CARRIED FROM THE PAST

CHAPTER 1 – WE MEET AGAIN

=AGATHA=

“Miss, are you sure this is a good idea?” Evan, my right hand man, asked as my secretary exited the room after a report.

“Hundreds of employees are involved Evan. To compensate, I should give them to the best so it has to be him.”

“But Miss, he’s your-“

“Whoever he is, it’s all in the past. The next time we meet, we will only discuss business. He is a professional man.” I assured Evan.

“If you say so Miss.” I only smiled in response. If I haven’t known Evan all my life, I would not see the reluctance and disapproval in his eyes.

                My mother gave me a company called Trident just 2 years ago. The company was a no-name that she dumped on me in the name of being her daughter. Call it pride but I want to go against her expectations so despite having no interest in business at all, I made the business grow with and without my connections. I haven’t spoken to my mother for almost a year but I’m confident that she is not that happy about it.

                I was born to parents that never expected, planned or wanted me. They had me when they were just in high school. However, unlike anything that goes on most dramas, my mother was the heartless one. She was an heiress to a big jewellery company and having a child at such a young age did not go well for her and her family. Although, their conscience still let me be born into this world, what happened afterwards was never against their conscience. From what I found out, I was sent to another country to be abandoned on an orphanage in a town that is barely a dot in any map. My father took me away from the orphanage not long after I was dumped there. Contrary, to my mother and everyone else’s knowledge, my father was not a normal high school student. Let’s just say, his family runs a business that does not belong to the outside world. I did not know how my mother found me but she just appeared out of nowhere years ago on my workplace and did nothing but assure that I will not be revealed as her daughter to the public. That was understandable since she was already married at that time and has a son, they were the perfect family in the eyes of the public.

“Ma’am, I have Mr. Reginald on the phone. He wants to talk to you.” My secretary said through the intercom when I had my head buried in a document. My head, of course, popped up when I heard my secretary.

“Okay, you can transfer the call.” I said and picked up the phone.

“Agatha Garnet?” A deep voice that I could recognize even in my sleep sounded on the other side of the phone. My heart did its beats and I found it amusing.

“Mr. Reginald.” I greeted in response. He was silent for a while before I heard his chuckle.

“It seems my secretary was not joking. You called? For a merger at that?”

“Yes. I want to merge my company with yours. No strings attached.”

“What makes you think that I’d allow that?”

“My company is the best in the resorts and theme park business. We may not have reached the whole world but we have deep roots in Asia. I believe that Trident could become your stepping stone to enter Asia, at least with your hotels and restaurants.” I explained as best as I could and the silence was there once again.

“Is this a way of attracting my attention?” He said with a voice that I know hold anger in them.

“Yes Mr. Reginald. I let my secretary call your office to attract your attention for the offer that I am making. Please do not be mistaken, this is pure business. I have no ulterior motive.” I smiled. “If I can meet you in person, I will be able to explain everything clearly.”

“To damn hell am I meeting you!” He said and I pulled the phone away from my ear for a moment before returning them.

“Let us be professionals Mr. Reginald. This is a big offer that I am only offering to you and in all honestly, it’s because you are my ex-husband and because you are the best. You are only one I can trust with my company. If you really disagree then I will withdraw and look for someone else.”

                He did not answer and the line went dead. I sighed and put the phone down. Maybe I was too confident that he would handle this professionally and I’d rather die than tell that to Evan. Dylan Reginald is my ex-husband. However, no one knows about our marriage about 5 years ago because we never made it public. Dylan had just started to make his company go worldwide at that time but he was already a millionaire and close to becoming a billionaire at that time while my identity when I met him was a librarian at the city library. Our love story was nothing out of the ordinary. We met at a club, flirted, fell in love then got married but secretly. After marriage, I became a housewife since he was too sweet and protective to allow me to work since he could easily provide for the both of us. The divorce was, however, unexpected for the both of us for different reasons.

“Ma’am, Mr. Reginald is back on the phone.”

“Put him through.” I said with glee and picked up the phone once again.

“Come to my office this afternoon.” He said and the line went dead before I could say anything.

                I looked out towards the view of the city as the elevator rose to the top floor, the view is great but not that breathtakingly beautiful since I could see some ugly parts of the city. The last time that I came here and rode the elevator like this, was when I was his wife coming to deliver his lunch on the guise of being his relative that lives with him. It’s funny how things turned out and what is happening now.

“Miss Garnet.” A beautiful woman greeted when the elevator door opened. “I am Edith, Mr. Reginald’s secretary. He is waiting for you in his office.”

“Thank you.” I said and followed her towards the double doors that are supposed to be intimidating if it’s the first time I saw it. She opened the door for me before closing it when I entered. “Hello Dylan.”

“Cut the crap and take a sit.” My ever so handsome ex-husband said and I smiled before sitting on the leather coach.

                Dylan Reginald is the type of man that could stop you on your tracks especially women. His black hair was already tousled but it still made him ridiculously handsome, he has a habit of absent-mindedly holding his hair when he’s tired. Other than that, he still has that mesmerizing deep grey eyes that used to always mesmerize and seduce me. He has prominent cheekbones and well-defined chin and nose. Also, I know by experience that he has a toned body that he maintains with his morning exercise although it was not really an attempt to keep his body toned but more of keeping himself healthy since he sits all the time. Basically, his whole body, from head to toe, is his defining feature. This man is a living fantasy of women and I still wonder how he became my husband. If he did not become a businessman then he will definitely be a model or an actor.

“If you just came to stare at me then leave.” His harsh voice came out and I looked away with a silent sigh.

“As I said on the phone, I want a merger. The process might be long and slightly difficult but I think we can make it happen.” I began but his expression did not change even when he came to sit in front of me.

“This is not what I wanted to hear.” I looked at him and sighed.

“I want to withdraw from the business world. I had no intention of running a company since the beginning but circumstances made me do so. However, I cannot leave just like that, I want Trident to be left to someone capable.”

“That ‘someone capable’ is me? You actually have the nerve to think of me.” He said and he did not bother hiding the coldness in his voice. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because this is business.” I answered directly.

“There are times that business and personal lives cannot be separated. You cheated on me with another man, what if you cheat on this so-called business as well?” He said and I could not help silently sighing again.

“Mr. Reginald, for your information, I personally lost my trust on you that night as well. You were not the man I thought you were.” I said and he raised his eyebrow at me. “However, I have deep respect for your role as a businessman and a CEO of a multi-billion company. If I still cannot change your mind then I will leave and look for somebody else.”

‘”Look for somebody else”? That phrase sounds ironic doesn’t it?” He said but I did not say anything as I saw his stiff expression settle down. “Alright, I have neither appetite nor energy to talk to you right now so we will discuss the details next time.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear. Good day Mr. Reginald.”