CHAPTER 1: A LITTLE SHOCKER.

Tracy Hall lay in the comforting hands of her enormous bed. Well, not her bed particularly but it was hers in the meantime. She was lodged in the hotel the previous evening by the anchors of the conference she was expected to speak in. It was already a few minutes past mid-afternoon but she was still soundly asleep. 

What would one expect? 

Through the night she had been busy surfing from one file to the other both the soft copies and the hard copies that her secretary had dropped for her. In addition to her official duties ,she spent quality time trying to scale through what she was supposed to talk on. The conference was actually hosted by a certain foundation that was built to encourage entrepreneurial advances in the minds of the younger people. And she had been called on specifically because in the eyes of the populace, she was a very good example to look upon. At the age of twenty-eight , she was already a successful person , though entirely successful as most of the success she enjoyed were from her father , James Hall . Tracy however has always maintained a firm ground against this pattern of thought. Yes,  her father might have been a major bedrock for the entrepreneurial success she had but that was not the reason she was where she was in the business circle. At the age of twenty-six, she took charge of their company's position of the Chief Executive Officer. Though at first, it seemed to have been an impossible journey, here she was , after two years of sitting in that position, basking in the rays of admirable triumph. 

" Mmmh. " She winced on the bed , dragging the duvet closer to her . 

The time for her to speak in the conference was less than an hour. But she was still.asleep with no worry about it. While still trying to trudge deeper in her sleep, the room's bell system began to ring loudly , tearing into the air and taking away from it every possible form of peace. The bell rang so loudly that Tracy's eyes flew open in a split second, her hands flying to her ears to keep them safe.  

" Who the hell is that?!!" She yelled out her hands pressing harder against her ears . 

Almost at the same time the question left her mouth, a voice spoke to her through the intercom system of the hotel room. 

" Ma'am Tracy , " the voice of a lady said, "  it is time to wake up. Your session is in less than an hour . " 

The words flew through her ears and shot through her system like a bullet. She did not need a soothsayer to tell her who the voice that just spoke belonged to. It was her secretary trying to get her attention. 

" Damn it!!" She shouted , energy suddenly flying through her system. 

Without any sort of hesitation, her hands flew down from her ears and her feet began to find their way out of the bed. 

" Oh my goodness. " She muttered. " Damn you , Tracy. " 

She scurried out of the bed and strode to the table a couple of feet away from the bed. Her phone was there. Taking hold of it , she stared at the time. In that instant, her whole body sank deeper inside her. 

12:05pm. 

What  the hell? How fast did the time now fly? Last she could recall, she was awake by fifteen minutes to eight in the morning. She had just concluded a few signings before finally trying to get a nap. At least , a nap would be more than helpful to keep her in her right frame of mind before the time for the conference which was scheduled by eleven in the morning. But a nap had turned to good sleep . And not only has she missed the starting time of the conference but that she was about to be late for her session too. On the screen of her phone were a series of calls that she had missed. She quickly checked. Most of them had come from her secretary. 

How could she have heard the calls? Her phone was in the vibration mode . Since she wasn't with it, it would have been difficult to know. She dialed the secretary's line. In a few seconds, it connected. 

" Hello, where are you? I need you in my room right now. " 

" I am at your door, ma'am. " The voice replied. 

" Perfect timing!" 

She walked straight to the door, her phone still on her ear till she opened the door. At the door was a pretty young lady who was dressed corporately with her hands clasped right in front of her. That's her secretary , Fiona, who she had hired long ago. Fiona worked for her , even before she became the Chief Executive Officer of the business venture. After becoming the CEO, Tracy had decided to continue to keep her by her side. After all, she was competent enough. 

" Good afternoon, ma'am." Fiona greeted her . 

"  Save the greeting for later." Tracy replied , striding back into the room towards the table. " You didn't knock." 

" The rooms are soundproof. The intercom system had to be the only way to get to you. " 

" Damn it. How long do we have?"  She asked, pressing her palms against the table. 

" From what I can see right now, " Fiona said, stealing a glance at her watch," it is already ten minutes past twelve. " 

" Which means I have just fifty minutes to go." 

" Yes, ma'am. " 

" Do you think I can be ready before then?" 

" Perhaps, if you were already getting ready, I would have agreed to that. " 

" Give them a call. Tell them to delay the session by twenty minutes." 

" Okay, ma'am. " Fiona replied. " I will do that. " 

" Good. " Tracy said and turned , leaning on the table. " You will have to organize these papers into different files. " 

Fiona eyed the table. It was very disorganized. There were different papers and books all over the place. 

" Will it be difficult to do now?" Tracy asked, taking notice of the secretary's look. 

" No. No. " Fiona replied ." Not at all. " 

" Good enough. I will go and take a bath right now. Be quick with arranging everything. Get the one I might be needing for the conference ready, okay?" 

" Yes, ma'am. " Fiona replied with a nod. 

Tracy took a few steps towards the bathroom before stopping . 

" And ," she turned," remember to give them the call. Don't forget that. If you can do it now, do it. "  She turned and walked to the bathroom. 

Many minutes later, Miss Tracy Hall was sitting before a rectangular mirror on the makeup table. Her hands moved from one item to the other. Soon, she was done. Grabbing the lip gloss, she applied it gently  and rolled the lips partly, making the gloss even on both lips . Fiona stood by the side while she got ready to leave. 

" What is the time now?" She asked, her hands fiddling with the brush. 

" Uhm. It is just three minutes before it is the appointed time. " 

"  What?" Tracy asked,turning her focus to her. " Three minutes? You mean I spent that much time . The extra twenty minutes I requested have been used to get ready. " 

" No. No. Not at all. I.made a mistake, ma'am. I meant three minutes to one. " 

" Hmm. " Tracy exhaled , relieved that there was still time. " We should be right on time. The venue is a ten minute drive. "

" That's if we are leaving now. " 

" Definitely. " 

Tracy shot up from the chair and threw her hair in both directions before moving it over to her back.  She stood for a while assessing her dress sense. She was quite corporate, as she's supposed to . But then, the clothes were not just picked from any boutique. Everything she was putting on her body was a part of the shipment that arrived three nights ago from Italy except for her shoes which came from Australia. Everything was new including her handbag. Yes, she looks good for this session. A black long sleeve shirt that matched with her red pair of pants , a black shoe that went with the blackness of her hair and her shirt definitely gave her the stunning aura of an ecstatic personality. After all, she was one, a Chief Executive Officer at her age. 

" How do I look?" She asked Fiona. 

Fiona smiled. " Well, you always look good. This too looks really good . " 

Tracy smiled. " Are the documents all intact?" 

" Yes. I have arranged them all.the way they should be. "

" Good enough. It is time to leave. I won't be returning here again. So, later , you should come and check if there is any item we are leaving behind, okay? " 

" Yes, ma'am. " 

" Call the conference. Let them know I will be arriving soon and that they should not be worried . " 

With that, the two ladies were out of the room. After a few more minutes, she was driving into the premises of the scheduled venue for the conference. 

" Will you really be needing any file for this session?" 

" What do you think? " Tracy asked ,throwing a glance at Fiona while speeding straight to the garage. 

Fiona cleared her throat. " Actually, ma'am, if you were to ask me that question, of which you are already asking me, I would be very honest , just like I am now, to tell you that you won't need it. At least, the last time I can remember you making use of a paper, you ended up.making a mess of the situation." 

Tracy eyed her. " Nearly ended up and not ended up." 

" Yes. That's true. But the fact remains that you perform better without it. " 

Tracy smiled vaguely. Well , that was true. Without having to go through what she was supposed to say over and over , she could spill it all out in a fashion that was very luring. 

In the next three minutes, she was standing at the VIP's entrance of the hall into the stage. Fiona had given them the signal that miss Tracy Hall had arrived. The whole auditorium was filled with people, young and old. The event was actually supposed to be for the younger people. That's what the foundation was for, to help them advance more in the business world. 

" Ladies and gentlemen," the moderator said on the stage," please, allow me to present to you the long awaited presence . This is no other person than the Chief Executive Officer of the Hall group of companies. " 

Tracy's lips parted in a smile, a smile of joy and fulfillment. She began her elegant and majestic walk into the stage , before everyone. Looking at the faces, she continued to smile. The people were all on their feet, cheering and clapping as she assumed the stage and straight to the microphone, bending her head lightly in a bow to other people on the stage. 

" Good afternoon, everyone." She said, her voice soft and strikingly lovely. 

On the faces of everyone, was the smile of a century. They longer to hear her speak before them. And here she was finally. 

" May we all be seated….and quiet. "  She giggled. 

In a jiffy the auditorium had gone absolutely tranquil. 

" I can see all of you guys enjoying laughing and smiling. " She paused and giggled. " But I do have a simple question for you. Uhm… " she stroked her hair. " How much cash have you made smiling and laughing? Or are you all wasting the smiles on these cute faces and your voices each time you smile and laugh?" 

To this ,there was another round of laughter. 

" You know, I could employ some of you to laugh by my side all day long. " 

At this point, everyone in the auditorium, including the moderator and the rest of the VIPs that were on the stage were all laughing because of the words she said. She too was grinning broadly. 

" Okay. Okay. Okay. " She says, gesturing that they should calm down. " As you all know already, my name is Tracy Hall. And I am the Chief Executive Officer of the Hall group of companies. Today, I will be taking you guys through a short trip on the topic—" 

Her next line of words were cut off by the noise coming from the entrance of the auditorium. For a while, there was a little bit of distraction. Reporters were trying to force their way through the security people. 

What the hell was going on? 

As quickly as the question came, murmurs began to go round the whole auditorium. Looking at the faces of the people, she could tell something was completely off. It didn't seem like the reporters were trying to get a casual session with her. 

What's going on? She thought. 

Her answers came at the right time. Through the surging reporters, Fiona broke through and rushed to her. 

" What's going on?" Tracy asked, curiosity all over tone. 

Fiona cleared her throat and glanced at the VIPs who might want to hear her. Drawing her mouth closer to Tracy's left ear, she turned her voice down to a whisper. 

" Ma'am,  Mr James Hall has just been hospitalized." 

The words resounded through her thoughts. 

Mr James Hall. That was no other person than her father!