The door opened softly. The light behind the door struck the Italian marble on the floor which glistened with condensation and highlighted the silhouette of a man.
He closed the door behind him and walked into the room. He looked around him. He was surrounded by old antique pieces of furniture which embodied the concept of “old money”.
He smiled to himself. This is what it meant to be him.
His story was different. He didn’t arise from the ashes of lost opportunities; he wasn’t born dirt poor and he wasn’t born suffering. To say he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth would have been an understatement.
He walked over to his desk. Behind it stretched the skyline of Jakarta, Indonesia – the type of skyline which has become generic to every developing city and his apartment was in fact an exquisite condo situated in the wealthiest part of the city.
He sat down at his desk, spun around and absorbed this sight. As his eyes glanced over the flickering lights and tall skyscrapers brushing against the clouds of the night, his mind wandered. The subject of his thoughts was his business venture into an unknown market. He was not a native of Indonesia and he was making the risky move of expanding his company into a fresh market with the help of a potential competitor. But, he was not afraid of Crisfra Enterprises. He would take them on and take them out of the game before they even knew it. His hand tightened its grip over the carved handle of his chair. He felt his power grow.
Yet, something was unsettling in the air that night. He was used to being in control, in power and yet for some inexplicable reason he felt the dark of the night threatening his streak of fortune. Being a keen and experienced visionary, even though he was barely out of his 30s, he knew something unpredictable was about to surface and he needed to be prepared.
He recalled his father telling him how important instincts are and why they must be sharpened and used as a tool. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The time was coming.
In another part of the world, not so far away a man dressed in black trousers and a sweat-soaked dark blue tucked-out shirt walked into a dilapidated building. His stride was bold and purposeful. Before entering the building he stopped and looked around him. There wasn’t a soul in sight. He quietly entered the building and began ascending the stairs. In the deep corner of the building, on the fourth floor was a frightened and terrified young boy. He bit back his tears as a hand gripped his hair and roughly pulled him to his feet. Before him were his three tormentors. Three men glared down at him as he squirmed against the ropes binding his hands and feet. He heard a scraping sound as a door was opened and a man walked into the room. The boy noticed how menacing the man in dark blue looked and he trembled in anticipation. He knew what was happening. He had overhead his captors talk about how their master liked little boys and the kind of fun he liked to have with them.
The boy turned around and tried to run towards the rear exit but one of the men grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Before he could utter a cry for help a huge hand slammed down on his face and left him dizzy with a burning sensation spreading across his cheeks. He could feel hot tears run down his face and he closed his eyes hoping he would be saved. These savages had used his body to ground out their cheap rolled up cigarettes and he could still smell his burnt flesh on his thighs and groin. He let out a sob and collapsed onto the floor.
Sitting on the terrace with his feet hanging over the ledge, he was deep in thought. He frowned as he tried to put together the pieces of this puzzle. There had been four events in the last twenty four hours which should have had investors scared stiff and the stock market should have tumbled. There had been several bombings in the city. People had died and the police were covering up the details of the death toll. China had bought all of bankrupt Greece’s assets at a pittance of the worth of the original assets. His own company had tried to purchase these lots but he had been outbid at every auction.
“You just cannot go up against someone with deeper pockets than yours,” he spoke out loud to no one in particular.
The United States of America was expected to default on its debt repayments and this was the biggest news to unsettle any investor. America was neck deep in debt to China and the threat of a default on its repayments sent a cold chill down his spine.
To add to this bleak news, almost all companies had announced poor earnings in the second quarter of the year. Analyst expectations had been very optimistic – “almost delusional”, according to him. If an overwhelmingly large number of secure companies were reporting poor earnings, it meant that common people were not spending their money.
“The market should have tanked!” he shouted to the sky. “Something is very wrong.”
He stood up silently and walked back to the door. He opened his door and stepped into the room. He crawled into his bed and stared at the ceiling.
Tomorrow would be a new day and he had a lot to do.
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