A SELF DISCOVERY NOVEL
Lost & Found
Chapter 4: Chaos in Cannes
“It’s a pretty big shock to realize that the only people you can identify with are psychopathic killers.”
― Dan Wells, Mr. Monster
The news of Jordan’s car accident spread like wildfire in Cannes.
The Cannes Lions is the world’s premier advertising and Media Awards Festival. It attracts the best agencies and clients globally to vie for the highest honors for their campaigns and brands.
Jordan planned to arrive in time for the opening Gala and host a few media parties the same night. The next day, he had a slot booked to be interviewed on the grand stage with a celebrity designer and discuss their latest collaboration on a global campaign. And then there was the Grand Prix for Marketing Effectiveness award ceremony for his agency’s stellar work on one of his multinational beverage clients.
In between all this, he had numerous client dinners, pitch meetings with potential clients, lunches, and drinks with colleagues and friends from the industry, in a diary that was already too full to fit everything into that one crazy week in June.
But Jordan would be a self-proclaimed persona non grata for all this.
Marco Bertelli woke up in his ocean view penthouse suite in Cannes to the text from his secretary telling him that Jordan had suffered a horrific car crash and that while Jordan had survived, his girlfriend had sadly passed away.
Marco smiled as he belted out a satisfying yawn and gave his athletic body a big generous stretch. He looked across his bed at his latest model girlfriend lying naked in bed. Marco had met Michelle at a party last night and invited her back to the room for some tête-à-tête and breakfast.
Jordan was Marco’s best friend. But Marco secretly hated Jordan.
Jordan and he were thick as thieves. Marco and Jordan had gone to the same Business School in college. They joined the industry simultaneously, joined the same international agency network, and slowly moved up the ranks in their respective countries. Jordan was the London playboy, and Marco, the Italian Casanova. They loved to hunt together for business and babes while attending big conferences and lavish parties. They were drinking and snorting buddies as well and often found themselves in each other’s apartments drunk and doped out of their heads on weekends.
But Jordan had slowly but steadily grown in reputation given his London connections and international client base. Jordan had made friends with some influential advertising icons in New York and Miami and became well known in the US advertising scene. Lately, Jordan had been winning many new clients for the agency. The word on the street was that the agency chairman Sir Nick Kendall was seemingly grooming Jordan to become the global CEO.
Marco had been highly successful in his own right. He had won a multitude of awards and large client businesses throughout his career and, in the process becoming one of the country’s most respected advertising experts. But Marco had chosen to stay in Italy for the bulk of his career in the same agency.
So a few months ago, it came as no surprise to Jordan when he heard that Marco had become the CEO of the Italian arm of the same network. Jordan had canceled a weekend trip to Marseilles to meet Stephanie's parents and instead flown to Milan to host a surprise party for Marco and be there to celebrate his promotion. Marco always called Jordan his brother and loved him like a family member.
But secretly, Marco envied Jordan’s international reputation and fame. He envied that Jordan had become the favorite of the agency board. That Jordan was being seen as the network's voice when discussing topics related to creativity and strategy.
Marco got out of bed, walked out onto the apartment's balcony, and shut the door behind him. He took out his phone and dialed a number. The phone rang a few times, and then a male voice answered on the other line.
“Hello, is that Patrick? I have some terrible news about Jordan.” Marco sounded deeply sad and anxious as he started to speak.
Patrick was the President of the Cannes Lions festival board.
Marco explained with shock and deep sadness about Jordan’s horrific car accident and the death of his girlfriend. Patrick was shocked to hear that. Jordan and Patrick were good friends, and Patrick thanked Marco for calling him personally to tell him the sad news about Jordan and Stephanie. At one moment of the conversation, Marco felt too moved to speak and had to wait for Patrick to console him and condole the death of Stephanie, who Patrick also knew from social interactions with Jordan.
Patrick then asked if Marco would like to step in for Jordan for the main stage event later that day as Marco also knew about the campaign and had worked with the celebrity designer. Marco sniffed as he reluctantly accepted the offer given the extraordinary circumstances. Then they said goodbye and agreed to meet a few hours later at the rehearsals.
He then texted his girlfriend to tell her about Jordan and asked if she could go to London to be with him, and he would follow after covering for Jordan on stage.
Marco was smiling as he looked up from the phone and wiped a tear off his eyes that was blocking his pristine view of the perfect Cannes morning and a bay laced with million-pound yachts.
Marco disconnected the phone, opened the door, and saw that Michelle was beginning to wake up. He drew the curtains and took off his clothes and got back into bed, and began nuzzling her and rubbing her flat stomach with his big warm hands as she started to purr with affection. As he slipped his hands between her legs, he could feel that she wanted more than just a tummy rub.