Their carelessness

Max was startled when he heard the phone. Suddenly being pulled back to reality, still feeling somewhat disoriented. He looked around for a second, noticing the faces that immediately turned back to their own screens and documents. Then he cleared his throat and picked up the phone, "Infinity Enterprises, Mr. Stephens' office, Max speaking." The voice on the other side of the phone told him that he was from the cake shop and told him that there was a delay because the van they used to transport the cake to the location had a sudden mechanical error and they couldn't get a rental until later in the day. Making them late by an hour from the original delivery time.

This made Max return to his strict and problem-solving self as he said, "You know as well as I do, that a delay of one hour is unacceptable. You won't be able to place the cake once the guests get there and the cake is the centrepiece of the table. I will call one of my contacts for an emergency pick-up and I will deduct 75% of the costs for this pick-up from your bill for the cake, which is very generous since I should make you pay all of it for not having a back-up plan for a job this size. You are paid royally to make this cake for us and we agreed with the price you came up with. But that kind of price comes with certain expectations and responsibilities. You are not an exception in this, even if it was unexpected. The 25% is because you at least tried to fix the situation."

The man was baffled. Although, he knew that Max was right, in a matter of seconds he was pushed in a corner where he had no room or way left to argue. An outcome he hadn't expected, but perhaps should have. So, he just apologized and agreed with whatever costs might come with the emergency pick-up. Praising himself lucky for not making a bigger mistake or being on the other side of the conversation with someone who had.

The event in question was somewhat of a meet and greet, as well as a fundraiser. A thing most companies and wealthy people like to combine. They had to go to this event to show everyone that despite everything that had happened over the past few weeks, their company was still going strong. That they now had all their affairs back in order and there was no need to worry for those already doing business for them and those who were considering it.

Their own security having been breached like that, was something that put a dent in the confidence people had in them. So, they needed to smooth things over a bit. In order to achieve this, they had pulled out all the stops and it would be an event that all of the higher-ups of the company would be present for, along with their partners. This included Noah, who did not like such events very much and like to operate in the shadows. Sure, Steve would be the one standing front and centre, plenty of eyes would also be on him. If it wasn't because of his position, it would be because of his looks that tended to catch the eyes of many.

The initial plan was for Steve and Noah to go to the event directly and for Laila and Maria to join them separately. But Maria didn't feel too at ease with letting Steve go to the office by himself that particular day, because he had been running a fever the night before and she didn't want his condition to worsen by him overexerting himself. So, she decided to come to the office with him and get her hair and make-up done at one of the salons at the mall nearby, while she used the rest of the day to work on her own project alongside Steve in his office, as he did his own things.

This meant that Laila would be coming to the event by herself, while the three of them would be heading over together. Something that didn't seem like too much of a big deal. Just like a lot of things hadn't seemed like a big deal ever since they had returned to their days of business as usual. It had been quiet for so long, and thinking that all the people out to get them had been locked away behind bars, they had gotten a bit careless. Gotten that false sense of safety, making them and the guards go a bit soft. And their carelessness and naïve way of thinking would come at a high price.

Because while they might have thought that the cake delivery would be the biggest hick-up of the day, something much bigger was about to happen. Something that none of them had considered even in their worst nightmares.