Everything happened like a whirlwind after the sad news had come to Vee. On the very same day, she had to cancel all pending commitments and had her staff make important phone calls to file for her immediate resignation from her agency. Her managers and assistants had to coordinate with different agencies to send advanced notifications of the major changes on her plans for the year which would affect existing contracts. While flying in her private plane, she discussed pending contracts with her attorney and announced willingness to pay for damages or penalties for breach of contract, if any. After hours of calls making arrangements, Vee’s appointment for Guy's fashion line photoshoot for a magazine was the only one left in her line up for the rest of the summer, and her friend readily mentioned that he would be declining the invitation if the editors would demand for Vee, and offer other top models to grace the shoot and be given the opportunity to carry his brand as an alternative.
After everything was settled the next day, Vee's press relations manager, Davie, finally released an official statement of her bereavement leave and indefinite break from the modeling world. This was to answer the media's growing questions on what her plans were, now that she was orphaned and without an immediate relative who could look after her. Vee knew that while some were genuinely concerned, not everyone who reached out to her had real thoughts of her well-being. Obviously, she wasn’t a minor who needed thorough looking after, nor was she even stripped of riches for her to worry about what her future would look like - surely those who were keeping the buzz about her ill fate were just in for a juicy story to share to the world. Afterall, who wouldn’t be intrigued by the sudden and tragic deaths of two of the biggest names in the highest social class, leaving all the inheritance to a seemingly spoiled princess?
The Rustik-Yates chain of hotels, which was managed by Vee’s older brother, Viktor, now has a vacant president and CEO position and the stakeholders are starting to fret on the fact that a young woman inevitably seems to be the only qualified heiress. Business columns, social media platforms, and traditional media stations had ongoing debates on whether the business world was questioning Vee’s skills and knowledge in running a corporation, or just too prejudiced on the fact that she was too young at twenty-two, a sheltered princess who had never set foot in business meetings with her father and brother in the past, all the while so busy and focused in her own world with her modeling career. Other discussions were focused on Vee being a “fashion model” which didn’t have much “significance” in the business world as it was deemed as a mere “hobby,” much to the indignation of fashion icons. The stories had almost everyone in the social circles too interested and invested in the development of the controversy that even the unaffected individuals were dragged in. This included the only known closest relative of the Yates who was Vee's Uncle, Reagan, who was based in Ireland. However, through an official statement which came out almost immediately after the rumors of him taking over started circulating the media, he announced that it had never crossed his mind to take over a business which was not his own, knowing that there is another qualified individual to take on the role. He also had to point out that he was already fairly occupied with his own shipping line and his plans of further expanding it with the help of his three sons. He couldn’t help but make a sarcastic remark directed at the biased media people who were pretending to care about the Rustik-Yates business’ welfare. You won’t get drama out of our family.
"Reynold Yates," Vee's official statement read, "has his Last Will and Testament which will be presented and read to me in a few days by Attorney Wilhelmina Pimenova, our family lawyer. I shall wait for further instructions from him, which I'm sure - with him being prepared for everything - he had already listed. I have to admit that it would take time for me to learn what I need to, but I trust that everyone from the world of business and fashion would respect my need to privately make plans for the benefit of all the employees of Rustik-Yates Hotels."
The sudden death of a great billionaire in the country really shook the business world. It created a lot of nasty and tangled stories of betrayal, inheritance feud, and conspiracies which the media men feasted on, but as respect for the departed, the other magnates refused to make comments. However, the facts remained unaltered in the prevailing news.
On the day that Reynold Yates met with a car accident, it was said that he was trying out his new car which his best friend and bodyguard, Alister Gallagher had designed. The two were together in the car on the way to a business meeting, closely followed by Viktor Yates in his own sports car. Traffic was normal and the newly renovated highways were not as crowded as during the weekdays, which made it more surprising when the investigations showed that the car tires were the cause of the accident.
The new car which Alister was driving was seen to have suddenly swerved as caught on street CCTV and had hit the center island causing the entire car to tumble upside down and crash against Viktor's sports car, which then led to an explosion. As a result of the explosion, all three bodies got severely burned which made identification very difficult. Only the family heirloom - rings which had the family's symbols - of each victim has helped the authorities be sure of their deductions. It didn't help when Vee refused to have her father's and her brother's bodies undergo autopsy and DNA testing for further investigation. She refused to divulge to the media what her reason was when she made her decision and simply announced that she didn’t want the already burnt bodies of her loved ones further mutilated.
In reality though, she was holding onto her brother's recorded video call sent to her a few seconds before the accident had happened. Whatever happens, never allow anyone to touch our bodies. While it felt too weird to receive such an instruction, Vee could not discount the fact that Viktor's face was extremely serious like she had never seen before. And never show them this call.
Vee could not understand why her brother would send her such instructions as though knowing there was something bad that was about to happen. More questions started flooding her mind as she recalled that there was also her father's voicemail message which was recorded and sent to her at the same exact time that Viktor recorded his - and her father’s words were supporting Viktor’s instructions. Wait for my last will and testament. Follow Viktor.
A part of her was hopeful that everything was just a bad joke, a sick prank where someone would suddenly say "Cut!" and take back every detail of what had happened, letting her go back to her normal world with her father and her brother constantly calling her when she was out-of-town. The moment never came, though, and she found herself attending one meeting after another to arrange for the interment of her loved ones. A lot of people, familiar and stranger alike, came to her, each expressing their condolences and offering assistance. It didn't even occur to her that she had even met the Gallagher heir, Conan, a few days back, while he also had to arrange for his father's interment.
After long, sleepless days and nights, when the time finally came for her to go home, Vee forced Guy and Lenka to leave her alone and assured them that she was alright. She wanted them to also get some rest as they had spent days and nights alternating with assisting her. She promised that if she needed anything, her house helpers would do a great job.In truth, she wanted to have some time to mull things over and process her own emotions. Just as how her father had raised her and Viktor, she would never show weakness in front of anyone she didn’t fully trust, thus she would always put on a strong face every time the cameras snapped at her during interviews. The first and last time she ever cried since hearing the news was in front of Guy and Lenka on that fateful day of her last fashion show. Her friends had expressed worry for her lack of emotional display, but she may have been trying too hard to follow her father’s teaching that even when she had tried to rele
Vee had never really paid attention to other business industries as she was growing up, chasing her own dreams. She had spent so much time traveling for her modeling gigs and the only world she had ever paid attention to was the world of fashion. Now that she practically didn’t have a choice but to enter the business industry which her father and her older brother had expertly navigated through, it took her by surprise that she may be facing similar worlds - business is business regardless of the industry choice. Businessmen seemed to have a smaller world than she had imagined.Now I know why everyone’s noses are following me.On the day she had decided to take her first step to solving her father’s puzzle, she only had to tell her driver, Max, where she wanted to go and he already knew how long it would take for the trip.“You may still nap a bit, señorita,” Max had told Vee.She found herself asking if Max e
"Venera Rustik Yates."Everyone at the lobby looked at the direction where the announcement of the name came from. Vee raised her right eyebrow as she turned and found the speaker at the elevators area. She noticed how Rebecca started fixing her already sleek ponytail, and how the guards slowly backed off to their stations, removing the irritated looks on their faces and planting smug expressions instead.Looking back at the man who spoke her name, Vee finally recalled that it was Conan Gallagher. She fought the urge to whistle as he descended the stairs from the elevator area since he looked like one of the models who worked for Guy. Wearing an all-black suit, Conan's fair skin stood out and his piercing eyes were like blinding spotlights that roamed the entire lobby. His gait was that of someone proud and powerful, but his smile was full of charm."You sure have tight security here," Vee smiled, trying not to sound too impressed. She didn’t move an inch from w
Jordan's POVI just came out of the bathrooms after completing the morning drill at the boot camp and was headed to do my own routine without the flabbergasted trainees I had punished with grueling activities earlier. For some reason, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was quite grumpy, and refused to look in the mirror and check out how long my beard had grown. I know it still suits me, though, modesty aside - if not, those ladies from the female boot camp wouldn't exert efforts coming over to the armory which was a good half a kilometer away from their lounge, and blurt excuses of resting and meditating while I noisily assembled my rifle."DI... Do you think it'd be helpful for us to carry rifles while trying yoga?" One of them waved at me unashamedly, while bending her back in such a way that her breasts were almost sticking out of her uniform. I knew she wanted me to notice, so I paid her a good sweep with teasing eyes and she looked rather pleased that I appreciated her
"She doesn't look pregnant, does she?" I heard myself ask, and this time, it was Frank's turn to look at me like I just sprouted a second head – rather, third. I didn't have to explain what I was thinking since he knew me too well, and he just sighed like I was too difficult to deal with. "What? I might have impregnated some random woman and she's here to claim her rights..."Frank rolled his eyes and sighed once again, this time with the shake of his head. "No, she doesn’t look pregnant, dumbass."I let out a sigh of relief, congratulating myself for not stupidly leaving some woman longing for me and for a father to her child. I admit, I engage in some casual relationships when I'm out of the camp, but I always made sure that my affairs were never too serious to get hitched, and that the women I dated were not only the less clingy ones but also not the slutty ones. I valued my manhood and would never bow down to some random sex just to get satisfied. I'd rather jack off than get myse
By the tilt of her head and even with her eyes concealed, she was obviously looking at Frank and not me. I felt irritated for some reason but kept my face straight and void of any emotions. We wouldn’t want to be too obvious, would we?She turned to me and looked up. She looked like she wasn't pleased with the idea of me being six to seven inches taller than her, as she visibly tried to adjust her height and straightened her back all the more. "You must be Jordan Gallagher?" She queried, her well-defined eyebrows arched, awaiting any type of reaction from me. I noticed that she didn't extend her hand for a handshake, but simply looked at me behind her sunglasses.I found myself just staring at her. All of my experiences with women, my sweet talking talented self refused to take over, and I suddenly felt tongue-tied. The need to drink some cold beverage became so strong that I felt my throat go dry. She eyed me from head to toe, seemingly assessing why I was dressed in crumpled fatigue
With her new mobile phone in hand, Vee tried to keep herself occupied by watching music videos of her favorite bands. Since she likes having free time before her actual work, she is used to arriving at the venue not less than three hours before the call time. Her habit has made her image really pleasant in the eyes of designers and their staff as they never had to stress about her not getting enough preparation time before her shows start. Today, as she arrived much earlier than usual, she was greeted by a staff member right after she got off the service van that picked her up from the private hangar as she arrived in her private plane. She was then asked to wait for her stylist in her own dressing room while one of her assistants joined the rest of the staff who were preparing all the items needed for the fashion show - from different sets of face paint to five different outfits and props for each model. Her room was adjacent to the common one where the rest of the guest models wer
Her reverie could have taken that long, as Vee was surprised when she realized that Lenka was already shooing her towards the backstage to get ready for the show. She was now clad in her first item to present on the runway - a black, one piece all-lace lingerie which didn't really cover up anything that much. It was high-cut and showed off her entire thighs and crotch, and her buttocks were only partially encased in a V-web of pure lace. The bust part of the piece was cut with a very low neckline which again was shaped like a "V." She suddenly remembered Guy saying that the lingerie was patterned specifically for her.She squirmed as she recalled how she had spent grueling hours at the gym to get her entire body toned up to look perfect in her piece. She also tried to shove the memory of her very strict diet for the past few weeks and a part of her wished she belonged to the plus size group of models who would also walk for Guy’s lingerie line - a wishful thinking, though, knowing tha