Chapter five
1218 Words
Eliana’s POV
The Pregnancy
“Miss Eliana, the board has called for a meeting.”
I grit my teeth in annoyance. I just lost my mother and yet, there is not one ounce of sympathy from any of my board members. And as if that’s not bad enough, I can’t get wasted as I wish to. First, it’s Dane. Now the board. What is it that they all want.
“What is it?”
“It’s really urgent ma’am and it has to be attended to immediately.”
My head spins with confusion when I realize Gregory is not the one delivering this message.
“Is everything okay? Gregory, how is he doing?” I spring to my feet at once. My mind already pulling together wild thoughts.
“Everything is not fine ma’am. And you should be more worried about yourself rather Mr Gregory. He seems to be in a much better place.” She sneers.
The progressive turn of events does not give me enough time to wrap my brain around things. But from the look of the situation, this isn’t good.
I ignore her snide remarks and I rush to the boardroom where we usually hold our board meetings.
The air is cold, so cold it could be mistaken that we had indeed lost one of our staff. My eye goes round the table and to my relief, no one is missing.
“The moment someone walks into here, they’d first think of death.” I walk up to the table and I take my seat.
“Well, ma’am, if care is not taken, we may just be preparing to record the death of our company.” One of my board members speak with intense displeasure.
“I’m sorry?” I do not bother hiding the fact that I was irritated by his remarks.
“He’s really not wrong ma’am.”
“Enough of the long run. Cut straight to the chase. What is going on?”
Another wave of awkward silence hits the room.
“I asked a question?” I break the silence, my temper skyrocketing by every second.
“Gregory? Care to explain what this rebellion is all about?” I dig my nails into my flesh underneath the board table.
“Miss Eliana, this meeting was not called as a form of rebellion.”
“It was called for what purpose exactly? Cause it seems to me like some people no longer have their hopes staked on the company and I do not mind letting them off.”
“Thorn Estates reached out to us.”
“We are not striking any sort of deal with that son of a! Is there any other prominent thing you all would like us to discuss?”
“Miss Eliana, on a normal day, we would not be considering the deal Thorn Estate offered to us.”
“And yet here you are,considering it few hours after my mother’s death. How deserving?” I scoff.
“However, the lifeline of the company depends on this contract.” He swallows.
Gregory would never play with an information like this. Neither would he present this to me without proper findings.
“What do you mean?”
“Miss Eliana.” He points to the projector behind me.
My eyes widen in shock when I catch sight of the image.
“What! What is? What is this?! Who?!” My chest heaves up and down and I go weak in the knees.
On the screen is a picture of Dane and I under the bedcover and it’s clear we both do not have clothings on.
“Dane Thorn! What an i***t!”
I struggle to regain my composure.
“What has this! Thing got to do with a deal? Is Dane Thorn trying to blackmail me now?” I gnash my teeth.
“On the contrary, Dane has nothing to do with this quite surprisingly. We traced the records the moment we got their contract offer hours after the pictures and vidoes were released.”
“Pictures and videos?” I feel a knot in my stomach.
“The videos have been cleared by the media team of Thorn.”
“They could go to hell for all I cared.”
“Ma’am, we have to accept the contract.” Gregory urges me. I can see the effect this has on the company. We may most likely hit a brick will if I do not agree to this partnership.
“How long is this contract supposed to last exactly? A month? Two months? Three months?” The thoughts of being Dane’s partner is so irritating, I can feel ants under my skin.
“Way longer. They’re offering a marriage proposal. All gains for us.”
“A marriage what?!”
“The team intends to use the marriage as a publicity stunt for the new release and we in turn, also plan to d the same.”
“Without my approval?” I scrunch my nose up in disgust.
“That is,of course, if you give us the go ahead.”
“Hmm. Send their email to the dump. With a very nasty response. Have Dane Thorn know no matter what happens, I will never be his bride. Not in this life. Not in the next. Goodbye.”
I leave the office, my heart panicking. The team has to come up with a new strategy. One that completely outsmarts Dane’s. And I do not see that happening.
To make matter worse, we do not even seem to be on the same plane. Which means I may in no time be losing some of my best hands.
I drive around the city for a while with nowhere to turn to when I decide to visit mother’s body one last time. A part of me thinks it would help me think better.
“Welcome back, Miss Eliana.”
I force a smile on my face and I walk to mother’s ward with a nurse behind me.
“Not to be rude really but I’m not sure I asked for an escort.”
“I’m sorry ma’am, but you don’t seem too well and it is only right that I follow protocol as well.”
I swallow hard, trying my best to not give her a response my savage mind considers befitting.
We get to mother’s room and suddenly, I can’t handle the smell. It just feels overwhelming and annoying.
“Are you okay ma’am?” The nurse rushes to my side.
“Do I look okay to you?” I spit it out without even thinking.
“I’m sorry, I’m just dizzy.” I rest my head on the hospital wall because the buildings are starting to blur.
“We may just have to run a pregnancy test.”
“I’m just stressed.” There is no way I’m getting pregnant for Dane.
“Your eyes are white. You have nausea. You’re struggling to stand and to crown it, you’ve been showing vital signs of mood swings.”
“It was just one night. It can’t be pregnancy.”
“When last did you see your period ma’am.”
“Two weeks ago. See?”
“You had i*********e on your fertile day. It’s a baby. You’re pregnant.”
- Writer
