Ch. 8

Adler grumbles as he goes to the top floor. He walks into the CEO's office. "Ruben, you can't just say that you found her every time you want me to do something."

"Well, it works, doesn't it?" Says Ruben.

Adler closes the door as he sits in front of his brother. "What do you want? I'm busy." He says as he sits down.

"With what? Playing around with the hearts of all the girls in the world?"

"That's none of your business," Adler growls.

"Adler, dad asked me to take care of you and the company when he and mom died. I need to fulfill his final wishes."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You can't just play around anymore. You have a brain for a reason. So use it!" Ruben says as he hands packets of documents to his brother. Adler picks one up and flips through them.

"What is this?" He asks.

"They're documents of all the different branches of service our company has. These branches have open manager positions or a replaceable manager position. I want you to pick one and manage it."

Adler tosses the document he is holding ok the table. "I don't want to do this." He says.

"You better, because that's how you're going to have a living."

"What do you mean?" Adler says.

"I blocked all your credit card accounts. You officially have no money."

Adler stands up in rage. "Who do you think you are? You can't cancel my cards!"

Ruben chuckles. "I already did. You better pick a management position quick; you need to pay for the night you spent at the hotel."

Adler can feel himself boiling over with anger. He puts on a fake smile and turns around to face his brother.

"Fine, brother dearest. I'll pick a stupid branch from your damn packets!" Adler snaps as he grabs the pile again and flips through them.

Cosmetics, clothes, insurance, restaurants, real estate, any business there is, W.R. Corp has a part in. Adler looks through all of them until one catches his eye.

"I want to do this one," Adler says as he shows the cover to his brother.

"Of course you do." Ruben sighs.

In big, bold font, the document reads:

W.R. Music Entertainment

Adler grabs a pen from his brother's desk. "So, where do I sign?"

"Don't you want to read the document first before signing?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Adler says as he signs his name and tosses the packet back to Ruben. He starts to walk out of the office.

"Okay, then. But just saying, there is a part that says you can't have any romantic relations with any employees under our company."

Adler stops dead in his tracks. He quickly runs back and tries to snatch the document away from his brother. However, he fails as his brother easily evades his attack.

Adler fakes confidence. "Whatever. What are you going to do if I break that part anyways?" He scoffs.

"I'm going to make sure you never get your card again." Ruben says, smiling.

Adler thinks for a second. "Wait... Does that mean I can have a chance to get my card back?"

Ruben sighs. "This is why I told you to read the document. It says in this part that if you successfully get one traniee to debut and get their song on top, I will give you back your card."

Adler looks up hopefully. "That's it?"

Ruben smiles. "I think you'll figure out that it's a lot harder to do than it looks."

_________

As Adler finally leaves the office, he gets a text message from the hotel.

"We hope you enjoyed your stay, Mr. Rebal. Unfortunately, it seems as though your bank account has been frozen. Please deposit the money as quickly as possible."

Adler lets out a scream of frustration.