The Contracted Bride Of Alessandro

Chapter Six:His Past

"Here's your coffee sir" Cynthia placed the cup on the glass table.

Cynthia Hilton was Alessandro's secretary, she had been working for Alessandro for three years now, and she knew the drill for Alessandro, hot coffee in the morning before anything.

Cynthia stood frozen I'm front of Alessandro for a minute, she knew better than to distract him from whatever it was he always read in the morning, she adjusted herself trying to make some noise and get Alessandro to notice she was standing there.

"Ermm, sir" she coughed

"Cynthia, what's the matter" Alessandro coldly responded, he had been held back by his thoughts.

"sir the members of the board are sited in the conference room, and they are waiting for you, all five of them" She readjusted her glasses and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Take my laptop with you, I'll join the conference in a minute"

"Alright sir" She picked up his laptop and his file and headed straight for the conference room.

"Good morning sir" the five men chorused in unison as Alessandro walked into the conference room.

Alessandro slightly nodded his head towards the men and gestured for them to take their seat

"Let's move to today's agenda" He announced.

He kept a stern look on his face as he examined the faces of the five men on the table.

He had so many staff he could barely even remember their names, or talk more their faces, but these ones were a bit familiar, he knew he had seen these particular ones before, they were the team working on his latest project, "Royautè par Alessandro", This was his latest luxury perfume project, yet to be launched formally.

"Without wasting any of your time sir, I would like to announce that the scents have been approved by the national health agency" the first man declared boldly, he was quite petite but his voice was so deep it reverberated throughout the conference room.

His announcement was followed by a round of applause by the team.

"Sir, the branded bags have also arrived, the main agenda for today's meeting is the perfume's promotion strategy" the man sitting right beside Alessandro added.

"Well, what's the promotion strategy? I have other meetings to attend to, I don't have all day" Alessandro seemed impatient, it was a strategy though, if he acted this way, the team was sure to think faster.

"Models sir! " the first man responded, and the entire team nodded in agreement

"Models?"

"Yes sir, models" The third man stood up, walked towards the end of the room and switched on the projector, a beautiful picture of a model appeared on the white wall.

"Over the years sir, popular models or actors have been the main influencing agents of many luxury products, perfumes inclusive" he paused, he pressed another button and another picture of a model holding a perfume bottle at the beach popped up.

"Sir, the fastest way to get a very high market penetration and of course sales, is to get a popular" he used his fingers to quote the word 'popular' in the air, for emphasis "actress or the most preferred, a supermodel, to influence our product"

The fourth man in the room stood up and continued the speech

"Sir, the model is expected to come over to Las Vegas, it's our duty to provide accommodation for the model, she will feature in a couple of scripted advertisements and also post on her social media"

"Her?" Alessandro interrupted

"Yes sir, male models are more appreciated for underwear and deodorant commercials, for our perfume it is paramount that a female features in the television commercial, but if you......"

"I just hope you have done your proper research, I wouldn't want any backlash after the commercial if we eventually use a woman"

"No sir"

"Not at all"

"We have carried out proper research" the first man reassured

"So, my wife can feature in the commercial, right?"

There was a bit of silence in the conference room, the five men exchanged weird glances.

They knew Alessandro was talking about Capricorn.

But Capricorn wasn't even among the top 50 models in their town, if they were going to do this right they knew they had to hire the best, the very best.

Ever since Capricorn had her child with Alessandro, she fell off the list. Not that she was the only model with a child, but she wasn't seen on the runway anymore, and brands didn't hire her as they used to hence she fell off the list.

Alessandro did a very bad job hiding his irritation, it was plastered all over his face, he hated to be kept silent

"Is it that you don't know my wife is a model of what?" he thundered

"Far from that sir, she's a wonderful model, but we wouldn't want anything to go wrong with this product" The man at the front of the projector replied

"Sir, after careful consideration by our team and proper examination of social media" he paused for a bit trying to steady his gaze on Alessandro

He swallowed what seemed to be a heavy lump in his throat and continued "With all due respect sir, your wife Miss Capricorn Nasir, isn't popular enough to handle this promotion"

"Sincerely, this meeting is getting longer than I expected, all I want is the best possible landing for this product, so which model is popular enough" he also quoted popular in the air with his fingers, a soft smile appeared on his lips.

Alessandro knew this wasn't the time to get angry about his wife, he was more concerned about the product.

The only man who hadn't uttered a single word throughout the whole meeting finally stood up

"Sir after proper evaluation, we all agreed that the most popular model in the world right now would be the one to carry out this promotion"

"And how am I supposed to know who the most popular model is" Alessandro threw an angry look at the man

"Miss Serena Donalds..............."

At the sound and realization of that name, shock waves ran down Alessandro's spine.

For five years Alessandro hadn't heard that name, and his heart sank to the pit of his stomach as the man announced the name.

Alessandro completely zoned out, he could hear the man's voice, but not his words. It could have been another Serena, but he knew he couldn't deceive himself for long.

The mention of Serena's name opened up a deep injury in Alessandro's heart. He had tried so hard to forget her and right now, the person he hoped he would never set eyes on was the same person his team was proposing his most important project.

"Sir, do we reach out to her?" the first man asked

Alessandro was barely even present, he just stared vaguely at the men that stood in front of him. He knew how badly he left things with Serena, he knew that she felt even worse about the breakup.

He wasn't going to face her.

"No!" he snapped out of his trans "Find another model"

The man standing at the front of the projector pressed the button and a picture of Serena appeared on the screen, immediately Alessandro's eyes met this his heart sank deeper. He was guilt-ridden, he felt so bad, but Serena looked so good.

"Please sir, this would be the best decision we could ever make as a company" the second man protested

"She has 27 million followers, and she is the most popular model in the world as it stands now, and the best part is that she lives in Glass gow, I strongly believe she would accept our offer, sir"

"What we should deliberate about now is the right pay"

These men weren't going to change their minds in ten years. Alessandro knew better than to resist. He paused and gave the idea a thought, her status looked really good, and it would promote his brand. But the big question that formed a lump in his heart was whether she was going to take the offer.

What's the worst that could happen, he swallowed his guilt and straightened his face.

"Alright" he gave in to their request, but he kept his fingers crossed.

"This meeting....... "

"Sir!" Cynthia interrupted, stepping into the office, she moved closer to Alessandro and whispered into his ears.

Alessandro's eyes widened, he got up and dashed out of the conference room without properly ending the meeting.

"The boss will send you all emails later today, for now, you can leave"