FRACTURE

Holly was visibly frustrated and angry. It had been two weeks, and there was still no footage from the night of the party. She stood with her left hand on her hip, glaring at the small man in front of her. From her perspective, he was incredibly irresponsible, and she struggled to refrain from reacting physically. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him suspiciously. "Do you really expect me to believe that, Mark? Or are you just not doing your job?"

The middle aged man visibly panicked, and he wished nothing more than to get Holly to understand the situation and predicament. Beads of sweat had laced his temple and balding head. “Ms. De Angelo. It’s not what you think. It’s not my fault we don’t have any footage from the night of the party. The CCTV had been undergoing some fixing and maintenance during the week of the party. If I could have provided you with the footage you’re in demand of, I definitely would have.” He wiped his creased forehead with the white and black polka dot handkerchief he had on. “You need to understand.”

Holly closed in on the man, maintaining her bully stance, and not backing down even a little. Her frown remained intact, and though her hair covered her forehead and temples in a fringe, Mark could still tell her brows were tightly knitted in anger beneath her thick healthy strands of molten vermilion red hair. Her hair even gave off danger, and intimidation, and confidence.

Holly began saying. “You knew there was a party six month before it even commenced, and you decided to do the CCTV maintenance a few days before it? Endangering the life of our guests? That’s irresponsible, you need to own up to your own mistake and laziness.” She then tapped her forehead rhythmically, and pressed her eyes shut briefly. “Sometimes, I hate to do Peter’s work for him. He’s the manager, he should be the one instigating this discipline in the workers. I hate to be the one to report your department to Mr. Cortez and have you all fired.”

“I’m so sorry about the inconvenience,” Mark clasped his hands in a pleading gesture, knowing better than to call her words bluff. “I promise as from hence forth everything will be in order.”

Holly eyed him with disdain. “Don’t beg me like that, makes you look pathetic, put some effort into your job instead.”

Holly De Angelo had been the head of the hotel’s event planning department for three years even before she began working as an assistant for Gregorio Cortez. She had been responsible for planning and coordinating all hotel events and not until a year ago, Greg had seen her diligence and hard work and promoted her to also being the HOD of the marketing department while she still maintained her other positions. So far she had been managing the three jobs she had perfectly, even though sometimes it took a toll on her. She worked as a personal assistant, HOD for the marketing department and the event manager. Maybe it was time they found other capable candidates to fit in the other positions, but Holly could use all the money she could get. She was only needed as an assistant anytime her boss was in town, and all she had to do when he wasn’t was to fill him in detailed explanation of how business was going in the hotel and pitch new marketing ideas.

That should have been the work of the manager no? But the only thing Holly disliked about her boyfriend was his sluggishness and his over negligence when it came to his work and taking actions. She had some sort of close relationship with her boss, they almost considered themselves friends rather than employer and employee and the only reason Peter was still in his position was because she would always put herself on the line to intercede for him, and other times tried to maintain his job by doing things he ought to be the one doing.

The head of the security department, Mark Jonas, had been slacking off on his job as well. Just like Peter, he seldom made important decisions and took actions until it was too late. When the CCTV system had been faulty, Holly knew about it, but she had expected it to be fixed prior to the party but apparently it hadn’t and neither the manger nor the head of security had done anything about it. She had no idea what other ways to track and get to know who Elizabeth had an one night stand with. It should have been forgotten, but her friend wouldn’t let the matter down.

Holly had even gone as far as asking hotel workers by showing them pictures of Elizabeth to know who she had been seen with but none of them had barely even laid their eyes on her. There were too many similar looking blondes in attendance at the party so no one could say if they had seen Elizabeth or just some other woman with the same stature and looks. Even if she did find out who Elizabeth shared a night with, it was definitely of no use at all. What was going to be done after? Nothing.

Holly gave Mark once last look and left him standing in the hallway where she had stopped him to have a quick word. Her heels made a clicking sound as they kissed the sparkling clean marbled tiles of the hotel and as she passed by an old foreign couple — customers — she gave a gleeful smile. After work, she decided she was going to call Elizabeth and asked her to forget the whole thing ever happened. She got a lot of money, which in some way had seemed like some sort of compensation, she could get a car now and get rid of her grandfather’s rickety old Ford which she drove around town and ran errands with. Maybe just live life a little and be just fine.

She’s got twenty thousand dollars after all.

Holly’s next stop was her boss’ office. After she knocked and heard his muffled voice giving her a response, she immediately opened the door and stepped in. Greg was seating behind the desk, in a swiveling chair, facing the window and looking outside, seeming to be a little lost in his thoughts. It was late evening and the sun was seemingly starting to set, casting a yellowish glow against Greg’s tanned skin and causing him to appear olive golden. He had a cigarette to his lips, and was taking slow drags and exhaling the smoke into the air which was clouding up against his face before vanishing. His tie had been pulled loose and hung limp down his chest, his shirt unbuttoned at the top and the suit jacket was in his laps.

Holly stood opposite him, separated by the desk, and announced her presence as if he couldn’t already tell. “You called for me, sir.”

Greg swiveled to face her direction, he was in the process of putting the cigarette to his lips once again. “Holly,” he acknowledged her presence. “Please sit.”

She pulled out one of the two leather seats in front of her and settled into it. She then crossed her legs and clasped her hands atop her skirt. Then she waited till he spoke. There was silence while he got rid of the ashes of the cigarettes and the stick itself into a coaster on his table. And then afterwards he leaned his back against the swiveling leather seat. “Are you aware that my brother, the co owner of this hotel is back in town? And he is not quite proud of the state of the hotel and the workers too. Business has not been booming, and lately it seems like we’ve been more at loss than making profits...” he traced invisible lines on the table, absentmindedly. “We keep providing resources, funds, support but the returns hasn’t been so impressive. The workers. The state of the hotel. The manager. What do you have to say about this Holly?”

Holly had totally forgotten about the fourth job. It wasn’t exactly one she had been assigned with but overtime it had become her responsibility to advise Gregorio on business strategies and how to go about things when it wasn’t so good. This was one of the times. She thought about it long and hard before putting together any response to him.

“I have seen Mr. Gabriel on the night of the party.” She began on a mild note. “Is he here for good?”

Greg shrugged with livid force. “Yesterday he said he wants out of the hotel business. He’s suggesting it gets sold or shut down.”

“Oh, that’s a terrible idea!” Holly eyes widened. “I’ve seen this hotel in worse situations but we always seem to scale through. I think all it needs is more time. We haven’t been getting as much tourists and customers because of the news of the serial killing that’s been on the loose. Two weeks ago, during the birthday, was the day we had the most customer in the entire year. Every single room was booked.”

Greg clasped his hands together. “So what do you suggest should be done?”

“I think what has been scaring the people is the recent serial killing. Only few foreigners are willing to be in town because of what’s been said about Warmaukey. The people might need to be reminded, not of the horror, but the great sceneries, the great people, the mountains, the rivers. Something that will help people connect with nature.”

Greg looked like he was being invested. He propped his chin into his palm, and his elbows into the desk. “So what idea are you pitching here?”

Holly thought for a little while, her mouth mashed together as she did so. Finally, her eyes lit up with an idea and she began to speak. “To do this, you might need to make a sacrifice. You’ve got a good name, and influence. So I’m thinking we make ads on social medias, print out on magazines and newspapers that the hotel would be hosting a fully funded seven days stay for any lucky seven winners next year summer. I could create social media accounts meant for that cause alone and then reach out to young influence-rs, about ten to twenty, with the vacation fully funded with provision of food, tour around the town, security and a thank you for coming gift, in return for publicity and...” Holly tried to get the right word, and when it popped into her head, she snapped her fingers cheerfully. “Good ratings on their pages. That could draw in thousands of other tourists, from all over the world. Depending on how loved and followed our influencers are. Even Grayson could start by posting about this on his Instagram handle. Doesn’t he has about 3.5 million follows? That’ll be a really great start.”

With that said, Gregorio pulled away and leaned back into his seat, thinking about this idea. He watched Holly across the table, and then finally said. “That’s a really great idea. And yes, we could start with Grayson. But he is wanting a break off social media and will be settling at Warmaukey for a year at most. But...” emphasis layed before Holly could interrupt. “I’ll have a word with him about promoting the hotel on his socials and when you’re preparing to make the Ads for the social media promotions, he should be in it. Throw in a few scenes of some adventure in town. Spice it up. The scenery, the food...”

Holly hastily added in excitement. “The people.” She was grinning widely, her cheeks puffed and her eyes appeared smaller. “OMG, I love my town.”

Greg commended her. “And I love your ideas. But first, you have to bring this to my brother. If he agrees to this, we’re good to go.”

Holly almost seemed reluctant for a moment on hearing him say that. She had worked with Gregorio ever since she began working at the hotel and they had seem to get along pretty well. She doubted things would go smoothly with Gideon. She barely knew anything about him other than the basic information you could snoop up about someone on the internet. His net worth. His age. His super model ex girlfriends. The 128 orphanage and foundation he had across the world in the past six years. His socials were drier than the Sahara safe for the occasional pictures of him in the woods, him in some lone cabin. The last time she stalked his Instagram, he had posted a few pictures of his orphanage in Johannesburg, South Africa. Other than that, nothing. She didn’t know what kind of person he was, and if he’d find any of her ideas amusing as Gregorio had done. She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt for a minute or two while her boss concluded their meeting.

He had seen the sudden reluctant in her expression but had so very much decided to ignore it. Just because Gideon had been absent doesn’t mean he wasn’t still her boss. “I’m leaving town for a couple of months to tend to some overdue business at Miami and then Seoul, Korea. Four months at most.”

Holly nodded.

“In the meantime you answer to my brother. I’ll set up your first business date to a couple of weeks from now. Before then, make up your proposal for this idea to promote the hotel. But mind you, he’s got a low attention span and if he gets bored wouldn’t mind laying off every single workers in a day and shutting down the hotel for good, including you...” Greg began rounding up the meeting with a sweet smile, and Holly didn’t like the looks of that. “Good luck, Holly, and I’ll see you in a few months from now.”

Holly was definitely going to having a word with Peter, and the rest of the hotel staffs as well. As she walked down the hallway, returning to her office, her chest was tightened in a knot. Having to meet Gideon Cortez to her felt like she was going to her first job interview as 21 years old who had just graduated from college. She had two bosses now and she had to please them both to an extent. She had a whole lot on herself and had even been put in charge of the last son of the family too. She groaned and stamped her feet like a spoiled child throwing tantrums, ignoring the looks some hotel customers threw her as she passed them.

Of all the jobs she hadn’t complained of, Greg just had to put her as a babysitter for an eighteen years and that too without him suspecting he was being monitored. She didn’t know the kid at all, but she had a feeling she was about to have the hardest next months of her life with the Cortez brothers.