Chapter 1

Ava's POV

"YOU ARE THE BOSS OF YOUR WORLD." A quote from Jack Theodore said.

I had always used this quote as my motivational tool in whatever I did, treating everything like I was the boss. And no day went by without me saying my words of affirmation.

"I am the boss of my world. Rules would be made by me."

"I am the boss of my world. Everything goes the way I want."

"I am the boss of my world. Every plan is my strategy."

On this particular day, as I stepped out in my red Handkerchief Hem Dress and black heels, ready for work, I repeated the quote in my head.

As I entered into the horrific traffic of New York City, the quote stayed glued.

As I got out of my car and stepped into the parking lot of my tech company I made my way into the building with the quote still hanging.

And even as I looked up at the beautiful giant design that had the name of my company ‘Vance Tech’ atop the tall building, the quote stuck.

As I got past the lobby, responding to every bow from my workers and got on the elevator, the quote was still standing. 

As I got off the elevator and into my office floor, the quote was still making me smile, proudly.

However, as my assistant, Camilla, showed me the new stock price of my company the moment I got to my office, all smiles disappeared and the quote got scraped out of my head. 

WHAT THE FUCK?! Why is the stock price so low?!

“What happened Camilla?!” My quivering voice asked as I gaped at the decrease in my company's stock price in disbelief.

“I got to work to meet this too. It was a mass decrease. Zeke said it happened in a twinkling of an eye.”

I sighed and slammed my bag onto the mahogany desk in my enormous office that overlooked the busy city of New York.

Last year, our stock began to decrease. We began to have low sales and started falling behind the charts. We thought it was something we could fix, so we sold out most of our shares

But, the stocks didn't increase, instead, it got worse. There were even poor reviews from customers and our sales flunked more.

Nonetheless, there was a standstill in the decrease for a month now, though, there wasn't still any increase but, there was no decrease either and we thought we could finally mend the issue while the stock was stagnant.

But, hearing the news that our stocks got a mass decrease rendered the situation hopeless.

“Miss Brooks, there is something else you need to see.” 

I veered my focus to Camilla who was extending a tab to me. I took the tab with a curious gaze and played the video on it.

My gaze widened as I watched the video playing on the tab. It was a video taken of me hitting a worker. Actually, not just a worker, a bitch.

“This went viral last night hence, the decrease in our stocks.” 

“Who took the video?” I asked, my teeth gritted and my fist clenched that I feared my fingers could tear my flesh. 

“We don't know yet.”

“Find the person who took the video through the surveillance camera.”

“Yes, ma'am.” 

Camilla swept past me and walked out of my office. I gripped the tab and smashed it onto the tile floor of my office, shattering the gadget in pieces. 

Someone definitely planned this. Someone planted that bitch, asked her to provoke me and took a video of me reacting.

****FLASHBACK****

Working hours were over, the workload today had worn me out and got me glued to my chair throughout my working hours. We were still finding ways to improve our stocks. We contacted rival companies but got no response. We presented proposals to different companies for a collaboration but we were forced to come up with a better one because it got rejected.

I pushed myself off my chair and gave my bones and muscles a long stretch before picking up my shoes from the floor, stuffing them into my bag and exiting my office.

Almost everyone had closed for the day because the floors were quiet and it was already getting dark.

However, a receptionist was still behind the front desk when I arrived at the lobby and I was about to tell her to close for the day but she was already approaching me with a paper cup of coffee.

“Miss Brooks. I see you are leaving work already.”

She smiled and extended the paper cup of coffee to me.

But as I was about to accept it, she tilted it a little bit and the whole content poured onto my hand, burning my skin.

A loud shriek escaped me and I groaned from the pain of the burn. I rubbed the spot where it had burnt smoothly until it became a little bit warm. And then, I realized that the bitch did not apologize.

I yanked my head up at her to see her smirking. She was smirking! Can you imagine that?!

“What the fuck? You ain't gonna apologize?”

But her smirk grew wider. “Serves you right. Why didn't you accept it properly? I gave you the coffee out of a good gesture and you just had to pridefully toss it aside. I guess they are right about your pride. It stinks.”

WHAT?! Was I hearing correctly?

I didn't know how it happened but I just found myself raising my hand and landing it sharp on her left cheek.

****PRESENT****

Camilla rushed into my office as I read through the reviews from the media. They were bad reviews. The worst we have ever had in the history of Vance Tech. 

People were uninstalling our apps, saying they couldn't use the app of an ‘arrogant prideful bitch’.

Stocks were decreasing gradually and my patience was wearing out. 

Who took the video? No one was there at that moment. Who uploaded the video? Was this really a set-up? I pondered, I was so worried.

“Did you find out who took the video?” I asked Camilla, without darting my gaze at her. 

“No, but, I found something else. That girl never worked here. She works at The Notes Tech.”

There was a brief pause.

Wait, The Notes Tech? That was my brother’s tech company. Did he do this?

I didn't allow Camilla to finish her report before I jerked up and walked out of the office.

Ethan’s company was a rival company to mine, although mine was more prominent than his and this established his jealousy and hatred for me. Since then, he had been trying all his best to bring my company down instead of focusing on how he could grow his company.

One of his tactics to bring my company down finally worked for him. Hurray to him! 

But, I wasn't going to let this go without a word of confrontation.

Ethan’s company is ten times smaller than mine. Though he tried to buy larger buildings for his company to prevent intimidation but his company sales couldn't sustain the lease of the building so he was forced to move out.

I walked into the building, deliberately clicking my heels on the tiled floor, loudly.

Despite his secretary telling me that he wasn't accepting any visitors at the moment, I let myself into his office.

Ethan was munching on protein bars, his legs crossed over the other on his table and watching a movie on his laptop. He didn't acknowledge my presence until I knocked on his office door.

“That was low even for you,” I said, faking a smile and rounding his desk. I found myself comfortable on his swivel chair and swirled it around. “So, how do you come up with those schemes in this little stuffy office of yours?” 

He gave no response and pretended to still be interested in the movie he was watching. I knew the words I said had triggered him because he was gritting his teeth, his jaw sharp and strong. 

Ethan was the only one out of us that was a perfect carbon copy of Dad. The rest of them were their mother and mine was my mom.

Yes, we were half-siblings. The same father and different mothers. They said my dad had an affair. They also said that my mother seduced my father. They called her a whore and every other name of a prostitute.

I wouldn't believe any of them, though. I believed everything were all lies, lies they had convinced themselves to believe. I couldn't believe anything that my family said. Every word their lips spoke were lies to me. From the moment they began to treat me like trash, all they said to my ears were nothing but lies.

“Ava, you keep forgetting your place, huh?” Ethan said, abandoning his movie and setting his full focus on me. “You are nothing without Dad’s support. For every good thing that's coming your way through that company, Dad is the mastermind. If not for Dad, people won't know you as CEO Ava, they would know you as Ava, the daughter of a harlot, the daughter of a whore. Because that's who you are.” 

Every word they have always said, every ridicule this family had thrown at me, were like knives, piercing my heart and leaving deep cuts on it. Every single word they spoke about my mother and I, got to me and I took everything in like poison. 

All the years of tagging me as the daughter of a prostitute, I had never learnt to get used to it. The words settled in and bruised me every time it slipped out of their mouth, it ate my inside up. They reminded me of Mom. They reminded me that she was six feet underneath right now. They reminded me that I lost the privilege to ever call anyone ‘mom’.

Just like now, tears stung the corner of my eyes, threatening to fall and bring my perfect make-up into ruins. 

I got up and slowly strolled outside of his office, shutting the door behind me. 

I know I shouldn't let myself down like this. No, I shouldn't. This company was the only thing keeping me on my feet among these people. If this company goes down, I would also go down and everything I had ever worked for would go down the drain. 

The ridicule I got from this family would be ten times worse than what I would get if I failed.

I won’t let that happen.

I would do anything to save my company. Anything.