RUSSEL'S POV
To me, getting married, and getting the CEO position were two totally unrelated topics, but apparently the older folks on the board of directors were nauseatingly old fashioned, because why would they chose to believe that my relationship status would somehow affect my performance in the company as soon as I become confirmed as CEO, when I’ve been doing just fine before now. When it came down to it, acting CEO and CEO were pretty much the same thing, and I had been doing just fine in that capacity even without a woman in my life so why did all these people want to make my life a living hell? I loved my grandpa a lot, and I was really fond of him even while he was alive. He was like my mentor and role model whom I looked up to but I really wasn’t sure If I wanted to forgive him for the whole marriage bomb he dropped on me right before his death.
“Have you thought about hiring someone?” Sam suggested, pulling me out of my thoughts which were spiraling out of control by the way.
“Is that even possible?” I asked in utter shock.
“Of course.”He replied. “I even hear there is an app for it these days. “You go on there, find a woman you are compact-able with, draw up a contract, sign it, and voila you could be married by next week if your heart so desires.”
Damn, this world was really becoming something else. It was quite amusing to think that so many people needed fake spouses to the point that there was now an app for it. And here I was thinking that my circumstances were peculiar.
“Wait, don’t tell me you are actually considering it.” Sam asked laughing. “You must really be desperate huh?”
“No I wasn’t.” I lied, ordering myself another drink in an attempt to hide my embarrassment.
“You so were.” He replied, laughing even harder.
“Was not.” I argued even though I knew he didn’t believe me one bit. “Look it’s too risky okay? There are too many variables, too many things that could go wrong. And God forbid if the woman decides to talk. My life as I know it could literally be over and I cannot afford to have that okay? So no, I wasn’t considering it.” I finished, noticing that my voice had gone a little higher than I had intended.
“Okay, okay.” He said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’ll drop it. No need to get all defensive on me.”
I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t being defensive but I knew that doing that was only going to prolong the conversation more than was actually necessary so I simply sighed and waited patiently for my drink to arrive. Thankfully, it arrived soon and I took it gratefully. Sam also ordered one for himself and once it arrived, we simply sat in companionable silence for a while, sipping our drinks and being lost in thoughts.
“But certainly there has to be at least one woman you know whom you can reach out to that might willing to go down this road with you right?”
“Trust me I would know if I had one.
“What about Chloe?” He asked suddenly. “You two were good together. What happened?”
“Oh, she found out that she was gay after a vacation in Vegas and wanted to explore her sexuality.”
“Ooh!” He exclaimed with a grimace.
“Yeah.” I agreed, refusing to think about that season because her betrayal stung much more than I was willing to admit.
“Okay, what about Carla? Come on, there has to be some hope there.”
“Nope. She got married last year after I broke things off with her, and I really don’t think her husband would appreciate me proposing to his wife.”
“Yeah. I have a very clear Idea of how that conversation would go down.” He replied thoughtfully, and I really appreciated the effort he was putting into trying to help me but he had to trust me when I said that none of my exes were an option.
“Hell man, you gotta help me out here.” He lamented, starting to sound defeated. “Isn’t there at least one woman you know who seems minimally reasonable, and whom you can convince to walk down an aisle with you? Even if she isn’t enthusiastic at first, I’m sure a pretty sum of money could help change her mind. All you need is someone who is smart enough to sell a story and make it seem believable. You don’t need a wife man. What you need is an actor, and a damn good one at that.”
“Nah man, that’s way too risky.” I replied with a sigh. “If she decides to talk…”
“Isn’t life all about risks? Besides, I don't think you have much of a choice right now.” He said, cutting me off. “Look, if she needs the money desperately enough, I’m sure she might be willing to keep her mouth shut. Everyone has a price Russ. Also, make her sign an NDA or something so that her running her mouth would only be to her own detriment. Trust me on this one man, this could actually work.”
As he ranted on about someone who seemed pretty reasonable, someone who was smart enough to sell a story, and someone who needed money desperately enough that they might be willing to keep their mouth shut, an image was forming in my head and I really didn’t want to consider that thought, but the more I tried to avoid the thought, the more her face came into view. I felt like such a horrible person for even considering it. She was carrying my brother’s child for carrying out loud, but no matter how hard I tried, the thought just wasn’t going away.
“Look man, I gotta go.” I said to Sam, grabbing my glass and chugging the rest of its contents down in one swift motion.
“Where to?” He asked in confusion, trying to follow behind me but I was out of the door before he had even gotten out of his seat.
The next second, I was in my car, driving off, while leaving behind a completely stunned and confused Sam.
When Russell told me that he hadn’t told anyone the details of how I had gotten the job, I was a little doubtful. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, I just thought that he was a really nice person who was probably just trying to protect my feelings, but I did not need protecting. I was a big girl and I could damn well take care of my own problems without his help. Which was why I didn’t call him even though I had so many questions about the company. In fact, his number in my pocket was burning a hole into my skin but I ignored it because I was sure he had his own problems to deal with. Being the CEO of a company as huge as NNT couldn’t be easy, and I couldn’t start bothering him simply because I was nervous. As I walked through the front door that morning for my actual first day, I braced myself for all the possibilities. I mentally prepared myself for the snares, for the whispers, for the gossip, and for all the side glances. I was prepared for literally anything they wanted to throw
The team dinner that April had literally forced me to attend was nothing but a nightmare. Being 8 weeks gone, my belly bump hadn’t started showing yet, but the symptoms I was feeling were a little to hard to ignore and although I did my best to hide it, there were times when it was all just a little too much. Like now, the burger place had an aroma that settled right with me, but the barbecue place we went for the dinner was a whole different story. The smell of the place nauseated me to no end and since I didn’t want to leave at the risk of seeming rude and ungrateful, I decided to stick out for a little while longer. “You look like you would rather be anywhere else than here.” Jason said from beside me, earning him a kind smile. “You have no idea.” I told him truthfully. “You know you really didn’t have to do this if you didn’t want to right? They just really needed an excuse for a good time and free food. Trust me, they do it all the time.” “Tell me about it.” I muttered, just
“Where are we going?” I asked a pissed off looking Russell who hadn’t taken his eyes from the road for even one second ever since he started driving.He was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that I feared he might crack, or worse break it. Also, with the way his knuckles were turning white from the lack of blood flow, I desperately wanted to reach out and ease them back to normal, but given his current mood, I didn’t think he would appreciate the gesture very much.More so, I wanted to make him feel better, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he was so damn pissed off.“How did you know I was here?” I asked, trying a different question since he had refused to answer my first one.“I followed you from the office.” He replied nonchalant as if that was a normal behaviour that usually occurred between staff and their employers. For a full one minute after his reply, I sat there in silence, waiting for him to elaborate because surely there had to be some sort of explanat
The doctor cleared me for discharge that same day but Russell didn’t seem to agree with the doctor’s decision. Apparently, he seemed to think that he knew more than the professional when it came to matters of health.‘”Are you sure she doesn’t need to spend at least a night? She clearly needs to rest some more and if it’s about the money, you know I have that all under control.”“Well, I suppose she could spend the night if you want.” the doctor replied. “It would be helpful, but its not essential. You just need to make sure that she is constantly hydrated and well rested, and everything should be back to normal.”“What? I can’t do that.” I argued stubbornly. “I need to go to work tomorrow. I can’t spend the night here. I have to go home.”“If you think I’m going to let you go to work tomorrow after everything you’ve been through today, then maybe you need to be admitted for a couple more days.”“But I…”“No buts Lisa.” Russell stated firmly.”Rest well today and tomorrow, and maybe th
Russell's pov. "What do you mean the date of the shareholder's meeting has been moved up by three weeks?" "It means exactly that son" My dad replied on the phone, sounding totally calm and unaffected by this new development even though that was the exact opposite ofbeverything i was feeling. "But that doesn't make any sense? I argued. "What's the rush?" "The chairman of the board just got booked for a kidney transplant earlier than ecpected so he has to travel to be with his family in order to prepare for his surgery." "But that's not fair." I lamented. Two months were barely enough for me to get married and now i barely even had one? "Why can't the meeting be postponed until after his surgery. I can be acting CEO until he returns." I suggested selfishly, knowing fully well that i would be left with more time to go wife hunting. "It's already been decided son. We all took votes and this was the outcome, which means that there is nothing you, me or anyone can do about it. So i
Russell's pov. I sat in my office, staring at my phone for a good thirty minutes while trying to compose the perfect text to send to Elisa, and everytime i came up with something, i somehow managed to find it unworthy and promptly deleted it. After that day when i rushed her to the hospital, i had ensured that she saved my number on her phone, and even though she was still adamant about not giving me a call, i had to make sure that she would at least pick up when i called since apparently, she wasn't in the habit of taking calls from unknown numbers. My plan was simple. invite her to my office, tell her about my proposal, give her the contract and make her sign it. The only problem was that the more i thoght about my plan, the more unreasonable it sounded. First of all, there was no way i could simply summon her to my office without raising questioning eyebrows, and that was exactly the kind of attention that she didn't need, not if she wanted to remain valued and relevant at h
“Elisa, prepare the financial statement for this company.”“Elisa, analyze and interpret these financial records.”“Elisa, track the cash flow and accounts of so and so companies.”“Elisa, ensure that these financial statements are being recorded properly.”“Elisa, Elisa, Elisa…”Ever since I resumed work fully under the dreaded Ms. Jenny, I had completed more tasks than I had managed to complete during my entire year of internship.At first, it was just a suspicion or more like a hunch really, but after being worked like a camel for one week straight, I was certain without any reasonable doubt that my boss hated me.I mean, I knew that she had it out for me from the very first time she laid eyes on me, she hadn’t been very subtle about that fact, but I didn’t think she loathed me this much. I was the only one to whom she allocated the toughest tasks, I was the only one who she made to work extra hours, and I was the only one she made to come in even on the weekends.It was as if she
My mother was a very perceptive woman. She had a way of telling if something was wrong even from a thousand miles away and it was often always hard to lie to her. It’s like she had an inbuilt detector or something. I knew this, and so did all my other siblings, and that was why I hadn’t spoken to her for more than thirty seconds ever since I found out I was pregnant.I always found a way to end the call early claiming either that my phone had died or that I was busy with something or basically any excuse I could find. The only reason why i had even told her that i had gotten a job was because if I hadn’t she was going to tell me to come back home, and i would have no choice than to do it. After all, i was done with college and had no other reason to remain here.I know that she would have preferred it if i returned home to help her and dad with the ministry, but I already told her that that was not what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and I hadn’t changed my mind.Today howeve