me and quickly diverted my gaze.
Once I had finished my meal, I sat silently waiting for this event to be over so that I could get back to my bed.
"How is the wedding planning coming along?" My mother asked, drawing unwanted attention to me.
"Great" I mumbled with a fake smile not wanting to discuss it any further. I hadn't planned a thing and wasn't planning on doing so either.
"Ah, Mr Cortez" My father spoke out loud. "My daughter, Kareah will be dealing with some of the legal side of of the development" My dad boasted.
Unsurprisingly, I was unaware and couldn't remember agreeing to it.
"Oh, for real?" He said with a head nod "Nice to meet you Miss Santiago"
He had a thick accent which I recognised to be from New York.
"Likewise" I smiled politely.
"Which leads me to say, we will need to set up a meeting as soon as possible" My father said mainly to me and I nodded in response.
I was shocked to say the least, surprised my father had chosen for me to handle the legal affairs and confused at my mothers lack of objection. Although, she was sat with a prominent scowl on her face.
"Lets go" Steve abruptly stood up, saying his goodbyes to everyone and I followed shortly behind.
I headed to the drivers seat as he had been drinking and put the car into start while he stumbled over.
"I don't know what your father is thinking" he slurred
"What?"
"Don't play stupid, if you fuck things up I will fuck you up" He said chuckling before leaning back into the seat.
"And get that wedding shit sorted out"
I ignored it, not having much of a response and drove the 25 minute journey to our apartment. Not wanting to deal with his drunken state, I ran upstairs and into the bathroom deciding to take a long shower.
Once my skin routine was done, I listened at the door until I was sure he had fallen asleep.
ᴍᴏɴᴅᴀʏ 10:30ᴀᴍ
I sat at the head of the table. Both Mr Cortez and my father were sat on either side of me. Steve was sat next to my father opposite his father, along with the rest of their teams.
"We will need the permit and state permissions first and once those have been received. We can start drafting and signing of contracts" I told the men sat around the table.
"How long will this take?" Steve asked me interrupting my speech.
"This will depend on how long they take to accept it, I am happy to start drafting contracts now but nothing will move until it has been accepted" I stated earning nods from everyone.
"So there is no way to speed up the process?" he insisted.
"No, this is being done at the quickest rate. Which unfortunately is all I can do" He didn't respond but I felt the anger radiate from him and made a mental note to keep my distance.
"Do we need all of our signatures on the request?" Mr Cortez inquired.
"Yes, I have it here" I pushed to file across to him. " I also have the simplified details for the draft here and I would like everyone to read through it and make sure we are all in accordance" I stated as Angela handed them each a copy.
"So can we take a break to read this?" Steve asked earning looks from his father who seemed to be annoyed at his continuous interruptions.
"Yes, actually I was getting too that. You can take a break for 45 minutes and we will meet back up here" I confirmed as they got up from their seats following Angela.
"Come into your office, we need to speak in private" I jumped seeing Steve had followed me.
"Now!" He demanded as I walked in further shutting the door.
"What's wrong?"
"Why do you think you can keep playing games with me? If you fuck this up, you're going to regret it" He growled
"Fuck what up?" I asked confused.
"Don't fucking worry about it, just do your fucking job" He said slamming me against the window before walking out.
A tear rolled down my cheek and I grabbed a tissue attempting to dab away the wetness without ruining my make up.
