"I don’t think so. Maybe she’s still occupied with taking care of her father." He replied and Vanessa rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with his reasoning. "Taking care of her father won’t stop her from sending the money. She’s delaying, Sylvester. That’s all this is. She doesn't want to send it. Can't you see it?"
"No, I don't think she is delaying intentionally. There must be something holding her that we don't know."
"I don't believe that. Maybe she found out about our plan. Think about it."
"Nobody knows about our plan, not even her Ex-Husband. So there is no way she will know." Sylvester assured her.
"Why don't you call her?" Vanessa asked.
"I should call her?" Sylvester repeated, seeing it was quite a bad idea.
"Yes," Vanessa replied without hesitation. "Call her and ask her why she’s failing to fulfill her promise. Tell her that if she doesn’t send the money soon, you are going to lose your business to the man you borrowed from."
"It's a nice suggestion, but I don’t want it to seem like I’m only focused on the money. We should have some patience." He said and Vanessa scoffed. "No, Sylvester, I’m tired. We have waited long enough. I need to buy things for myself."
Then, suddenly, something clicked in her mind. Her thoughts drifted to Max. The hacker Sylvester had placed inside Anabel’s company. The man sitting in the head of the company systems.
Until now, he had done nothing significant for them. Vanessa smirked slightly and crossed her arms. "Sylvester, I think it’s time to make use of Max."
"Max? No! He's reserved."
"I know but since Anabel doesn’t want to send the money, let's make use of Max." She said and Sylvester inhaled deeply, running a hand through his hair. He had placed Max in her company for moments like this. To make sure he had control when needed.
And now? It wasn't the time, but looking at the current situation, making use of Max won't be too bad.
.
.
.
The following day, Anabel stepped into her office in anger. Her heels were clicking against the polished floor as she made her way to her desk. She has received a report that the new product they advertised to the public had not been selling.
This morning, she came to review the performance of the product by herself and know what the problem would be.
She sat down on her chair and turned to her assistant, who was already waiting at the side of the room. "Bring me the file on our latest product’s track record," she instructed.
"Okay, ma'am." The assistant nodded quickly and retrieved the document from a nearby drawer and then handed it to her. "Here is the file, ma."
Anabel exhaled and began to flip through the reports, scanning each figure carefully. Her brows furrowed almost immediately. Something was off.
They had spent five million dollars on advertising, yet the sales figures were not matching up, or even close. The revenue barely covered half of what was spent. It was an unusual and unacceptable return. They had used one of the biggest advertising companies—yet the results felt as if no campaign had even been done.
She tapped her fingers against the desk as her frustration bubbled. The product itself was nice and great. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Customers liked it. Then why was it struggling to sell?
She leaned forward and grabbed her office phone. She needed to find the root of the problem. She calls Mr. Kane, the head of the advertising department.
"I want to see you in my office now." She said and dropped the telephone. Within minutes, Mr. Kane arrived. He had left all the things he was doing to answer Anabel. He knew why she was calling him.
"Good morning, ma." He greeted, bowing his head slightly.
"There is nothing good about this morning, Mr. Kane. Why is the selling rate of the new product so low?" she asked sharply. "I have gone through the track record. The reviews are good. People like the product. They are giving positive reviews. So why are we struggling to sell up to what we spent on advertising?"