Chapter 5: The Company Connections

Isabelle’s Point of View:

“No. It isn’t possible. You can’t possibly deny this!” I almost shouted at the representative on the phone call. She was Christina, a representative of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She was telling me that “higher powers” had denied taking my interview!

“I am sorry, mam. Please calm down. I am just the representative.”

I sighed. She was right, but why would this happen?

It was evident that Achilles had done that. There was no way this happened because of anyone else. But why?

“You’re right. I am sorry for shouting. Have a nice day.” I just wanted to end the call so I could break down in my own little bubble.

“Thank you for your understanding. Have a nice day.”

I hung up the call and sighed heavily. I was already demotivated—I didn’t have the strength to call other universities to ask about the interview.

I had one scheduled for tomorrow and it wasn’t cancelled yet, so I was definitely betting my horses on it. I hoped to Jesus that at least they’d give me a real chance.

________________

“... and we want to thank you for your understanding. We sincerely hope we could try you in the future, but for now, we are really sorry.” I read an email from Harvard University, and my heart fell into a pit.

I couldn’t understand what was going on. Why would he want to ruin my life? What could he possibly want?

I kept the phone down. That was the third university that straight away cancelled the interview. I knew the last one would too, since it was another private institution—easily bribed by any rich person.

And that rich person was Achilles. For the first time, I really regretted feeling anything for him. I hated myself.

I was sitting by myself when my phone suddenly rang. I figured that it would be the last University—so I reached out with a gloomy face.

To my surprise, it was Achilles. Why was he calling? Did he want to tell me how much he “enjoyed” ruining my life all over again?

I picked it up and kept silent.

“Cat got your tongue?”

His voice didn’t intimidate me for the first time. I breathed heavily in rage.

“No. Why are you calling me?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I am sure you have a lot of things to say to me.”

I scoffed. “Yeah? I am sure I do. For one, fuck you!”

“Well, I know you’ve wanted that for a while. Anything else?”

I scoffed again and kept the phone down. He was acting so shameless—he had the nerve to call me after what he did?

“No. You know what? Don’t call me again. Just–Just leave me the fuck alone!”

“Oh, I wish I could. Since you can’t succeed with your career anymore, dad says you should come work in my company. Isn’t that the sweetest offer you’ve ever received?”

“I am hanging up. Don’t contact me again or I will get a restraining order against you.” I hung up the call and threw the phone away, frustrated.

Thankfully, it ended up on the couch. I sighed and a few tears came out of my eyes. My life was falling apart in front of my eyes and I couldn’t do anything.

I didn’t know a small crush would cause me so much trouble.

…

I scrolled through the email of the rejection of the last university and acted as if it didn’t matter. I pushed the thoughts away and ordered dinner when a notification hit my phone.

“Mr. Roman: I think Achilles is right, Isabella. You should really come back to Lebanon. It will be better here. If you don’t want to come to Kansas, I have a solution. Achilles is planning to open a new branch of Roman Enterprises in NYC itself. It will just need two or three months to be ready. You have some time to think.”

I marked it as read and kept the phone down, scoffing at myself. Suddenly, he remembered me. Of course, it was all planned. They were never really going to let me do anything of my own in my life. They wanted to show me the light and snatch it just when I was about to embrace it.

They weren’t just sinners.

They were heartless sinners.

The dinner arrived, and I ate it in silence, while constantly debating with myself about my future steps—if I even had any future anymore.

Standing up, I kept the utensils aside and laid down on my bed. If I had no work, no study plans, and no job, I couldn’t survive.

And I was pretty sure that he wouldn’t let me get any job anywhere else. If he could convince Harvard University to not take my interview, he could do almost anything—just for his own petty pleasure.

As much as the thoughts grossed me out, I took out my phone.

“Me: I will work, but not in Lebanon. I am okay with the California branch.”

I wanted to go as far away from Lebanon as possible. I didn’t want to face Chloe and Matt, even if I knew they did it because of Achilles. I had no idea how he made my best friend turn against me, but I wasn’t stupid.

Frankly, I wasn’t even interested. Whatever the reason was, it just didn’t justify the act.

And I didn’t want to stay in NYC either.

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It felt like only a few moments had passed when I boarded the flight to California. It was going to be a long, almost 7-hour, flight. I had earlier gotten a reply from Mr. Roman that he was okay with me working in the California branch. I was more interested in working there because I knew that Achilles rarely visited the place and it was the only way I could possibly avoid him, in his own company.

When I reached California, they greeted me with a cab, which was supposedly called by Mr. Roman to take me to the company hotel.

I didn’t deny it because I needed all the financial help I could get. Reaching here took a lot of my money, anyway.

The hotel was pretty good. When I went inside my room and set it up, a few people helped me with other stuff and also served me breakfast.

I had left early in the morning at 4 AM from NYC because the flight would take seven hours, and with the time difference between both states, I calculated the time here to be 7 am when I reached… and I was correct.

After two hours, the doorbell rang.

“Come in,” I said and a tall figure walked in—and I recognized him quickly.

“Welcome, Isabelle.”