"Ah, so the family business went downhill seven years ago. A karma that is hard to avoid." Oriaga smiled wryly, and he sat on the sofa and raised a pair of legs on the table, a laptop on his lap.

He had ordered someone to look up the details of Amanda Claire Griscouv, a brunette with bluish irises in her eyes.

Oriaga was still in Paris after attending a Fashion Week as the CEO of the fashion and jewelry brand 'Gregorious,' a brand Oriaga co-owned with her grandmother that went global four years ago, competing with other big brands.

"She wanted to be a clothing designer but instead worked as a secretary in a medium-sized company. Can't her parents afford to pay for their daughter's education to become a designer?" Oriaga chuckled. She was busy, assuming.

Amanda was no stranger to Oriaga's life, and they had been close friends while studying at the same university in London. However, Amanda's family's attitude towards Oriaga was quite painful. The man received too many insults and pressure without being able to retaliate, until at one time, after the death of his adoptive father, Oriaga completely disappeared from Amanda's life.

Then, they met again after ten years in a different country. Oriaga only realized that Amanda and her family moved to this city after checking the woman's data.

"Did God open the way for me on purpose?" Oriaga kept smiling. The more he checked Amanda's data, the wider the smile on his face became, as if he had found a substantial priceless treasure. "That woman became the backbone for the Griscouv Family? That's amazing."

Oriaga tried to contact someone. "Give me the complete data on company X, and I want to know their weak points."

"Yes, sir, I'll send it to you immediately."

Oriaga ended the call, and he switched to checking the last point of the GPS location of Amanda's car.

The man was satisfied. "She's following my wishes. It seems easy to master Amanda, controlling her under pressure. The Griscouv family must realize that the boy they've always despised is now too capable of making their lives more difficult."

Oriaga's attention was distracted by a knock on the door from outside. He went to open the door and found a famous model, Elia Pinot, with her manager standing there, smiling.

"Good evening, Mr. Oriaga. My name is Helena, Miss Elia Pinot's manager, and I contacted your assistant earlier to confirm that Miss Elia would like to meet you."

"Really?" Oriaga looked at Elia for a moment and then back at Helena. "Joana hasn't said anything to me yet."

"Perhaps your assistant forgot to tell me. I only must escort Miss Elia, so can you accept her as a guest tonight?"

Oriaga was silent, and he looked around, then at the two women in front of him. The man felt strange about the situation.

Oriaga had indeed met Elia during the fashion show a few hours earlier. Elia was sitting across from CEO Gregorious, but they never thought that Elia would dare to meet him like this.

"Well, I only have half an hour because I have to rest for the next flight," Oriaga said unsuspectingly.

Helena smiled. "Thank you very much, sir. I'll pick up Miss Elia immediately afterward."

"Hm. Please come in."

***

After returning from work, Amanda locked herself in her room, and she couldn't stop thinking about the sinister events that passed. Amanda wanted to ask Oriaga many questions, especially about the reason for last night. What did she do wrong to be treated that badly?

"I'm exhausted. should be resting now." Amanda muttered. She pulled up the blanket and turned off the bed lamp.

However, the noise downstairs disturbed Amanda's peace. She quickly turned on the light and left the room.

As the woman hurried up the stairs, she saw two burly men in the living room arguing with her mother and sister.

"Pay off the house immediately if you don't want to be evicted. We're tired of pleading and not getting any reassurance, and you're not thinking about it properly, huh!" The man in the hat cursed at everyone, his face fierce, the muscles in his face thickened like they were going to pop out.

Amanda stood by the stairs. She swallowed, it was the same problem, and she didn't know when it would end.

"We'll work on it. Please stop making noise in this place!" Nadine clung to her mother, Pamela Griscouv. She was terrified that whenever the collectors came, they would act violently and break things.

"When? When are you going to pay it back, huh? We keep getting pressure from our boss because of your delay. You think this is easy!"

"Next week, we'll pay it off. Please leave now." Nadine tried to stand up to them despite her growing fear. And no men were in the house, and their father was in another city looking for work.

"We'll come next week, and if your word is not to be trusted. You must leave this house!" The two men not only left Amanda's house but also had a lingering sense of anxiety.

"Mom is okay? Sit down." Nadine invited Pamela to sit down.

"Mom doesn't have any savings anymore. How do I pay it off, Nadine? Why did you have to say that? You're making the pressure even crazier."

"I could try owing my friends, Mom."

"Did your father call? Did he give you any news?"

Nadine shook her head. "Nothing."

Amanda watched them silently, her face flat, but she was thinking hard to find a way out of the problem.

If the family had no home, where would they live?

All the siblings had shut down communication after learning that the Griscouv family business had gone bankrupt. They feared Amanda's family would become a nuisance and ask for help.

"My head hurts a lot thinking about all this. I don't want to be homeless. When will my old life come back?" Pamela continued to complain, and she could say many things, as well as her regrets.

"Mom, calm down. You should get some rest."

"Nadine. Cut off your poor lover, find a rich man, and marry him so that this family's suffering will end soon. Why keep a poor man, huh!"

Nadine moved on, and she hated every time her mother drew Rudolf into their problems while he was unconcerned with what was happening.

"Mom. Stop cursing at my boyfriend, and he has nothing to do with it."

"He's holding you back."

"Rudolf makes me more passionate about life. This problem existed before Rudolf became my lover, so stop pulling him down. Please stop, Mom."

"I'll stop when you leave him." Pamela found it hard to give in, and she always felt her opinion was correct.

Amanda swallowed. The arguments between her sister and mother were frequent, not even uncommon, when Nadine left home and stayed at someone else's place for a while after a big fight with Pamela.

Their mother was stubborn.

"Mom," Amanda spoke up, making the two people in the living room turn to her.

"What? You're going to blame Mom now, too?"

Amanda shook her head. "Calm down, and we must think of a solution without emotions."

"What solution are you thinking of, huh? I'm tired of living in poverty. I want to go back to my old life!"

Of all the family members, Pamela could not stop blaming her bad luck.

"Even your father left like a coward. Should he have given us the news, or did he deliberately run away because he didn't want to take responsibility? He's the real core of the problem."

"Mom. Stop cursing at everyone." Nadine spoke up again, getting increasingly annoyed at her mother's character.

"Mom, I can sell my car to pay off the house. I'll offer it, so stop cursing. I also want to rest from a long day."

Everyone became silent after Amanda said that.

***