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 release some emotions, she found herself devoid of them.
However, now that she was finally alone, as she sat on her father's bed, all the fatigue she endured within a week of roller coaster experience seemed to finally seep into her nerves and slowly softened her heart.
And she started crying.
The tears which she thought would never flow again started pouring from her eyes as she wailed, thumping her chest to try and ease her breathing. She sobbed as she replayed every single recorded video call she ever had with her brother. She wept as she listened to every voicemail message that her father had left her. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she listened to the men's quirky voices trying to annoy her with nonsensical topics. She bit her lower lip and chuckled when she browsed through pictures of Viktor showing a different girl in his arms on every shot. Damn womanizer. Her eyebrows raised in awe at her father's all serious snapshots during meetings which were secretly taken by Viktor. I didn’t realize you were so elegant. Mixed emotions flooded her heart and she allowed herself to stay slumped on the bed, unstable and trying to pour all other emotions out.
Yes, let’s grieve… Just for today, let’s grieve…
She didn’t realize that she had already fallen asleep after crying her eyes out. When she woke up, the sun was already up, its rays fighting to enter through the thick, glass windows and through the heavy curtains which were slightly parted. She stood up and took a good stretch, and tried to assess if she still felt overwhelmed with emotions as earlier. She could sense her heart starting to burst with sadness again, but she had to force herself to calm down and again remember what her old man would always say. Show must go on, darling. The show must go on.
Big show, this is, Daddy. She thought. What were you up to?
The day finally came when Attorney Wilhelmina Pimenova would read the Last Will and Testament of Reynold Yates.
Vee went to the Rustik-Yates Hotel and chose to stay in her father's office and meet the lawyer there. Guy and Lenka were with her as witnesses, and both were feeling more anxious than how she actually was.
"You two could stay put and stop walking around," Vee said as she rolled her eyes. The two ignored her and continued whispering to each other about the possibilities of Vee becoming a full-time business magnate, and being the prettiest and the youngest, at that. "Yeah, talk about me like I can't hear you."
“I should still style her and do her makeup, yeah?” Lenka whispered to Guy, her eyes sparkling with excitement and determination. Vee could imagine the fashionista gear rolling in Lenka’s head.
“I definitely can’t let her wear lingerie in shoots and shows…” Guy mused, “but I sure can create some designs which would fit her new world!” He clapped his hands decisively.
Vee simply raised her hands as her friends had seemingly gotten over their own grief upon seeing her looking better and more composed than ever. She let them chat away, discussing plans of how to make her the most stylish and prettiest billionaire.
“Not that you aren’t yet,” the two even said in unison.
When Attorney Pimenova arrived, all three of them settled and followed instructions on taking oath. Afterwards, the lawyer read from the Will.
"I, Reynold Yates, sixty-seven, hereby cancel all other Will and Testament I have created or written in the past, of every nature. This handwritten Will shall be honored as my last, irrevocable Will. I appoint my only daughter, Venera Rustik Yates, to look after my Estate and I hereinafter refer to her as my 'Executor.'"
Guy and Lenka gasped at the first paragraph which was just read out. They both wondered how and when the old Yates had decided on updating his Last Will with his youngest daughter as the person to ensure that his instructions were followed. It was weird not to have his older son do it, but what was a lot more mind-boggling was the idea of Reynold seemingly knowing that Viktor would be unable to function, leaving his daughter all alone.
"...to take my office as hers, and solely decide on the employment of executives at the time she assumes office..."
Vee could not focus on the rest of what Attorney Pimenova was reading out. She could feel her heart starting to beat so fast as she anticipated the weight of the responsibility which her father had left her.
As the Executor, all decisions are to be made by her alone.
She wasn’t new to owning a business, but her father’s was not to be taken lightly - it was talking billions at a much larger scale than what she was used to.
"...all these should take effect by the time Venera turns twenty-three, and is married to the sole heir of my trusted friend, Alister Gallagher."
Attorney Pimenova paused after reading the last paragraph off the Will. She turned her poker face towards her audience, anticipating their violent reactions.
"W-wait-I'm sorry, WHAT???!" Vee, Guy, and Lenka all jumped from their seats and stared at the lawyer as though the latter just started speaking in an alien language. Their jaws were dangerously agape, and the attorney wondered if they would soon fall to the ground. She could remember her own reaction when the old Yates had called her office to notarize his Will with that ridiculous passage about marrying his daughter off.
"What do you mean with 'married?'" Vee seemed to have found her voice again. "I am going to marry some...some random man?!" She looked horrified, her mouth opening and closing like fish out of water.
The beautiful but stern-looking lawyer nodded casually at the gaping faces of the three, earning incredulous glares.
"As it states, you must marry the Gallagher heir when you turn twenty-three, in order to assume office and be the 'Executor'" she explained, carefully rephrasing Reynold's words. The three were too dumbfounded to conjure another reaction, and they all sunk back into their seats, unable to even say another word.
The rest of the Will was read out and in the end, Vee had found herself lifting a pen, her hand ready to sign the document for her acknowledgement despite all the oddities. She was still in shock even after the lawyer had gone, unable to process what just happened. It was Lenka who had to shake her back to her senses.
"You remember meeting Conan Gallagher, right?" Lenka asked, her disbelief from earlier seemingly had disappeared in a poof, as now she was looking a little dreamy and very excited. Vee slowly shook her head, clearly not remembering what Conan looked like, despite remembering she had briefly met him just a week back. Guy gave Lenka an I-told-you-so look.
"Conan was the hot guy you met in the administrative office of the cemetery! He happens to be the son of your father's bodyguard! I can't believe you don't remember! And I don't think your Dad will give you away to some random man who isn't good-looking." Lenka narrated, her voice had a tinge of annoyance, clearly frustrated by the fact that her friend had failed to imprint on such a heavenly being.
Vee rolled her eyes. Not that she wouldn't want a "hot guy" for a husband, but she would rather go for someone mild-mannered. She could not remember what Conan looked like, and even though she was aware that the Gallaghers were her family's trusted friends, she still could not understand why her father would marry her off.
"Maybe because you didn't really seriously date any decent man in the past?" Lenka retorted sarcastically. Vee realized she was apparently thinking out loud.
"The only person of the male species in your circle is Guy, other than your father and brother." Lenka stated in a matter-of-fact tone, as she folded her arms over her chest.
Guy looked at Vee with a mixture of curiosity and worry. He knew that marriage was a big thing for the young woman, and being suddenly thrust into a situation like what she faces now could be equally shocking as losing her father and her brother at the same time.
"Do you have a plan?" He carefully asked. He feared what kind of response they would get from Vee.
"I need to talk to Conan Gallagher," Vee declared.
She straightened her coat and fixed her hair. She ignored the anticipating look and scared expressions on her friends’ faces.
She tried to compose herself as she looked around the office as she tried to convince herself that the decision forming at the back of her mind was plausible. As she laboriously avoided Guy’s and Lenka’s searching gazes, her eyes fell on the painting behind her father's desk. She could imagine him sitting on his swivel chair, his serious face hidden behind his clasped hands, elbows on the desk and staring straight ahead at an invisible target board. Surely the abstract painting would have created a mystical backdrop if he were photographed from the front.
Really - what were you thinking, Daddy? She needs to know why her father wanted her to marry the Gallagher heir.
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
Feeling the sexy vibe of the music and hearing the classy cheers around the catwalk helped Vee to project the appropriate facial expression which would match her lingerie piece as she strutted towards the elevated aisle. She looked ahead at an imaginary someone with inviting stares and a slightly parted mouth while striking a pose before twirling and walking back to the curtains. Upon reaching the backstage, she was shocked by the complete chaos - not the usual she sees during fashion shows. Instead of being led towards a spot where her outfit was meant to be redesigned, she was quickly ushered by one of the directors to her dressing room where Guy and Lenka were both slumped on the couch, visibly shaken and with swollen eyes. The unsightly atmosphere got her all tense."What's going on?" She asked, while trying to calm her growing anxiety as she sat in between the two, while the rest of the fashion show team was strictly asked by Guy's assistant to carry on with the show. Vee could s