"Have a seat, Mr.—"
"It's Wallace." The man told Catalina. "I am the media buyer of GAT Advertising and was sent in placed of our manager since there's an emergency currently happening at the agency." he politely explained.
Catalina nodded once as she sat on her couch, "Alright, Mr. Wallace, I already did a brief talk to your manager about what I want for the campaign but that was on the phone."
"Yes, we started a concept with our creative department. How do you think about our plans for this product launch, Ms. Haytham?" Mr. Wallace turned over his iPad for Catalina to be able to see it.
Catalina lifted her gaze at it, analyzing the ideas and designs before she commented. "We need a much effective message to be delivered to the right audience. Our customer's satisfaction must be the top priority of this campaign. The deadline is still far so we have a lot of time to run a successful advertising campaign." She paused for a second, "No, I'm not just referring for something successful, I'm talking about buoyancy. Something that would still rise in a satisfactorily high level when being submerged by the circulating rivalry in beauty industries. I chose your agency because I believe you could make it possible for my products and I wasn't actually expecting any disappointments as I've known you as one of the most preeminent advertising agency in the whole US, am I right?"
Mr. Wallace managed to smile after hearing such request. Who would actually dare to say any uncertainties after hearing such words, as if telling him he's not allowed to say anything other than actually doing it to meet the expectations of a tough demand. "We'll certainly do everything in our power to meet your satisfaction, Ms. Haytham."
Catalina's phone suddenly rang from her table, "If you're worried about the budget, we'll discuss about that after a minute. I just gotta answer this call." She stood up and marched towards her phone.
She leaned over in front of her table, facing the giant window overlooking the city at the back of her swivel chair as she answered the call.
"Cath," said the voice from the other line.
"Radford." Catalina said quietly.
"I heard grandpa's situation."
There was a brief silence from Catalina. Hearing it again made a small sigh of anxiety leaped out from her mouth before answering.
"He's sick. It's dissociative disorder. Have you known about his PTSD?"
"No, I was only 10 when I last saw him. You're the one who stayed with him for how many years 'til now." Radford snapped.
Catalina bit her lower lip, "I know, and it sucks not knowing anything about that."
Radford sighed, "Cath, I know you hate hearing this but you know I don't really give a shit about him. I'm concerned about you. He murdered someone, Cath. Why are you trying to save him and fighting everything all alone?"
Catalina's knuckles hardened as she tightly clenched over her phone, then she strained a low laugh. "Why, Radford, no one's here to fight with me so might as well fight alone. If you're really that concern about me, go to a church and pray my fucking soul would win against the hybrids of Lucifer. That's the least you could do to also help the old man." She immediately ended the call and put down her phone back to her table.
She heaved a sigh and calms herself before turning around. But the moment her face reached behind her, a knife was already pointing at her, making her to quickly step back, her back smacked at the edge of the table, hard enough to make her body tweaked in pain, yet, she stayed still and didn't mind the pain. With wide eyed, she followed her gaze into the other end of the knife, and clasping over the handle was Mr. Wallace.
"How dare you point a knife in my face?" Catalina asked in gritted teeth, trying to shove away the tension that was starting to grow in her face and limbs.
"How carefree are you, Ms. Haytham for not having any bodyguards inside your office." Mr. Wallace smirked. The pointed end of his knife twinkled violently between Catalina's irises. "You're making my campaign successful at this rate." He added scornfully, slightly moving the knife closer to her.
Catalina felt the panic began like a cluster of spark plugs in her abdomen, but she fought back to suppress that fear. She gritted her teeth harder, her knuckles white from clenching her fist too hard, her eyes hard and sharp, like acid—burning, slicing. "Who are you? You want to kill me? You think you could get out of my empire alive, asshole?" she said firmly.
Mr. Wallace let out an impressed sigh. "Look at you, still looking vicious and downright murderous even with a knife smirking straight at you."
Catalina's mouth formed a rigid grimace.
"You think I haven't thought of that? I'm just here to deliver a message and to give a little proposition for you." Added Mr. Wallace, "But if you wouldn't comply," a cruel sneer formed on his face and he leaned forward, eyes bearing straight into hers. "I'll have no choice but to ruin that beautiful face of yours."
Catalina's lip curled into a snarl at his threat, her hand twitched and she could feel a vein pulsing in her forehead.
"I wasn't actually from the advertising agency," Mr. Wallace said coolly, "Someone wanted to give you a message—more like a warning—that saving your grandfather will just make you regret in the future. Why don't you just stay out of this and live a normal life like the rest of your relatives?"
Catalina's angry gaze sliced through him. She just came to realize this man wasn't from a business rival, but someone working with her grandfather's real culprit. Deep anger flashed across her face. Every word he had said stung merely fueling the fire that burned inside her, and his voice was like gasoline to it. Her fists clenched harder and her jaw rooted.
"Surrender everything you know while it's still early. Just save yourself. Yes, someone's asking you to be extremely selfish and let that old jackass suffer and eventually die alone. If you stop investigating everything, they'll not hurt nor touch anything belongs to you."
When the final mentos had been added to the coke inside of her, she exploded with anger. Adrenaline floods her system, she quickly leaped over and threw herself to Mr. Wallace who obviously didn't see it coming as he got slammed down on the floor in surprise, Catalina's on top of him, tackling him with every ounce of strength she had.
Mr. Wallace was obviously stronger since it only took him a second to switch their places and he's now on top of Catalina, but before he could even move a muscle the door suddenly opened with a bang, making the both of them jolt their attention to it.
Five men in black suits came rushing inside, guns in their hands, pointing at the direction of Mr. Wallace. Relief floods through Catalina at the sight of them.
"Don't move or try anything that will make us plant a bullet in your head!" came a baritone voice from one of the men.
At some point, Catalina felt Mr. Wallace panic but he stayed real calm. Slowly, he let go of the knife and raised his left hand to surrender, while the other one was still on the floor to support him from falling. He was about to move away from her when Catalina seized over his collar and pulled him back that made her bodyguards to make a move but Catalina raised one hand that made them stop.
Mr. Wallace was startled at Catalina's rapid movement, at the same time he felt her moved her lips closer to his ear,
"Listen, asshole," her voice was frighteningly quiet, "only if you ever get out of here alive, tell Lucifer to suck his dick in hardcore, because if he wants to kill my grandfather, well, it's a matter of whether I let him or not." Catalina whispered slowly, with fury sweeping off her like ferocious waves, making sure every word she'd said would be remembered, Mr. Wallace almost felt the thorn of wrath from her breath as if clawing into his skin.
Catalina let go of him and signaled her men to help her. They rushed toward the both of them, pulling Mr. Wallace roughly away from Catalina. They help her stood up and Catalina saw Raquel standing behind her men, her face looked worried sick. Catalina's shoulders were straight, and her posture was calm—but her eyes were tensed. She tried not to show it blatantly, but Raquel can sense that she's shaken.
Catalina shifted her gaze to her bodyguards. "You know where to lock him up, Stewart. I'll deal with him later." she told one of her men that served as the leader to them.
Stewart slightly gave a quick bow before they marched out of Catalina's office, dragging Mr. Wallace along with them.
Catalina tried to make a step towards her swivel chair, but she felt her body shivered and she almost tripped, Raquel managed to catch her, supporting her from the side and guiding her towards her chair. Raquel could even feel her breathing becoming rapid and shallow. She hurriedly reached out for Catalina's tumbler to give it to her.
As she gulped over her tumbler with slightly trembling hands, Catalina felt the chill run down her esophagus and her head made an involuntary shake. After she had taken in the cold liquid over her body, as if sapping the tension from her nerves, she breathed slowly.
Raquel was quiet; her troubled eyes remained at Catalina. That wasn't the first time someone tried to threaten her life, but that was the first time someone had dared hurt her inside her very own private office and almost succeeded.
"How did you know?" Catalina finally spoke, "And how come you're here? Weren't you supposed to be at the conference room by this time organizing the applicants?"
"Well, I was actually there, Ms. Haytham, that's why we're a little late to aid you." Raquel answered apologetically.
Catalina stared at her with questioning eyes.
Raquel pulled out something from her right ear, then put it on top of Catalina's table. "Ash Schiller gave that to me earlier." She muttered.
Catalina's eyes flickered at the tiny device that looked like an earpiece.
"He only told me to call some of your men and make them stand by outside your office while I listen to this device, and if I hear something wrong going on, he said to let them enter." Raquel explained, "I was listening to your whole conversation when I was at the conference room. It took me some time before I've came to realized what Schiller's trying to do. So when I heard something bad was really going on, I left the conference and rushed over here."
Catalina moved closer over her desk, placing both of her elbows on top of it as she clasped both hands under her chin, her eyes glued at the tiny earpiece, "How were you able to listen to us? What did he do?" she asked.
"I also have no idea, he hadn't mentioned anything about that." Raquel replied, in the same curious tone as Catalina's.
Catalina paused again, "He's scarier than I thought," she mused, with a greater look of astonishment in her eyes than ever.
Shortly after, they heard a knock from the door, Raquel went over there to open it and Stewart was standing outside. He bowed his head a little before Raquel ushered him inside.
Stewart went straightaway to Catalina's table. "Pardon me for my sudden interference and to what I'm about to say, Miss." Stewart said, eyes lingered at Catalina's table and both hands clasped behind him. "as the head of the security team, it was displeasing to know you almost got in danger due to our negligence. So whether you like it or not, your safety is our top priority, from this day onwards I will be on guard with you wherever you are. I suggest you apprehend, Miss as this is for your sake." Without even waiting for Catalina's response, he marched beside her table and positioned himself on guard.
Catalina let out a sigh as she run her fingers through her hair, "For the longest years of running away from you since I was a child, I guess there's no opposing with you this time, Stewart." she said to her bodyguard who didn't respond and remained standing still, eyes focused in front of him.
"Would you still proceed for the interview, Miss? I can set another schedule for the applicants if you want to rest—" Raquel said after a while.
"No, I'm fine. Let's go there, right now. Surely they've been waiting long enough."
After almost two hours, Catalina was done at the applicants. She headed out of the conference room and went inside another meeting room for the status update meeting with her staffs.
"What's next with my schedule after this?" Catalina asked Raquel behind her.
"The last one for today is later at 6:30 P.M. You were invited to attend a trade show exhibition in San Diego."
Catalina nodded and focused her attention back at the meeting.
When evening approached, Catalina was escorted by Stewart and a personal driver at the Convention Center in San Diego to attend a trade show exhibition by the International Beauty and Wellness Expo for this year.
Upon their arrival, a huge crowd flocked inside to watch this trade show. Tens of thousands of attendees flock to this exhibition every year to see recent development in beauty and to increase their knowledge about new products and listen to talks from beauty's best educators and other leaders in the industry.
"The president of E'vico Empire is here." Announced by the director of the show to her staffs as she spotted Catalina stepped inside the convention with her bodyguard behind her. "Quick and escort her in front of the stage." She commanded.
As soon as some of the reporters and journalists wandering around had caught sight of Catalina, the flashes of cameras and phones shifted instantly to her. Some of her fellow attendees in beauty market had gathered to offer her their greetings.
"This may not be the biggest events in beauty, but this will surely be the trendiest one as the president of a top beauty industry is unexpectedly here." Said one of the male attendees,
The one beside him tilted his head, looking impressed, "How do you think were they able to make her attend this event?"
One of the staffs of tonight's show had guided Catalina to sit at the front rows. The director quickly went down from the podium to greet her, offering her greatest joy and thanking Catalina for granting them their request for her honorable presence at this event.
After a while, the event had started. Exhibition participants started talking knowledge and cases about health and beauty, also the needs and tips to make you stay on top of the trends if you're a manager or owner of a health and beauty business, followed by showcasing their products, and then displaying their recent accomplishment in the industry.
The event lasted for almost three hours, Catalina was invited by the director for their dinner gathering but Catalina refused as she lied about having an important meeting from a business associate, though, she stayed for another couple of minutes for a little conversation with the director before she finally went out of the convention and guided by her men to her car.
The moment her body gently slammed down at the back seat, her momentary bravado disappeared. The car moved leisurely along the smoky road, while her thoughts churned deliberately back at the incident at her office earlier. She clenched her fists tightly, until her nails dug into the palm of her hand, but she barely noticed. The only thing she was aware of is the sound of her heart throbbing against the cage of her chest. The fear she was trying to contain since earlier was now spreading over her system, like a blackness she couldn't recall—one that was almost absolute.
When she tilted her head skyward she could see clearly millions of bright stars dotted on the black canvas of night, yet none of that light seemed to filter far enough down to make any difference when she turned her eyes away, instead she shut her eyes closed and hummed her anxiety.
After a while, she found herself oddly calling Ash's number on her phone, the last minute she realized what strange thing she's doing and decided to end the call, Ash answered.