The New Guy; My neighbour

Chapter 15 - A thorn in the flesh

Having just concluded his last round of meetings with the City investors, Trevor was sitting in his office going over the most recent revision to the Investors Agreement. He was looking at his Samsung flip screen, thumbing through the completed document. They had extended an invitation to prospective investors to join them in their company's expansion to the coast. City investors were their top choice, and they were almost finalizing the agreement.

Given how powerful and sought-after they were, their father had expressly advised choosing just one investor; even though they had many potential shareholders on their list, the mayor had that liberty. The mayor screened possible investors as if their presence or absence did not matter to him. He didn't want any connections with rivals who were only there to verify how well David's digital fortune was doing. His father would always tell them to find out investors' true motivations before taking them on. Some were just coming to watch them fall and rip them apart at their lowest. Trevor found it utterly incomprehensible that anyone could tolerate losing enormous sums of money on such a Ponzi-like tactic. But it had always been evident to the mayor that his rivals could go above and beyond to undermine him. The mayor had intended to sell off the digital business years ago, but after observing Trevor's intense interest in digital technology, he decided against it. The digital business seemed to be the only business string that had Trevor hooked on his business chain.

Trevor stopped for a moment and took a pensive glance. He had been working more diligently. He knew he had to do more of the things he loved and make sure he could manage the company, even if it was only remotely after he and his father came to an agreement that he could stay in Greensville for another year. He had spent the previous days reflecting deeply, and he anticipated that the days ahead would be even harder, since he was eager to make some changes within the company before leaving. His father's winery was the largest roller in David's chain of businesses, but Trevor was least interested in it. His father would brag to his friends that he could survive a day without smaller rollers in his chain, but couldn't survive without the winery. David's father had handed over this business to him. It was the first and most well-known winery in Boulevard, which had influential patrons reserve expensive white wine, costing thousands of dollars. However, Trevor sometimes felt there was something odd and illegitimate about the way the winery was run, and he wasn't really interested in getting his hands dirty at the time being. He was aware that he still needed to learn more about the specifics of running the winery, which was presumably the mayor's motivation for pressuring him to learn.

The landline chimed, disturbing his peaceful moment. He picked up the handset and waited for the caller to speak.

"Sir, someone called to confirm an appointment with you, but I have no such appointment in my schedule. I am wondering if you had a private arrangement with her." It was his personal assistant, Evelyn, speaking.

"Who?" Trevor inquired.

"Venita Holmes," Evelyn replied.

"Venita Homes?" Trevor asked, uncertain if he had heard her correctly.

"Yes. Venita Holmes. She claimed to have already arranged a private meeting with you and was just making sure the appointment was scheduled."

"Decline the request; tell her that my schedule is filled for the year."

"Mister Trevor?"

"Yes, you heard me right. And don't call me about her requests again."

"Yes, boss."

"Good. By the way, is the document for Eloquent Digital ready yet?"

"It's in the final stages. It will be ready this evening."

"Brilliant."

Trevor ended the call. He shook his head disapprovingly and hissed loudly. Venita was starting to get on his nerves, and he wasn't even sure what she wanted from him. He squeezed his hands together, shook his legs violently from side to side, and let out a long breath before returning to his work.