Insta Empire

Kevin shook his head and smiled. He didn't know what kind of surprise was waiting for him. Cook made it sound so mysterious. In the meantime, he would wait around in the display area on the first floor of the West Chicago International Group's headquarters. Kevin smiled and reassured Cook. "Okay, I got it Mitch. Adriana's waiting for you. You should go see her." "Okay Kevin, wait down here for a while. We'll go and get a surprise ready for you." Cook grinned and turned to leave for the third floor. Adriana's Chicago headquarters was very large. The first floor was mainly used to display the latest products. Kevin spent a lot of time looking around. It was a dazzling display. "Some of these products are pretty cool," he thought to himself. " Hey! I thought it was Kevin!" A familiar female voice startled him out of his reverie. Kevin turned his head to look. The woman in front of him, wearing a tight denim skirt that hugged her curves, was Lily's friend Rachel. Rachel's husband used to be a department manager in one of the branches of West Chicago International Group. He was promoted the day before and was now the regional manager. So Rachel wanted to use this opportunity to enjoy herself in the headquarters and buy a new set of products in the display area. She certainly didn't expect to meet Kevin here. She said in a snarky tone, "Kevin, you came here by yourself? Let me remind you, the things in West Chicago International Group aren't cheap. Can you afford it? If you don't have enough money, you should get out fast. They'll show you the door if you can't afford it and you'll be pretty embarrassed." Kevin kept on smiling." You don't have to worry about whether I can afford it or not. By the way, it seems you haven't called me 'boss' since we made that bet the other day. " When Kevin brought that up, Rachel snapped back at him, "Stop showing off. I don't know what kind of scuzzy deals you made to get that money!" Rachel's latest put-down amused Kevin. "No matter how I did it, I did it. Are you going to go back on your word?" As soon as he finished speaking, a balding man with a slight paunch walked over and spoke to Rachel. "Honey, what's wrong? Who's this?" It turned out that this man was Rachel's husband. Kevin silently sized him up and then looked back at Rachel. Well, he thought, I guess opposites attract. Rachel pointed at Kevin and complained, "Hubby, this guy is Lily's husband, the one who married into the Jones family. He was being very rude to me and wanted me to call him…'boss'. " Rachel's husband was named Cody Hunter. He had quite a reputation for his violent temper. Hearing Rachel's complaint, he flew into a rage. He glared at Kevin. "Who the hell are you? You want her to call you boss? Who am I then? Are you my boss too? How about if I toss you out on your butt?!." Kevin stared at the two of them in disbelief. Well, he thought to himself, I guess they're not so opposite after all. Somehow he managed to keep his calm." You have to know that this was your wife's idea. She said that if she lost our bet. she would call me 'boss.' As for me being your boss, I would never hire someone like you, not even to clean my cat's litter box ." This didn't help things and Cody yelled back, "You piece of shit! How about if I teach you a lesson? " Cody grabbed Kevin's collar and was about to punch him. Rachel watched with pleasure. "Stop it!" A furious roar instantly stunned everyone, including Cody. Cody stepped back and unclenched his fists, raising his open hands in the air like he was surrendering. He looked at Cook, who was running toward him like lightning, followed by Adriana, who was right behind him. Cody was stunned. "Mr. Cook? And President Wright. What a nice…uh…surprise." Cody dropped his hands and, with a big smile on his face, quickly went up to greet the two of them. Cook glared at him and brushed his hand away. "Who the hell are you? Do you want to take a swing at me too?" Cody was shaken, "No, no, no. It was this man who was looking for trouble. I was just trying to scare him. You see, Mr. Cook, I just got promoted. I'm Cody Hunter, the new manager of the entire region. Of course I wasn't going to hurt him. I'll get someone to kick him out right now. " Cody knew that Mr. Cook had a very good relationship with the company's president, Adriana. Plus, he knew how powerful the man was, so he had to suck up to Cook. "Regional manager, is it? Adriana, I think you know what to do." Cook was too tired to waste any more words with Cody. He was fine with leaving it up to Adriana. Adriana couldn't believe that Kevin was almost beaten up in her company headquarters! She turned to Cody and told him firmly, "I order you to go to the personnel office tomorrow and turn in your resignation. Don't let me see you here again!" Without giving Cody another look, she walked over to Kevin with a big smile and gave him a warm handshake "Kevin, it's wonderful to finally see you again." Kevin smiled too and after a moment Adriana said, "Oh what the heck. I'm going to give you a great big hug!" Kevin was thrilled to see Adriana's success. "You've done so well! And in such a short time. I'm so happy for you! " The excitement showed on Adriana's pretty face. "Kevin, this is all thanks to you. All this wouldn't be here without you " She paused for a moment and continued. "Come along with me. There are two more people I want you to meet." Kevin was dying to know what the surprise was. He smiled and nodded. "Alright, lead the way." Just as the three of them were about to leave together, Cody and Rachel came to their senses and ran to catch up with them. "President Wright! President Wright, I was wrong! Please give me another chance." The desperation showed on Cody's face. If only he'd known that Kevin was so close to both the president of his company and Mr. Cook. He would never have been so rude to him! The most important thing for him now was to keep his job. Otherwise, Adriana and Mr. Cook could easily keep him from ever getting another job in Chicago after he was fired. Rachel was even more shocked than her husband. She couldn't understand how Kevin, who had always been so weak and unimportant, would know people as influential as Mr. Cook and Adriana. But she was smarter than her husband and knew a better way to get her husband his job back for him. She forced a smile and took Kevin by the arm. She said sweetly, "Kevin. Boss, this was all my fault. You can call me whatever you want, but my husband finally got promoted to regional manager. I'm begging you, please say a few words for him. Can you convince President Wright not to fire him?" Rachel had never thought that one day, she would be asking Kevin for a favor like this. Kevin glanced at her. "What did you just call me?" Rachel looked at the people around her. She couldn't believe she was doing this. Finally, she blurted out, "'Boss', I'm begging you, please don't let my husband lose his job, okay?" Hearing this made Kevin so happy. He turned his head and gave Adriana a smile. "That isn't a bad apology. Besides, it would be a lot of trouble for you to go out and find another employee on such short notice. Couldn't you let him go back to his old job for a while? If he learns how to be a decent person, he can go up for promotion again." Adriana naturally followed his line of thinking. "Since Mr. Williams has said so, you can continue working here. In your previous position. Take it or leave it." Cody was overjoyed at this news, "I'll take it! I'll take it! Thank you, Mr. Williams! Thank you, President Wright!" Rachel hurried over and gave Kevin a hug. She seemed as surprised at this as he was. Kevin pulled himself gently out of the hug and said, "Okay. That's enough." Adriana invited Kevin to walk with her, "Come on, Kevin, let's go." "Yes, let's go," added Cook. The three of them left together. They didn't bother to look back at Cody and Rachel as they walked out the front door of the headquarters. Cody turned toward Rachel and stared at her. He growled, "You almost made me lose my job! Why didn't you tell me who he was?" After he finished speaking, he turned around and left, leaving Rachel standing there alone. She looked very embarrassed. Meanwhile, Adriana, Kevin, and Cook headed to the Chartreuse Mill, the largest bar in Chicago. Adriana and Cook led him into the most sumptuous private room of the bar. The three of them had just sat down when two men with extremely excited expressions on their faces pushed open the door and walked in. "Kevin!" Kevin lifted his head from the drink menu and looked toward the door. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Gilbert! Emo! Come in here, you guys! " Gilbert Rhodes and Emo Squire were comrades in arms. They had served together in the special forces and, after they retired, they became Kevin's personal bodyguards and martial arts instructors. They were extraordinary martial artists! Gilbert's mother had cancer back then and Kevin gave him over a hundred thousand dollars to help with expenses for her medical care and comfort. Unfortunately, she eventually passed away. A while after that, Gilbert and Emo wanted to move on, so Kevin gave them money to help them out. So, everyone in the room had at one time or another gotten help from Kevin. They owed their success to him. After Kevin's family had ostracized him they all began to search for him. This was pretty much how they got to know each other. Gilbert spoke first, "Kevin, we've been looking for you for years. If only we'd thought of looking for you right here in Chicago!" He sat down across from Kevin and looked him in the eyes. The tough man looked like he was about to cry from joy. Kevin chuckled. "It's really been too long! Gilbert, I can't believe this is your bar. You've done pretty well for yourself! " Gilbert smiled broadly when he heard Kevin's praise. He stroked his chin and laughed. Kevin chortled and shook his head when he saw this. "You're still the same as before. You're a tough man, but deep down you're like a little boy. Are you starting to blush?" Everyone laughed. "So Emo, what are you up to? Are you working together?" Kevin looked at his tall, handsome friend, who was wearing a black casual outfit. Adriana answered the question: "Emo's doing very well. He runs a bodyguard company. His employees are a fine group of men and women. Kevin, you can ask Emo to arrange for protection if you ever need it." Emo laughed at the thought. He looked very cheerful and easygoing, not at all like someone who owned a bodyguard company at all. Instead, he looked more like a college student. Kevin chuckled. "The way things have been going lately, I may take you up on that offer!" After they talked and laughed for a while, Adriana stood up and left the room. A few minutes later, she came back with a gift box in her hand. "Kevin, we got you this gift almost a year and a half ago. We're so glad that we can finally give it to you in person. We really hope you like it. " Taking the box from Adriana's hand, Kevin looked at his four friends and slowly opened the box. As he looked inside, his eyes twinkled. Everyone waited to hear what he would say.