The early morning sun peeped from the horizon, after several couples of minutes since dawn, casting its warm yellow hues over the quiet two-storey building in downtown States.
Ciara's face was clouded with impatience, knowing she had lots on her table in the office as it was an early Monday morning, but Herzl, who suddenly found pleasure in picking his meals, seemed to be the one holding her back.
On most Mondays like this, Ciara was always reviewing proposals or attending to business meetings, it was always a hectic day to start the week with, and she didn't want to go late.
"Come on, HerzL." She drawled, almost whining as she realized she'll be late to work, which she dreaded the most. "Eat up, little guy, else we both will run awfully late -it's Monday morning, running late should be off the plan."
Herzl did not reply to his mother nor shake in response, instead, he pretended not to be the one being referred to. Ciara was left with no choice than to let him finish, since he wouldn't let her feed him.
She had to watch him finish in silence as she quickly dressed him up -she had to drop him at school on her way to work.
******
As the radiating light from the sun, though not much, settled upon the bustling city, casting a veil of tranquility over the chaos of life. Ciara, in her usual spirit as a hardworking entrepreneur, was in her luxurious office on the top floor of an impressive skyscraper, poring over a stark of papers.
She had been tirelessly working on the high stake project for weeks now, but she couldn't shake the gnawing feeling that something was amiss. Trepidation cause through her, and leaves her with a perpetual and inexplicable sense of incompetence that refuses to abate.
Just as the powerful sun pours it's golden radiance over the horizon in the morning, Ciara would pour her time and energy into work and let go off whatever feeling that might be coarse through her.
The door creaked open after a few taps on it, and whosoever might be at the door, already been ushered in by Ciara. She reluctantly looked up from the files she was going through, it was Gerald.
"Hey there, good morning..."Gerald greeted immediately he got next to her desk, his stoic face was with no expression. "How are you faring?"
"Not bad, Gerald, I've been good." Ciara replied with a positive smile, though not wide.
"I can see that, with your radiating smiles, then I guess all is good."
"We should get straight to business now." Ciara said, with seriousness, gradually replacing the smiles on her face earlier. "Sorry, I did not offer you a seat, you can have your seat."
"I'm not a stranger, you know." Gerald told her, withdrawing the seat from the side of the desk. "I should be able to seat without your consent."
"Yeah, sure." Ciara uttered airily as she watched Gerald take his seat before she can proceed.
"What's the outcome of your findings so far, Gerald?" Ciara questioned slowly, her expectation were high, but it wasn't reflecting in her voice or her face.
"Itwas good, and I guess you would love to hearthe outcome of it." Gerald replied, fielding her question. "It would be one of the thrilling information you would love to know, I could hope so."
"If really it is, then spill it..."Ciara uttered in a bossy yet polite manner.
"From what I find out so far, I got to know that Ryan got married to a Lady at court without his mother's consent. It is a something of a secret marriage with only one witness, that's why we were ignorant about it." Gerald explained.
"Is that all, the only information you managed to gather?" Ciara questioned with a few lines on her forehead, this wasn't the thing she wanted to know. "You only got to find out about his marriage alone?"
"Ah -not at all." Gerald shook his head in disagreement. "Not only that, his new weeded wife demands of her shares in Ryan's property, with which he did."
"You mean Ryan shared his properties just to suit his newly wedded bride?" Ciara, find it funny but also bad to the hearing -she realized how much Mrs. Lerman would be disappointed in him.
"Yeah..."Gerald confirmed with a nod. "He got to share his wealth with the Lady and now, as investigated, the lady, who turns out to be Anne by name had successfully squandered all Ryan's hard-earned money, leaving him with less or nothing to call his own."
Ciara tried hard if she could at least recollect the person who bears that name, but her brain seemed to be blank but after a few seconds of brain racking, she vividly remembered -the same lady his mother had kicked against for him.
"So in a nutshell, you are telling me now that, Ryan, one of the top ten wealthy businessmen in the States, is left with nothing?" Ciara asked, even if it was what her ears ached to hear, she still finds it hard to digest it.
"I am saying nothing but the truth, Ciara." Gerald replied, seeing the disbelief on her face. "You should have known that I don't disappoint nor make stories up. I've been working with you for more than a year, you should have known me better."
Ciara could not fathom why she seemed to excited about Ryan's sudden ruin and how everything he managed to own crumpled before his face instantly.
Even as she tries her best to have pity on him as her ex-husband but she finds herself getting all excited about his misfortune was unable to pinpoint why she was glad about it. She never would have believed that Ryan Lerman, of all people, would ever find himself in this situation.
That his so-called wife would cart away with his wealth and send every of his assets to nothing but a ruin -the same assets his mother had warned him about as the family heirloom.
But then an idea stuck in her mind. Since Ryan was badly in need of a shareholder, what's if she decides to be the buyer? An anonymous buyer, precisely -she's always interested in being a shareholder in companies.
At first, Ciara thought that her revenge would be only for his uncles, but now, she realized she was mistaken. There's Ryan too, and she won't just go let him off her grip.
Ciara was determining on taking the whole company from him, in the name of shareholder, and leaving him with nothing -Anne must have started the whole escapade, but she'll be putting an end to everything.