“Yes.” he gave a reply. “Samson Ejiofor mentioned
he noticed she was under pressure and when he asked, she said it was the
company but didn’t give any reason. He snooped and found some documents about
the loans she and her brothers requested for.”
“That was why detective Akin said it was a rumor
because he wasn’t sure.”
“Exactly, but it turned out to be true.”
“We can hire him again.” She said.
“For what?”
Olivia pointed to the sofa indicating him to sit.
He reciprocated and she sat beside him.
“Remember the detective mentioned Naomi’s marriage
was in crisis. I am sure that is why the detective was able to get some
information from him. What if we use him against her?”
Sebastian thought for a quick moment. “Well, it’s
not a bad idea. We have to thread carefully if we must embark on such plan.
What about Nelson? He has an ex-wife and a babymama. We can use them against him
but you have not made a final decision.”
She heaved a sigh and rested her back on the sofa.
She crossed her arms as if she was catching cold.
“You have to
make a decision,” he added. “You know when they lose everything, it will affect
him too.”
“I know. I can get him back on his feet. I am not against
him, just Nelly and Naomi. If I have to hit them hard, it will hit him automatically. I don’t have a choice.”
“I am going to be frank with you. I know Nelson treated you better than his siblings but people grow and change. I have sat with them,
interacted and watched their behavior. Nelson seems mischievous. I don’t trust
him at all.”
“What about Naomi and Nelly?” She sounded a bit
annoyed with the sound of her voice. Sebastian sensed it but that didn’t stop him
from expressing himself.
“I am not defending them. They have their own baggages.
Nelson is not different from them. They are all the same.”
“I believe he is better than them.”
Sebastian rose on his feet, already getting upset. “If
he is better than them, why didn’t he look for you?”
“I am sure he did and he couldn’t find me. I left
the country without turning back.”
“If he really looked for you, he would still be
looking no matter what. He would still be thinking about you after all these
years. The Nelson I have seen, does not look like someone that would be doing
that.”
Olivia knew from his expression he was not happy
with her. She stood up and spoke calmly to him. “I am not trying to defend
Nelson but you need to have seen the way Naomi and Nelly dragged me out of my
mother’s house. Nelson would never do that to me.” She was beginning to get
emotional. “I would get close to him and find a way to know the truth about
what happened to my mother.”
He moved very close to her face. “You are going to
be in their midst every soon. You would probably see them five days in a week. Watch
your back Olivia. Goodnight Olivia.” Sebastian turned away, and left Olivia in the
living room.
Olivia kept on looking at the door, despite
Sebastian had left. She couldn’t bear it anymore. She closed her eyes tightly
and started to cry. She missed her dear mother.
********
At midnight, Nelly woke up again from the same
dream. His scream erupted Nneka’s sleep. This time she didn’t question him or
followed him to where he went. She was tired of his lies, and his reaction
whenever she interfered. She planned to make an appointment with her pastor and
hoped he would find a solution for her husband.
Nelly left to check on his daughter. He met her sleeping as usual. He sat and watched her for a while before he went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.
Nelly left to check on his daughter. He met her sleeping as usual. He sat and watched her for a while before he went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.
Samson couldn’t sleep. His wife didn’t come home
and she gave him flimsy excuses when he called her. She said there was traffic
and her tire was flat. She would spend the night at the hotel not far from the
office. He knew she lied. He had started to believe she was cheating on him and
catching her was part of his plan.
What
if I catch her? He asked himself silently. Is it not
an opportunity for her to divorce him? What am I going to do? I can’t be living
like this after I have lost everything because of her greed and my foolishness.
If I had known, I wouldn’t have listened to her.
He glanced at where he kept his phone. Not minding
what the time was, he grabbed his phone to call Naomi. He called her three
times but no response. He didn’t give up. He called again. She answered on the fifth ring.
“What is it?” Naomi asked. “Why are you calling at
3am?”
He felt she was whispering and he heard music playing
in the background. “Where are you?”
“What kind of stupid question are you asking? I’m
in my hotel room. You woke me from sleep.”
He kept silent and he swore he heard voices and a
particular sound that sounded like the horn of a car.
“Naomi, are you in a club? Are you clubbing?”
She hissed. “Don’t start this time.” Naomi ended
the call.
He called her number again, this time it was
switched off. Samson knew he won’t be able to accuse her of cheat or lie
whenever she intend to return home. Out of anger, he smashed his
phone against the wall.
********
Breakfast served, only Olivia at the dining room
waiting for Sebastian. She didn’t want to eat without him. She was about to
stand up to go to his room when he emerged, dressed in an expensive suit. Sebastian
looked dapper.
“Good morning Seb,” She said with a smile. It was
the first time she shortened his name.
“Good morning Olive,” He returned the smile and sat
down.
Calling her Olive for the second time made her feel
good and close to him.
“I know we didn’t agree on some certain things last
night,” Olivia said. “I am sorry for disagreeing with you. I know you mean well.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
She quickly placed her hand on him. “I should.”
Olivia swiftly removed her hand when she noticed Sebastian’s eyes moved there.
He spoke. “Olive, we do not need to agree on everything.
We are bound to argue. Both of us are humans. I shouldn’t have interfered. You
still like Nelson as your brother and I should respect that. We are talking
about family here. I guess he means a lot to you.”
“No, don’t get me wrong. You mean…” She paused. “I
mean, whatever you say concerning my life is important. I value what you say to
me. I will watch my back.”
He nodded. “Okay. let’s eat. Our food will get
cold.”
“Okay.”
As they ate, he glimpsed at her. On a normal day,
Sebastian would have told her to do whatever she liked and that the decisions
about her personal life were none of his business. Olivia was beginning to make
him soft.
********
It turned out to be a success on the day of the tasting/sampling
of the energy drink. Sebastian, Olivia, Nelson, Nelly, Naomi and other
employees of Empire Company attended.
During interaction with some of the staff, Olivia
came across with one of them, a female who looked like a nerd with her large
glasses. She noticed how passionately she spoke about her job despite the
Company owned a few of the staff their salary and she was one of them. Angela
was hyperactive and spoke enthusiastically.
“I didn’t know about that.” Olivia said and took
sip from her drink. She noticed the lady talked too much and getting information from her was easy. Despite that, if she turned out to be useful, she would retain her
after the Company becomes her own.
“The Company owes but we are still ready to work.” Angela
said. “Well, I have to speak for myself. As the assistant head of the marketing
department, I enjoy my job.”
“You are passionate about your craft, I like that.”
“Thank you ma,” Angela said. “You and Mr. Sebastian
have done well. Thank you for bringing this change to the Company and I believe
we are going to benefit from it.”
“Definitely. I want the Company to grow beyond this
and that is why I am here.”
“I can’t wait to see you in the office. I heard you
will be resuming me on Monday.”
“Yes, I will. I received a mail, that my office is
ready.”
With a bright smile on her face, she said, “If you
need anything in the office, do not hesitate to let me know.”
“I will.”
Sebastian who had been discussing with a male guest
brought by Nelson left the conversation to speak with Olivia.
“I will to leave you now Miss King.” Angela said.
“Call me Miss Olivia.”
Okay Miss Olivia.” Angela said and moved quite close to them. “Both of you look adorable. Are you a couple?”
“No,” Sebastian answered quickly with a
low laugh. “We are just business partners.”
low laugh. “We are just business partners.”
Olivia stated. “And we are friends too.”
Sebastian and Olivia glanced at each other and back
at her.
“But both of you would make beautiful babies. It
was nice to meet you.”
The business partners told her it was her nice to
meet her too. Angela waived at them with joy and left to chat with a colleague.
Olivia took a deep breath and exhaled. Sebastian laughed mildly.
“You sound relief.”
“That lady is something else.” Olivia said.
“You can say that again. Before she came to meet you, she spoke with me. She even asked why I wasn’t married.”
“She was unprofessional to ask such a question.”
“True but she is funny and that is why she got away
with it without me bashing her. She was lucky.”
“I am sure someone like Naomi would have loved to
sack her, but with the way she spoke about her job, the Company wouldn’t want
to lose someone like her.”
“I think so.” Sebastian said.
“Hey!” Naomi said behind them.
They turned to her.
Naomi gazed directly at Olivia. “I saw you talking to
Angela for long. That girl is a parrot!”
Olivia only smiled and sipped from her drink. Naomi
wanted to speak again when Nelson alerted her to meet him.
Later in the day, Sebastian released the money for the production of the energy drink, also for marketing and advertising. Olivia transferred one
hundred million into the Company’s account. Everyone went home with a smile on
their faces.
********
Sebastian wished Olivia good luck as she prepared
to leave for the office on Monday morning. Naomi, Nelson and Nelly welcomed her
and introduced her to all the staff before she went to her office.
She was
appointed a personal assistant but she declined and explained her driver, Andy
was her PA too. Olivia liked her office.
In the afternoon, Nelly called his siblings for a discussion in his office. They came to discuss how far they have planned on how to spend the
money.
Nelson spoke. “Naomi and I have concluded to invest
fifty million naira each on two products. We are to invest more in our noodles
and start producing pasta, popularly known as spaghetti.”
“They are almost the same product.” Nelly said.
“But they are not the same.” Naomi said.
“Apart from the seasoning for the noodles, we are
going to add something else which is dry meat and vegetables like diced carrot
and green peas inside. As for the spaghetti, we will make ours cheaper and offer
retailers promo.”
“But is the money not too much for these products?”
Nelson said in a worried tone.
“No." Nelson replied. "Don’t forget we will invest part of the money
into advertisement. We are going to pay models to advertise it to all over the
continent.”
“How do we even gain from this?”
“People will buy. They will rush it.”
Nelly looked at Naomi. “Are you really in support
of this?”
“Yes. We will make it.”
Nelly thought briefly and sighed loudly. “Get the
paperwork ready to sign and let’s have another meeting with the team to start producing
the products.” He gazed at Nelson. “I will inform you when to release the
money.”
“No problem.” Nelson and Naomi smiled at each
other.
Nelly said to Naomi. “Being the head of Admin and general manager, I have
given you the order to monitor the production and you are to present reports on
how the money is used weekly.”
“Okay."
When they stepped out of the office, Naomi spoke as
quietly as she can as they walked to her office. “What is the way forward? How
am I going to do it concerning the reports?”
He answered her when they entered her office. “You
are going to present a false report signed by me. With that, Nelly would confirm
it to be authentic. Everything will go smoothly as we planned. Let’s have lunch
together.”
“I can’t. I have to see someone now.”
“And who is that?” Nelson asked.
Naomi replied brightly. “Sebastian Akande.”
*********
To be continued on Thursday.
Wow, wow, wow.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carina. Beautiful episode as always... Welcome back.
Meanwhile, I can't wait to see Sebastian and Olivia fall in love. And those siblings of hers needs to be put in their place...
Thank you.
Wow, wow, wow.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carina. Beautiful episode as always... Welcome back.
Meanwhile, I can't wait to see Sebastian and Olivia fall in love. And those siblings of hers needs to be put in their place...
Thank you.
Game