CHAPTER 5

It was when Iryna received the call from Fred’s lawyer, she knew she was not dreaming. She was actually going to inherit all this wealth!

Fred’s lawyer, Jeremy had called her earlier that day to inform her of the meeting with all the stakeholders and CEO’s of the thirty companies that she now owned. Apparently, Fred had opened all his companies under different names and given them to different people to run for him after signing a contract with them. They were to help him manage and groom it and at the end of the calendar year, they received a great percent of the company’s profit.

It seemed more like a charity organization to Iryna considering the fact that they weren’t even putting in any capital. Fred was the one solely funding all the companies.

Iryna skimmed through the documents quickly, taking note of the companies that Fred had been funding and the profit they brought to him yearly. Running through the document, she found out that Evans Modelling Agency had been the highest benefactors of Fred’s extreme generosity, getting investments of up to twenty five billion dollars. It was ironic for her to find out that with all the investment put into the company, they were still not getting the highest profit. As a graduate in accounting, Iryna Gallagher knew that something was wrong.

She adjusted her glasses and sat down properly, prepared to go through every single financial detail of the company. She wanted to know where all the money Fred invested into the company was going to.

Iryna checked the company’s monthly expenditure first, the amount they spent on clothing apparels, photoshoots and collabs for their models. Everything seemed normal there. She checked the staff number. They were three hundred and forty which was average for a company of its size. Finally, she decided to check the wage bill and that was where she found the problem.

As she had suspected, Evans Modelling Agency was owned by no other than the billionaire, Marcus Evans and his only daughter, Audrey Evans who didn’t even know a thing about modeling was the first name on the list. What was her job description? Iryna stared hard at the paper in front of her. It read clearly: miscellaneous.

Outrageous!

The company was paying Audrey twenty thousand dollars monthly to sit on an executive chair with her legs crossed on the table for fifteen minutes before she zoomed off to spend the rest of her day driving around town and shopping.

Iryna nodded her head and circled Audrey’s name with a red pen. She made a mental note to herself that after the presentation from the different CEO’s that was the first thing she was going to address.

She flipped through the papers making sure to check the wages of the other staffs. Most of them were being paid peanuts even with the hard nature of their jobs. Just as Iryna was about to drop the list, the last name caught her eyes.

She held the paper in her hand close, removed her glasses and cleaned her eyes several times to make sure that she was not making a mistake. Michael Grant! In all the years they dated, she never even knew that He worked at Evans Modelling Agency. No wonder it was easy for Audrey to steal him away from her. She traced his name to the wage bill and found it. He was receiving a hundred and forty thousand currently but Iryna noticed that He had previously received fifty, eighty and hundred thousand dollars each. Apparently, Marcus Evans was increasing his salary weekly.

Iryna Gallagher smiled as she circled his name. Michael Grant, her high school sweetheart that had shamed her and called her ugly. She wondered how he would react when he found out that she was now the one in charge of his company and she wished he could be in attendance for the meeting that night.

Iryna Gallagher stood up from her chair and looked at the clock on the wall. It was eleven already and the meeting was slated to begin by 12 midnight. She had to start preparing. That night was going to be the beginning of her vengeance.

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Michael heard the sound of the car horn and He looked outside his window. A white Cadillac was parked outside and He knew it was Marcus’ driver waiting for him. He ignored the horn and went back to his mirror, admiring herself. He knew he had to look perfect that night if he wanted to get anything out of the new owner.

After ten more minutes of self appraisal, Michael came out of his house finally. He closed the door and gave some instructions to his guards before walking to the white Cadillac. The driver didn’t look happy about the fact that Michael had made him wait but he didn’t say a word. He sped off immediately he closed the door, not taking a stop until they got to the gate of the Evans mansion.

Marcus Evans and his daughter, Audrey were sitting outside when the car stopped by.

“What took you so long Javier?” Audrey frowned. “Lost your way?”

Javier ignored her and opened the door so they could enter. Marcus sat at the front beside Javier while Audrey sat at the back with Michael.

“Hello handsome,” Audrey smiled and kissed Michael. “Why did the old man waste your time?”

“We’re late already!” Marcus grunted staring at the watch on his hand. “Don’t distract Javier.”

Javier drove off immediately while Audrey and Michael continued making rude jokes about him in the back seat. Marcus who was obviously irritated at his daughter’s irresponsible behavior, held up a newspaper close to his face, pretending to be reading it right until they got to their destination.

“We’re at the council sir,” Javier announced.

Marcus stared out the window at the building. From his position in the car, he could see that the lights were already on at the top floor, and judging from the number of cars that were already there, he knew he was the last CEO to get to the meeting, as usual.

He sighed and came out of the car, not even bothering to look back at Audrey and Michael. For all he cared, they could continue their love play. He needed to save his job.

Marcus walked straight into the building and up to the top floor where the meeting was scheduled to hold. He opened the door and walked in. Everyone turned to look at him as he entered and he tried his best to ignore their gaze. Marcus knew very well that very few of them liked him. He was the only one that had managed to get on Fred’s good side throughout his life and subsequently, the rest of them seemed to be on the losing end.

Marcus stopped at the South end of the table where his name was designed on a silver placard. That was his usual seat, directly opposite Fred Walters, and in the eighteen years of business and over two hundred and sixteen business meetings, no one had dared contest that seat with him.

Audrey and Michael walked in next and sat down on either side of him. They were his representatives and he had made reservations for them also to be at the meeting.

“Attention,” a voice boomed from the speaker.

Everyone turned to the direction of the voice as they waited to hear the information that was going to be passed to them.

“The new chairman, the wife of the late Fred Walters has announced that this is going to be a closed door meeting. Consequently, no one would be allowed out of the hall after the meeting begins. If you have any business to do, get it done now…”

The hall became rowdy almost immediately as the CEO’s of the different companies chatted amongst themselves. Surely, their new benefactor was a woman and apparently , she was going to be a tough nut to crack.

At exactly 12:30, the doors opened and Iryna Gallagher walked in accompanied by two heavily armed men and she went straight to her seat at the head of the table. All the stakeholders and CEO’s stood up as usual and sat down only after she had made herself comfortable on her seat.

Iryna looked up. The table was a long one but she could see clearly the name on the placard opposite her. It was Marcus Evans. And as if that was enough, he had come with his daughter, Audrey and his number one model, Michael.

Iryna Gallagher smiled at the pair whose mouths were wide open in shock. They had not expected to see her. She was not expecting to see them as well. But fate was a bitch, and she had brought them all together for a little game of chess.

Only that this time, they were the pawns.

And Iryna Gallagher was the Queen.