"He wants to meet you first before finalising the date."
"What?" left my mouth loudly even before I could process it in my head. I had an even more horrified look on my face. I was starting to panic inside, but I did my best to calm myself. I can't let Alice see me like that. She will get suspicious, and that is the last thing I want. She was already looking surprised by my sudden outburst.
"Yeah, his secretary just called me, asking me for the date of the meeting," she stuttered before answering me.
"You don't want me to continue this collaboration?" she asked, looking at my distressed face. She was starting to get suspicious.
"N-no, you have worked hard for it; how can we let it go? Fix a meeting with him for tomorrow with Aria," I said, bringing back my forced smile. I looked at Aria, and she gave me a firm nod. Aria was our HR and PR head.
"I will tell them to fix it for tomorrow, but the problem is they have specifically told me to fix the meeting with you," she informed us, and it was the end for me. She was throwing boom after boom at me.
"Specifically with me?" I questioned, not getting it. Why do they want to have a meeting with me? They know this because they work under the PR heads of the companies.
"Yes, Erick Villne wants to make sure that he is doing this with the right people. They said he is doing it for a cause, so he wants to be sure about our fashion line and the owner. He wants to be sure before joining his name with our fashion line," she said, telling us a valid reason that was given from his end. I had nothing to objectify. He was doing it for free, and it was expected of me to agree with his terms. People out there will fight for this kind of opportunity, and it has come walking to my door. But at what coast? I don't know why he wants to meet me when he knows I'm the owner. I don't even know why he agreed to this collaboration. Is it all about the deal with my dad? Everything confuses me so much. I have thought about it in a different way. It's a good opportunity for my company, and I can't lose it. If he becomes our show stopper, then we will be known to millions of people who have their eyes set on him. It's not about me; it's about my company. I can survive a meeting with him. I found Alice looking at me, waiting for my answer. I swallowed hard and cleared my throat.
"Ok, if that's what he wants. Fix the meeting tomorrow with him," I said with a small smile on my face, and she nodded her head eagerly in excitement. She was the most excited person after getting this collaboration. She is his fan only if she knows who he really is. Everyone stayed quiet until she left my office.
"Are you ok with this?" Evelyn asked while covering my hand with hers.
"You know I can still go in your place, and I will make sure they don't back down because you weren't at the meeting," Aria said, trying to assure me. My friend was trying her best to assure me, but she doesn't know the real Erick Villain. If he decides to shut down, no one will stop him, not even Aria.
"Don't worry, I can survive a meeting with him," I said with a confident smile on my face. My face is doing its best not to give away what I was feeling.
"Now let's get back to work. We have to do it now that we have a celebrity businessman joining our brand," I said with fake enthusiasm and grabbed my laptop. They both sighed, looking at me, but I kept my eyes fixed on my screen.
"Yeah, you are right. I will get the papers ready for you tomorrow," Aria said while getting up.
"I will send a coffee and a tylon for your headache," Evylen said while grabbing my coffee mug, which has turned cold. Only when they left the room did I avert my eyes from the screen. I let my feelings slip away when I was completely alone. My shoulders slumped, and I took deep breaths to calm myself. My heart was drumming wildly in my rib cage. I don't know what I'm going to do at the meeting. I have no idea how I'm going to calm myself and be in control when I'm in front of him. Tears welled up in my eyes when a flash of my past flashed in front of them. I pushed my hair back with both hands and looked up to drink back my walk-up tears. I had promised myself that I would never cry again. I can't break my promise. I can't become weak again. I heard a knock on my office door, and it made me pull myself away. I took a few more deep breaths before asking the person to come in. I tried to pretend that I was focused on my laptop screen.
"Your coffee and tablet," Evlyn said at the door. I know she never knocks on the door, but today she did.
"Thank you," I said in my controlled voice, and I smiled thankfully. She placed them on my desk and walked away. Coffee and tablets kept sitting on my desk untouched. I don't know how I managed to drag myself until the end of the day. I very badly wanted to curl up in bed and sleep. I was going crazy with thoughts of what I would do tomorrow when I saw him. My mind was making different kinds of scenarios in my head. Some of them were me killing him. I shook my head, getting rid of these thoughts. When I was finally in bed, I let sleep and tiredness take over. I just wanted to have some rest before I faced him again. Anxiety was not letting me sleep, but fatigue pushed me into a deep slumber.
Only God knows what he has planned for me.
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Bed of Nails
Romance"Get out," I said in a firm voice, but it shook a bit at the end. The muscles in his jaw tensed when I said that. Instead of getting out, he closed the door and started taking calculative predatory steps toward me. His eyes moved all over my length...
