Chapter 5

Derek's POV

Gazing at the vista of the huge towers behind my desk, I paced my office.

I would begin work on the tallest skyscraper in New York in just a few more months. I was going to transform the hotel sector with this idea.

It takes toughness to succeed in this profession. That required putting those who believe they can betray you in check.

I asked my assistant to summon Hendrik to my office.

"Yes, sir," Luke said.

A gentle tap on my door prompted Luke to open it.

He has helped me out ever since I opened the company, and we have also had a few friendship moments.

Luke said, "Mr. Hendrik is here to see you, sir."

"Please send him in," I said.

Luke said, "The poor guy thinks he's getting a promotion."

I laughed.

I discovered that he was offering our main rival, Peterson Inc., access to some of our trade secrets, including all of our agreements and projects. Ever since, I've been surreptitiously exploiting him to provide our rivals with false information. They were clueless about what was ahead of them. I had already gotten what I wanted, so this game was getting too monotonous, and Hendrik was no longer useful.

Luke gave me a nod and left my office.

When individuals believed they could betray me and get away with it, that was my favourite aspect of the job.

Henrik entered my office with his usual smile. Among the project managers was him.

"I just want to inform you sir that the project is a go sir, we are just waiting for the press release," Henrik said.

"I think that can wait," was my response.

I motioned for him to sit down.

"So, how much were they paying you to betray me?" I inquired.

His demeanour altered.

"I apologise, sir," he said with a smile.

"I know that you are the mole that has been leaking all our private information and selling it to our competitors," I said.

"I don't know what you are talking about sir, there has to be some kind of mistake." He said.

"The only mistake here is you thinking you can betray me," I said.

As he considered what to say next, he cast a glance down at his hands.

"I'm so sorry sir, I had no choice but to do it. They were threatening my family." He begged.

I didn't care about Marc Peterson's justifications since I knew he could use blackmail to achieve his goals.

"You could have come to me first. You know that I will never forgive any betrayal or lies." I said. "I hope you realise that I'm going to make sure that you pay for this, I'll destroy everything you own." I've said.

"Please, sir," the man begged.

"I'll see you in court with my lawyers. I need you to get out of my office," I told him.

He was rendered mute, but fortunately, he understood when to give up. I observed him leaving my office.

He was very mistaken if he believed he could convince Marc to let him out of this. Marc would have betrayed anyone to achieve his goals.

I massaged my neck, letting go of some of the stress I was keeping inside.

Luke entered my workspace.

"What's my schedule for today?" I questioned, attempting to control my rage.

He said, "Your mother has been calling, sir," as he glanced at my calendar.

One more issue. When I turned my phone over, I saw that she had missed at least fifty calls. She insisted on throwing me a surprise party despite my repeated warnings to the contrary. I simply didn't come there since I didn't feel like pretending to be startled. She has a lot to say about it, I'm sure.

I said, "Ignore her," as I looked up from my phone.

He went on, "She says that she was in a serious accident."

I exhaled. "You know that she is only going through her five stages of looking for attention, she'll stop eventually," I said.

With a nod.

I inquired, "What else is there?"

"Forbes magazine would like an interview with you, sir." He went on.

"Tell them I'm not interested; I don't have the time to speak to some reporter when I could be doing something meaningful with my time," I said.

Once more, he gave a nod and crossed something on the iPad.

"You also have a meeting with the architect for your new restaurant in Rome, they need your approval. I managed to secure a meeting with Leonardo Pierce, he should be here in less than half an hour." He went on.

I reclined in my chair.

Leonardo needed to sell me the land if I was going to succeed with my new project for my new building. There were rumours that numerous individuals, including our rivals, had already placed their proposals, indicating that it was the ideal development location.

"There is one more thing," he said.

He showed me an image of a magazine cover on the iPad that he had given me.

"A blossoming romance between heiress Maddison Riley and Derek Montenegro"

I inquired, "When was this released?" examining tabloid articles.