The C.E.O'S shattered heart (MxM, C.E.O X C.E.O)

Chapter 8. An epiphany.

Alexei's P.O.V

I always did my best to be punctual. I was rarely late for work or meetings. I contacted James beforehand if something ever delayed my arrival. I hated capricious people. Time is precious, so we shouldn't waste it. My grandmother had a lot of businesses under her name. I had hired people to manage them on my behalf. What these people didn't know was that I had planted spies in the companies. The spies informed me personally if they had noticed any odd activities in the firms. Except for a few minor incidents, everyone was, fortunately, following the rules for now. Money changed people, so no one knew what could happen later. I summoned my executives once a month to my office for a review. Chance and I made sure that there were no inconsistencies in the information that our people had gathered.

The former director of the spy agency that I was using was an old acquaintance of my grandmother. He knew perfectly well how the Marquis family operated. Bret Griswald retired after I took over the Marquis empire. The man was already in his seventies, so it was understandable. His son, Triton Griswald, took over the company after his retirement. Triton was as good as his father. He expanded his company further and provided security services to celebrities now. Triton was strict and kept everything under wraps. He made sure that no one spread rumors about me or shared information about my companies with others. Triton was the one who had noticed that the former C.E.O of the Arrakasta company, Mr. Zachariel Joseph, had applied for a job at one of my companies. James appointed one of our senior executives to conduct the interviews when he heard about it.

I had just arrived at my office when Triton contacted me. I took a seat at my desk, then answered my phone with, "Good morning, Triton." Triton greeted me politely back with, "Good morning, Mr. Marquis." He then continued with, "I have managed to gather information about Mr. Zachariel Joseph, sir. I'll be sending the files by fax to your office. It's to make sure that no one can trace them. The odd thing is that some crucial information about Mr. Joseph's life is missing. No one could tell me what had happened to Zachariel Joseph after he left the town. There is a gap for about six years and then for about one and a half years. Mr. Joseph's name started popping up everywhere after he created the Arrakasta company. I couldn't find out why Mr. Joseph disappeared for the second time. It seems like Mr. Joseph has powerful people behind him, sir. It would be good to be cautious of him."

I sighed while thinking that if I should have asked Triton to keep an eye on Zachariel. Zachariel was a smart man. It would be troublesome if he found out that he was getting spied on. I decided to leave things as they were for now. Zachariel couldn't cause us any harm without me knowing about it anyway. "Thank you for your hard work, Triton," I said Triton, then added, "I'll contact you when I have another request." Triton uttered, "Have a great day, sir," then cut off the phone call. My fax machine instantly beeped. It seemed like Triton had sent me three files regarding Zachariel. The files consisted of only a few pages. I was sure that the thin folders carried important information. I immediately grabbed the file, which had written "Age 0 to eighteen years" on it.

My eyes widened in surprise when I read that someone had left Zachariel on the doorsteps of an orphanage when he was an infant. I could understand why the man was so skilled when I saw the list of the things that Zachariel had done to earn money. The police had never found Zachariel's biological parents. He had to leave the orphanage when he turned eighteen. I felt sorry for the man, but it seemed like he had done pretty well for himself. Zachariel had paid for his education by working hard. I appreciated people like him. I had done the same when I was his age. The second file contained information about the schools that Zachariel had attended. I quickly went through the folder, then grabbed the third file. I couldn't wait to find out how he had managed to create the famous Arrakasta company.

I frowned when I discovered that Zachariel was a social media expert. He had earned a lot of money by doing online marketing. I instantly asked myself if he was still running his online business. It would take Triton time to find out about this because if it was true, then Zachariel had certainly used an alias to register his company. I groaned while thinking about Zachariel. The man was such a mysterious creature. I wasn't surprised when I saw that Triton had failed to discover why Zachariel got kicked out of the Arrakasta company. It seemed like only the man himself could tell us the truth. I smiled while thinking that I could finally understand Zachariel a little better.