Heart's Dilemma

Gossip

Chapter 3

Miss G. Grace, the Chief Operating Officer was a powerful lady in the company. She was the CEO’ s ex-girl friend. She knew about the secret the CEO was protecting which of course could cost him losing his position as the CEO of the company if exposed to the public. She always took advantage of the secret to do whatever she liked in the company. The CEO dared not challenge her for any misconduct. She was a thorn in his flesh. Each time there was a rift between her and Anna Francis, he always stood aloof.

The CEO had one time been involved in a controversy with Miss Grace about her pregnancy of which he had secretly suggested to her that the pregnancy be aborted but she refused. The pregnancy later led to the birth of a child named David. This child, she kept with her mother in another town.

Pa Peters was the CEO's father.He was the founder of Tosineur Enterprise. He had five male children of which Mr Peters, the CEO, was the eldest. He was an old man. Out of these children only Mr Peters had not married. The rest had established their own families.

It was the rule of the family that the condition for attaining the position of the CEO was that they must not have a child outside wedlock or have a child before marriage.

Mr Peters feared losing his position as the CEO. Therefore, he would always remain powerless in front of Miss Grace.

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It was on the annual gala event day of Tosineur Enterprise when things did not go down well again with the antagonists of Miss Anna Francis especially Miss Grace, the Chief Operating Officer of the company.

The CEO was about to round up a board meeting before the gala event took place when suddenly he called in Anna Francis to the boardroom to deliver a revised contract that could earn the company a multimillionaire naira deal.

“She is not to be here!” Grace retorted angrily. Instantly, Anna hesitated but the gaze of the CEO locking into her eyes suggested the opposite. “Miss Anna Francis, you need to walk us through this revised contract,” the CEO spoke.

She nodded and began to present the analysis of the revised contract in front of the most powerful people in the company. Mr Peters watched her closely and was thrilled as she calmly presented the analysis under pressure. Members of the board were satisfied with the presentation except for some who were still nursing grudges against her.

After the presentation, the meeting was brought to a close and the board members were dismissed. Being thrilled, Mr Peters walked up to her.

“Miss Anna, you are too good! You can work calmly even under pressure and fire. I like that. Please, let us have some talk some other time,” the CEO commented and left for the gala event.

At the gala, Anna tried as much not to attract attention. She dressed simply with no make-up applied on her face. She had inconspicuously sat in one corner of the boardroom where the gala was taking place.

The gala was indeed to celebrate the achievements and growth of the company for these past years since establishment. Before the gala began, the news fuelled by non other than Grace about the CEO's unusual attention towards Anna had spread like wild fire among the workers.

This caused the hatred towards Anna among the workers to surge up.

Grace, despite the breakup between her and the CEO some years ago, was ready by all means to be in control of everything around the CEO and Anna. All she wanted was a complete disengagement between them. She was not ready to relinquish control or power in the name of anything. She was totally ready to take down anyone close to the CEO.

As the CEO entered, his eyes were already combing the boardroom to locate Anna. She did not know that she had been spotted by the CEO from far distance.

“Anna, can I steal you for a moment?” The CEO appeared and spoke to her. She was caught off guard. She felt reluctant but later agreed. She was led by him to the dance floor

As they danced, Anna couldn’t help but feel a growing connection with the CEO. But the moment was interrupted when her phone vibrated with a notification. She glanced at it hurriedly:

Anonymous Message: “Ask Mr Peters about ‘Project Caring Heart’ what he knew about it.

Anna’s heart skipped a bit. She had come across 'Project Caring Heart’ in a legal file which had a connection with the CEO.

Mr Peters noticed her dull mood and leaned close to her. “What is wrong?”

“No,” Anna lied, her heart beating faster.

Meanwhile, Grace had intercepted the same legal file some months earlier and knew it contained some proof to implicate the CEO in a questionable deal.

Grace, still in the hunger of envy to bring down Anna, secretly colluded with a young employee whose name was Victor, a finance manager. She commanded, “investigate Anna Francis. I want to know if she is innocent in all contract deals since she assumed office. You just have to dig deeper and find out something about her in connection with all the contract deals”

Victor nodded, eager to take down anyone close to Mr Peters.

Also, in the night when Anna was going to her office to pick her bag, she overheard a conversation between two senior executives.

“Do you think she knows?” one whispered.

“I do not think so,” the other replied. “If she did, she wouldn’t have danced with him. Not after what happened in Lagos, Nigeria.”

Lagos? Anna tried to make a mental note to investigate further.

As Anna was trying to search for her face mirror in her bag, she found a paper tucked into her bag. Inside it was a note:

“Confide in no one but yourself” Sophia could not believe that someone within the company was trying to help her and that they knew more about the CEO and Grace.

By the end of the night, the tension between the CEO, Anna, and Grace had turned the boardroom into a battlefield. Anna wasn’t sure who to trust, but one thing was clear: her connection with the CEO wasn’t just a spar. Iit was the start of a firestorm.