You can't escape...
You can't outrun your DNA
What's in your blood.
It was difficult growing up in the shadow of a man who built and tore down empires for a living, business empires that is, a man who had taught his children that winning wasn’t winning unless you had it all and failure was not an option. His father had always been a hard man to please, and a tough man to love. Damien Sheppard’s children had grown up on tough love and heavy expectations to excel at everything they did. For the first half of Zander’s life this had been pillowed by his mother's love, understanding and patience with her children all traits their father didn’t have. He and his sisters at least had her to comfort them when they hadn’t pleased the man, and she’d been on their side of every argument.
So when Miranda Sheppard had been diagnosed with leukemia that balance had all fallen apart. Zander had been thirteen, his sister Rosemary eight and Alison five when their mother had lost her fight to cancer and all they’d wanted was their father to reassure them everything would be alright. He hadn’t been available, in fact Zander had discovered later he hadn’t even been in the country when their mother had died.
He hated him for that. A son should never hate their father, but Zander did, he hated the man for leaving their mother alone to deal with the cancer and he hated him more for not being there when she took her last breathe. The only thing that had gotten him through the devastation and heartache, and the anger he felt towards his father, was his grandmother who had been there when her son should have. Her love and kindness had gotten all of the Sheppard children through the dark days after their mother had died and after a few months things started to vaguely go back to normal for them, except of course the empty hole they all felt in their hearts.
Motivated by the hatred he had for the man who was supposedly their father Zander excelled in everything he’d done and gone to the best schools his father had chosen for him, and quickly proven he could handle his own. Damien Sheppard had made the mistake of giving Zander his very own company because now not only had he made the company his own but he’d tripled the profits in the first two years giving him the funds to buy into another two businesses and branch out on his own much to his father's disapproval.
Hello, who are you? Hello, who are you? Who are you?
Hello, who are you? Hello, who are you?
Who are you...
So here he was today, standing in his overly large office that took up half the top floor of Z Inc, looking out at the city skyline as the sun came up. Z Inc was just one of many company’s he owned, but it was his home base so to speak because of the location as it was central to everything. He was waiting for a very important phone call and had asked not to be disturbed. The deal he was about to make would change the course of his life forever, and it was either make or break because he’d thrown everything into it. If he was nervous he didn’t show it, standing still and straight as a statue, deep in thought. Finally the phone rang and touched the bluetooth device in his ear to answer the call. ”Mr Zhang, thank you for returning my call. I have a business proposition for you...:”
An hour later he’d finished the call but it hadn’t ended as he’d hoped, which meant his mood was shot and he needed to come up with a backup plan if he wanted it to be successful the next time he spoke to Li Jing Zhang. Zander’s fingers flexed and unflexed by his sides as he thought over the conversation he’d just had and tried to come up with his next plan to win the other male over. Zander quickly moved back to his desk centered in the middle of the room by the furthest back wall, and hit the intercom button on his phone. ”Miss (assistants name), can you come in please.” Zander called through it but didn’t wait for a response before he moved back around the desk, leaning a hip against the edge of it, arms folded across his chest waiting for his new assistant to make her appearance.
In the few short minutes after his phone call he’d mulled over a plan that this time he was certain would work. Li Jing couldn’t say no when Zander was standing in front of him, he’d make sure of it. ”Clear my schedule for the rest of the week - and yours. And contact Marcus, we’ll need the jet.” He ordered as his assistant entered the office. Marcus was Zanders favorite pilot and the only person he allowed to fly him anywhere. He would hire a private jet and pay a visit to Mr Zhang in person, and if he had too he’d wine and dine the chinese businessmen until he agreed with Zander’s takeover. ”Oh, and make sure your passport is up to scratch too.” He tried not to smirk from the surprised look she gave him when he mentioned passports.
ooc: so this is originally a boss x assistant role play but it doesn’t need to be, I just like this character and want to use him. So if anyone’s interested please let me know.
i had ideas for this which I’ll state briefly below.
- he and his assistant go on a business trip, their plane goes down and now they’re stranded on an uncharted island in the middle of the pacific. This could just be a part of the story and we’d get them home safe and sound soon but it perhaps they had a moment on the island that changed their relationship and now they have to go back to normal or we could put a bit of a spin on it that they could be stuck on the island for a long time and come across other survivors who have been stranded there for all different time lengths (a little like Lost I suppose) and there’s something sinister going on.
- ULTIMATE SLICE OF LIFE LOVE STORY COMPATIBILITY ( 😉 )
