WHY?

Sudh’s pov:

We reached the office by 7: 15. I stepped out of the car and took a moment to look at the building.

‘Unicorn constructions’, I named this in the memory of someone, someone really special. My secretary, Sarah, was waiting for me at the reception. She has been working for me since I started this company and is a very close friend of mine. We did our MBA together.

“We have a lot of things to deal with. So don’t waste my time greeting and get what I asked you for.” I was pretty annoyed, beyond my yield point, after what my so-called-best-friend did. “Everything’s ready on your table.” She replied confidently.

We walked into my office after reaching the 15th floor. I sat in my chair and took the files into my hands. I took some time to examine all the documents. And called for Sarah along with Nikhil, who’s the Chief operating officer (COO) of my company, for a meeting.

“After studying all the documents, I came to two conclusions.” I said looking at them.

“Tell us what’s on your mind.” Nikhil asked.  “One, Abhay’s company must have faced a crisis to act on us like this. His company called off all our projects, making us fall into a debt of a few million dollars.”

“By pushing us into debt, how would they gain anything?” Sarah asked innocently.

“They’d gain double of what we lose.” Nikhil started explaining, “We signed all the projects on the note that, if, in future, any project is to be cancelled then we would have to pay half of the total agreed budget of the project. So, if the projects together buckle up a debt of $50 million dollars, they gain a minimum of 100 million dollars considering $25 million dollars from each project. This is the simplest way I can explain this to you, Sarah.”

“I’m not dumb. So, we have a debt of $150 million dollars? How did we sign those documents without checking?” Sarah asked, looking at us. “You are the secretary, here. Why don’t you answer that question?” Nikhil asked her,

narrowing his eyes.

“It was my fault. I asked her to just read the summary of the agreement as we were already late for the launch.” I said without looking at them. “Even if we were in a rush, we read the agreement before signing it. Why would you do that?” Nikhil asked with disappointment.

“Well, it was because….” I said, turning my eyes to them, “I trusted him. We discussed all the terms and conditions before documenting. I never expected he'd add something without my knowledge.”

“What’s your second conclusion, Madam?” Nikhil asked.

“Well, things might get tricky here. I hope this is not the case.” I frowned. Two pairs of eyes asking for an explanation, “Tell us” they asked together.

“Second, they might have found our underground business.”

“NO! That can’t be the case. It will be a big problem, if so.” Sarah was shouting standing up. “Walls have ears, Sarah” I said to her with a warning.

“I don’t think they are capable of that. Maybe, you’re overthinking, Madam?” Nikhil stood up looking at me. “Our men saw him near the assembly last week. I thought they mistook someone else for him. And, even if he found our secret, he can’t go against us. It’s just a speculation, though.”

“Well, we own 16 percent of their stocks and moreover Mr. Abhay would never do this to you. I think the first one might be the case. I think we should look into their company’s recent projects.” He suggested.

“That’s illegal.” Sarah said, offending. “Do it. I’ll leave it to you then.” I asked Nikhil to leave.

Sarah was upset, but only because she realised how the world is.

The entire day passed hectic. Raman brought the dinner and insisted on leaving only after I finished eating. Sarah was preoccupied with the list of meetings and clients we had to deal with.

I wasn't concerned about my debt. We can finish it in a week. But the company's reputation will be impacted. I've been working my tail off for this firm for the past three years. There were no worthy opponents to stand up to me. However, losing four projects at once might cause the resting foxes to wobble.

To compensate for the financial effect of this loss, I decided to undertake three large-scale initiatives. This might be perilous, but business is all about taking chances. One of the three projects is truly unique. It's a contract that I obtained by jeopardising my clandestine identity. It was a collaboration with the world's top IT corporation. 'GRAE' is a massive and powerful international technology corporation. Its IPO and subsequent rise in share price established a few billionaires and valued around 19,000 millionaires among its employees. They have lately begun investigating

Blockchain, a sort of DLT made popular by BitCoin. They launched extremely high-tech initiatives. This is the only firm that has piqued my interest. However, no one knows who the CEO of this firm is. With my influence, I can confirm that he is a member of the subterranean secret society in both the actual and the underground world. I saw it as a task to track him down. Then there was this project; I would never pass up such an opportunity.

"May I enter, Madam?" Nikhil was standing at the door.

"Please come in."

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***