Chapter 4 Depressing Atmosphere

Zachary knew that Joseph had many ways at his disposal if he wanted to give him a hard time. Joseph's face was always expressionless, but the viciousness inside him was unmatched. His ruthlessness was one of the reasons why he could grow Empire Group, Ariosa's premiere company, into its current international scale. Almost everyone in this field knew of his iron fist with which he ran his company.

Zachary was the eldest son of the CEO of Estrada Group, one of the most well-known companies in the country. However, inheriting the company did not hold an appeal to him, so he roamed all over the country to live freely. At the age of 20, he came to Ariosa, one of the most prosperous cities in the country and became friends with Joseph, who was a year older than he was, through a bet.

At that time, aided by his extraordinary business acumen and social skills, Joseph managed to land the backing of a major American company within two days. Zachary did the same in three days. The terms of the bet were as follows: whoever sealed a business contract later than the other would have to work for the winner for ten years. Zachary might have lost the bet, but at least Joseph would ensure that Zachary would not be forced back to take over his family business. In the end, Zachary became Joseph's special assistant. During the past seven years of them working together, Joseph's Empire Group steadily became a world-renown company.

"No, thanks. You can go back to your blind date." As soon as Joseph finished those words, Zachary immediately heard the sound of the call being cut.

The Estrada family let Zachary go under one condition: If he still didn't have a suitable girlfriend at 25, he would accept the blind dates that would be arranged for him until he got married. For the sake of his freedom, Zachary agreed. Now, he needed to deal with blind dates arranged by his family every several days. In the last two years, Zachary had had three girlfriends to avoid the blind dates, but he ended up breaking off with them when he got annoyed with the women for some reason or another.

After ending the call, Joseph realized that the reckless woman had been influencing his mind too much, so he resolved not to think of her anymore. Soon after departing the hotel, Joseph went back to work.

Zachary finally found an excuse to ditch the blind date. He returned to the company instead. Despite his burning curiosity, Zachary curtailed the questions at the tip of his tongue when he saw the cold expression on Joseph's face. He had been sharing Joseph's office space for some time now, so he was used to the frigid atmosphere hereabouts, However, today, the chill was particularly cutting. Zachary couldn't ask any questions because Joseph said so. Going against the CEO's orders would result in a horrible death.

All throughout that half-day of work, Ashley's stunning face and alluring body haunted Joseph's thoughts. His attempts to quash the memory proved futile and served only to make him even more restless.

His disquiet resulted in a colder environment than usual, as sensed by Zachary. Even the employees felt the heavier atmosphere in and around the CEO's office. No one dared to provoke the god-like figure that they feared. All of the senior employees in the company knew that their CEO not only had a perfect face but also a cold, detached character to prevent strangers from getting too close. Except for Zachary, nobody in the company dared to initiate conversation with the CEO about matters unrelated to work. The employees would usually report to Zachary, who would then either relay the matter to Joseph or deal with it himself.

Several young and beautiful senior secretaries in the company had been fired by the CEO because they had tried to seduce him. From that moment on, only male employees were assigned to work on the same floor with the CEO.

In the upper levels of Empire Group, there was an ongoing rumor stating that the CEO liked neither women nor men. Speculations about his virility were rampant. This rumor assured many male employees that God, after all, was fair. Indeed, nobody was perfect. What they didn't know was that the CEO gloriously ended his virginity with a bang the night before-thoroughly and many times over.