- And when is the deal? Mike frowned.

“Tomorrow,” my father smiled. - At nine in the morning, in the office. I need you there, both of you. And then you, - the finger rested on Vik, - will go to their office and take care of them tightly.

- In terms of? - so Vik had other things to do tomorrow, he was one of the top managers of the family holding and dealt with supply contracts.

Generally everyones, but mostly international.

This will be your business for the foreseeable future. Become the CEO there. Look at the people, clean out all the idlers and parasites, hire normal ones, and let it finally work. You will give your urgent message to Vlad, or to Mikhail, if Vlad does not fit into it.

Vlad was the name of Vika's deputy, a friend and classmate in Narxosis, whom his father had looked after even then, a hundred years ago, when he was studying, and invited him to work. And Mikhail, aka Mike, was in charge of coordinating the work of the mining and procurement departments. Cousin Artyom, the son of Aunt Nina, has recently worked in the technical support service. The eldest grandson, nine-year-old Alexander, Valentin Fedorovich Ledyanoy also saw in the future as an employee of the corporation, but he still had to learn and learn. Vic believed that his grandfather had some plans for his youngest grandson, two-year-old Fyodor. Only girls were allowed to do something outside the corporation in the family.

They sent the children to bed, drank to success and tomorrow's deal, then the father said that he would also go.

- Don't stay too long, okay? And Victor, call Polinka that you came out of the forest.

Exactly, you need to call, and then you can already sleep. Vic activated the contact and heard a distant voice on the phone.

- Mama Polinka, hello. I'm at home, I'm fine. What can happen to me? Walked through the forest, nothing special. I love you too.

2

Monday morning did not work out for Veronica from the very beginning.

Firstly, the weekend passed under the sign of plowing in the country, and the whole body hurt until now. After the rains that happened last week, the beds were overgrown with grass, and there was no sign of carrots and cabbages from under the grass. Of course, mom has pressure, sister Katerina rents a session, who should weed? That's right, Veronica. And also bring everyone, take them away, buy food for two days for people and food for the dog Mukha.

Secondly, after garden work, the gel peeled off the nail of the middle finger on the right hand, and the manicurist Nadia went on vacation, and there was absolutely no one to beg to take before work and save. I had to file the nail, cover it with a colorless base and hope that no one would examine it in detail today.

And thirdly, in the morning Veronica had an extremely unpleasant business. The transport company "GN", in which she had to work as a financial director, was mired in debt. And the fact that bankruptcy has not yet occurred was largely the merit of Veronika Andreevna Lastochkina. She convinced, offered options, squeezed payments out of clients on time and kept the company afloat.

Today, Veronica was going to go to the bank and convince her to postpone the payment for a week, which was supposed to pass before zero o'clock the next day, on the seventeenth of June. She scrolled through a couple of conversation options in her head, checked all the prepared documents in her bag - about the amounts that should be received soon, and thanks to which the payment could be made, but she was afraid that the third time the number would not go through.

However, Veronica had to do her best.

She was expected at the bank at nine. Well, I was smart enough to leave not back to back - to get to the other side, Monday, there is always a chance to get stuck. And for sure - an accident on the new bridge, hello, traffic jam. And then just pray.

The phone squealed heart-rendingly, so colleagues from work called. Margarita Romanovna, Deputy. What else happened?

- Good morning, Margarita Romanovna!

- Who is good, and who is like. Zhenya didn't call you? - Zhenya, that is, Evgenia Vasilievna, a stupid girl of almost thirty years old, acted as secretary to the general director, Nedolyubov.

Not yet, thank God.

- But it's not glory. They say the boss blew the company.

- What? - Well, you can’t do it like that, since Monday morning!

- What do you hear? I sold it with giblets to Iceman.

- From whom is the information?

- Yes, from Zhenya, such cholera! Allegedly, he called her in the morning and informed her. And her tongue does not hold in her mouth, but she needs to show everyone that she knows everything. You're at the bank now, right?

- Where else!

- Well, yes, the payment will not resolve itself.

The phone beeped, another call.

- Excuse me, Margarita Romanovna, but the boss himself is calling me. I'll call you later, - Veronika disconnected and answered the boss: - Hello, Gennady Vasilyevich.

- Andreevna, where are you? the boss asked.

Yes, yes, they closed questions about Nicks, Nichkas and even Veronichenkos a long time ago, when he initially approached her, and she unequivocally refused him. The short, bald Nedolyubov, with a hooked nose, bushy eyebrows and watery greenish eyes, did not match her ideal image of a man, even if he were not a boss. And so this same Andreevna degenerated.

“In traffic,” Veronica said. - And so I’m going to the bank, if you haven’t forgotten, the payment must go through tomorrow at zero-zero hours, for which there is hardly a third of the amount.

“Mother-mother-mother,” came from the tube.

That is, you, Gennady Vasilyevich, don’t remember a damn thing. Because you have Andreevna, who remembers. Convenient.

- I understand you, but the issue still needs to be resolved today.

“Yes, but that’s the thing,” the chief began to bleat. “You see, Andreevna, on Saturday, Ledyanoy, such a bastard, completely took tongs and set inexpressible conditions. In general, I sell everything to him. You look, he will bring some order, and he will find some money. But if you go to the bank, how can we sign the contract without you?

- Take Margarita Romanovna. She's signed. If I now send someone else to the bank for myself, the case will not work out.

“Yes, I understand, I understand,” the chief sighed. - Okay, good luck there, let everything work out.

Then Veronica called Margarita Romanovna and told her the news firsthand, so to speak, and asked her to go instead of her to sign the contract. And then the traffic jam finally ended, and it was already possible to go and think.

Valentin Ledyanoy and his holding with the inexpressive name "Prodles" have been on the tongues of the "GN" employees for half a year already. Ledyanoy was a major client of the company - this has been the case since the nineties, there was some kind of friendship between them and Nedolyubov, or some common past, Veronica did not know the details. But Ledyany was not satisfied with the way the company had been operating in recent years. By the way, this item did not suit Veronica either, but the only conversation on this topic with Nedolyubov put all the points in their places - he is the boss, he knows better. If you don't like it, God is out, and the threshold is out.

Veronica didn't like it, but she didn't like looking for a new job even more. Mom’s pension is not so hot, sister Katerina studies on a paid basis, and the word “absolutely” doesn’t shine for her, so who will feed everyone? That's right, Veronica.

No, of course, there is also an apartment that was bought with part of my grandfather's inheritance due to my mother. A tiny half-room small family on Sovetskaya, opposite the Tank. She gives up, and her mother puts the money either on the account, or somewhere else. Veronica decided a long time ago that it would be easier for everyone if she didn’t ask her mother about this money. And once again it is not difficult to buy products, there is money. That's when it was not - there is another matter, but now everything is easier. But to make it “easier”, you need a good job.

Mom, Lyubov Ivanovna, was married twice. Veronica's father, Andrei Petrovich, God rest his soul, was an alcoholic. Quiet, calm, but drunken. Therefore, the active Lyubov Ivanovna endured, endured, and drove him to hell. Katerina's father Vasily Mikhailovich at first looked like a falcon - as soon as he appeared in the house, but when Lyubov Ivanovna became pregnant and married him, it soon turned out that he was no better than her first husband. And even worse, because that one was quiet and intelligent, and this one was violent. As soon as the unfortunate fifty grams got into his mouth, he immediately completely flew off the coils - he yelled, cursed, beat dishes, broke furniture, and Lyubov Ivanovna also got it.

By now, both father and stepfather were lying quietly in the Smolensk cemetery, a few hundred meters from each other. Mom went to one and the other, looked after the graves, planted flowers in the spring and did everything else that was supposed to.

Katerina grew up to be a spoiled girl who didn't know anything about refusal. What it cost to my mother - only Veronica represented. Now my sister was trying to get a higher education for the third time - now from the field of psychology. Journalism and economics have already dropped out in the semi-final - they didn't pull it off. She did not want to go to classes and study something there, and even more so, she did not want to work. She wanted to hang out with friends and travel. Who doesn't want this, just, excuse me, for what chichi?

Veronika herself graduated from Narxoz with honors and has never been without a job in her life. As a result, by the age of thirty-two, she worked her way up to a managerial position and a very decent salary by Irkutsk standards. But at home, she did not name the position and did not voice the amount of the salary, because she was saving up for the first installment for the apartment. Although the studio is at the far end of Novo-Lenino, so is its own. And live separately. And do not listen to your mother that she, Veronica, lives wrong. And don’t listen to Katerina either, otherwise she also took the fashion to argue - why, they say, to study, if then you live like a sister - thirty-somethings, and not a child, not a kitten, not to mention a peasant!

In general, it was impossible to lose a job. It was necessary to spin, because while the "GN" is afloat, she is also afloat. And what will happen now, when the owner changes - no one knows.

Veronica found a place to park not too far from the bank, took her bag with documents and went inside.