La Vida En Berlin

Por Eric Labrador

Elizabeth is a young woman who lives in Argentina until unexpectedly a very dear aunt in Germany dies. This is the reason why she decides to move to Berlin, to change the direction of her life. When she arrives in the country, she is contacted by a lover of the aunt who tells her about the existence of a company, the place where the deceased worked, so that she will find a job there. It is a company that is responsible for the manufacture of art objects with customized designs. The executive president of the company, Paula, when she knows her studies, her experience, and her skills, hires Elizabeth to work in the company. She didn’t arrive alone in Germany. Her sister Manuela comes with the purpose of reaching her ambitions to be rich and live a luxurious life in the new city. She is hired later with the help of Elizabeth to work too.

The arrival of the deceased’s niece feeds a secret conspiracy of the American investor Tammy Taylor to obtain the position occupied by Paula. For her bad luck, she’s discovered by Manuela, who decides to blackmail her in exchange for a better position. As a result of the trap, the president unjustly enters prison while in her absence, Elizabeth ends up falling in love with the company’s lawyer and Paula’s boyfriend, Leonhard, inevitably having a hidden affair.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 3 dic 2018
• ISBN: 9781643340258

Vista previa del libro

Chapter

1

In life, the things that happen are for something. Every time you live, you always have to make the most of it because the future is unpredictable, uncertain. An example of this is Yania, a woman who worked honestly in Berlin. She dedicated 100 percent of her time to work. One day, at the height of her entrepreneurial success as the director of economics, while meeting with the council of the company in which she worked, she became a victim of a fateful brain attack, which instantly took away the most precious thing she had: her life. The possibility of her dying was very high, which is why she wrote a testament days before her death in which she granted her distant niece a large sum of money she had collected in the last ten years. Also as a compensation, she intended to have her niece continue her work in the company, working in the same position she had. She was sure that her heir would continue with the successes she had achieved, playing on the side of triumph.

Everything started in Argentina, just outside of Buenos Aires in the fall of 2014. There lived a single woman Leonor with her two adult daughters, Elizabeth and Manuela, who worked with dignity in the field to financially support their family of three. The whole family was descended from Germans.

Elizabeth was a generous woman, educated, good and with a sweet heart; but her biggest flaw was that she was naive and didn’t believe in the badness of people. She studied and graduated in economics but worked in the field because she could not find anything at her level. Her main desire in life was to find the perfect man who would love her and she to him.

Manuela was a young possessive, hypocritical, unscrupulous, cold, and calculating woman whose only goal in life was to have money, money, and more money. The relationship with his sister was cordial and kind, but inside her heart, she hated and envied her. She studied psychology, but through very unethical methods, she graduated. Under many protests and complaints, she worked in the family lands. She also didn’t intend to practice as a psychologist, having only its title as a conquest. In her damaged heart from childhood hid a rampant ambition that gave her the desire to dominate the world, to have a lot of power and a lot of wealth.

Leonor was the matriarch of her family, owner of several lands producing wine from which she lived per years. She was a conformist woman, very familiar, abandoned by her husband, Miguel Ángel, ten years ago. He mistreated and beat her, so her abandonment was a great relief for her. That man was the father of Manuela. Elizabeth’s father died when her daughter was three years old or at least that was the story that she had told her all her life without having security.

Without knowing it, her husband did a lot of bad things in Manuela, feeling much preference for Elizabeth, who supposedly had no family ties with him. Leonor did not know that she was wrong in raising her youngest daughter. She was now the result of all her mistakes and those of her father, who never showed love for her.

On the afternoon of September 2, 2014, through a letter, the family knew of the death of Elizabeth and Manuela’s aunt, Leonor’s sister, in Berlin, Germany. In that letter, Elizabeth was called to attend the reading of the will as her sole heir. In that moment, she knew that her life would change forever and for the better. Manuela felt a huge anger when she knew that she was not going to receive anything because of the bad relationship she had with her aunt since she was little. However, her mother loved her; it was a special, strange, confused, and opaque love. In spite of everything, Elizabeth decided to take her sister with her due to her insistence. They collected their savings for years and took a plane the next day. Elizabeth, according to Yania’s will, would be the perfect heir of her possessions.

Elizabeth arrived in the morning to that beautiful city and, along with her sister, was staying in a hotel that was suggested at the airport. It was called Leipziger 429, located on a street with the same name. It’s installed there for three days. Elizabeth received a call from a certain Rosendo, who explained that he was an old companion and in love with her aunt and he acquired Elizabeth’s phone number from among her aunt’s things.

They met at noon, and he reminded her that in the afternoon was the reading of the testament. In addition, he gave her information that she did not know. Her aunt was an important member of a popular and fruitful company of which she always commented together with him, located on the street Des 17. Jun. When she knew the testament, she received 4,000,000 euros as a legacy, but she would be able to have that full amount in five years.

The next day with all the data she needed, she presented herself in that mentioned place, where she requested an appointment with the executive president, Paula Ozores, a serious, dedicated woman with a firm character. From the first moment, they showed sympathy to Elizabeth, being the niece of the former director. Paula showed her condolences by inviting her to occupy the position that she carried on a provisional basis—economic and financial management. Excited, she accepted it but asked that her sister be hired in the position of accounting manager within the economic sector.

In the afternoon of that day, she met her current companions. Leonhard Ferr was Paula’s fiancé and lawyer in charge of legal and legal issues of the company. He had a great sense of companionship and was an observer. He was restless and with very good feelings in his life. Olga, the secretary, was a woman older than fifty years. She was childish and carefree since that was the foundation of the place she had been working. Her best entertainment at work was enjoying the gossip and the lives of others. Tammy Taylor, an American investor of the company, was ambitious, extroverted, and dynamic. She had been investing for two years and aspired to be executive president, especially now with the arrival of a new worker. Sabrine Löw was the public relations and human resources officer. She was a candid woman, emotionally unstable, hypersensitive, and arrogant. This sector of the management, where all of them belonged, was located on the sixth floor of the building of the company.

That industry was nothing more than a megacorporation that was explicitly dedicated to the sale of art objects, sculptures, and musical instruments. They sell them in the international market and also in the market in Germany itself. The name of the company was Ozores d’Art, created in 1979 by Gerard Ozores, father of the current president. Due to a crisis in 1998, he was on the verge of losing it, but satisfactorily, at the beginning of 2000, the company returned to its optimal state economically, increasing its popularity in the international market.

Elizabeth went on that morning to her new workplace, enthusiastic and excited to work together with her sister. She was eager to know what she was facing, willing to endure the stress of work and be very efficient.

Paula and Leonhard had been dating for several years, but in spite of this, the couple still had a set of insecurities, especially Paula. They had been living together for years, and for the moment, Leonhard preferred to keep things as they were now. The professional life of the two was currently in a moment of elevation, so the children might be delayed in arriving.

At 9:30 a.m., Paula presided over the meeting of the month. The board of directors would meet today with a new member. Now updated with the bank accounts, Elizabeth announced the situation that the company was going through. She was doing well, but they proposed according to Paula, before the end of the month, some better finances. It had so far 28,742,994 euros, figure that by objective was proposed twice for the first eight months of 2014. As a solution, the president said that Tammy should increase their investments. The American investor refused to unleash an ugly argument in front of everyone, retreating so as not to start a fight. After the meeting was over, everyone returned to their affairs.

Manuela, after witnessing the atmosphere of disgust between Tammy and Paula, understood the contained anger of each other. She intuited that one of the two would try to get rid of the other. She was more aware of the conversations they had with the others, watching them to see if they would do something strange, all with the objective of taking advantage of it and using it as a springboard to somehow improve her position in that company.

Later Elizabeth went to Paula’s office to check if she was okay. She herself was used to a lot of pressure in the company from morning to late in the evening. That confrontation with Tammy was one of many; the difference was that it filled the patience of the two. The investment was essential for the company and would continue to be so. This was Elizabeth’s first day of work; she lived in a convulsive and pressured environment among her workers without yet getting used to it.

Chapter

2

Orland Grau, rich man of sixty-six years, single, and with the desire to pretend youth and debauchery, went to the company to make some purchases. Paula presented him with the new member whom he left very impressed. Elizabeth sympathized with him, and seeing the signals and the glances of her boss, she understood that he was someone crucial to the company. Finally, they talked about business, and he personally commissioned some gold sculptures that came to oscillate at a high price.

While this necessary business was being carried out, Tammy was restless, anxious, and nervous about what happened the other day. The discussion with Paula made the final decision to end her term as president. Not only was her management making her uncomfortable, but she hated her deeply. Since she made investments and controlled in a certain way the business money, she was scheming for days a plan to accuse the president of stealing money. For the bad luck of this in the afternoon, Manuela, alert as she was, went to Tammy’s office (the door was open, checked boldly by her) and ended up searching through her things, scared of being surprised. She found in a closet very striking invoices in which there was a detour of money not yet made under the name of Paula Ozores. She supposed that it was a plot for the horrible relationship of these two. She waited for Tammy, who was surprised to have received a blackmail from Argentina. It did leave her speechless. She had to give up so as not to ruin her plans. To guarantee her blackmail, Manuela took with her the invoices and accounts actually executed by Tammy that would exonerate Paula.

At night, Orland, the most current client of the company, invited Elizabeth to go out to get to know her better. At least that was the pretext he used. The night for the two had been pleasant, but unexpectedly, the client overcame Elizabeth when he took her home, ending the situation in disgrace for her. He raped her very blatantly. Barely knowing her, in a very strange way he planned to kill her in the end, but before this happened, she managed to defend herself and flee. She escaped without knowing how and arrived at the hotel where she stayed with her traumatized and hurt sister receiving a hypocritical support.

Elizabeth was distressed and sad after being forced by that slug. On that same night, he denounced him along with Manuela but without the slightest hope of finding him. The next day, she wasn’t going to work, justifying herself to Paula that she needed to recover. She was saddened for being absent after just a few days of starting work, having a low state of mind.

For some time now, a gossip had begun to hoot inside the offices of the company involving the director Sabrine. She had a hidden relationship with a person, and for her misfortune, she got pregnant. He was married, and when he found out about this information, he was opposed to assuming paternity so that his marriage would not be affected. That man was Alexandre Zel, a young actor who had a much older woman with respect to him. He helped her ascend in her life and didn’t have the courage to leave her and be with Sabrine. It went to solve the matter of the child with his lover visiting her in her place of work begging for an abortion so that her image wasn’t compromised before the media, but only this request irritated Sabrine very greatly. She didn’t accept being resentful toward Alexandre. The news was of great importance and would be a great exclusive, so when Manuela found out, she called the media to the company, betraying their relationship to collect good money for it.

Hours later, the actor, after freeing himself from the pressure of the journalists, talked to the president to complain about what happened. He knew that the news could only come from the company, and that is why he decided to denounce the company for defamation and slander toward his person, alleging moral damages. Paula met the council and announced the precarious situation in which Alexandre was going to leave them. It was even found out that the one that started this was Manuela, which cost her a loss of trust with everyone and to pay the debt. The latter she did not do so because as soon as Elizabeth found out from home, she agreed to pay it, although an agreement was reached between her and Paula to share the future debt. Elizabeth was surprised by Manuela’s behaviour; for a moment, she saw an ambitious and false person with great interest in money.

In the morning of that day, with everything prepared, anonymous denunciation of Tammy was made to the police about the president’s diversion of money that was of the workers and not belonging to her. The police appeared a while later to stop her without having the slightest idea of what she did, trusting in the truthfulness of her innocence. All witnesses of what happened were left speechless, not able to believe it. It even lowered in minutes the prestige of the company before the clients. Leonhard, her boyfriend, took the case to defend her, knowing that she did not have to see. But deep down, he knew that with the evidence against her, it was difficult to free her. Paula was a victim of a very well-prepared trap without suspecting at the moment who could have the courage among her companions.

In the afternoon, shortly after that day’s arrest, it was concluded that a provisional president was elected until the return of the previous one, because according to the company bylaws the executive presidency in the company must always be occupied without more than one day of power vacuum. It was to be hoped that through her splendid management and flirtatious charisma, Tammy would win, like she had planned. She had no other rival and with the support of all the voters. That moment of victory came for the American, achieved at any price. Now fulfilling her objective, she had to respond to the blackmail of Manuela, who requested to occupy the position of her sister, the economic director, which she was not prepared to exercise. Lacking concentration in the position because of her violation was dismissed Elizabeth. She was transferred to the department of administration as the boss, being excluded so soon from the board. The decision was taken surprisingly and without the advice, being undemocratic. Unfortunately for Leonhard, mainly because he was the most annoyed by this change, the bylaws also stated that after the president was approved, he could not be removed from office for up to one month, whatever the reason. For Elizabeth, who recently occupied that position, it was a hard blow to assimilate, feeling upset with her sister without saying a word to her. Between what happened today and the rape, she felt so frustrated and without receiving the least help from anyone.

Sabrine, to find time to relax and sneak out of the company for the embarrassment that had happened, planned to take some vacation days. She had not yet decided whether to have that child she was waiting for. Her indecision didn’t allow her ideas to be clarified. The story of this with the actor in his opinion had come to an end. With this, when she went home, she crossed the company without exchanging words and pretending to be annoying.

Alexandre went to the company at the time of departure of almost all workers on the occasion of being summoned by Tammy for a business conversation. Astute, the current boss thought about managing to convince the actor to withdraw his demand toward the company and save economic ills. The agreement was achieved after hours of discussion about the money that would be paid, money that would cover the scandal—leaving both, of course, with what they want.

Today at last a nice news came to Elizabeth’s ears; her rapist, Orland Grau, was caught fleeing the city, being recognized by the robot portrait of his that was scattered in some streets of Berlin. Immediately, she wanted to see him to find out the truth, even if for Manuela going there was something very strange.

The commissar, rather the head of the police station in Berlin, Mauxec Vured, was a respected gentleman for being a great policeman and for having great experience in his work. He retained Orland for Elizabeth to speak with him at her request. The rapist confessed without much insistence that he was paid by someone who sought him out to do what he finally did. His money problems pushed him to do anything to recover, but he did not reveal the person who offered the agreement. Elizabeth began to feel intrigued, knowing the existence of someone who persecuted her to hurt her and kill her, but she could not imagine who it could be. This whole story was a mystery, a mystery that was clarified in half. She was willing to forget it and not find the culprit, maybe out of laziness or fear of knowing something that she did not want to.

Sabrine’s problems ended up drowning her a lot and causing her to lose concentration in her work, pushing her to ask for the vacation she had accumulated. The application was approved by Tammy, who already found a very efficient substitute for her on the internet. She announced that she liked her résumé. For the next Monday, he agreed to his arrival at work.

To make the spoken agreement with Alexandre valid, Tammy began a meeting that day in which she exposed the treatment to which the entrepreneurial benefit could be reached. Offering money, promoting her image, and granting a position in the company were the solutions to avoid a scandal before the media and, of course, the considerable loss of money. The idea pleased everyone and was also supported by Manuela, whose new managerial position gave strength to the management of her accomplice without minding the least if it were correct or not. The popularity of Zel would attract customers, and nothing would be difficult to achieve.

The need to pay overdue debts hidden by Paula forced her to make a final decision regarding her company. The money he owed to some suppliers had come to light and did not involve a small amount; it was a large capital. Finally, she chose to sell it, entrusting that management to an agency to which she gave the necessary powers, showing that until the sale of the business, it would continue to function as it was. As a sign of their friendship, Elizabeth went to visit her, witnessing so little time of her apprehension, her decay, and her discouragement of life. Leonhard, meanwhile, was looking for the alternative to prove his innocence, striving to find the real culprit, knowing as told by Paula that it was a very-well engineered trap. Elizabeth, with her desire to help her friend, joined Leonhard to find some clues. Unfortunately for her, there was an account created in her name that had the stolen money that broke down all the possible evidence. The only way to avoid being accused would be to prove that this bank account was created by another person who supplanted her name, something that was very difficult to do.

Chapter

3

Exactly as Tammy plotted behind the back of her blackmailer, Manuela, the sale of the company in a few days would be public, and as soon as possible, she would find the money to buy it without Paula’s knowledge, at least until the operation. The plan of the North American came to her perfect knowledge, but Manuela was her only loose end that prevented her from being at the maximum of joy.

Paula’s absence led to a greater proximity between Leonhard and Elizabeth. A friendship between them emerged. It was so sincere and so close that in a short time, trust began to be theirs. Even the two saw that they had more in common than they imagined. He analyzed that he would be the perfect man for his life, if Paula were not in the middle and if she were in love with him, she was not there.

On this day, Leonhard had the idea of going with Elizabeth for work. Maybe this fact was only a small detail, but a detail that Paula did not know and that could bother her and that could be interpreted in many ways. However, this did not interest either of them. The fact of this to begin to leave with him, happened after a trip yesterday in the night of Manuela toward Munich for the reason of a trip of work, being the true reason a vacation that it asked Tammy making use of its blackmail toward her. At the moment, he had not announced a return date. His authentic intention: to enjoy a good life.

For the relief of the company, the Japanese to replace Sabrine in her job came. Gigy Vuh was a serious man, responsible and apparently with a lot of character that ensured to give all his effort to the profession. When he came to this city, he came with the main purpose of industrial espionage for a company of which he was a member in Japan, so it was a secret and of high importance for him and his superiors that he must maintain and, of course, fulfill in a certain weather.

Like a means to strengthen the relationship with customers, Tammy made a small reduction to the older ones. Olga, at the request of the president, was responsible for applying this offer with one of the most essential and old customers, owner of a conservatory that worked for years, Noëlle de Orzed, who had always put a lot of money in favour of the business, being very satisfied with her products. Olga’s awkwardness was committed in the contract that sent him a serious error. It made the figure triple what it was. After knowing the wrong number, Tammy thought to take advantage of it and leave it as it was done for not receiving the minimum complaint from the client just need to do it behind Olga’s back that could give her away.

The campaign signed by Alexandre began in a wonderful way to be realized. The methods used for promotion were proving very efficient, and the scandal that this was going to produce was avoided. The actor was slowly raising the prestige, not only that of the company but also that of Tammy as an entrepreneur, which aroused this problem of her, especially with Leonhard, who suspected that she took advantage to distinguish herself through him.

Two weeks passed, missing a single for the expected trial of Paula in which she wished to clarify the truth and be declared innocent. For his luck, he had the outstanding Judge