The phone call.

The aroma of the coffee was the same as always but for some reason it gave Orana a little feeling of serenity. The sky was clear outside as the sun shined brightly, promising for a good day ahead. The morning birds sang their songs of joy as they cheered to be alive. A sip of the hot coffee brought Orana back to the present moment and suddenly the phone rang.

"Hello."

"Hello, this is secretary Alec speaking.'

"I knew who you were." She slowly turned away from the window and sat on the big couch in the living room.

"Yes yes, … errr i was wondering if you could come to the office right away, President Xanti would like to see you."

A little smirk came upon her face for that was the call she had been expecting for the past two days, 'it took you too long to call' she thought as she put the coffee mug on the table in front of her.

"I believe President Xanti knows that, i am not reporting to work till next week?"

"Yes ma'am, but it is an urgent matter." Orana could sense the nervousness in his voice.

"Give him the phone."

"Yes ma'am."

After a few moments, a strong deep voice was heard through the phone, "hello."

"President Xanti, you requested for me?" Orana took another sip of the hot coffee as she relaxed waiting to hear what the other side had to say.

"The Nine red Project, you must have heard about the outcome." the deep voice sounded calm.

"Yes, Director Xanti was in charge of that but it did not go as planned, the chairman had me follow up."

"Assistant Avak, you should know what that would mean."

Even though they grew up together, there had always been some tension between them. Caleb Xanti was the first son of the chairman and he was raised with the attitude of being the heir of all his father's fortune. The mother, Madam Xanti, was the daughter of the Khalifa group and had been a great support to Caleb that one would think he was the only son in the family.

"I will be there in an hour." After a small pause, Orana finally gave her answer.

Just like every other weekday, the traffic was jammed as they made their way to the company. Orana looked at the documents of the Nine Red Project which was under the negotiation stage. There was nothing wrong with the proposal just very poor negotiation skills or maybe the other party had other interests apart from what was being offered. It had always been like that especially when they were dealing with the Freya company, who were known for being bloodsucking vampires in the business realm. One had to be aggressive as they are in order to have an upper hand.

'Cy, probably did not convince them enough.' Orana thought as she went through the details all over again.

'But why did Caleb call me instead of Cy, some things will never change.'

It had always been like that, as the assistant to the chairman, Orana was known to be the eyes and ears for him in the company. President Xanti probably wanted to show to his father how capable he was in being the next chairman.The power struggle between the three Xanti brothers had always been intense and Orana would always end up being in the middle of it. Despite Madam Xanti's intention to make Caleb the heir, the chairman never made an offical statement and the actual heir was not yet known. As of this, Orana had always kept her distance from the three brothers, especially Cian, who had been dear to her growing up.

"Assistant Avak, we are here." The driver politely opened the car door.

Orana for a few seconds, stared at the eight story building before got off the car, 'hello indian pipe,' she quietly greeted the building in her mind as she prepared for the battle ahead.

Whispers and the long stares were all directed to the woman in a dark suit and red lipstick who just made her way into the hall of the company building. It had always been like that but for some reason they had been louder than usual.

"Sirma, what is going on?" Orana called out to her driver whose hands were filled with her materials.

"Oh ma'am, they are wondering if you returned early because of the shareholder meeting?" Sirma replied with excitement in his voice.

"What shareholders meeting?" Orana's steps suddened as she paid attention to the driver.

"Rumor has it that a shareholders meeting will be held after two weeks." Sigma replied.

Orana was suprised because she had been with the chairman the day before but he never mentioned anything regarding the Shareholders meeting. It all made sense twhy Caleb had called instead of Cy. Knowing how the nine red Project had been important, this would be a huge stepping stone into getting the position of the Chairman. Orana was nothing but an assistant and all of the achievements would make Caleb more suitable.

"Once a snake always a snake," Orana murmured under her breath.

"Excuse me ma'am." The driver did not get to understand what Orana had said. But no answer was given and the progressed their way to the Presidents office.

There was silence in the room and a strong smell of cigarettes. Orana slowly walked in and sat on the chair opposite the big office desk. A few minutes after driver Siena had left the room, Caleb did not utter a single word and continued to puff the smoke of cigarette.

"Do you know why I like you?" Caleb finally broke the awkward silence in the room.

"You only say this when you are having a bad day, feels like a warning sign." Orana replied as she crossed her arms and legs .

Caleb let out a tiny laugh as he loosened his tie which was probably choking him at that moment , " you and i are just the same." He slowly got up from his chair while still holding his cigarette , "we might have been twins in another lifetime."

"I must have been killed at an early age, in that lifetime."

Caleb made his way to the chair close to Orana and pulled it closer to her while he sat down, "see what i mean, only you can understand me the most.. Too bad you were born in a poor family and to make it worse.. you are a woman."

Orana could say those words by heart after hearing the countless times but surprisingly over the years they did not sting as they used to. They grew up together but not under the same conditions. Orana had to work extra hard than all of them and not to mention taking blames or cleaning up after all of them. İf it hadn't been for the care Cian and the chairman had shown to her, she would have run away from the glory of the Xanti family at very young age. A lot of people had envied her for being raised in the Xanti family but none of them knew all the things she had to go through.

"This is why you are lucky." Orana uncrossed her arms and faced the cold face that was next to her.

"Let's cut the chase. I don't want any mistakes, the shareholders meeting is coming up after two weeks. .. İf things go in our favor, i will make sure you keep your position assistant Avak." Caleb smiled for nothing brought him more pleasure than to torture Orana. He had already made a list of ways of doing that after he became the Chairman.

"When have i ever failed.' Orana got up and without looking back, aimed for the door.

"I will have Secretary Alec deliver you more files, make me proud." Caleb called back.

Handling Caleb had never been a problem, it was those bloodscucking Freya company vampires that had been on Orana's mind as she left the company. What would actually fill there hungry stomaches was the mystery she had yet to solve. As those thoughts lingered through her head, her phone suddenly rang.

Orana's heart skipped a bit as she saw the caller on the screen of her smartphone. After taking a long deep breath she finally managed to calm herself and answered the call, "hello."

"You haven't called me, are you avoiding me?"

Orana was silent as she tightly gripped her phone without having anything to say.

"I am still your father, come to me whenever you are ready."

Before Orana could give an answer, the caller dropped the line leaving her in a daze.