Time means different things to different people, to some it's a currency, the most useful and sought after. Landon Archer understood this far too well, those were the words his father, Caleb had said to him when he gave him his beloved timepiece.
It was passed down to his father and had been in the family for centuries, it held some value to Landon even though he resented his dead father, a callous gambler who tainted his legacy and sullied the family name.
That custom made watch meant more to him than a reminder of his father's failings, it was history, poured into undeniable craftsmanship and an undeniable need for respect. It also signified hope and the future.
Now that symbol was missing, stolen, apparently by the lady he met last night at the club. He had brought her back to his suite and she spiked his drink and got away with some of his valuables.
Insurance covered most of the items, but the watch was another matter, that he couldn't replace.
Marcus was busy trying to find out who the girl was by checking the surveillance cameras in his club but he wasn't having much luck because she wasn't a regular and nobody recognised her.
He had contacts in law enforcement, and wasted no time passing on her photo to them to see if she comes up on any of their facial recognition databases. He hoped this wouldn't take them too much time and they would find something before she pawned it off or fenced it if she had any idea what she had stolen.
Landon and Marcus have been friends since childhood, practically grew up together and even attended the same business school. After Landon's father died, they drifted apart, well Landon went away and hardly ever came home. Marcus on the other hand, stuck around and got into the nightlife business.
His club was easily one of the biggest in the city and attracted the wealthiest and most powerful patrons. He had decided to throw a welcome back party for Landon last night in the club, and that's where he had met the girl. So Marcus felt responsible and promised he'd find her, a task which had taken up most of his morning.
Landon felt uneasy about the missing watch but couldn't do much about it as he was running late for a board meeting which his mother, Lucia had pressed him to attend.
There were rumours that the board of his family's company were losing confidence in the CEO and was at risk of falling into the leadership of an outsider, as his grandfather Alberto called them if he was in a good mood.
His cousin, Bernardo was the current CEO and he was in over his head. Landon saw him as nothing more than a sturdy pawn who's greatest gift was an ability to dutifully act according to their grandfather's wishes and now the hyenas were starting to notice.
Usually, Landon would rather not concern himself with the matters of the company but he was in the city on some other business and Lucia had thought it'd be a good idea for him to sit in on this particular meeting in her stead. Annoying as it seems to him now, he had already promised and he wasn't the type to renege.
The board sat in a conference room on the top floor of the Bertinelli building, which was one of the numerous skyscrapers in the heart of Manhattan.
Bernardo sat at the head of the table with the rest of the stakeholders, eager to get the meeting underway regardless of the surprising absence of a member, his aunt.
"When's she ever late?" One of the men said in a hushed tone to the woman next to him but Bernardo at the head of the table overheard it. Lucia had informed him earlier that she wouldn't be able to attend because she had caught a flu and her son was going to take her place which he found odd because he hadn't seen Landon since his father's funeral.
Soon after, the meeting started and the board was being addressed by Noah Thomas, who about to make a formal proposal for the vote of no confidence. He owned a significant portion of the company and was the one leading the charge for removing Bernardo.
Several members were already under his thumb and all he needed was to pour some drops of blood in the ocean and gather support.
Right in the middle of his bold speech as he smoothly walked around the long rectangular table, someone pushed open the glass double-door which his back was turned to.
He spun around in annoyance, ready to chew out whatever secretary had dared to interrupt a private board meeting, right in the middle of his big speech no less.
What his eyes met however, was no secretary, but a tall man wearing a dark suit; no tie and a pair of sunglasses; had curly hair; and looked like he had just walked over here from a runway.
No one had any idea who he was, much less what he was doing here, the puzzled expression was readable on all their faces. Bernardo quickly sought to answer their questions and got up to introduce the stranger.
"Everyone, this is Lucia's son, he's gonna be taking her place for the sake of this meeting as she couldn't make it." He explained and their quizzical expressions were replaced by a wave of astonishment. Part because of how he looked like he was just pulled out of a magazine and part because some among them remember who his father was, the former CEO.
"What do you mean she couldn't make it?" Noah asked in annoyance, needing a more detailed explanation as to why an unexpected party was standing before him.
"It means exactly what he said." Landon spoke now, his hands tucked in his pocket and he leaned against a glass wall.
Noah was already riled up at this point— short tempered man that he was, even though the others all seemed to have forgotten that Landon couldn't have been bothered enough to show up on time, he hadn't, and was about to chastise him for it but remembered he had a goal here and couldn't drop the ball.
He had this meeting planned out to the very last detail, the statistics were in his favour and all he had to do was make them see him as the solution to their problems. He didn't even have to make Bernardo look too bad, the half-wit already had that part covered.
"Let's get on with it then." He said awkwardly and tried to pick up from where he left off while Landon took an empty seat close to his cousin.
"Pen?" He immediately requested from Bernardo who pulled one out from his breast pocket and slid it over to him.
He picked it up and scribbled something on a piece of paper and passed it onto Bernardo in an unsubtle manner. The other members of the board were divided in attention as they struggled to really listen to Noah, whilst being curious as to what this exchange was between Landon and Bernardo.
Bernardo read the contents of the note and his lips went up to form a cocky grin on his cleanly shaved face as his gaze moved from Landon, to Noah who was standing all the way across from him.
Noah had then noticed his distracted audience and was curious to know the cause of it. "Care to share something with the rest of the class?"
"Not particularly, no." Landon replied with a comical expression on his face. "Please, go on. Some of us would like to get this over with." He made sure Noah heard the mockery in his tone.
Noah was fuming red with fury and struggled hard to maintain his persona that always insisted he was in control. But the energy in the room had shifted since Landon walked in and he knew it.
Landon was pleased with Noah's reaction to his taunting and even more so with the reaction of the rest of the board, they were entertained.
His earlier suspicions had proven to be correct and the only reason his mother insisted on him attending this meeting was so he could be a distraction, one elaborately tailored to be an obstruction to Noah Thomas.
He tends to be the center of attention in every room he walks into, and this one was no different. Aided by the stigma engraved on his father and because he was a mysterious personality no one knew so much about, he had this lot wrapped around his fingers.
He also knew Noah to be temperamental, he knew this even though he had never really met the man, he was willing to bet on what he had been told and decided to pull his strings.
Bernardo caught on quickly and he and Landon turned Noah's big speech into a big joke and then the whole meeting became expressly confrontational.
"This shit is the very problem in this company, it's ran by spoilt fucking brats who've never worked a day in their lives." Noah had lost it and started throwing insults at Bernardo, Landon and Caleb Archer and the entire Bertinelli family. Even the ones that sided him evidently started to lose faith as his innate personality was unveiled.
"That's rich, coming from you who lives off his wife's name and status" Landon said to him with a snicker and then turned to Bernardo to say. "He thinks he's better suited to run this company than you, he doesn't even run his own home."
This goaded the man even further and he was about to go physical and lunged towards Landon but was intercepted by several board members displeased with the ugliness of the situation.
The chaos worked in Bernardo's favor though and his grin couldn't be wider. A crisis was averted right before his eyes and there was no need to handle the Noah Thomas problem with more creative solutions.
He wondered what Lucia was thinking at first but now there was no doubt in his mind, her kid is a true whiz just like his father was.
"How did you know that was gonna work?" He inquired as soon as the conference room cleared, he and Landon were the only ones left.
"Know thy enemy." Landon simply said, taking off his glasses for the first time since he walked in. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he was having the worst hangover, Bernardo had a laugh about it.
"The move with the note though, the asshole wanted to know what you wrote so badly." He laughed so hard and Landon laughed a little too. "Sucker."
The note he had written was one of the things that had led Noah to go on his spiral and all he wrote was "Put on an act right now, like you know something he doesn't."
"We should get a drink soon Bernie, celebrate you keeping the company." Landon suggested as he was about to make his way out and Bernardo agreed and shook his hand.
Now that he had this business handled, he needed to go meet Marcus to see if he had any luck finding the girl.
"Where to sir?" His driver asked as soon as he was situated in the back seat of the car.
"Take me to the club." He said simply and the driver nodded in response, then the car's engine roared to life and he started to drive.
Landon's phone started to ring shortly after, it was Katherine calling so he didn't hesitate to pick up.
"Landon?" A female voice called out for him through the phone, it wasn't Katherine's but it was strangely familiar.
"Where's Katherine?" He inquired, curious to know why someone else had called him using his sister's phone.
"Her studio apartment, you should get over here now, she needs you." Her tone was calm and collected and the more she said, the more familiar she sounded.
She hung up before Landon could ask who she was but he had quickly told the driver to change course. He reasoned a couple of explanations and one of which was this being a kidnapping, if they wanted a ransom however, the obvious person to call would've been Lucia.
Then he started to suspect they had kidnapped her as a way to get to him, except the voice on the phone didn't sound like that of any of the kidnappers he had met. This has to be something else, he thought. He was simply being paranoid and there must be some reasonable explanation to this.
Nonetheless he wasn't taking any chances, his driver sped through the city and arrived at the apartment building as fast as he could.