𝐎𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞

Chapter Thirty-Seven

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Imani was having the best time of her life. She couldn't remember the last time she was as happy as she currently was with her new job and Matthew; perhaps it's because she had never been in love, but she doubted anyone could make her happy as Matthew did.

In the second month of her new job, Isaac suggested that she sit at different department meetings to find her niche. Imani, though nervous about meeting new people every week, came to love the interactions. She liked marketing, especially when working on ads running under Buscorp, a new social media platform under Ocean corporations. Although it was new, it was generating more users every day such that experts were predicting that it could be the next big thing in the market in a few years. Imani sometimes found herself dumbfounded at how much Matthew contributed to the world—not only with money but resources as well, skills, not to mention jobs.

Silently walking back to her workstation, she placed her notepad down to go through the few suggestions made by several people in the meeting. Her stomach flipped as she prepared to write down feedback to enhance the suggestions, the workaround, especially because Buscorp had the potential to make money under advertising in a couple of months, if not years. Imani believed they should offer free advertising for now as the platform was new, and the market already had more than a few social media platforms with almost the same provisions.

She was anxious and felt timid because the group consisted of people with degrees in Marketing. Having an opinion on their proposals might come off as haughty, and Imani didn't want to rock the boat while she was still learning the ropes, but she remembered something Matt had told her.

'If you want someone to accept your feedback, especially when it requires change or improvement of their idea, praise it first and then state how it can be improved. People are fickle and in constant need of affirmation.'

"Does that include you?" She had asked. Matthew had smiled, a little stretch of his lips as if he'd remembered something far away. "Not anymore." She had nodded and let it go because he seemed like he did not want to talk more about it.

Typing out her feedback, she leaned back in her seat to read through it before sending the email, chickening out at the last minute. She groaned, hurling her head on top of her desk in frustration.

Coward! She chastised herself before lifting her head with a new sense of confidence, staring at the screen of her laptop, reading it one more time, and then clicking send.

There! She mumbled to herself, holding her breath as if to hold any response until the following day; at least, she would have the whole night to prepare herself for it. She waited, but nothing came except uproar from their office and on the floor on top of theirs. Imani looked around where she was to find; while she had wrestled with how to word the email to avoid coming off as brash, something exciting had happened.

"What is happening?" she asked Carol, the lady who sat next to her. She turned slightly to Imani with a curious stare, "apparently, father Josè is on his way in."

Imani's heart slammed against her chest in panic, and then she realized the priest would never ought her, but that didn't stop her from wondering why Matthew hadn't told her he was coming.

"Didn't you know?" Carol asked, "I thought he recommended you for this job."

"You thought correctly," Imani said with a forced smile. She hated how Carol asked as if she had lied about the recommendation. "We have a mutual friend; it's not like he is required to share his itinerary with me." Imani continued in an irritated tone.

"I didn't mean it like that." Imani threw her a grin and then watched people get excited about finally seeing father Josè. She understood the curiosity and the mystery surrounding the man they knew was held in high esteem by their boss. However, it turned out the priest was not alone; three men flanked him. Without seeing them, Imani knew who the three men were. Standing quickly as if in slow motion, she walked to the corner of their office to stand beside most of the employees, grappling for a better view.

While they were craning their neck to see them, father josè was urging Pete not to tell Matthew he was there.

"I want to surprise him."

"He might fire me, sir. My job is to make sure I screen everyone entering his office and tell him beforehand so he's not unprepared."

Father Josè gestured with his hand to dismiss Pete's response as if it was ridiculous to be fired over such a flimsy reason.

"If I may ask, sir, who are your guests." Isaac's timid tone was almost inaudible.

"His security detail," Bruno said from where he stood flipping through Time magazine that had been among the few magazines and business journals on the small upholstered stool beside the couch.

"No, they're not." father Josè narrowed his eyes at Bruno and then smiled gently at Isaac who was looking utterly confused it was almost comical.

"Don't listen to him; I don't need security."

"Really? I thought priests have bodyguards." Isaac looked puzzled and suddenly uncomfortable.

"No. You must be confusing a priest with the pope." Rom chimned in, and Raph chuckled from his position on the window, looking out at the fence covering Ocean Cooperation headquarters.

"Oh," Isaac sighed. "I'm sorry, sir. Would you like to come with me?"

The priest nodded, and the guys followed. Imani watched them pass through from the reception with Isaac in front of them.

She had been right; it was them. Raphael, Romano, and Bruno. They looked exactly as they did in those photos in Father Josè's small office in Italy—tall, dark, gorgeous, and utterly intimidating. It was in their stance, their walk, and how they seemed as if they knew where everyone was, which was ridiculous because they couldn't. But then something strange happened, all three moved their eyes in unison, touching every office corner with employees staring at them. Imani averted her gaze, feeling embarrassed at having been caught gawking.

They knew; they felt the piercing eyes of employees on them as if they were of a rare breed. Perhaps they were. She had heard a few things about them from Matt to conclude that these men did not play by anybody's rules. They made theirs, just as Matt did, but the difference was there were lines Matthew could never cross because of who he was, whereas these men could cross any line as long as it served their bottom line.

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