Salted

Parts of the TRUTH

                                      ALTHEA

I turned, my eyes fixated on the man before me. He stood with a cold expression on his face and a stance that would make many women cry.

He had dark brown Arabian eyes with a warm coloured skin. Dark hair that was neatly and carefully combed with his freshly cut stubble making him look dominant.

A navy Armani suit covered his silhouette and fit him perfectly. It looked to be tailor made just for him and I would believe if it was. He  looked like a man who had his own money.

"Enough with this. We have business to discuss" he said and I checked my wrist watch to see that I had an excess twenty minutes before my first official meeting.

"Follow me to my office. I only have twenty minutes" I said honestly with my face devoid of any emotion as I turned towards all the people in the room.

"You are dismissed"

I said and took my purse, walking out of the boardroom and down the hallway towards the main office. I took in the design on the walls and the furniture.

This clearly needs renovation.

I stepped into the office and scanned around to be greeted by a glass wall with a beautiful view of the city. I was almost pulled into a moment of bliss when I recalled the guest I had.

Turning towards the door, I scanned him as he walked in and saw how beautiful the man truly was. He seemed to be sculpted by Aphrodite herself.

"I believe we have not been introduced to each other. Althea Caddel" I said and walked towards my desk.

"Alexander Pierce" he said and I stopped.

The name seemed so familiar but I couldn't pin whether I knew the name before or after my amnesia. I shook my head as I hinted for the man to take a seat.

"What can I help you with, Alexander?" I asked as his name rolled off my tongue for the first time. I saw him look up once he heard me call him by his name.

"We are not on the first name basis yet" he said but I rolled my eyes at his statement. What are we in? Elementary school? Hideous.

"There are no steps for me in naming. Either the first name or last name only. You can choose either one, Pierce" I said and he raised a brow when I called him Pierce.

The man had nearly trimmed eyebrows which made me question if they were natural or whether he had them done.

"I believe in them because they cancel any chance of disrespect and usually saves me from throttling women who disrespect me as much as you just did" he said and I rolled my eyes.

"Then you should throttle my neck because this is not even my most disrespectful level. I am being considerate since you and I are apparently business partners" I said.

Anabelle had explained that I was involved with one company that Alexander also owned. According to the rates, we co owned Matthew Manufacturers.

"Can we discuss business? Because I have a meeting in ten minutes" I said and he held out a file I never saw him holding. Could he have had an invisible briefcase?

"I want to finalise the terms and conditions about the co-owning of Matthew Manufacturers" he said and held out the file that I took from him.

"Those are the terms I discussed with the old CEO, Hernandez. Revise them and change all you want to fit in then have it sent to my lawyer" he ordered and I resisted the urge to throw a comment towards him.

Be civil. No personal business affects work related issues!

I reminded myself of one of the rules written in my old journal. I wanted to read it but I had no strength to face whatever I could find written in there.

I was not even sure if I wanted to have my memory back. I felt like it was easier to start over on a new clean slate which meant you could not go back to the old dirty one.

"When is the deadline?" I questioned as I surveyed the papers in front of me. Some of the terms in the papers made me want to shiver.

Hernandez had agreed to become a silent partner and not even have any single power to take a related decision of that company. I shook my head as I closed the file.

"This will not work. We should set a meeting to draft new terms because if this worked for Hernandez, they clearly won't work for me" I said and he glanced down at his wrist watch.

"Check your schedule and arrange a meeting with my assistant. Here is the number" he said and slid over his black business card which was written in a gold italic font.

"Anything else to discuss?" I questioned and he shook his head. I stood up from my seat as he mirrored my actions. I shook my head to not focus on his cologne that was assaulting my nostrils.

God!

"Well if there is nothing else, I have a meeting to get to. You know your way out, Pierce" I said and went towards the file cupboard to take out the file when I noticed a gaze on me.

I turned to Alexander and saw a look of male appreciation before it was covered by the darkness of his eyes that seemed to hold so many secrets and so many hidden emotions.

I never realised we were staring at each other for that long until Anabelle burst into my office and earned both our attention.

"Can we talk?" She questioned.

Alexander turned towards the door and walked out as Anabelle stepped in. I felt my eyes struggle to tear away from his retreating back that seemed to radiate power.

"You should stay away from him. He is taken" she said and I turned to her with a glare which made her coward more into size.

"I am not interested. I already have enough problems of my own than to chase a taken man. Pretty much sure I am even better than his wife" I mentioned.

"You mean your sister?" She questioned and I stared at her wondering what she meant by mentioning my sister who hates me to gates of hell back.

"What do you mean?" I questioned and she smiled at me.

"Mr Pierce is engaged to be married to Ms Athena"