Prologue: Her downfall

"AB, look at Archie's face and put your right hand at his chest."

I followed AC's commands, our photographer. I looked up at Archie and put my hand on his chest. As usual, he fixed his position and leaned closer to me. The two of us stared at each other as if we're romantically attracted. Just then, I heard the camera clicks.

"Perfect!"

I smirk and fist-bumped Archie before leaving the set. I approached my personal assistant at took the small fan before going to AC to look at the photos taken during the photoshoot.

"You really nailed it, huh?" AC amazedly commented while looking at her taken photos of us making me shrug, bragging.

It wasn't eluded on AC's eyes making her smirk and shook her head.

"AB, tell me the truth..." AC trailed off as she smirked at me, giving me a different eyelook. "What's the real deal between the two of you? Is there something going on? Mutual understanding? Like that? The two of you stared at each other differently earlier, it's as if the two of you were romantically attracted to each other," says AC, making me playfully rolled my eyes on the air.

"There's nothing between us, AC. We're just being professional," I simply stated, making her sneered.

"When the two of you became a couple, I'll really kick your ass face," she stated that gain me nothing but a loud laughter.

"You really want to kick me, huh? Who would support your modeling company when my face would get a scratch? Tsk, tsk. You'll be at a disadvantage too," I say, more like teasing her.

I laughed loudly when I saw how she pshawed at me. This girl.

"You can now leave since we're done here, Madam," she jokingly stated making me shook my head.

I kissed her on her cheek before approaching again to my personal assistant. I was approaching to her when I heard how the panic on her voice dominate the studio while talking to someone at the phone.

"Do you want her to go there now?Should she go directly to the company, Madam?"

From where I was walking, I overheard what Georgina had said. "What's happening?"

George immediately look at me and I was concerned when I saw the worry on her face.

"What's happening, George? Who were you talking to?" I ask her.

"Miss AB, your mother wanted you to the company," she stated in a rushed voice.

My forehead creased. "Why? What's happening? Is there a problem at the company?"

She immediately shook her head, the concern on her face was still there. "She said it's urgent. Just go at the company. Talk to your mother there, Miss AB," she suggested that I immediately agreed.

"Can you come with me? I didn't bring my car with me today," I say. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw how she nodded her head at me.

I have my own car. It's Ferarri. Since there's a car provided solely from the modeling agency, George, my assistant, use that for such purposes and she usually fetch me for us to arrive simultaneously at the studio.

"Okay. I'll drop you there, Miss AB," says George before we left the studio.

We're just silent at the car. I don't know what was happening but I'm starting to get nervous.

Urgent.

When my Mom says it's urgent, it was really a big problem especially when I was called. I could say it is. To all the problems on our company, they never had the gut to call me, not even my personal assistant because they knew they can solve it right away. But now, they called. What that big problem is, I don't know now.

I just hope I could help solve our company's problem.

When I arrived at the company, I was immediately eaten by some sort of panic when I saw the concern faces of our workers.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" I asked our workers as soon as I entered the company.

Before our workers could even spoke up, Miss Santos, my mother's secretary, welcomed me.

"Miss AB, Mr. and Mrs. Gazette are already at the conference room. I'll take you there, Miss," Miss Santos said, leading the way.

I followed her at the conference room. I was just at the door frame when I got surprised as I noticed some people. I can see some familiar faces. It was our company's investors. I don't recognize the rest.

I was stopped on my knees when they all look at my direction. When hits back to reality, I cleared my throat and confidently entered the conference room.

"What's with the meeting? All I know is that you just had a meeting," I stated making them all look at me.

"Miss AB, with all due respect, we forced this meeting today due to the current issue regarding the status of the company," says Mr. Lopez with the respect remained on his voice.

My forehead creased. "Current issue regarding the status of the company?" I looked at Dad with a concern written on my face. "What about that, Dad? What's the matter?" I asked Dad confusingly.

All I know is that the company's doing fine. I was confident and complacent that they had handled our company well that's why I was shocked to know about the big issue regarding our company.

"Darling---" Before Dad could even complete his sentence, one of the investors interrupted him.

"Don't you really know? Your company went bankcrupt, AB. The company lose a hundren billion making it to go bankcrupt," says Mrs. Garcia which made me gasped in surprise.

"A hundred billion?" I gasped. That's too much to lose. "Dad, what's happening? Why did we lose that much amount on our company?"

When I have received nothing from Dad, I immediately turned to Mom only to see her concerned face. She's shaking her head and was about to cry.

I closed my eyes tightly. I don't know now what to do. Where do we gonna get billions to save our company? Where do I gonna search for a hundred billion?

"That's why we are all here to get our money back---"

What Mr. Lopez said made my ears rang in irritation, making me interrupt him on his words. "You came all the way here, forcing an emergency meeting not to discuss about the current issue but to get your money back? That's not you, Mr. Lopez. This is so not you," I disappointedly stated. "Instead of helping Dad and talked about the issue, you're here, starting to create a ruckus in the company just to get your money back."

I saw how Mr. Lopez smirked at me. "What should we do? It's our money that we are talking about---"

"Even if you're hurting Dad's feelings? Even if you're hurting your friend's feelings? It's fine as long as you can get your money back by creating a ruckus here when you all fucking know that there's something going on?" I bitterly stated, got hurt for Dad.

Mr. Lopez and Dad are most likely brothers. He's one of Dad's best friends and here he was, creating a fuss in his friend's company.

You can really never tell how loyal your friends are, not until your down to earth situation came.

The betrayal.

I saw how our company's investors went silent after what I've said to Mr. Lopez. Mom approached me and tried to stop me from spitting another word.

"Stop it here, sweetheart. You can't force someone to stay loyal. We can't do anything about this anymore, after all, it's our fault why did it have to be like this," Mom calmly stated.

I closed my eyes. I know it's not right for what I did to Mr. Lopez. I don't have the right to question their actions. They have the right to pull out their shares, after all, it's theirs. But I don't regret telling those shits. They all fucking deserve it.

I heaved a deep sigh before confidently looking at them. "Give me a week. I'll give back all of your money after that." When I was about to turn around to leave, I stopped and look at them. "And oh, I forgot," I trailed off as I looked at their fucking faces. "Don't ever show your fucking faces after that, I might kick all of your ass faces."

That's what I finally stated before I took my leave fron the conference room. I can still hear their gasp. I even heard Mom and Dad calling my name but I didn't bother to look at them. I was quite disappointed about such things. And so, I made my way to my office and immediately sat down on my swiveling chair. I leaned on the backrest and closed my eyes as I massaged my temples.

What the fuck is happening to our company? Why did it have to be like this?

When I heard how the door of my office opens, I didn't bother to look there. I know it's them. It's Mom and Dad. I know they'll scold me for what I had done to our investors.

"Sweetheart, why did you do that to our investors? Even if they're like that, you shouldn't have do that," says Mom that made me open my eyes and sneered at the air.

"What should I do then? Smile at them when they're trying to fuck us up? He's Dad's friend! All of them were somehow Dad's acquaintances! Why do they have to create a fuss here like we're gonna steal their money, Mom?" I pointed, starting to raise my voice upon pointing my point, trying to tell them my resentment for what I had seen earlier.

I averted my gaze when I noticed my eyes has started to swell. Really, in terms of my parents, I'd be easily hurt, more than they can be hurt for themselves.

"I can never understand why they have to do that. Let's just say it's their money, but why don't they give Dad a chance to solve this first? They can just wait," I pointed out which made them went silent.

I saw how Mom looked at Dad. "What do we do now, Anton? We lost a huge amount of money on our company, I'm sure we can't resolve it right away," Mom stated in a concerned voice.

I looked at Dad and saw how he heaved a deep sigh. "There's only one solution that has been running on my head," says Dad which made me and Mom get a high hopes.

"What is it, Dad? Tell us."

I was shocked to see Dad looking at me. He stared at me as if he's weighing things.

"Marry Augustine's son, darling. That's all I could think that would solve our problem."

I stiffened on my seat. "Who among the Alquezer brothers are you referring to, Dad?" I nervously asked.

Dad smiled at me. "It's August, darling."

I felt like I had been hit a million times. What the heck?! Why the fuck did it have to be August? Why of all people, he's the one I should marry off?

Why my ex boyfriend?