Chapter 5 Accepting Your Proposal

Harrison simply carried the frustration of his failure on his shoulders, and sadly went straight to his new home and that of his family, his bachelor apartment, which served him from time to time for parties with other women.

But now he had to protect his family from the cold, because not even the shadow of that powerful family remained. His whole family was sitting in the main room waiting for him, it was like a kind of welcoming entourage, but not in a good way, they were just waiting to attack him like lurking hyenas.

"What did you solve, Harrison?" Emma stood up, crossed her arms, and asked him demandingly

"What do you solve from that mother?" Harrison replied in surprise

"From this situation, look how we are, in this apartment there are only two rooms, it's so small, so frustrating to be here, we only have the hacienda left, and it's so far from the city, what are we going to do?"

"Mom, we are victims of our bad decisions, and especially of financial mismanagement, we are bankrupt and there is nothing to be done, we must work as employees, and support each other as we can.

Joshua stared at them all, pressed his forehead and let a tear fall.

"This is my fault, I handed over the businesses to you in very bad shape Harrison, getting out of the bankruptcy we were in was completely impossible, you're right son, we have to each work on our own.

"Brother, I'm twenty years old, I've only been to university for two years, I've never worked, I don't know how to do anything, what am I going to do?" Megan put her hands to her head in anguish

"I don't know, family for many years I tried to cope with this situation, even supporting this family made me a sullen and selfish man and now I feel more alone than ever.

Emma's lips trembled from the stress, she started walking around the room, she was so angry about everything that was happening that she couldn't even think of what to solve.

"I've never worked Harrison!" What am I going to work on? Emma refuted

"I told you I don't know, Mom, we don't have any other options.

Everyone left the room without giving a solution, Harrison was left there alone, without a single word of encouragement to make him feel better, his company was about to close, there were only a few days left to the dreams he fought so hard for, most likely if he had remained married to Olivia, none of that would be happening.

That night it was difficult to fall asleep for all the Martens, their situation was desperate, and they would have to start getting rid of everything they had, not only the material, but also to get rid of all that pride and vanity that was of no use to them.

However, Emma did not give up, she was not willing to lose all the luxuries to which she was accustomed, so very early in the morning, she dressed herself in her best clothes, perfumed herself with the last good perfume she had left and with the leaf of Olivia's proposal in her hand,  He went straight to his office.

"Ma'am! And I told her I can't let her go in and talk to Mrs. McGregor, she's too busy," Geidy, Olivia's secretary stopped Emma who insisted on talking to her.

"Look, secretary, don't forget your place, tell Mrs. McGregor, Emma Martens is here, she knows who I am

"But I already warned you, and you just told me I didn't have time for you," Geidy insisted, but Emma wouldn't give up.

<<What is the peasant woman believing?>> Without further ado, he went straight to the office, despite the fact that the secretary blocked his way, he began to struggle with her to open the door.

"Ma'am, I told you they can't take care of you, what part don't you understand?" Geidy grabbed Emma to block his path, but she slipped out of his grip abruptly

"Let me go!" Who do you think you are? At that precise moment the door of Olivia's office opened, from there came the imposing woman, who watched the others as they fought in her entrance.

"What's going on here?" He asked in a calm but accurate tone.

"Olivia! Honey—Emma greeted her, not mitigating her ironic tone.

"Emma, my secretary already told you that I'm busy, to talk to me you have to make an appointment, and my schedule is available until 45 days from now.

Emma felt as if her ex-daughter-in-law had slapped her straight in the face, frowned and looked into her eyes.

"Well, I've come because I want to accept the proposal you made to my family and me, Olivia we urgently need the money, and well, here I am.

Olivia smiled sarcastically, looked the woman up and down, and crossed her arms.

"Her son didn't want Emma to accept it, and the offers have time to expire, my funds went to another company that did want to get out of bankruptcy.

"What?" Emma paled, "But you have a lot of money, you could help us too.

Olivia raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "I'm very sorry for what's going on, but I don't have a lot of money available for charity, now, please leave my company.

Emma couldn't believe what Olivia was doing to her, it was a tremendous humiliation to herself and her family, but she was in such an inexorable crisis that keeping pride high was completely unnecessary.

"Olivia, please, for old times' sake, can we talk dear.

Olivia looked her ex-mother-in-law up and down, rolled her eyes, and motioned for her to enter her office.

"Okay Elisa, what's your proposal?"

Well, you said that you could lend us the capital to save our company in exchange for us giving you its name, so I accept, I give you the name of Industries Martens, and we lend the capital, that's it.

Olivia hissed, and made a tragic face at the woman.

"How do I explain to you?" It's just that I told you, that's not available, the only thing I can offer you right now is a job in my office, I propose to each member of your family that they come to work with me, each one in a different position.

"What?" Your employees? No! Not crazy.

"Well, if you look at it from the position where no one takes risks with their company anymore, they owe all the banks, no businessman wants to invest, and you don't know how to do anything, you should consider my proposal, I'll pay you a good salary for your functions.

"Why are you doing this, Olivia?" Emma reproached measuring, her voice cracking

"What?" I'm helping you, if you agree, I'll be waiting for the four of you here tomorrow, at eight o'clock in the morning, I'll delegate your duties to each of you, I'll be considerate of you, maybe it can be a good experience.

Olivia looked at Emma, who was flushed from helplessness, her eyes were glassy. The woman barely swallowed whole and nodded her head, leaving Olivia's office with her head down.

Emma fainted into the halls of the large building, while Olivia poured a glass of wine, she was not a bad woman, but she had to teach the Martens a lesson, especially her mother-in-law and her ex-husband, no one imagined the tears she shed after they took her out of their mansion as if she were a dog.