CHAPTER TWO
1235 Words
Eyes in the room.
Cold shivers ran down Florence's spine, and her expression immediately darkened. She was utterly confused.
She and Lance were the only people who knew about the serum they had been working on. She reread the scribbled words over and over to be certain she wasn't seeing wrong.
Amelia noticing the change on Florence’s face, wanted to ask her if everything was okay,
“Can I go ma?” were the words that came out of her mouth when she opened her mouth to talk.
“Yes, please,” Florence said with a faint smile, trying so hard to hide the fear in her face. “One more thing,” Florence gestured to Amelia, who had just picked up her heels and turned to face the door.
“Yes, ma,” Amelia answered as she made a turn to face Florence.
“I'm sorry about earlier, I haven't had enough rest lately, so my emotions are all over the place,” Florence apologized to Amelia with a smile, hoping to get Amelia to understand her.
“It's fine, ma, I would have gotten angry if I didn't know better,” Amelia said as she smiled brightly at Florence.
“I know you will ace your pitch” Amelia added before she turned to face the door and exited the office.
Florence watched her through the glass door for some seconds before she came back to the fact that she had a bigger problem on her hands.
She stared at the note, thoughts racing,
“Who could have sent this?”
“Is this a threat or blackmail?”
“Did Lance tell anybody about the serum?”
“Is there a CCTV camera that I am not aware of in this company?”
The thoughts were endless, they kept flooding her mind as she stood up from her seat and paced around the office with the note in one of her hands.
She was jerked back from her thought by the beep from the office phone that was kept on one corner of her organized table.
She quickly walked back to her table, picked up the phone, and answered the call.
It was her aunt, Genevieve, who was on the other side of the phone.
“Florence” Genevieve said sharply with a tinge of authority in her voice.
“Yes, Aunty,” Florence answered very calmly. She knew every mistake she made could be used against her by Genevieve.
She was used to the way Genevieve treated her like she wasn't a part of the family, but she thought that becoming the CEO of the Everest Dynamics would give her some leverage, no matter how small.
“The Zenith officials will be at the company any moment from now, do your best not to ruin this like you did your life,” Genevieve said to Florence without caring about her feelings.
Florence stayed quiet, clutching the phone glued to her ears, and tightened her grip on the phone.
“If you as much as make a mistake with your pitch, you are out of the company, don't even dream of becoming the CEO,” Genevieve said and ended the call before she could even get a reply from Florence. Perhaps she wasn't expecting a reply.
Florence dropped the phone back on the table after she realized that the call had been disconnected.
She closed her eyes firmly as she whispered to herself.
“This will be over soon, she will respect me — she has to”
Her Me-time was disrupted by Amelia, who had just knocked on the door.
“Miss Florence” she called as she slipped into the office .
“Yes?” Florence answered .
“The officials from Zenith company are here” Amelia informed Florence.
Florence raised her eyebrows in shock, she knew this was the moment she had waited for and endured all the insults from her aunt for.
“That's great, take them to the conference room, I will be with them in a minute,” Florence, who had just found her voice, instructed Amelia.
“Cora already did that ma,” Amelia told her.
“That's good,” Florence said. “Pick up the documents, get my laptop, and join me in the conference room immediately,” she added as she turned to her table.
“Yes, ma,” Amelia replied as she packed the documents and exited the office
Florence immediately brought out a little mirror from her handbag, and she adjusted her hair, which was already perfectly done. She applied nude lipstick on her curved lips that complemented her blonde hair, giving her a natural, beautiful look.
She looked at herself more intensely through the mirror before she nodded as if to tell herself she had done a very good job.
Florence quickly dropped the mirror inside her bag and made her way towards the door.
Immediately, she got to the hallway, and she noticed a face she wasn't familiar with, and she couldn't take her eyes off him as she tried to find a hint that would give his identity away.
The more she looked at him, the more she noticed how beautifully the man was carved. He was about 6’2 feet tall, and his black hair fell in curls on his forehead. Something was unsettling about how perfect he looked — like trouble dressed in a tailored suit.
He had a black pair of well-ironed trousers clinging firmly to his muscular thighs, and a blue shirt that flaunted his broad chest and six-pack. Over the shirt was a black suit. Florence also noticed his shiny black leather shoes.
Walking behind him was a man who was carrying his briefcase. The man also looked well-put together. He was wearing a cream coloured suit and a pair of shiny black leather shoes. Both men kept their gaze up and walked towards the conference room.
Florence immediately knew that the man wasn't an employee of Everest Dynamics; she assumed they were among the Zenith officials.
She got to the front of the conference room before the men, so she stood there smiling brightly at them in a bid to show hospitality.
As the men got to the front of the conference room, they didn't even pay any attention to Florence, who was still standing there and smiling. They acted like she wasn't even there and entered the conference room.
Florence felt bad, but she wasn't going to allow one action from these prideful men to ruin her composure for her pitch.
She immediately stepped into the room. She could count a total of eight men; they were supposed to be six. She had printed six copies of the documents.
“Today is going south already,” she muttered to herself. Then she raised her head and spoke confidently to the men.
“I'm so sorry for keeping you all waiting” before she turned to Amelia and said “Amelia, please distribute the documents so we can start.”
One of the officials who looked like the boss spoke up and said
“There will be no need for that” he stopped and saw how puzzled Florence's expression had become.
Florence noticed that no one was smiling. A few avoided eye contact. Her stomach tightened.
Then he continued,
“Florence, we have decided to sell the project… effective immediately”
- Writer
