Destined

Chapter 1 ~ The Meeting

Chapter 1

"Sir, your 2:00 o'clock appointment is here."

His personal assistant poked his head at his office door. He has been with him since he took over the running of their companies. For more than a decade now, James is the one person he trusted the most. Aside from his astuteness in his tasks, assigned or not, he made his professional and personal life a lot easier. He was one of the students who were granted scholarships by one of the many charitable institutions that his family was supporting. James' loyalty is unquestionable.

"Is everyone there yet?" Luca Conti asked, them being the executive team of his London office for the 2:30 p.m. scheduled meeting. "Yes, Sir. They got in early." He was not surprised that they came in 30 minutes early. They knew him better than to make him wait.

"Tell me again what my 2:00 o'clock is," he asked. "She's applying as Human Resources Manager, passed a series of exams and interviews. The Vice President thought it important that she should have a final interview with you seeing that you're here and that she will directly report to you in the absence of the VP and, of course, upon your request, Sir. She doesn't have direct academic background for the position but has gained a lot of experiences in the field, plus, she is a juris doctor which makes her more than qualified for the job. She is highly recommended by the VP," James breathed handling him her file.

"Why don't you usher her to the conference room instead? Give me a few minutes to read her file before sending her in," he instructed while walking to the hidden panel that connects his office to the conference room.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Conti." All 12 of them stood up to show respect. He took his seat at the head of the oval table and looked at the 9 men and 3 women surrounding it. He hired most of them while this branch of his company was starting up. He fell in love with the place the first time he came here for a speaking engagement and he vowed to branch out here. After 4 years, his London office is flourishing, thus, the need to hire additional employees.

"I'd like to start the meeting now seeing that all of you are already here but I have to interview someone highly recommended by Victor to head the Human Resources Department," he said looking pointedly at the VP.

He squirmed in his seat and said, "I have 3 choices actually, Sir. This person is on top of them and she is the only one who deserves your time for an interview."

"I am not in the mood to interview applicants so I'd rather have her in the panel hoping that you will help me grill her before we go on to more serious matters. So feel free to ask relevant questions," he instructed as he opened the file before him.

His eyes roughly scanned the file before returning on top of the first page where the picture of the applicant was. He gasped so loud that all 12 people looked at him, surprised by his reaction. His eyes were glued to the picture, fingers shivering at the discovery.

Just then, James knocked once and opened the door ushering the woman inside. She was taken aback to see a roomful of people. She was led to believe that she was to be interviewed by the CEO who was in town for the week. She didn't expect the interview to have an audience at the very least but she easily recovered and smiled to everyone.

"Good afternoon," she greeted them with the confidence she didn't feel at the moment. She'd been to panel interviews before and she handled them quite well, after all, she's an award-winning public speaker since her school days. But today, for some reason, she was feeling nervous.

Luca abruptly stood up and walked swiftly to the woman. He hugged her fiercely and said in a loud voice, "Baby, you naughty woman. Is this the surprise you told me earlier?" Then whispered in her ear, "don't talk, just smile."

The woman gasped, too shocked to say anything and Luca took the opportunity to kiss her softly. He kept the woman in his embrace, cupping the back of her head and pressed her face to his chest, turning to the people in the room.

"I'd like all of you to meet my fiancée. She's just staging a joke on me. Sorry, Victor. You just have to consider the other applicants. Excuse me for a while. James, please serve them refreshments while I take care of my fiancée," he instructed and lifted the woman up in his arms, carrying her all the way to his office.

"He has a fiancée?" "She is his fiancée?" "I didn't know he has one," are the bewildered murmurs of the people left in the room.

"James, do you know her beforehand?" Victor asked, still can't believe by what just transpired. He tried to remember if he was, at any time, been disrespectful to the woman. He better have not been or Mr. Conti will kick his ass out.

James just smiled and walked out of the room to have the executive secretary, Leila served refreshments. "Could this be the girl Mr. Luca told him about during one drunken night years ago?" He thought shaking his head and returned to his table outside Mr. Luca's office. He had the good sense to retrieve the file from the conference room. He called Victor's office and told the secretary to bring all the files they have of this woman to him.

"Michaela Rodriguez," he read aloud. "You are one lucky lady."