Post by Hannah Reed on Apr 12, 2013 13:21:58 GMT -6
166 Days.
They said it could never be done and yet I stand here your NCW World Champion for an unprecedented length of time that not only surpasses my forbears but roundly and defiantly proves to the world that I am without a shadow of a doubt the best professional wrestler in the business. I simply have no equals; I have transcended the hallowed names of yesteryear and etched my own name into history as the greatest of all time.
Never before has a man dominated this company in such a fashion and fittingly, no one ever will again.
My reign as the symbol of this federation is historic and a suitable ending to the legacy of a company which will never be forgotten. For all of those men who wish to paint me as the devil, there are plenty of you who are waking up to the real Roberto Verona. When you wash away all of the veneer and the mud that has been slung at me you don’t see a demagogue bent on the destruction of this company, you see a man who has proven to everyone that he is everything he has always claimed to be.
The best.
So many men have claimed to be the superior of their colleagues, but few of them have had the ability to transcend their peers and immortalise themselves in the eyes of the world which sparkle in awe. Fewer still can stand in front of a camera like I do now and stare into the void and declare it with such conviction because I know my proclamations are set unquestionably in stone.
I do not base my boasts on fragile ground, supported purely by ego and a desperate need to consistently validate my existence, I farm them from undeniable facts.
I’ve held every active singles belt in this federation inside a year and a half of earning a contract.
Fact.
I ended the streak of the most dominant performer of 2012.
Fact.
I am the longest reigning NCW World Champion of all time.
Fact.
What so many of you mistake as pure vanity is nothing more than a simple reiteration of the God’s honest truth and the only reason so many of you scowl at me from the shadows with a gaze of envy is because deep down, you wish it was you.
You wish that it was your face on all the promotional flyers, your name etched in the record books for eternity and your waist which the most prestigious prize in this business was proudly wrapped around.
When men like Steve Awesome describe me as a murderer, they do not do so from a stable position with well-rounded source material to back up their claims, they do so from a self-erected pedestal that rests uneasily on shaky ground. I've been painted as the villain since day one, wherever there is fault inside this company, blame has swiftly come my way, I am the monster hiding under your bed because you’re all too immature to outgrow the safety of fairy tales.
New Championship Wrestling has been placed up for sale, not because it is stagnating financially or it's talent is not a “draw”, but because Kelly Fox has decided that the most important legacy in her life is the one she leaves to her children. Yet my name is plastered over frivolous most wanted posters as if I have plunged a knife into the great mistress which has satisfied our every desires leaving her lingering towards and painful death.
Nobody directs their ire at the legion of old faces which have come back to milk the carcass of this federation for one last big pay day, nor do they pour scorn on those who have declared their love for this company yet turned their backs on it the moment they got a better offer elsewhere only to crawl back with a begging bowl when it all went wrong.
No, I remain pilloried for alleged crimes because I’m an easy target. I play the nefarious evildoer on television because I understand how to play this game and put on a show yet it would appear that men who should know better are incapable of separating kayfabe from reality.
I’d like to think it is because it is “still real to them damn it”, but the depressing truth is that it suits their agenda to paint me as some moral vacuum who is devoid of any real qualities and live in the world of fantasy because the reality is much scarier.
I am simply better than they are.
I am everything they want to be, warts and all.
And you, you’re no better than them William. You’re not separate from the pack, a moral beacon amongst a sea of filth. Underneath all of the excuses you’re going to pontificate this week about why you must defeat me the truth is that you want to beat me for the same reason as everybody else.
You want to erase the image of Roberto Verona, the best of all time, because you all reflect poorly in comparison.
You want to fool the whole world, even if it is only for one month, that you're not only my equal but by the virtue of your coveted victory, my superior. More importantly, you want to fool yourself that despite years of failure you are truly one of the greatest competitors to lace up a pair of boots by building your legacy atop of mine.
Well, I am no fool, William.
Jealousy is a great motivator, but envy has a tendency for self-destruction and believe me when I say this, come Sunday, at Sovereign, we will not hear the cries of “The King is Dead” but four simple words that have reverberated inside the minds of each and every one of you, tormenting your pride and fuelling your futile fantasies.
Long live the King.
I’ve been watching you Will.
I am not stupid enough to convince myself that I learned everything about you last month, although we both know I learned enough. Yet, as this month has gone on and I’ve seen how you react in the face of adversity I’ve learned one very important thing about you.
You’re insecure.
Underneath all that bravado you’re nothing more than a man who is full of doubt who has tried in vain to convince himself that he is the behemoth required to put an end to my reign.
You consistently seek the affirmations of your devoted fiancée who has to repeatedly reinforce your purported superiority to me not only a physical basis, but also an emotional one too. Your repeated need for reassurance doesn’t reveal a man who only needs one opportunity to take the crown, it smacks of a desperate man whose only source of self-belief comes from the honey coated platitudes of a person who has little to gain from telling you the truth.
And the truth is this, you won’t beat me this Sunday.
This isn’t a moment years in the making, the ultimate reward for a man who has given everything to this business, it isn’t the culmination of a journey that has thus far failed to bear any fruit and contrary to popular belief it isn’t an inevitability that will consign me to an endless malaise as I am severed from the only object of meaning in my life.
It is just another day in the life of the champion.
Mike Laszlo lined himself up for glory three times in a row and each time he got nothing but failure. Last month, you were no different, you defiantly told the world that you would end the reign of the tyrant and restore the NCW World Championship to the shoulder of a man worthy of being call a champion. Yet, regardless of how you may like to rewrite history and portray me as a cheat the fact of the matter is you were simply outfoxed as you wallowed in your own swiftly forgotten avarice.
All of these playful little quips you’ve been dispensing for the past month are nothing more than marketable little soundbites that will be played in whatever hype package they produce to prepare everyone for our forthcoming showdown. Every single proclamation you have made is hollow, just a bunch of spin designed to deceive the ignorant morons who still live in denial about just how great I am.
You want to take the crown?
You’re going to have to take my head along with it because there isn’t a chance in hell I am relinquishing my grip on this belt. Not to you, not to anybody else. I haven’t come this far along the road to fall at the final hurdle and gift you the golden ticket to final party whilst I sit it out on the sidelines.
Ignore the fact that this will be the last time New Championship Wrestling broadcasts to the world, there isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t dream all year long of headlining A Night to Remember. I have dreamt of cementing my own place in history on the grandest stage of all since the day I entered this company and for two years I’ve had to watch other men claim the spotlight.
Not this year.
I have cleaved my way through every single challenge tossed in my way to earn my place opposite the 2013 Gladiator and I have done it by becoming the greatest World Champion of all time and I damn sure haven’t done all of that to lay down for you one month before being afforded that opportunity.
I know that you have the same dreams, Washington, but unlike mine yours are no more than delusions of grandeur based on a false platform that you have had raised beneath you by those around you and your own paranoid convictions.
I have defied the odds to ensure that I am one step away from the big night, you have merely inserted yourself at the final length in a vain attempt to outpace the thoroughbred. I have proven my pedigree time and time again, you’ve proven nothing but an ability to choke at the final hurdle and history will certainly be repeating itself.
I will not leave Sovereign without my NCW World Championship.
I don’t care if you’re doing this for your fans. I don’t care if you’re doing it for your family. I don’t care if you’re doing it for your fiancée and I sure as hell do not care if you’re simply doing this for yourself.
You’re going to hit the same brick wall you did a month ago and believe me when I say this William you’ve displayed nothing over the past four weeks to indicate that lightening isn’t going to strike twice. You’ve jumped through my hoops and you’ve got your popularist rhetoric down to a tee but you’re not wrestling throw away matches on Collision for the amusement of the plebians anymore.
You’re competing in the big leagues against the best big game player in this company.
There is a reason I still stand before you, your reigning, defending, NCW World Champion. I am the best wrestler in this company, I’ve proven it since the day I won this belt and come this Sunday, I will prove it again. I have earned my spot in the showpiece of the greatest pay per view of the year and there isn’t anything you, or anybody else, can do to stop me confirming my place.
This is my era, Will, you’re nothing more than relic of a bygone age.
When the curtain closes on this great company, it will do so on one simple image.
Roberto Verona, undefeated NCW World Champion.
They said it could never be done and yet I stand here your NCW World Champion for an unprecedented length of time that not only surpasses my forbears but roundly and defiantly proves to the world that I am without a shadow of a doubt the best professional wrestler in the business. I simply have no equals; I have transcended the hallowed names of yesteryear and etched my own name into history as the greatest of all time.
Never before has a man dominated this company in such a fashion and fittingly, no one ever will again.
My reign as the symbol of this federation is historic and a suitable ending to the legacy of a company which will never be forgotten. For all of those men who wish to paint me as the devil, there are plenty of you who are waking up to the real Roberto Verona. When you wash away all of the veneer and the mud that has been slung at me you don’t see a demagogue bent on the destruction of this company, you see a man who has proven to everyone that he is everything he has always claimed to be.
The best.
So many men have claimed to be the superior of their colleagues, but few of them have had the ability to transcend their peers and immortalise themselves in the eyes of the world which sparkle in awe. Fewer still can stand in front of a camera like I do now and stare into the void and declare it with such conviction because I know my proclamations are set unquestionably in stone.
I do not base my boasts on fragile ground, supported purely by ego and a desperate need to consistently validate my existence, I farm them from undeniable facts.
I’ve held every active singles belt in this federation inside a year and a half of earning a contract.
Fact.
I ended the streak of the most dominant performer of 2012.
Fact.
I am the longest reigning NCW World Champion of all time.
Fact.
What so many of you mistake as pure vanity is nothing more than a simple reiteration of the God’s honest truth and the only reason so many of you scowl at me from the shadows with a gaze of envy is because deep down, you wish it was you.
You wish that it was your face on all the promotional flyers, your name etched in the record books for eternity and your waist which the most prestigious prize in this business was proudly wrapped around.
When men like Steve Awesome describe me as a murderer, they do not do so from a stable position with well-rounded source material to back up their claims, they do so from a self-erected pedestal that rests uneasily on shaky ground. I've been painted as the villain since day one, wherever there is fault inside this company, blame has swiftly come my way, I am the monster hiding under your bed because you’re all too immature to outgrow the safety of fairy tales.
New Championship Wrestling has been placed up for sale, not because it is stagnating financially or it's talent is not a “draw”, but because Kelly Fox has decided that the most important legacy in her life is the one she leaves to her children. Yet my name is plastered over frivolous most wanted posters as if I have plunged a knife into the great mistress which has satisfied our every desires leaving her lingering towards and painful death.
Nobody directs their ire at the legion of old faces which have come back to milk the carcass of this federation for one last big pay day, nor do they pour scorn on those who have declared their love for this company yet turned their backs on it the moment they got a better offer elsewhere only to crawl back with a begging bowl when it all went wrong.
No, I remain pilloried for alleged crimes because I’m an easy target. I play the nefarious evildoer on television because I understand how to play this game and put on a show yet it would appear that men who should know better are incapable of separating kayfabe from reality.
I’d like to think it is because it is “still real to them damn it”, but the depressing truth is that it suits their agenda to paint me as some moral vacuum who is devoid of any real qualities and live in the world of fantasy because the reality is much scarier.
I am simply better than they are.
I am everything they want to be, warts and all.
And you, you’re no better than them William. You’re not separate from the pack, a moral beacon amongst a sea of filth. Underneath all of the excuses you’re going to pontificate this week about why you must defeat me the truth is that you want to beat me for the same reason as everybody else.
You want to erase the image of Roberto Verona, the best of all time, because you all reflect poorly in comparison.
You want to fool the whole world, even if it is only for one month, that you're not only my equal but by the virtue of your coveted victory, my superior. More importantly, you want to fool yourself that despite years of failure you are truly one of the greatest competitors to lace up a pair of boots by building your legacy atop of mine.
Well, I am no fool, William.
Jealousy is a great motivator, but envy has a tendency for self-destruction and believe me when I say this, come Sunday, at Sovereign, we will not hear the cries of “The King is Dead” but four simple words that have reverberated inside the minds of each and every one of you, tormenting your pride and fuelling your futile fantasies.
Long live the King.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sheet of paper Kelly Fox granted Roberto Verona lays on a bedside table, the bedside lamp radiating down upon it as the figure of Roberto and Hannah lay motionless in an embrace a few feet away. Hannah is wearing a black cocktail dress and her handbag is tossed across the other wise of the room whilst Roberto wears a familiar designer suit, the top button of his shirt undone and the tie loosened as he pair of leather shoes lay scattered across the floor, removed in haste. A few moments pass until Hannah turns and speaks.
You know what this means, don’t you?
No, what?
We can finally be together. Truly together.
Roberto smiles.
We’ve always been together, Hannah, even when we’re apart.
Perhaps, but now there won’t ever be a reason to be apart again.
You think you can put up with me twenty four hours a day?
I didn’t say being together would be easy.
Hannah giggles as she lays her head on Roberto’s chest.
You realise that there is still unfinished business, don’t you?
Of course, but Kelly gave us the key.
I am not talking about Kelly’s gift, Hannah.
Then what do you mean?
I mean that I am not finished yet.
Hannah lets out a sigh of resignation.
But you’ve got nothing left to prove, Roberto. You’ve broken the records you set out to surpass, you’ve climbed to the top of the mountain and carved your name into history.
That isn’t enough.
Then what is?
I need to bow out on the grandest stage of all. I’ve worked my whole life to main event A Night to Remember, to make history and be remembered for eternity…
But you already will be…
No, I will be forever remembered as the champion who passed the torch if I lose this Sunday. May 19th is the last time New Championship Wrestling will broadcast to the world and that will be the ever lasting image in the minds of fans across the globe. I’ve done everything possible to surpass my forebears except one thing. Main event the biggest pay per view on the calendar. And now, now I have the opportunity to go one step further….to be the only undefeated NCW World Champion in history and the winner of the last ever match in NCW.
And that is what you want?
Roberto kisses Hannah on the forehead, nodding.
Yes. I am at the peak of my professional career and I need to capitalise whilst the iron is hot and go out on a high and pave the way for the next generation. I started this journey and now I need to reach my destination.
Then you need to chase your dream. Soon enough you’ll have the power you dreamed of to empower those who you’ve fought so hard for but if this is your final selfish wish, I think you’ve earned it.
Verona smiles and squeezes Hannah a light closer.
It isn’t every day that you get an opportunity to cement your place the greatest of all time.
Well, you’ll always be the greatest of all time to me.
Geeze, when did you become so soppy?
When I started spending fourteen hours a day staring at nothing but paper work and the only time I got the see your face was when I stared at a picture frame.
I thought you’d enjoyed contracts and legislature?
Even my patience has worn thin over some of the petty and frivolous suits we’ve had brought against us. Wrestling is like a whole other world, last week somebody filed an injunction against us because Zelda Knite’s mini skirt was “immoral”. I blame you for dragging me into this.
I don’t remember hearing you kicking and screaming when I did.
Hannah rolls over and looks up at Roberto, a seductive yet playful twinkle in her eye as she grins, running a solitary finger up his chest.
Maybe I just like it when you take control.
Roberto laughs.
There’s the girl I fell in love with.
Just remember she’ll be waiting here for you when you’re done playing King.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sheet of paper Kelly Fox granted Roberto Verona lays on a bedside table, the bedside lamp radiating down upon it as the figure of Roberto and Hannah lay motionless in an embrace a few feet away. Hannah is wearing a black cocktail dress and her handbag is tossed across the other wise of the room whilst Roberto wears a familiar designer suit, the top button of his shirt undone and the tie loosened as he pair of leather shoes lay scattered across the floor, removed in haste. A few moments pass until Hannah turns and speaks.
You know what this means, don’t you?
No, what?
We can finally be together. Truly together.
Roberto smiles.
We’ve always been together, Hannah, even when we’re apart.
Perhaps, but now there won’t ever be a reason to be apart again.
You think you can put up with me twenty four hours a day?
I didn’t say being together would be easy.
Hannah giggles as she lays her head on Roberto’s chest.
You realise that there is still unfinished business, don’t you?
Of course, but Kelly gave us the key.
I am not talking about Kelly’s gift, Hannah.
Then what do you mean?
I mean that I am not finished yet.
Hannah lets out a sigh of resignation.
But you’ve got nothing left to prove, Roberto. You’ve broken the records you set out to surpass, you’ve climbed to the top of the mountain and carved your name into history.
That isn’t enough.
Then what is?
I need to bow out on the grandest stage of all. I’ve worked my whole life to main event A Night to Remember, to make history and be remembered for eternity…
But you already will be…
No, I will be forever remembered as the champion who passed the torch if I lose this Sunday. May 19th is the last time New Championship Wrestling will broadcast to the world and that will be the ever lasting image in the minds of fans across the globe. I’ve done everything possible to surpass my forebears except one thing. Main event the biggest pay per view on the calendar. And now, now I have the opportunity to go one step further….to be the only undefeated NCW World Champion in history and the winner of the last ever match in NCW.
And that is what you want?
Roberto kisses Hannah on the forehead, nodding.
Yes. I am at the peak of my professional career and I need to capitalise whilst the iron is hot and go out on a high and pave the way for the next generation. I started this journey and now I need to reach my destination.
Then you need to chase your dream. Soon enough you’ll have the power you dreamed of to empower those who you’ve fought so hard for but if this is your final selfish wish, I think you’ve earned it.
Verona smiles and squeezes Hannah a light closer.
It isn’t every day that you get an opportunity to cement your place the greatest of all time.
Well, you’ll always be the greatest of all time to me.
Geeze, when did you become so soppy?
When I started spending fourteen hours a day staring at nothing but paper work and the only time I got the see your face was when I stared at a picture frame.
I thought you’d enjoyed contracts and legislature?
Even my patience has worn thin over some of the petty and frivolous suits we’ve had brought against us. Wrestling is like a whole other world, last week somebody filed an injunction against us because Zelda Knite’s mini skirt was “immoral”. I blame you for dragging me into this.
I don’t remember hearing you kicking and screaming when I did.
Hannah rolls over and looks up at Roberto, a seductive yet playful twinkle in her eye as she grins, running a solitary finger up his chest.
Maybe I just like it when you take control.
Roberto laughs.
There’s the girl I fell in love with.
Just remember she’ll be waiting here for you when you’re done playing King.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’ve been watching you Will.
I am not stupid enough to convince myself that I learned everything about you last month, although we both know I learned enough. Yet, as this month has gone on and I’ve seen how you react in the face of adversity I’ve learned one very important thing about you.
You’re insecure.
Underneath all that bravado you’re nothing more than a man who is full of doubt who has tried in vain to convince himself that he is the behemoth required to put an end to my reign.
You consistently seek the affirmations of your devoted fiancée who has to repeatedly reinforce your purported superiority to me not only a physical basis, but also an emotional one too. Your repeated need for reassurance doesn’t reveal a man who only needs one opportunity to take the crown, it smacks of a desperate man whose only source of self-belief comes from the honey coated platitudes of a person who has little to gain from telling you the truth.
And the truth is this, you won’t beat me this Sunday.
This isn’t a moment years in the making, the ultimate reward for a man who has given everything to this business, it isn’t the culmination of a journey that has thus far failed to bear any fruit and contrary to popular belief it isn’t an inevitability that will consign me to an endless malaise as I am severed from the only object of meaning in my life.
It is just another day in the life of the champion.
Mike Laszlo lined himself up for glory three times in a row and each time he got nothing but failure. Last month, you were no different, you defiantly told the world that you would end the reign of the tyrant and restore the NCW World Championship to the shoulder of a man worthy of being call a champion. Yet, regardless of how you may like to rewrite history and portray me as a cheat the fact of the matter is you were simply outfoxed as you wallowed in your own swiftly forgotten avarice.
All of these playful little quips you’ve been dispensing for the past month are nothing more than marketable little soundbites that will be played in whatever hype package they produce to prepare everyone for our forthcoming showdown. Every single proclamation you have made is hollow, just a bunch of spin designed to deceive the ignorant morons who still live in denial about just how great I am.
You want to take the crown?
You’re going to have to take my head along with it because there isn’t a chance in hell I am relinquishing my grip on this belt. Not to you, not to anybody else. I haven’t come this far along the road to fall at the final hurdle and gift you the golden ticket to final party whilst I sit it out on the sidelines.
Ignore the fact that this will be the last time New Championship Wrestling broadcasts to the world, there isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t dream all year long of headlining A Night to Remember. I have dreamt of cementing my own place in history on the grandest stage of all since the day I entered this company and for two years I’ve had to watch other men claim the spotlight.
Not this year.
I have cleaved my way through every single challenge tossed in my way to earn my place opposite the 2013 Gladiator and I have done it by becoming the greatest World Champion of all time and I damn sure haven’t done all of that to lay down for you one month before being afforded that opportunity.
I know that you have the same dreams, Washington, but unlike mine yours are no more than delusions of grandeur based on a false platform that you have had raised beneath you by those around you and your own paranoid convictions.
I have defied the odds to ensure that I am one step away from the big night, you have merely inserted yourself at the final length in a vain attempt to outpace the thoroughbred. I have proven my pedigree time and time again, you’ve proven nothing but an ability to choke at the final hurdle and history will certainly be repeating itself.
I will not leave Sovereign without my NCW World Championship.
I don’t care if you’re doing this for your fans. I don’t care if you’re doing it for your family. I don’t care if you’re doing it for your fiancée and I sure as hell do not care if you’re simply doing this for yourself.
You’re going to hit the same brick wall you did a month ago and believe me when I say this William you’ve displayed nothing over the past four weeks to indicate that lightening isn’t going to strike twice. You’ve jumped through my hoops and you’ve got your popularist rhetoric down to a tee but you’re not wrestling throw away matches on Collision for the amusement of the plebians anymore.
You’re competing in the big leagues against the best big game player in this company.
There is a reason I still stand before you, your reigning, defending, NCW World Champion. I am the best wrestler in this company, I’ve proven it since the day I won this belt and come this Sunday, I will prove it again. I have earned my spot in the showpiece of the greatest pay per view of the year and there isn’t anything you, or anybody else, can do to stop me confirming my place.
This is my era, Will, you’re nothing more than relic of a bygone age.
When the curtain closes on this great company, it will do so on one simple image.
Roberto Verona, undefeated NCW World Champion.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roberto clutches a vast multitude of paper work as his eyes dart across each piece one by one, the sound of rain pattering against the window as the sun, or what remains, sets gently in the distance. A few moments pass when suddenly the door to his office opens and Jake Conway steps into the breach, his upper torso adorne with a leather jacket dripping wet from the downpour outside. Verona beckons for him to close the door as he steps towards him.
Here for your next instalment? Is it really that time again already?
I am not here for money.
Well, Jacob, I must say you never cease to amaze me.
Although if you’re offering…
Nice try, I’ve bought your wife more than enough lingerie considering I never get to enjoy it.
I’ve enjoyed it….
Roberto rolls his eyes.
What do you want Jake?
Can’t a friend just pop by for a chat?
Verona raises an inquisitive eyebrow.
Friend?
Ok, business associate, whichever you prefer. I just want to see how you were doing, all things considered.
Are you here to play riddles?
No. I just mean, what with Kelly closing NCW’s doors, I figured you may haave been feeling pretty down after all your hard work.
Oh, is that it?
Hey, I rarely show any genuine concern for my co-workers, you ought to feel privileged.
New Championship Wrestling isn’t closing.
What do you mean?
I mean New Championship Wrestling isn’t closing…, well, technically.
Now whose dispensing riddles?
OK, it is quite simple. A Night to Remember may be the final show under the New Championship Wrestling brand, but life finds a way…
Jake looks at Roberto incredulously.
I hadn’t heard anything about this.
Verona smiles, looking up at Jake.
Of course you haven’t, nobody has.
Then do you mind filling me in?
Actually, yes, I do mind.
Excuse me.
Roberto lets out a sigh.
Listen, Conway. There are some things I am not at liberty to discuss with you, as much as I may desire to. Things are in motion that cannot be undone, but there are certain…matters, to attend to.
And you don’t trust me?
I trust you Jake, but this isn’t your fight.
Then what is?
For now? Stephen Kingsley. Look, all you need to know is that your future is secure and your wife won’t go hungry, I always assumed that as long as that was the case you never needed to know the details.
What can I say, I am a simple man.
Just keep doing what you do and leave the finer details to me. That is, after all, what I pay you to do.
If you insist.
Is that all?
Jake shrugs.
I suppose.
Jake shakes his head and mutters something under his breath before turning and exiting Roberto’s office. Verona signs, rubbing his eyes with frustration as he reaches across for his phone.
I’m sorry…friend. This needs to remain amongst those concerned…
Roberto begins to punch a few numbers into the unit before raising the phone next to his head, pausing momentarily before a connection with the other end of the line is made. Then, restoring his previous composure he leans back and speaks.
Isabella. Bernard. We have business to take care of, I’m sorry it took so long.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roberto clutches a vast multitude of paper work as his eyes dart across each piece one by one, the sound of rain pattering against the window as the sun, or what remains, sets gently in the distance. A few moments pass when suddenly the door to his office opens and Jake Conway steps into the breach, his upper torso adorne with a leather jacket dripping wet from the downpour outside. Verona beckons for him to close the door as he steps towards him.
Here for your next instalment? Is it really that time again already?
I am not here for money.
Well, Jacob, I must say you never cease to amaze me.
Although if you’re offering…
Nice try, I’ve bought your wife more than enough lingerie considering I never get to enjoy it.
I’ve enjoyed it….
Roberto rolls his eyes.
What do you want Jake?
Can’t a friend just pop by for a chat?
Verona raises an inquisitive eyebrow.
Friend?
Ok, business associate, whichever you prefer. I just want to see how you were doing, all things considered.
Are you here to play riddles?
No. I just mean, what with Kelly closing NCW’s doors, I figured you may haave been feeling pretty down after all your hard work.
Oh, is that it?
Hey, I rarely show any genuine concern for my co-workers, you ought to feel privileged.
New Championship Wrestling isn’t closing.
What do you mean?
I mean New Championship Wrestling isn’t closing…, well, technically.
Now whose dispensing riddles?
OK, it is quite simple. A Night to Remember may be the final show under the New Championship Wrestling brand, but life finds a way…
Jake looks at Roberto incredulously.
I hadn’t heard anything about this.
Verona smiles, looking up at Jake.
Of course you haven’t, nobody has.
Then do you mind filling me in?
Actually, yes, I do mind.
Excuse me.
Roberto lets out a sigh.
Listen, Conway. There are some things I am not at liberty to discuss with you, as much as I may desire to. Things are in motion that cannot be undone, but there are certain…matters, to attend to.
And you don’t trust me?
I trust you Jake, but this isn’t your fight.
Then what is?
For now? Stephen Kingsley. Look, all you need to know is that your future is secure and your wife won’t go hungry, I always assumed that as long as that was the case you never needed to know the details.
What can I say, I am a simple man.
Just keep doing what you do and leave the finer details to me. That is, after all, what I pay you to do.
If you insist.
Is that all?
Jake shrugs.
I suppose.
Jake shakes his head and mutters something under his breath before turning and exiting Roberto’s office. Verona signs, rubbing his eyes with frustration as he reaches across for his phone.
I’m sorry…friend. This needs to remain amongst those concerned…
Roberto begins to punch a few numbers into the unit before raising the phone next to his head, pausing momentarily before a connection with the other end of the line is made. Then, restoring his previous composure he leans back and speaks.
Isabella. Bernard. We have business to take care of, I’m sorry it took so long.
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