Chapter 11 11
Sheila's POV
The incessantly ringing of my phone woke me up the next morning, I reached for it and picked the call, not bothering to check the caller ID.
“Hello?” I called out, sheepishly.
I heard a low chuckle from the other end of the line, one that was unmistakable. “Sleepy head, how do you intend to take over the world if you're asleep by this time.”
“Shut up Cameron, you're not even here.” I threw back, lazily.
“Get your pretty ass off the bed. You have a lot of work to do today. I know I said I'd be back by now but there's loose ends to take care of, it'll take a day or two.” He explained and I tsked.
“I bet you could finish it up in a day but you're to arrogant and lazy to do it.” I teased him and he laughed, not a mechanical robotic laughter but the kind that spelt that he was truly amused and somehow, it made me feel a delicious tuck in my belly.
“I'll make it up to you when I get back, but until then, I've instructed Delilah to help you reschedule your meetings this morning, I didn't want you to be overwhelmed yesterday but today? I can't make that promise.”
I moaned softly. “What’s there to meet about?”
“You're the executive manager darling and you have to make investments, everything has to be run by your first before any major step and decision is taken in the company and my love, you need to keep it running. You wanted to prove yourself worthy didn't you? Make daddy proud.” He advised then paused for a minute, i could hear him barking others to some of his men.
“I was told someone confronted you yesterday? One of the board members?” He added, continuing the conversation.
“Yes, but I've got it under control, you dont need to worry about that,” I lied then came up with a diversion to throw him off the scent. “wait, how did you know? Are you spying on me?”
“I have eyes everywhere Sheila, word of advice, don't let anyone tell you what to do or dictate your worthiness to you, you have every right to be there and if they have a problem with that, they can say it behind your back for all you care, I would've made him regret it but I want you to take charge of things yourself else it'd seem you have no real control over things, it'll make it hard for them to respect you.”
He was right, I had to fix things on my own.
“Now get off that bed and get to work!” he said, wirh an authoritative tone.
I rolled my eyes at how dramatic he was. “Fine! I'll go to work earlier than I should, but you owe me!” I pouted.
“Of course I do, I have to go now, kiss Xyla for me too. Bye, have a great day and as usual, give them hell!”
Then the line went dead and I threw my phone on the bed. I stood up and cleaned up, got dressed for work and went downstairs for breakfast, Carla and Xyla were already having breakfast so I joined them.
“Look mommy, my unicorn can talk.” Xyla told me, excitedly and the unicorn repeated what she said.
I was glad she liked the toy I got her and she wouldn't stop talking about them. I gave her a motherly kiss and another one from Cameron before instructing her to be obedient to her nanny.
Marcus drove me to the company and I was greeted respectfully by all the workers right from the entrance until I got off at the fifth floor, where my office was.
“Good morning Miss Sheila, here's your morning coffee and I don't mean to rush you but you have a meeting in ten minutes.” Delilah greeted me and handed over a cup of my favorite coffee, I didn't bother to ask her how she knew what it was knowing well that Cameron would've handed her a file of everything she needed to know about me.
“Good morning Delilah, you look good today. Who am I meeting with?” I asked as I walked to my office, with her trailing right behind me.
“Investors from Africa, they've been trying to schedule this meeting for a while but Alpha Cameron kept pushing it back, saying the new executive manager would handle it.” She explained.
I chuckled lowly. “Typical of him, what exactly are we investing in?”
“That's the thing, they want you to invest in their business, not the other way round.”
I stopped dead in my tracks and took a sip of my coffee and it hit the right spot. “How long until the meeting again?”
She took a quick glance at her wrist watch. “Roughly five minutes.”
“Let's go, lead the way.”
She nodded her head in obedience and led the way. The investors were five in number and i instantly recognized from the tone of their skin. Four men from our company were there already and I sat at the head table since they were waiting for me.
Delilah dropped their file in front of me and made to leave. “Thank you.” I whispered to her, quietly.
I set down my coffee on the table and inhaled sharply, ready to address everyone.
“Good morning gentleman, please you may proceed.” I said, in a professional tone as I opened the file in front of me.
One of the men cleared his throat while the men from our company acknowledged me wirh a slight nod.
“Good morning Miss and our congratulations on you been the Executive Manager, my name is Caleb Johnson, representing Kulture Textiles Inc and these are my colleagues; Mr Paul, Mr Phillip, Mr Mbaku and Miss Toyin respectively. I'll proceed to give you a presentation on our proposal.”
“Please, go ahead.” I gave my consent.
He cleared his throat and for the next two hours, explained the core vision, values, technical details and proposal for his company to us while using slides on the big screen in front of us. I took down notes and went through the files as well. They had a strong proposal, the vision was catchy and I clapped for him when he was done wirh his presentation.
“Mr Johnson, I understand that your company isnt a start-up but you want to erect a building in almost every African country and you've procured a permit for fifty countries already, what you want us to do is to invest in your company and what percentage of profit will be ours?” I asked him, meaningfully.
“I believe ten percent is what we're offering.” He responded.
“How much do you want from us as investment?” I asked.
“Three hundred million dollars.” Mr Mbaku responded.
I leaned back and was about to respond when Calvin suddenly spoke up.
“That's a ridiculously huge sum of money for a project that it's success isnt guaranteed. You want us to invest that much money in Africa? What are we? Some charity organization?” He blew, hotly.
“Mr…”
“Calvin, just call me Calvin and get over thr formalities.” Calvin fired back at Mr Mbaku.
“Calvin, we know its a lot to ask and you're probably thinking it isn't worth it but we've done our calculations before we brought this to you, it's a-”
“Save us that shabby explanation. The company wont throw money at you because you're making promises. We invest in real things, not dreams.” Calvin interjected.
The lady among them leaned forward and gently tapped her colleague, requesting that she handled the situation.
“Calvin, we have the documents and schematics to prove that this will work out, our company is currently running in twelve countries all over the world but we need more in-”
“Let the men do the talking lady.”
The lady was taken aback by Calvin's rudeness and I knew I had to intervene.
“That's enough Mr Calvin, thank you for your insight.” I said, abruptly cutting him off.
“If you dont mind, I'll like you to shortly tell us your schematics and how you plan to keep the chain of companies running without incurring losses or it folding up.” I told the investors.
They were relieved to see i was interested and we spent another two hours going through this. It was time for lunch and I offered to treat them to lunch, I had texted Delilah aforehand and told her to instruct my personal chef to make some African dish for our investors and Delilah came in to lead them to a private place where they would have their lunch, giving me time to speak with the company's board.
“What do you think about the offer?” I asked them.
“Its a financial risk, we should turn them down.” Calvin said, dismissively.
The rest of the men had no problem with it but Calvin insisted we turn them down. The investors returned and were eager to hear our decision.
“Thank you for presenting this opportunity to us and we've decided that we'll be investing in your company only if you agree to our conditions as well.” I told them and could see a smile break on their faces.
“What!” Calvin blurted, shocked. “We are not investing wirh these scammers, they are Africans, what do you expect from them? I won't sit back and watch you make this mistak-”
“Then leave.” I interjected.
He was shocked then he stormed off. I looked at the investors and got back to business.
“Like I said, i have mu own conditions as well, we're willing to invest five hundred million in your business, bring me real copies of the permit, government sanctioned agreement doxynebts, a blueprint of the structure, virtually everything about your business plan and we have a deal, also, we'll take 35 percent profit. If you agree, then I'll give you a week or two to prepare all these things and I'll sign the deal.” I informed them.
They spoke in hushed tones among themselves for two minutes than Mr Johnson spoke up.
“We have a deal ma'am. “
I smiled and stood up, famished but excited as well and I masked it quite well. “Then I'll see you in two weeks time.” I said then shook his hand firmly.
I walked out of the boardroom, energized and happy. Delilah saw this look on my face as I walked back to my office.
“Did you seal the deal?” She asked, curiously.
“For 35 percent of their profit.” I replied, proud of myself.
She smiled as well and i couldn't wait to eat but I had other plans, I'd eat a homemade meal instead.
“Do I have any other meetings for the day?”
“I'm afraid not, that's all for today but tomorrow is a busy one, you've got an invitation to have lunch with Mrs Winston and two fashion event to attend.”
“Set a reminder for that and send it to my phone, for now, I’m going home.” I told her, grabbed my bag and began to walk away.
I could hear her laughing heartily in the background and I chuckled on my own as well, halfway to the elevator, Calvin suddenly blocked my path.
“You made a wrong call and you've barely been here for a month.” He spat, angrily.
“I've had a long day, get out of my way.” I threw back at him.
He snickered in derision and pointed a finger at me. “You don't know anything about business do you? You just made a decision based on your emotions, you should've listened to me and sent those spineless fools away, even a fool would see through their intentions, the boss would never make that kind of a mistake.”
I groaned, tired of his nasty remarks. He moved towards me, menacingly, there was a dark look in his eyes, like a predator would look at his prey.
“What the hell do you think you're doing?”