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“It’s not personal. It’s business.”
“This job is very personal to my father. He loves it. He’s been with you even before the doors opened and you started production. It was just...one mistake. Can’t you give him a second chance?” she pleaded on his behalf.
The universe must have sent Dean to me for a reason. Maybe it was to drill into my head to keep business separate from my personal feelings. I did feel for Trye. Not that I’d ever been even close to getting married, but I could imagine that losing his wife of more than thirty years must have crushed him.
“Ovi, I’m sorry, but what your father did was wrong. He should’ve let me know. He’s not just one of the staff. He has been my right hand all this time. Everyone in the factory looks up to him. If I let this slide, what does that mean?”
“That you’re not heartless. That you haven’t forgotten that you’re Tabiqian and we take care of each other,” she stated.
Damn. She was laying on the guilt heavy. Or maybe I was just feeling guilty. I was in a way. Maybe if I’d been returning to Tabiq more frequently, I’d have noticed that Trye was struggling. But I paid him well to manage the factory so I could travel and grow the business. Putting my feelings aside, I knew that I could never relinquish such control again. Not for the length of time that I had in the past. Six months was too long. Wasn’t doing me any good if I was increasing the orders and customer list if we weren’t able to deliver.
I needed Ovi to understand all of this. That I wasn’t the bad guy here. But she was blinded by the fact it was her father.She couldn’t be impartial. That meant I needed to focus on something positive.
“I know that nothing I say will change your mind. But don't forget, I was born and raised here. You’re speaking as though I’m not Tabiqian.” Ovi opened her mouth as though she was going to argue but said nothing.Finally. “Ovi, I know things are not good between me and your father, but that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful that you stepped in and tried to help.” That was true. “Now, do you want the job, or not?” I’m sure she thought I was an asshole, and she would be right. But like she said, jobs like that are hard to come by. “Temporarily, of course.”
“I...I will do it. Not for you, but for everyone who works there,” she stated firmly.
Not sure why she was still so pissed at me. I’d said and done everything I could so she would see that all I was doing was running my company. I didn’t fire Almi, or have Ovi arrested. Sounded like she should be thanking me, instead of still trying to make me feel as though I’d done something wrong.
My lack of trust in her made this whole thing stupid.If it all blows up in my face, I will deserve to lose my company. Yet, I stood up and said, “Good. Be in the office tomorrow at nine.”
“I...I’ll be there, Mr. Rio.”
“Call me Niko.” I wanted to stay and talk about anything else than work, but this wasn’t personal. It was business. As I walked to my SUV, I knew I was lying to myself. A wise business decision would’ve been to get the laptop and phone and cut our ties.
Instead, I just hired the one distraction I couldn’t afford. The only good thing about it was that she was not interested in me in the least.
I’m sure she thinks about me at night, but they are not nice thoughts.
CHAPTER 6
Ovi
This didn’t feel right. I didn’t belong at my father’s desk. Kind of funny, because for the last month, I’d been sneaking in here and working with the lights off so that no one knew. I wish that was still the case. The looks that I got as I walked through the factory with Niko earlier gave me chills. I knew I was going to be the talk of the factory. Many of them knew who I was and must now be wondering what happened to my father.
Niko entered my office, closed the door, and sat down across from me. “I know I threw a lot at you, but this isn’t really your first day. So I have full confidence that you can handle it. If you have any questions, you know where my office is. But I wanted to make sure you were...okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked.
“I saw the looks.”
They were hard to miss.I wasn’t going to allow my mind to wonder what they were all thinking. Whatever gossip was aboutto take place wasn’t going to change anything. I was here to do a job. For me, my father, and for them.
“It was expected. I’m sure they have questions as to what happened to my father. Should I answer those or direct them to you?” I had no problem telling them that Niko had fired him. There was just one problem, my father didn’t know it yet.
“I will address any concerns and questions they have. You just worry about scheduling the workflow. Your report said that our back is against the wall. I’m actively looking for more staff, but I need you to prioritize orders and make sure the staff is aware of what needs to be done first. We cannot afford any more customers chasing us for their product.”
“Would you like me to proactively reach out to customers with the new shipping dates?” I offered.
“Are you going to email them?”
“If you don’t have an issue, I’d like to call them, and then follow up with an email. You are already delivering top-notch products. I think we need to make sure the customer service aspect also reflects that as well.” My father was good at many things, but his English was not as strong as mine. He had a very thick Tabiqian accent. But I’d been fortunate to have worked for a couple of years at New Hope Resort. I’d picked up a lot being around American tourists. Even some of their slang.
Niko looked at me as though this was the first time he’d ever heard of such a thing. Then he said, “I was right.”
“About what?” I asked.
“You.”
