Chapter 50
Flashback
Over three years ago,
“What do you think of a parlour that caters to every woman’s beauty needs?” Cecil asked as she fell onto the couch beside me and placed her legs on my lap.
“You will need to elaborate,” I replied.
“We are looking at a parlour that sells cosmetics and other body essentials, gives spa and massage services, and carries out makeovers and glow–ups for our clients.” She elaborated, “I did my research, and all three are always separate. I plan to make them all accessible at one stop for women looking for everything in one venue. This puts an end to too much stress. We will have the latest products in beauty and body care and provide body therapy sessions. As we advance, we would incorporate door delivery, and customers wouldn’t have to stress themselves out by leaving the comfort of their houses.” She finished, and she looked like she had thought everything through.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said after thinking it over. I was genuinely impressed.
“I know,” she giggled.
“So, have you thought about a name?”
“Yes, I have. Stop.”
“What is it, then?”
“I just told you. Stop. I will call it Stop. In a broader sense, ‘Stop! We have it here‘.” She said and moved her hand around to paint the picture of the name in her mind.
I, too, could see it. “Giving the people what they need.”
“Exactly.”
Flashback ends.
I had been so impressed with her pitch and idea that I invested in it after the parlour kicked off a year later. The sales of the first six months went so well that I invested again, having much more hope in Stop than I did in the Plane Enterprise with the progression in the economy. Women’s beauty was a billion–dollar industry with innovation coming in every day, and it was an investment in the right path.
I didn’t think a day would come when I would regret investing as I do now.
11:59
Love’s Beautiful Mistake
29.5%
Chapter 50
Cecil hurried up to me to take the file out of my hand, but I moved it away from her. She tried once more, and I held it above her head.
“What the hell is this, Cecil?” Again, I asked the question she had ignored.
“It’s nothing.” She replied, and falling in her quest to retrieve the file, she stepped away from me.
“Ms. Cecil Reid has been found guilty of tax evasion for three years, and the court orders her to pay up the sum of four hundred thousand dollars for which the government has fined her.” I read it out before shutting the file in my hand and turning to her. “This doesn’t look like nothing; the total charge, along with the court proceeding, rounds up to one million dollars.”
How did she keep this from me?
How did this not even make the news?
“Start talking, woman!” I screamed at her.
“I am sorry.” She whimpered, and her eyes dropped. “I would have told you, but you had a lot before you,
and I didn’t want to add to it.”
“Last year? Two years ago? You evaded the taxes of Stop for three years, and I was too busy to be told?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Oliver. I am already working on paying it up, and we will do everything by the law and the books. I
promise you.”
We had a wedding coming in less than two months, and we were this low on finances and trust. I had hoped to fall back on Stop’s funding for the wedding and pay it back as soon as the Plane Enterprise was out of the gutters. How were we going to survive? How would we survive the expenses and life after marriage at the rate things were going?
“Why should I believe you? What else are you hiding from me?” I raised the file, and another fell to the
floor.
She hurried forward to pick it up, but I glared her into her position. I bent and picked it up. I flipped it open to read through, and in it were the debt collections of Stop. As it turned out, Cecil did not only evade her taxes; she was also deep in debt–debt that went up to twelve million dollars. I stare at the file from the bank demanding payment. She had driven the parlour into a ditch, and all this happened in the last
six months.
My vision blacked for a second, and I stopped breathing. “What the fuck did you do with all the money? How is Stop in Debt?” I demanded, my voice rising. “Did you forget that more than twenty per cent of the
stocks in Stop are mine?” I roared at her.
She remained silent, and that ticked me off because I stormed over and grabbed her by the arm. “You
11:59
Love’s Beautiful Mistake
29.7%
Chapter 50
better fucking speak.”
“You are hurting me, Oliver.” She cried out.
I released my grip and stepped back. My hands balled, and I turned away from her, trying to control my anger. I couldn’t let it control me as it did with Imela. I made a promise never to let it drive me over the edge, especially with a woman again.
As with the tax evasion, she had left me in the dark about this and would not have told the truth if I
hadn’t found out myself.
“Did you ever plan to tell me this truth?” I asked after a minute of silence, and I was now in control of my
emotions.
“I was going to tell you.” She replied. “I invested the money in stocks, hoping to get good returns. I had hoped to invest those returns in the Plane Enterprise to support you, but things didn’t go as planned; the economy screwed me over. Then, I had to take a loan from the bank to keep the parlour running, I was never thinking about myself, only about you, because I wanted to make you proud and happy.”
I turned to her, “So, this is my fault, then?”
“I did what I did from a place of love and wanting to help.” She replied, “I regret how things turned out, but if I were to find another means of helping the man I loved and his situation, I would not think twice before diving in, head first. I will find a way out of this; I always have.”
I scoffed, walked towards the door, and grabbed the knob.
“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice filled with panic.
I paused. “I can’t be in the same room with you, Cecil. I do not want to see you, and I do not know how long that would be. Until then, it is best that we stay apart.” I opened the door and walked away without looking back.
11:59
Love’s Beautiful Mistake
29940
