Chapter 7

Five years later,

Hazel was now known as the Ice Queen of New York and she relished in the power that the name brought her. People knew not to fuck with her if they didn't want to lose all that they had or owned. Since her brother's accident had left him crippled, Hazel had to take over his place as the CEO of Chandler Insurance. She was mostly the figurehead because he still made most of the decisions. As the new CEO, she had made some drastic changes to the company that took them from being the number 10 stop on the Forbes list to being number 5. Hazel still wasn't satisfied with that, she wasn't going to stop until she was number one. Taking over her family's business hadn't stopped her from building her career, her jewelry design company, Sparkles ranked number one on the fashion list. Shw had also diversified her company by making branches that were now making makeup products and skin care products. Hazel was a billionaire with an insatiable taste for power.

"Hey Hazel, the MD from Teststop called, they are ready to revisit your proposal." Hazel looked up from her design notebook to see Lauren standing in front of her desk. She was her assistant in addition to being her best friend. Hazel doesn't know what she would have done these past few years if she didn't have her in her camp.

Hazel smirked and closed the notebook, she clasped her hands and leaned forward.

"So now Teststop wanted to listen to my proposal. Did you not inform them that I only gave people one chance? I gave them a chance for me to work with them but they refused. Sorry, not sorry. I'm sure when they go bankrupt in four months they will remember this day." Hazel waved Lauren away with her hand, she was done with the conversation and wanted to continue drawing her new design.

In addition to insurance, Hazel had added acquisitions to the company. She had a good eye for sourcing out companies that were about to go bankrupt, she bought the companies or most of their shares and hired experts to turn the company around.

Most of the companies she had bought had a high-profit potential but they were just being run by the wrong people so when she bought the company, she fired them and hired people who could run it well.

Teststop was a new tech startup, being AI for childminding services, it was a good idea but they hadn't been able to implement their plans well, they got funding from the right investors, but the MD and CEO had been too greedy, and had placed himself on a salary that was bogus and completely insane. Now their funds had dried up, they weren't making any profit and they were three months away from filing for bankruptcy. She had offered to buy the company but she wanted the MD gone, he had refused claiming the company was built on his idea. Hazel gladly washed her hands off the startup and now here they were two weeks later, asking her to come back.

Hazel scoffed, there was no way in hell, she was going to agree to that. She hated proud and indecisive people the most.

A knock on the door brought her attention back to reality, Lauren was standing at the door, "Haze, everyone's in the conference room waiting for you."

She nodded, "Thanks, I'll be there in a few minutes." Lauren flashed her a quick smile and closed the door.

Hazel packed up the things I would need for the meeting, her laptop, iPad, phone, and journal. She left the office and headed to the conference room which was two doors away from her office. Through the glass windows, she could see her staff hurrying around, putting things in place and rearranging themselves. Her two biggest icks were tardiness and unorganization.

Hazel opened the door and walked in, everyone immediately comported themselves. They stood greeted her and waited until she had sat down before they did.

"Good afternoon ma'am," They chorused. She gave them a small box of recognition.

"Alright, let's get on with the meeting. In our last meeting, we deliberated the possibility of buying a new company since Teststop decided to be a bitch and refused our offer. So I need the new companies that you've gathered…" Hazel stopped in the middle of her conversation, her eyes zeroing in on an empty chair.

Her jaw clenched and she cracked her knuckles, finally a scapegoat to use as an example.

"Who sits there?" She pointed an acrylic nail at the chair. Hazel could see the fear flash in her staff's eyes, the room was so silent that if a pin dropped, it would echo.

"Erm," John, Her customer service manager cleared his throat, "ma'am, that Trevor's seat, he's running late because he had a family emergency and had to drive his wife to the airport."

I cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed with his excuse, " Well, someone tell Trevor that if he's not here in the next ten minutes, he should forget about his job. Then he'll have a real family emergency. Does he think that if everyone had to go drive their loved ones to the airport, Chandler Insurance would be where it is today?"

John rubbed the back of his neck, "Yes ma'am, I'll tell him that immediately." He quickly brought his phone, shot a text to his friend then slid the phone back into his pocket.

"Alright, who's the first person?" She asked, peering at her staff. A timid-looking redhead raised her hand and stood up. She walked to the front with difficulty. She struggled to set up the projector and when she finally got that done, she stuttered and stumbled over her words.

Hazel sighed, "Look, we don't have all day. Either get on with it or sit the fuck down." Hazel narrowed her eyes at the girl, she didn't know her name but she was sure she had seen her around a few times. She had no idea what her job title was.

The redhead blushed, embarrassed, she bowed her head, "I'm sorry." She quickly apologized. She started her proposal and mentioned the name of the company she was tracking, Enchante, a gaming company. It was relatively new but had produced several games that were popular and thriving. The redhead claimed that the company wasn't particularly in debt or on the edge of bankruptcy instead they were a fast-rising company and she thought it would be a great idea if we invested or bought most of their shares so we would have a stake in the gaming world.

Hazel tuned her out after she mentioned it was a gaming company, she wasn't particularly interested in games and barely knew how they made their profit, she wanted to shut the girl down but she was a fair boss so she would let her finish then tell her that they wouldn't be going with her idea.

"The CEO of Enchante is Zachary McKinley, he is also the CEO of McKinley Tech but that's his family's company, this is his personal company."

Hazel's head whipped up when she heard Zachary's name, "Hold up, did you say Zachary McKinley?"