THE HIGH RISE HEART

Micheal's POV

I tried falling asleep again but my heart kept pondering back and forth.

" I built this firm right from scratch, I can't afford to lose it now, no matter what". This was my last thought when my phone rang.

I peeped to see who was calling at that time. It was my girlfriend and fiancee, Benita.

"Hello babe, what's up?"

"I have called over 5 times but you didn't return any". She said,

"Oh shit! I am sorry babe, I was unaware that my phone had been ringing before".

"Are you okay?" She asked

"Am good". I responded.

"Alright babe, be good and take good care of yourself, bye for now"

"Ok babe, I will see you in the morning".

She hung up. It was then I realized that I had been lost in thoughts for the past 35 minutes.

I managed to maneuver my mind from thinking again just to catch some sleep.

I have a lot of activities in the morning.

***

I came to my office quite early today. Although I do report at 9:00 am prompt. But because of the thoughts that have been bothering me lately, I just felt like coming so early to get them off me.

As I flipped my laptop open to check something, I had a knock at my door.

" Come in," I responded.

" Good morning sir!"

" Good morning, What can I do for you?".

Ok sir, " We have a document from Prescott Ltd. It is about the deal they brought to us initially, you haven't reviewed it and they need our response urgently."

"Ok, I will review it and send my approval before the week runs out. Tell them to be patient with us".

" Alright sir"

That was my PA Lucy, she's too lackadaisical about her job. I have been trying to cope with her sucking attitude, that would have almost cost my firm big time in the past.

I have informed my HR department to recruit someone else for me, but they haven't done that yet.

Immediately after Lucy left, I went straight to my documents. I was trying to arrange some files when a notification came in.

It was a letter from Livingston Realty Ltd.

They were trying to persuade me about their interest in buying the majority of shares in my firm. If they had their way, my ownership of the firm is gone.

I don't know how they found out about the huge and ravaging crisis that HRG Ltd was encountering..

" Good morning Mr Michael, we're still interested in buying out HRG Ltd shares. We will wait patiently for your consent".

I was struck immediately, I just remembered that the bank had given us a deadline to pay off our debt or they would initiate a legal process.

" Should I accept their offer?"

" What can I do to pay off our debt, and save my firm?"

The deal that put us in this pandemonium and crisis was a juicy offer at the beginning, but unfortunately, it was a poisoned chalice. Had it been I knew about the possible outcome, I wouldn't have accepted it. That's life for us, very unpredictable.

"I have to rack my brain and get us out of this mess". That's the only way forward. I told myself.

I thought about my brother Jones, he had some connections up his sleeves. Maybe if I acquaint him with the current issues confronting HRG Ltd who knows, he may be of great help to us.

But then, Jones has been a pretentious person, I've never trusted him before because of his indulgence in some illegal deals. I condemned him for his most recent involvement with some realtors. They scammed a company about $900,000. I had to sell one of my cars and property in New Orleans just to bail him out. Although I couldn't provide all the ransom, he had to contact some of his buddies for help. Fortunately, they came up for him.

Since that incident, I had to distance myself from him. I became an introvert and the effect is somehow backfiring now.

But then, my available options are at its barest minimum. As at the moment, I just have to mellow and seek his assistance.