A Fight without Remorse

Chapter 1

Alexis was running late, once again. She didn't know where her head was at. It had been a busy week at the Henderson Empire Hotel Group(HEHG). There was still so much work to do before the new hotel in Miami could open. "Murphy's Law" was the par for the course as far as this opening was concerned.

For the past several weeks everyone had been working their asses off at the company trying to make sure everything would be ready when the first guests were scheduled to arrive. Juliet Cynthia Henderson was the founder of the Henderson Empire Hotel Group. She decided to retire at the tender age of fifty so she could enjoy her life. She gave full operating control to Alexis and she couldn't have been more proud of the outstanding work Alexis was doing as the new CEO.

Alexis knew she was destined for this business. The challenge stimulated her beyond anything she'd ever imagined. Profits, since she took over, exceeded all that of the other years her mother ran the company. The shareholders were exuberant to see the company raking in the cash. Juliet joked that Alex's picture was beside the word "workaholic" in the dictionary. She'd sacrifice anything if it would help ensure her company's continued success. HEHG is her only priority at this point in her life. Ever since graduating from business school, she has wanted to lead the hotel group. Her mother wanted her to wait till she was a bit older. She'd finally convinced her mother that she could meet the challenges that were certain to arise.

There was never a doubt who would take over the company once her mother retired. Her younger sisters weren't interested in giving up their social life. They had no desire to put all their free time into this line of work. Jade Johnson, a twenty-three year old from the public relations department, loves her job but also loves her time away from the company never having been the workaholic that Alexis is. Jade was a lovely girl who enjoyed going clubbing with her friends in and around New York.

It's never been a secret that Alexis wasn't as outgoing as her younger sister. She simply didn't like being the center of attention. She wasn't always this person, but circumstances changed her from the carefree life her sister enjoyed to the focused life she led now. Life changes people sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Her childhood had been rough. It took her a long time to find her bearings. She was left with many deep and irreversible scars invisible to all but those closest to her.

Lisa was the baby of the family. Saying she was opposite of her two older sisters would be an understatement. She was beyond relieved no one ever pushed her into studying business. Lisa would finish high school this year and pursue her growing professional career in tennis. Most of her free time was spent traveling the world, competing in tournaments and learning to improve her game. Her desire was to be the top ranking tennis player in the world. Her ultimate goal was to become triumphant at Wimbledon.

"Alexis, honey, you work too hard," her mother told her when she finally ended the phone call she had to make. Apparently something was wrong with the plumbing at their newest hotel in Miami. She had been trying to fix the issue long distance, however the local plumber couldn't seem to find a solution. Booking a trip to Miami to oversee the construction site was now inevitable, because no one on site had been able to find qualified people to get the job done correctly.

It was nerve wracking to say the least. She had to make sure everything was finished and up to code in time for the hotel's grand opening next month. "Mom, what are you doing here? I'm already running late!" she questioned, once she opened the door to her office and found her mother standing near the top to floor window.

She had a rather small office, though it was a cozy place with a beautiful view overlooking the New York City skyline. The huge windows made the space look bigger than it actually was. The office was installed at their largest hotel in the city. From this location Alex controlled their 56 hotels located all over the world covering six continents. They were still expanding the hotel group, though for now, their newest hotel in Miami was her priority.

It was the first one that opened during the time of Alexis' tenure. It would be ironic to say she wasn't ecstatic. It would be a beautiful place, with marble floors and rooms filled with luxury. The hotel would showcase the "new look" of the company, easily overshadowing any others in and around its vicinity.

The location was perfect, only a few miles away from Miami Beach smack dab in the middle of the vast array of tourist attractions. The hotel would be so picture perfect, it was almost too good to be true. Everything seemed to be going according to plan or so Alex thought. As the date of the opening was growing ever closer, she started to find more and more things that were wrong with the complex. It was of utmost importance for her to get everything back on track so the opening wouldn't have to be delayed. That would be disastrous for HEHG.

"Sweetheart, I know you are a busy woman, but when was the last time you visited me? I miss you, we should hang out more often," Julie stated, smiling at her daughter lovingly. Being a CEO wasn't an easy task, as she had come to know after years and years of hard work. Her eldest daughter overindulged. The job became her life, thus she never took a day off just to enjoy herself. Julie couldn't even remember the last time she saw her girl look happy and carefree.

"Mom, you are exaggerating." Alex deadpanned, shaking her head. "I visited you only a week ago," she added while sitting down at her desk and opening her laptop. She didn't have time for her mother today, her schedule was way overbooked. It was so full that she would have to work through lunch and eat dinner on the plane to Miami.

"That's because it was my birthday last week! You're forgetting about your priorities, young lady. We talked about this before, you should take an assistant. You work too hard and hardly take time to enjoy your life. You don't even sleep enough!" her mother exclaimed, clearly unhappy.

"Work is my priority, mom. I don't need time to relax, I love my job. Besides, I don't want to spend half of my life sleeping. Don't worry about me," Alex explained. She knew her mother meant well and was concerned for her wellbeing. She just wasn't interested because the company meant everything to her. That was not going to change anytime soon.

Juliet gave her a snort and shook her head, her green eyes spitting fire. She was clearly disappointed with their conversation. With exasperation, Julie knew she hit a brick wall with her daughter. She was a willful woman and she wasn't raising the white flag just yet. She had to come up with a concrete plan to get Alex to realize that life had so much to offer outside of the workplace. Julie wanted her to enjoy life and not waste it away behind an oak desk. "Anything else, mom?" asked Alex, annoyance clear in her voice. As much as she loved her mother, sometimes she had the feeling she could strangle her. Today would be a rough day and she didn't feel like catching up with Julie.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I have some disturbing news, you won't be happy about," the elderly woman said, waiting for her daughter to finally make eye contact. She was still getting the feeling she was talking to a brick wall instead of her eldest girl. Alexis was not paying attention to her and simply kept looking through her emails as if her mother wasn't even in the room.

"What's wrong?" Alex questioned, finally looking up and catching her mother's eye. When she noticed the worry and pain in those green orbs, she immediately felt her heart clench. Her mother was a strong and independent woman, not afraid of anything. Although right now, she was looking like her biggest rival just stabbed her back and Alexis didn't like it one bit.

"Peter called me early this morning," her mother explained, her eyes becoming numb the instant she spoke his name. Peter Johnson was her father and the man that broke her mother's heart. Alex was ten years old at when her parents decided to divorce. Their mother found out Peter had been cheating on her for months with a beautiful model fifteen years younger than herself.

He'd apologized and said he made a mistake but Juliet had been too hurt to even begin to consider forgiving the man that ruined her life and shattered her heart. She had been perfectly happy in their marriage. They had a beautiful family with three daughters and a new company. Life had been amazing until Peter decided to ruin their happiness.

After the divorce, Juliet took care of their children while Peter started drinking to forget about his former mistakes. He got aggressive and one night, he threatened to kidnap his own children and take them as far away as possible from their mother. It had been the moment Juliet decided to press a lawsuit against him. The judge gave Julie full custody of their daughters.

From that day forward, everyone in their family believed that true love only existed in fairytales. Julie made the hotel group successful while raising her children. Peter went to rehab. Alexis didn't often hear from her biological father, but when she did, it was never good news.

Ten years after his divorce, Peter married a filthy rich woman named Katharina. At the time, she had a twenty four year old son. She had also became a widow only a few weeks earlier. Juliet believed that Peter had been having an affair with the woman even before her husband died from cancer. Alexis wasn't sure about this allegation as she knew how much Julie hated her ex-husband and held on to the lasting grudge.

"What did he want this time?" Alex questioned tiredly. She honestly didn't want to know what Peter was aiming for. Even after marrying a rich bitch, he still felt the need to keep ruining her mother's life and weasel money out of her. They had tried to pay him off more than once, but he kept returning and asking for more. The man was delusional and absolutely ruthless.

"He told me that his stepson, Marc, wants to get a managing job at the company," Julie answered quietly, the idea disturbing her immoderately. She couldn't understand what the hell she had done wrong that Peter seemingly hated her so much. They used to be a great couple, the perfect match, always happy when they were together. Too bad things change, and for them things had changed drastically for the worse.

"Marcus Jordan wants to replace me? Who the hell does he think he is?" Alexis asked affronted. Anger and disbelief were visible across her features.

"When I first started the company, I was still married to your father. We both invested in the project. His name stands in the contract, which makes him as much of an owner to the company as I am. We both have the right to name a Chief Executive Officer, no matter if he invested any work in the company or not. As the company got bigger and more successful, it became a joint stock company and we divided our capital into shares. I never contacted your father or asked for his permission, so rightfully, I only possess half the shares of the firm. You girls also own a huge share. However, Peter is now threatening to sell his shares to Marcus, which gives him the opportunity to take over the entire hotel group and become CEO." Juliet explained sadly.

"You mean you never tried to get father out of the company? Mom! I thought you bought his shares after the divorce!" Alex exclaimed, thinking her ears must be deceiving her. This couldn't be true, her mother could not be right. There was no way she was going to share her precious hotel group with that bastard.

Marcus Jordan was known to be a first class jackass, having made his way through the female population of New York. Leaving many a broken heart reeling in his wake. He was arrogant and deceiving. Marcus was a royal dickhead who didn't give a fuck about anyone but himself. To make matters worse, he'd constantly been trying to hit on her during their college years. They went to the same school, though he was four years older than her.

She had skipped two grades when she was younger because of her excellent marks. Alex ended up going to the same college as her precious stepbrother. At the time, she had no clue as to who he was. She never saw her father or anyone his new family members. Something about Marcus caused her to have an immediate dislike of him from the moment she first laid eyes on him.

He practically screamed danger. His charm and good looks made all girl's knees go weak. She had been happy with her boyfriend, Shane, at the time. Not once had she even given her stepbrother a second glance. He had tried on more than one occasion to charm his way into her life, but she'd turned him down just as many times. He quickly gave up and she hadn't heard from him since then.

"I know, honey, I made a mistake. I hadn't thought of the fact that he owned half the company until he called me yesterday. I thought our wedding contract would make me the rightful owner of the firm, but apparently I missed an important clause that gives him half of the shares. I have no idea how he did it, but I expect some fancy attorney helped him out. There's no way I would have missed that clause, I can't even believe it's in there!" her mother stated, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. Alex's heart ached when she saw the broken look across her mother's face and she immediately regretted lashing out on her.

She knew her mother didn't do this on purpose, Juliet would rather kill herself than give Peter a part of her masterpiece. "I'll call the firm's attorney, Jennifer, maybe she can figure out what went wrong after the divorce," Alex reassured her mother, standing up from behind her desk and walking over to the elder lady to pull her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Alex. I honestly didn't think this would ever happen," she apologized, hugging her daughter closely to her chest, while sobbing softly.

"Don't apologize, mom, you didn't do anything wrong. You couldn't possibly have known Peter would be such a bastard," Alexis assured, carefully rubbing her mother's back to calm her down. She was going to kill that idiot when she next saw him. How dare he keep stabbing his ex-wife in the back like that? He was a traitor of the worst kind.

"Do me a favor, sweetheart," Juliet said once she pulled back from their embrace. "Don't ever let a man take your heart, cause believe me, they won't give it back. They'll shatter it into millions of pieces and break you down entirely. If you think what Shane did to you was bad, you'll never be able to survive the fallout when someone you really love pulls a "Peter" on you. You cared about him, but you didn't give him your heart. I'm glad for that. Men's sole reason of existence is to ruin women," her mother mumbled bitterly, her eyes focused on the empty space in front of her.

Alexis knew her mother was talking about Peter by the way she spaced out. Her eyes were clouded with pain, her lips firmly pressed together. "Mom," Alex exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Julie could exaggerate big time when it came to creatures of the opposite sex. She hated the entire male population and swore she would never marry again. Sometimes Alex wondered if her mother would rather be with a woman instead.

"I'm a grown woman, I can take care of myself. Besides, you know damn well that after my relationship with Shane ended I swore not ever to let a man get to me ever again. I don't need a husband, I'm happy to be a single workaholic that lives with a bunch of cats," Alex promised. She didn't need a man by her side. She was devoted to her job and lived together with Kitty and Ginger, her two American Longhair cats.

When she felt lonely, she would open a jar of ice cream and watch a romantic movie with her kitties cuddled in her lap. Who needs a man? Her nonexistent sex life might be an issue to some women, but she could easily take care of herself. She wasn't interested in a fling or one-night-stands. Besides, she was too busy working to even think about having a boyfriend.

"I know, sweetheart, but I can't shake this feeling that you'll soon meet a guy that's going to capture your heart. You're twenty-eight years old, most women your age want to settle down and think about starting a family. Even though you're still convinced you are not one of them, I still worry about you. You're a bright and lovely young woman, one day you will meet a guy that falls for you. All I hope is that he'll be different than your father was," Juliet explained, giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek before leaving the office. "Bye, sweetie!"

"Bye, mom," Alexis said to her mother before she disappeared through the door. She walked over to the window and looked outside for a while, trying to process what her mother told her.

Looking outdoors, she could see people running over the sidewalk, quickly trying to get to their destinations, while cars kept honking because of the crowded traffic. A typical morning in New York City, yet she felt like everything was different than before.

Only a few hours ago, she was a happy CEO, proud of her major company. Right now, she felt like she was living a nightmare and hoped she would soon wake up. She wasn't going to let Marcus Jordan ruin her career. She worked her ass off to make sure the hotel group would become the most successful company in the world, she wasn't going to let her stepbrother take her baby away from her.

The company meant everything to her and she wouldn't go down without a fight. He wanted to play it dirty? Well, she had no problem with breaking him down, piece for piece, so agonizingly slow that he would beg her to stop. She felt no remorse whatsoever. Marcus had no idea what was coming his way.

"Marcus, honey, Peter wants to see you in his office," Katharina told her son, before taking her purse from the coffee table. She was leaving for her manicure and she didn't want to be late. Her husband had instructed her to let their son know he wanted to see him.

"What's going on, mother?" Marc sighed, not in the mood to go see his stepfather. The only reason he still lived with his parents at the age of thirty was because they owned a villa, large enough to fit twenty people. He was given the entire left wing, while his mother and stepfather lived in the other part.

He was born into wealth and was quite content being a member of the upper echelon of high society. He once tried living on his own, in a major loft in the center of Manhattan but it didn't work out. He hated being alone all the time and didn't feel like marrying a gold digger. He'd had enough experience with women to know that the only thing they wanted was money and luxury. His mother was the perfect example. The only reason why she got pregnant was because she wanted to make sure that his late father would marry her.

Their marriage never had been based on love and Katharina surely hadn't shed any real tears when her ex-husband died. From what he remembered, his parents used to fight all the time and could barely stand to be in the same room.

The reason she had married Peter was because she'd felt lonely. The first few years of their marriage had been great, though lately they had been having issues. Mother wanted to pack her bags and buy a house in France to enjoy the rest of her days. Peter preferred to remain in the States. He didn't feel like living in Europe at some fancy beach house my mother wanted to buy.

"He told me it had something to do with that hotel group you were trying to get a job at. You know, the one that your stepsister Alexis runs," his mother said, clearly bored with the subject already. He nodded, knowing she didn't give a damn about what was going on and probably didn't want to talk about it either.

A few months ago, Peter had told him he wished he hadn't given up on the company his ex-wife established. It has been making tons of profit lately. He would like to have his fair share after being married to the skank for fifteen years. Marc didn't know the details about their breakup, but he knew that Peter apparently found his ex in quite the compromising position with one of her coworkers, which lead Peter to his drinking addiction. The man had been heartbroken and started to drink to forget about his misery. If all that hadn't been enough, the woman also made sure he wasn't allowed joint custody so he lost out on the chance to see his own daughters grow up.

Marc couldn't understand how a woman could be that heartless. He decided then and there that all women had ulterior motives for getting married in the first place. He suspected that dearest Juliet Cynthia Henderson simply needed Peter to provide money so she could build her own company then move on with her life.

His stepfather had always wanted revenge and there was no better way to hurt a woman than to break up her children. Alexis was a stuck up bitch anyways, he didn't mind taking her dream away. All he had to do was take over the company and make sure to ruin it.

They had worked together with many attorneys to find a way to make him, Marcus Jordan, Chief Executive Officer of the company. He hoped that after all the time they spent working their asses off, they finally found a solution. Peter and Juliet had a wedding contract that was pretty strict. Somehow they had to find a way to give Peter half of the shares of the company, which made him the largest shareholder.

When he opened the door to his stepfather's office, he immediately noticed the huge grin spread across the man's face. "I have some great news, son," Peter stated, smirking. "We are taking the Henderson Empire Hotel Group down. I bought you a plane ticket to Miami where they're building their newest hotel. Alexis should join you since they're having some… issues shall we say," the man smiled evilly.

"Issues?" Marc pressed, knowing his stepfather somehow had something to do with it.

"I bought one of their plumbers off to ruin the waterworks and make sure the entire building will be under water. Alexis needs to be on site to fix the problem. You will be there to join her and show the other shareholders you are capable of being a great CEO. Once we earn their trust, they won't keep kissing Juliet's ass and they'll see you as their new leader," Peter explained, his grey eyes shining with pride.

"You do realize that Alexis is still the rightful CEO and that she doesn't have to work with me, right?" he questioned, both happy that they found a solution so their plans could commence.

"The clause we found in the wedding contract is enough to make you co-workers, Alexis will be forced to accept your help. However, I have this feeling Julie will try to sabotage our plan and let her own attorneys clean up the mess. We will have to be careful and work quickly. The sooner you convince the other shareholders of your capabilities, the better," the grey haired man explained, looking extremely happy with himself.

Marc nodded, knowing what he had to do. He wasn't going to let his stepfather down. They would ruin the Henderson girls and make their life a living hell. He would get the job done, even if it was the last thing he did.

He patted Peter on the shoulder before leaving the room and packing his bags. Alexis had no idea what was coming at her, but he would make sure the hotel in Miami would never open its doors.

Hi, everyone! This is my first original story on FictionPress. I've worked as an author on Fanfiction before, but this will be an entirely new experience for me. Please bear with me and leave me a nice review! I'd love to hear what you think of the story!

Love,
Shana