Contracted To Love

                                                            *****

David Favre was an excited young man. More excited than he’d been in a long time. The year had started off a little badly for him when his fiancée broke things off with him. And no, he hadn’t had the best professional year either. Heck, he was only afloat because his last name was also the name on the company’s letterhead. He wasn’t very sure if he would have still had a job if his father didn’t own the company he worked for. No, he was sure he would have been out of a job.

Fired.

The breakup with Alicia had hit him hard. She was a decent woman. Beautiful, classy and she was a rich woman in her own right, thanks to her fashion line. He’d never been one to see a future with a wife and kids. White picket fences weren’t his thing. He would have much rather partied around Latin America with some socialites year after year. That was the kind of person David Favre used to be. However, after spending some time with Alicia, David changed his mind. Hell, he’d changed his entire life view. Suddenly, he was flipping through Tiffany catalogues and paying more attention to jewellery stores as he tried getting the right ring for her. Yeah, he was going to go the whole nine yards with that proposal. He was even considering all the cliché proposal moves. The ring in the dessert, proposing during a game. Maybe getting their faces on the love cam… but it had been tricky. Alicia wasn’t exactly a sports lover. As far as he could tell, the only sports Alicia Cruz seemed to enjoy were synchronized swimming and gymnastics…watching them, not playing. There was no romantic proposal in those as far as he could imagine… that was what Alicia Cruz had done to him. He’d somehow turned from being the party animal to this responsible man who wanted to build a family with her.

But he should have known that the feeling was fleeting. Before he’d even proposed to Alicia, he found himself craving more of his old life. He found himself thinking about how miserable he was going to be if he gave up everything he loved so much… and that thought driven him right into the arms of Veronica Laporte, a French model. He hated himself for having hurt Alicia, especially since Veronica was one of her models, but in the back of his mind he just knew that was who he was. He couldn’t change. He’d accepted his fate and the only other thing he could do was prove himself to the world. Prove that he wasn’t just some silver spoon in the mouth jerk like the world thought. Perhaps it was a move that he should have made earlier on in life, but he was making it anyway. Finally. That was all that mattered.

He’d thought long and hard about his proposal, done the research before he finally made his way to his father’s office to table it.

“Favre Securities is a well-known brand but this is going to take it to the next level,” he started.

He was nervous and he could even feel a bead of sweat rolling down his spine.

“Favre is already offering next-level security solutions.” One of the board members pointed out and David clenched his fist.

He wanted to toss the projector remote at him but his father had put a board in place for this very purpose. They didn’t have the controlling interest in the business . He had to keep his cool.

“Yes, we might be among the top ten security firms in the country but how would you like to be the top security firm in the country?” David went on. “We would be the firm to beat. The one that sets all the standards in security.”

The annoying board member was now interested.

“And how would we achieve that?” he asked.

David almost smiled.

“Security companies are known for the cliché armored trucks, home and office security. But what if we could take it further and add two services into the firm.” He went to the next slide. “Foreign private security and financial security.”

The man leaned back. He seemed to be the only one who had anything to say about David’s proposal. It was almost like there were only three people in that board room: His father—Taggert—, David and him. It was like he was the board’s mouthpiece.

“David, we’ve chosen not to get into private security for a reason,” his father pointed out. “The field is too saturated with DC kiss-asses.”

David shrugged.

“I know that and we’re not going after government contracts. The line is too thin there. Easy to cross and step on toes that aren’t exactly friendly. And like you said, there are too many kiss-asses in DC.” He flipped to another slide. “There are thousands of Americans doing business overseas. We’re talking Africa, The Gulf, Latin America… and the risk factor in some of these places is enormous. We’re talking people who would pay upwards of eight hundred grand a year to protect a fifteen-person staff. Now, the overhead in these areas is ridiculously low but the profits are… attractive, to say the least.

Which brings me to financial security. I talked to some people on Wall Street. Smart guys… really know the trade. They tell me they’re backing a few start-ups in Silicon Valley that will revolutionize…” He trailed off when he saw the spokesman raise his index finger, interrupting him yet again.

“I think Silicon Valley is a little overrated,” he said.

“People had the same line of thought when it came to IBM, Google and Microsoft. Let’s just say that people who were smart enough to see the future back then are all set to the third, maybe fourth generations?”

David knew that the sarcasm in his voice was obvious, but he didn’t really care.

“Besides, these new start-ups are developing next generation software that could be used in any industry. One of them has just developed a new music streaming app that I got in on the ground floor of. I made a two hundred thousand dollar investment three months ago and they fast tracked the process… the app is a month from its launch date and has already been downloaded by over a million people. And the returns?/ Let’s just say that I’ll be worth a whole lot more zeroes after the launch.”

He smiled and looked at his father.

“Our tagline is securing today for a better tomorrow, right? What better way than to secure every aspect of our customers’ lives? Their safety, their property’s safety and finally, their money’s safety?”

The board room went completely silent. David could tell that he’d impressed them. The knowing looks they were exchanging told him everything he needed to know. He’d done it. He’d convinced them. Security didn’t have to be cliché. The essence of business was finding new income streams. Finding those sources however had always been a problem for every board member, but that move had clearly gained him favor with every board member. And now, after thirteen long months, he could finally shut the doubting Thomases up. It was time. A year of hard work had paid off really, really well. Favre Securities had spread out to American expatriates around the globe and Favre Financial Security was officially making waves in American financial circles. The pain he’d once felt when he lost Alicia…. It was all gone. This was the first time he was feeling like life was worth living again. He was truly in his element. He straightened his tie as the elevator doors opened on the forty-third floor of Favre Towers. His father had asked for a report and David was only too happy to give it.