Married To My Step Brother

Chaper11

CHAPTER 11

Employees were shocked to see husband and wife side by side in the office. Since they got married, Adam has never appeared at the company, and now? They were walking in together like a perfect couple.

Emma walked over to them. “Good morning Belle, welcome back to work.” Then she turned to Adam, “a pleasant morning to you sir, good to have you here.”

“Gather all the stakeholders in the meeting room, I'd like to have a word with them.” Adam told Emma, who in turn gave an eye signal to Belle.

“Why do you want to meet with the stakeholders?” Belle asked.

“You will find out soon enough” he turned to Emma, “I need you to deliver my message immediately, I'll be waiting in the meeting room.” Emma left.

Belle wasn't sure if she should trust Adam with meeting with top decision makers in her company, but she didn't want to question him further.

They were both seated in the meeting room, waiting for other stakeholders to join them. “Can I at least get a hint?” She asked.

“It's a surprise Belle, just relax.” Other stakeholders were gradually coming in one by one, each of them unsure of why an emergency meeting was declared.

Shortly after, everyone was seated except James. Adam questioned Emma as to why he was absent.

“He is yet to resume work for today sir” she replied.

Adam looked at his wristwatch “it's past 11am and a supposed stakeholder is yet to resume work, is that how things are done here?”

“Ms Rachel do you know why he isn't on seat?” Belle asked.

“How am I supposed to know?”

“Well you two seem quite close so I was just wondering…”

“We are not close” Rachel fired back, “and I definitely do not know of his whereabout.”

“Well, we'll just have to go on without him.” Adam cuts in. “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, sorry to gather you all here this morning on such short notice.”

He continued, “I have just one question for you all.” He paused, scanned through their faces and continued. “What is delaying the official signing in of my wife as Chief Executive Officer?”

It was like he dropped a bomb. Everyone, including Belle, was shocked by his question. The stakeholders turned to face each other, none gave an answer though. There was a deafening silence.

Adam broke the silence again after two minutes “I need someone to reply me, we're running out of time. I'm sure you lots have other things to do.”

“Adam I…” Belle tried to answer but he cut her off.

“Not you Belle, I'm sure the board members have something for us.”

A man who was putting on a grey suit and looked like he was in his late fifties finally spoke up.

“Ugh ughm” he cleared his throat, “well usually, when an executive member takes up a new position, he or she is given a six month probation to see if he or she can perform very well in that position. Madam Belle here is still under that six months probation that's why she's not been officially signed in.” He said.

“So you're saying that someone who watched her father lead the company for countless years is not fit enough to take over her father's position and has to undergo a rubbish six months probation?” Adam questioned.

Belle's heart sank at the mention of her father. She wasn't Reginald Bailison’s daughter and she had no right to lead the company. Her conscience was hitting at her but she wasn't going to risk losing everything because of her mother's crime.

Another stakeholder spoke up “we are not saying Belle isn't fit to lead the company, we are just saying she needs time to fit into that position.”

“Time is what we don't have. I'll like her signing in ceremony to be held tomorrow.”

Rachel let out a laugh “what a joke Adam, this isn't some mafia s**t where anything goes. I think you need to go through the company's bye laws again. Also, why the rush? What do you mean by ‘time is what we don't have’?”

“What does this have to the with mafia Rachel?” Another stakeholder asked.

“I'm sure Adam knows what I'm talking about, you can ask him.”

“Stop deviating the meeting with your unnecessary banter Rachel.” Belle spoke up.

“Ohh, I see you want to be crowned CEO so ba..”

“Yes, I want to. Do you have a problem with that? If you don't have a positive input to make towards this meeting shut up or excuse us.”

Before Rachel could fire back, someone else interrupted. “Ms Belle has already been absent for two weeks, at this point the least we can give her is one month. We can carry out the signing ceremony after one month.”

“I'm in support of that” another board member chipped in. “We can't keep leaving the company afloat with no official person in charge. And one month is enough time for Belle to get used to her position.”

“Alright, I'll take it that everyone agrees with this decision. That'll be all for this meeting then, see you all in one month.” Adam concluded and everyone exited the room.

Belle went to the top roof to clear her head. “You're not a bad person Belle” she kept telling herself. “It's only for the best. The quicker, the better.”

She took in a deep breath. “The sooner I become CEO, the sooner I can divorce my step brother and focus on other things.”

She took a deep breath again, she could feel a tear sliding down her cheek. “Am I cursed? How could my once perfect life suddenly turn to a nightmare? First I'm not my father's daughter, then I got married to my step brother, now I have to live a life that isn't mine or lose everything and everyone; how can my life be filled with so much darkness?”

She sat down on the floor, lay her head on her palms and burst into tears. How could she be carrying so much weight?