William felt a pang of guilt as his wife anxiously looked at him. For a moment, he reconsidered his decision. He knew Linda would be devastated if she learned he had a mistress.

William and Linda had been married for 20 years, shared a 17-year-old daughter, and had lived a peaceful life in the home Linda inherited from her parents. They even started a beef jerky business a year ago, but it soon stopped making money, so William’s job supported them.

“What is it that you wanted to discuss, William?” Linda broke the silence.

“I’m seeing someone else, Linda,” William admitted. “I didn’t want us to see this day, but I-I couldn’t help it.”

“What do you mean?” Linda’s face fell. “You…have another woman? Answer me, I’m asking something!”

William hung his head. “I can’t explain it, but I love her,” he said. “She’s young, different, and we just clicked.”

“Do you even hear yourself, William?!” Linda exploded. “We’ve been married for 20 years, we have a daughter, and now—” Linda’s buzzing phone cut her off.

“Ye-Yes?” she answered, maintaining her composure, but it wasn’t long before she lost her cool. A court representative had called her to inform them their home was about to be seized. They’d taken a loan for the dried meat business and mortgaged their house. William was supposed to repay the debt. She had no idea the installments were past due.

“What’s your excuse for not repaying the loan, William? Are you going to leave me and our daughter on the streets while you live your fantasies with your mistress?” she exploded as she hung up. “They need $80,000! Where are we going to get that money?”

“Linda, I-I…couldn’t save enough for those payments…” William started making excuses, knowing he was to blame for everything. Linda couldn’t stand her slacker husband anymore. “OUT!” she yelled. “Get the hell out of my house!”

The vehicles’ loud honking snapped him to the moment. William stood still at the signal light. He’d been too lost in his thoughts to notice it had gone to red again. William walked out on his wife and daughter six years ago but didn’t live the desired life.

Instead, he lived miserably and lost his job and new family. He’d even been on a bender to distract himself from his failure. As he headed for a job interview now, he hoped to reclaim his life.

He sat outside the interview room nervously. He had applied for a position at a beef jerky production factory. He thought his previous experience, though a failed one, would be a plus. He went inside when his number was called, and his luck was on his side because he was hired.

William began working as a packaging operator. On the third day of his job, he was busy labeling the boxes when his manager, Mr. Dunn, approached him.

“If you don’t want to be stuck in the same role, William, you gotta impress our CEO today,” Mr. Dunn grinned, nudging WIlliam, who was confused.

“You didn’t know?” Mr. Dunn continued, noticing his confused expression. “She’s coming here for an inspection!”

William wasn’t interested. He politely excused himself and got back to his job. But soon, a murmur of voices distracted him, prompting William to look up towards the entrance where Mr. Dunn greeted the CEO.

William’s jaw dropped when he saw the CEO was his daughter.

“Isabelle?” he gasped as she approached him.

“Dad?” she chirped confidently. “It’s been a long time, right?”

“How? How did you become a CEO?” he blurted.

“So you’re more concerned about my material success than how I’m doing?” she scoffed. “Don’t let this personal angle distract you. I’m here for an inspection, and you should be doing your job. And yes,” she added before walking away. “Please meet me in my office after lunch.”

William went to her office that afternoon. “Come on in!” she instructed, and he walked in and sat across from her uneasily.

“You’re not going to ask what you wanted to know back at the factory?” she said, breaking the silence. “Well, it wasn’t easy, Dad. After you left, we were homeless. We only got one-third of the money from the sale of our confiscated home. Thanks to you for not bothering to repay the debt!

“Mom gave me her last money because she didn’t want me to compromise my education. And then Aunt Georgina called one day. Mom had to move in with her, far away from me, and she said…” Isabelle paused, recalling one of the most challenging moments of her life. “Mom’s life was in danger…”

Six years ago…

While Isabelle sat outside the college admission office and rechecked her application documents, her phone rang.

“Hey, Aunt Georgina, what’s up?” Isabelle held her phone between her right ear and shoulder.

“It’s about your Mom, honey,” Georgina sounded worried. “She-she had symptoms of a heart attack this afternoon. The surgery is not needed yet, so I can support her financially. But the doctors said it’s a coronary heart disease, and if she experiences a heart attack again, they’ll have to do the surgery, which will cost more than $100,000.”

Isbaelle’s heart raced as she hung up. Linda was okay for now, but she could need the surgery any time in the future. She knew that she would need to pay for tuition if she submitted her application documents. But she could save that money and use it for her mother’s treatment if she left the campus.

Isabelle recalled her parents’ beef jerky business. She could give it a try to generate more income. But for that, she would need her parents’ old kitchenware still in their confiscated home.

Isabelle returned to her friend’s place, where she was crashing temporarily. She searched for affordable flats and a second-hand pickup truck to carry equipment for her business. The next day, she visited a garage.

Isabelle asked the garage owner if he sold second-hand pickup trucks, and thankfully, the man did. She bought the one she could afford, but it wasn’t as bad as she’d imagined. It rattled initially, but the mechanic fixed it, and it was ready to use. She collected her things from her friend’s apartment and drove to the studio apartment she’d seen online.

The space was smaller than she had seen in the photos, but it would do, so Isabelle signed the rental agreement and paid the first month’s rent in advance. That night, she parked her pickup truck across from her parents’ old home. But as she approached the front door, ensuring nobody was watching her, she noticed a big rusty lock hanging from the door. She didn’t have the key, and there was no back entrance.

Isabelle’s gaze traveled to the dormer window on the roof’s slope side. The window pane was still broken, the one Linda had been nagging William to fix but kept putting off. Isabelle had an idea.

She parked her pickup truck outside the first-floor window and climbed the pipe parallel to the dormer window. She entered the attic through the dormer window and switched on her phone’s flashlight. Dust and cobwebs had infiltrated the room, and the lights no longer worked.

Isabelle noticed a box labeled “KITCHEN” in a corner. She yanked off its tape and found the utensils Linda used for the jerky. She also found another box that contained Linda’s recipe books and a commercial oven. She carried the two cartons downstairs and loaded them into her pickup truck through the first-floor window.

Isabelle closed the window so no one suspected her of being there. She left the house through the dormer window, then drove to the abandoned house a few blocks from her studio apartment. She decided to set up her production space there because her studio was too small, and she needed more money to rent a space.

As she pulled over near the abandoned home, she looked around to ensure nobody was watching her. Then she walked briskly to the backyard, but the door had a tiny lock. Isabelle removed her hairpin, picked the lock, and… a click!

The door creaked open. Isabelle carried everything to the basement and set up a small production space there. However, she had to wait until the lights were installed. She couldn’t cook in the dark or during the day. She didn’t want to be caught trespassing.

A few days passed. Isabelle initially followed her mother’s recipe, but the jerky tasted awful. Something was off. She experimented with the marinade recipe as she wanted her beef jerky to have a unique taste. Isabelle didn’t want to restrict herself like her parents did by creating a product that would only be marketed to acquaintances. She wanted to sell it across the state and the big retail chains across the US.

“Oh god! This is it!” she exclaimed once she tasted a fresh batch. She finally had the product she wanted. However, there was still much work to do.

Isabelle spent the next month perfecting her sales pitch, cold-emailing retail giants, and sending her samples. Finally, there was a response.

Re: Dried-Meat Product Proposal

Dear Isabelle,

I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for your recent proposal. After careful consideration, we believe your dried beef beer snack would be a fantastic match for our consumers’ interests. We would like to try your samples…

Isabelle didn’t need to read more. She swiftly replied, and a week later, she sat at the retail company’s office with their food inspection team. She had managed to complete the order of 1000 packets as they had demanded.

Isabelle’s product was circulated across the table, and after tasting it, the manager, Chris, asked her to wait outside. “We’ll let you know the results in an hour,” he said.

Isabelle’s heart pounded as she waited. But when she was summoned to the office an hour later, she heard the good news.

“We like your product, Isabelle, and want to discuss the next steps. However, we need to visit your factory and conduct a sanitary inspection. If we find you meet our standards, are you in a position to produce 10,000 packets per month?” Chris asked.

Isabelle couldn’t say no because she didn’t know when the next opportunity would knock on her door. She went to a cafe after leaving the office and wondered how she would arrange everything. Chris’s inspection was in two weeks.

Her phone buzzed, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Hey, Aunt Georgina,” she answered.

“Honey, your mother’s condition is worsening,” Georgina said worriedly. It turned out Linda’s medical report had an error, and she needed the surgery within a month.

“But how could the doctors make such a big error?” Isabelle fumed, deep down worried for Linda.

“I wish I could do something to help you both…” Georgina sighed sadly.

Isabelle knew there was only one option to help her mother now. She visited her former classmate’s father, Mr. Navarro, a wealthy businessman. She told him everything about her struggle to produce the first few samples of the dried meat.

“But I know you’re a true businessman, so I’m here with a deal. If you invest in me and all goes well, I can offer you 35% of the factory’s income.”

“Business is business, dear,” Mr. Navarro smiled. “So here’s a condition. I would take the 35% plus one-third of the sale price of your confiscated home. Do we have a deal?”

Present-day…

“Mr. Navarro and I made the deal. I passed Chris’s inspection and got my first check. It helped me get our home back, and I could get Mom treated. We survived Dad. But I can’t stand betrayal, so you’re no longer working here. Wait for me behind the warehouse.”

About 15 minutes later, Isabelle came to meet William, but with two boxes carried by a warehouse worker. “Open it, Dad,” she said as the worker handed the boxes to William.

William found the old kitchenware and commercial oven inside, the leftovers of his and Linda’s failed business.

“I think we’re at par now, Dad. You have everything you need to start and grow a business and change your life. Just believe me. I’ve been there,” Isabelle smiled and walked away.

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If you enjoyed reading this story, you might like this one about a wife who found her husband removing his wedding ring before leaving for work daily. She followed him one day, only to discover the worst.

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