Chapter 20 20
Alan's POV
My body shook with annoyance and my eyes stung with shame and tears as I briskly walked out of my own office, which is now Sheila's office. Never in a million years would I have imagined something like this would happen.
How did she manage to do all this?
Its obvious Alpha Cameron helped her but why?
How did I not foresee this?
What's her real intentions for doing this?
Sheila isn't petty, not that I know of, in the past, when I or someone offended her, she'd attempt to peacefully communicate this and let this slide but the woman who barked orders at me during the meeting and stood face-to-face with me in the office? That's not the Sheila I thought I knew.
“Alan! Alan!!” I heard Athena call me but I scowled and didn't stop.
I got into my car and drove straight to a bar, in the middle of the afternoon. I kept downing shots after shots of their most intoxicating alcohol; anything to drown put Sheila's mocking voice in my ear and the sinking feeling of reality in my mind. By evening, I managed to stagger to my car and drove myself home without killing anyone on the road or getting into an accident.
“Where the hell have you been! I have been trying to reach you for hours. How can you conveniently ignore me admist all this chaos?” Athena accused the moment I stepped foot in the house.
“Not now Athena.” I stated, dismissively and attempted to walk past her but she gently gave me a push that forced me back.
“This conversation isn't over! What the hell happened and how in the devil's name did you let it happen? How's Sheila the CEO?” She yelled, throwing her hands in the air, frantically.
I shrugged, raising my shoulder blades as well. “I don't know.”
She snickered, visibly irritated. “What do you mean you don't know, everything wasn't supposed to go this way, I mean; she was meant to be someone else, how did your salesperson not recognize her and sell seventy-five percent of the company's share to her? Isn't it better off for the company to go bankrupt than have her in charge?”
Again, I shrugged, already exhausted and I had thought of the worst case scenario already. Athena was simply acting out and screaming and evidently, my lackadaisical behavior annoyed her so she grabbed the collar of my shirt and began to rock me violently.
“She will ruin us both, can't you see that she's trying to get back at us? How the hell are we supposed to ever recover from this? She'll make us her slaves for forever and all you can do is go get drunk? Are you out of your mind? Where is your pride, dignity and honor!” She spat with a hint of dread and panic in her tone.
Equally infuriated, I snatched my collar from her and shoved her aside. She screeched as she fell to the ground at impact and I ran my fingers through my hair.
“Are you out of your fvcking mind?” I asked, raising my voice. “You think I am happy wirh all of this? One freaking moment everything is going on well and the next my entire life, legacy and everything I've ever believed in crumbled in front of my eyes and worse, my ex-mate, that shameless and worthless whore is standing above the ruins, smirking and looking down on me!” I roared, releasing all my pent up anger.
I reached for a vase and threw it against the wall, it shattered at impact and Athena screamed, a bit terrified. I staggered, still intoxicated.
“You weren't there Athena, she humiliated me publicly, in the presence of those who feared me, she made me look like an helpless puppy, you think I'm happy knowing that henceforth she's the boss o me and my entire pack is at her fvcking mercy? I'm now just a figurehead alpha with no real power! It's only a matter of time when the elders will begin to shift their allegiance, you think I don't fvcking know that?” I thundered, she cowered in fear, realizing I was more upset than she is.
“We should stop her, she has no righ-”
“This is all your fault!” I pointed at her, wagging an accusing finger.
“What?”
“Yes, you kept pushing me and convincing me to let the ‘investor’ take over and I can just recover all in no time, if you hadn't pushed me, I would've not succumbed to this shame and humiliation.”
“Don't you dare pin all of this on me! I was trying to help us both, are you comfortable with watching the company you built sink? Is that what you wanted? For the elders to deem you unfit to be alpha or even CEO of the company. You know this was a smart and lifesaving move, if only that whore didn't get involved!”
I threw my head back and laughed, sadistically. “Well, that whore is now the boss of us both. I hope you're happy.”
“So what? You're giving up just like that? Without putting up a fight? Don't you have friends? Alphas who owe you favors? Let's do something about this!”
There was a fire of indignation lit in her eyes, her tensed shoulders showed that she had been thinking, trying to find a way to get us out of this mess but I knew better than anyone, that it would all be nothing, Cameron had her back and even if he didn't, she has an advantage over us; she's now wealthy and can decide to fire us, displace us from our own company so there was nothing I could do about it.
“Why aren't you saying something Alan!” Athena asked, panicking. I smiled weakly and she shook her head, denying this new reality that I had shoved down my throat. “No, no this can't be.”
“She owns the company now, Alpha Cameron is backing her up, until I can find a way to beat that, I am defeated by the woman I once rejected and looked down on, she's my boss.” I intoned, like it freshly dawned on me.
“You may accept that reality but it isn't mine!” Athena refused, still adamant.
I chuckled sarcastically. “Do what you want Athena, I'm going to bed, I have to resume work tomorrow, as early as possible, after all; I'm no longer the CEO.” I told her, frustration and desperation was heavy in my tone and I walked past her, ascending the stairs leading to my room.
With every step I took, I felt a stab at my heart, my thoughts running wild and a crushing pressure weighing down on me. The thoughts of having no way out, being trapped and being played like a fool haunted me, above anything, I wanted, no, I miserably needed to end this, to grab Sheila's neck and strangle out an apology from her but I knew none of this were far from happening.
I threw my weight on my bed, still fully clothed, my eyes refused to close as every time I shut it, I see flashes of her image, how she stood up to me and called my bluff. It was heartbreaking to accept this new reality, panic set in, despair crept into my heart slowly, I didn't want Athena to see, couldn't let anyone know that I'm scared, of the unknown, of what will become of me.
When I woke up this morning, I woke up as the owner of my life, someone in control and charge but it slipped away from me the moment she walked in and now, I'm afraid, I'll never be able to outlive that feeling, a tear slid down my face and I forcefully shut my eyes, allowing the alcohol delude me with a sense of ease.
The next morning, I went to work. Athena wasn't there when I left home, she had dropped a little note for me. What was written on it was clear and concise.
You may accept this, but I don't. Sheila will never be in control of my life.
“Good morning sir, please follow me. This way to your new office.” My new secretary greeted me when I arrived.
I acknowledged this with a nod and a sense of relief washed over me. At least she was gracious enough to give me an office in my own company, isn't life a sweet little bitch? I had gotten a text this morning while driving here; my old secretary would no longer be working with me and I've been assigned a new one.
My office was small, crappy and smelt like someone just died in there. It was the office that had been abandoned for as long as I remembered, it had poor lighting, no air conditioner or good ventilation. I chuckled amusedly, she was mocking me and this is a clear message.
“Great! An absolutely great way to celebrate my fall from grace.” I sarcastically remarked, clenching my fist in anger.
The phone; a dusty landline rang before I could say another word and my secretary picked it up and only muttered an ‘okay’.
“The boss wants everyone at the conference room in ten minutes.” He relayed to me.
“Why?”
“Didn't say why, that was the order.”
I nodded my head, everything keeps getting amusing and better, of course; a CEO never explains the rationale behind actions to the subjects, it is important to maintain that air of arrogance, to remind everyone who's in charge. I made my way to the conference room and noticed that I hadn't come across anyone that I recognized the whole time.
She was seated there when I walked in; on the chair I once seated on, a serious frown on her face, one that meant that no one is allowed to mess with her. She gave me a faint smile as she saw me then turned her attention back to the large pile of files before her. Others began to arrive and the door was locked afterwards, signifying that the meeting had officially commenced.
“Good morning everyone, I hope we all had a restful night? Well, I did. As you can all see if you look closely around you, there are new faces in the company, you may wonder why, it is because I hired them all, this morning.” Sheila began. There were whispers among the board members but she waited for a moment for the noise to quiet.
“Thank you for that wonderful session, let's make sure it doesn't repeat itself.” She added then paused to let it sink in. “Like I said, I let some people whom you're most likely familiar with go this morning because their goals no longer align with that of the company."
I raised my hand to speak and she consented. “What do you mean doesn't align with the goals of the company? I'll have you know that I personally hand-picked those people myself, are you saying I'm short-sighted?”
This sparked another round of murmuring and she handled this with a powerful response at first, silence.
“It's quite relieving to know someone takes responsibility for this, did you know that this hand-picked workers of yours have been laundering money from the company?” She alleged then motioned for her secretary who began to share some printed out documents to all of us.
I went through it and saw that truly, some funds had been redirected right under my nose. I clenched my jaw tightly and pressed my lips into a hard line, my knuckles turned white as my blood boiled in anger. It wasn't a huge amount of money, but it was happening without me even realizing.
“This isn't a huge amount of money, surely it is wrong but it can be pardoned and we'd ask for a refund in tenfold, these people are talented, hardworking and have been with the company for years!” Jared; one of the executives intoned.
Sheila chuckled and motioned for her secretary who projected a list. “As you can see, this year alone, a sum of ten million dollars has been laundered right under your nose. Want to take a guest at how much it has been through the years? This is one of the sources of the problems this company has and trust me, I'm going to tackle it all.” She boasted.
“How did you manage to get new workers overnight? Have you been planning this for a while now? It'll take weeks to find people who are the right fit for these positions, you'd have to recruit them, interview and consult with the hiring department of the company, you know there are formalities to these things, right?” I asked her, attempting to salvage the fact that she just solved half the company's problem in less than fourty-eight hours of being here while I almost ran into bankruptcy.
“I did all that myself.”
“You mean to tell us that you scouted, interviewed and successfully employed about fifty people all by yourself just this morning, because I can bet my life on it that they weren't here yesterday.”
“Yes, I did.”
I smirked. “It's all too good to be true to me, it almost seemed planned, are you doing this because you knowI personally employed this people because if that's the case then it's alarming because no matter the personal vendetta you might have against me, the welfare of the company comes first, you should know that at the least don't you?” I accused and she was lost for words, she looked confused and it was my turn to smirk, everyone began to murmur and I sat back, relaxed.
At that moment, I realized that I have an advantage over her and I am damn sure going to exploit and use it well, proving her incompetent will leave her no choice but to leave me in charge of the company.
“That's not what this is, Alpha Alan, don't get it twisted.” She attempted to explain.
“What he said makes absolute sense, its physically impossible to do something like that, and we've been working with these set of people for a while now and didn't see anything pertaining to this about them, how sure are we that this isn't a scheme of yours just to put your own little army in the company so you'll take total charge of it? This is overboard!” Kevin, another executive spat, sparking an argument.
“I can assure you that these records are legit, you can crosscheck it if you want and go through the back statement to see it.” Sheila explained, in an attempt to salvage the situation.
“I call your bluff! The former CEO would've known if this was true, we also know of your history with him. Is this some form of revenge? It may be a joke to you Miss Sheila but this is our pack, our future depends on this!” Another executive stated.
They all began to talk all at once and I just sat back and enjoyed the chaos while Sheila tried to calm them down.
“I said silence!” Sheila growled as she slammed her hand on the table, causing everyone to shut their mouth and tremble in fear.