Becca's POV
'Why do mornings always have to be so bright' I thought to myself as Gloria came in as if on cue and our whole cycle began again
"Wake up young miss", Gloria chides as she begins cleaning up another night's worth of clothes that were strewn around on the floor
"I will" I said before quietly mumbling "after a few minutes" and of course she noticed my underhanded tactic and countered it with the most powerful trump card she has ever used "your grandmother wishes to see you" she said and with that I sprung myself out of bed.
Getting to the bathroom I noticed the usual arrangement of my toothpaste neatly and evenly spread out on my toothbrush, my towels arranged just the way I like them and any other evidence of tardiness that may or may not have been left there by me, completely erased even down to the smallest detail
"What would I do without you Gloria" I say to myself just as I have done every other morning when I come back drunk and as usual she answers
"You'd be forced to grow up young miss" she says as she comes in and helps me replace the soap which I had finished earlier.
.I finished up with the bathroom and as usual was scolded by Gloria about the unkempt state of my hair which she promptly fixed after which we walked into my walk-in closet determined to find the perfect dress for the day. You don't have to remind me that Gloria is actually the one who is going to be doing all the heavy lifting, I'm well aware that I lack any true fashion sense and Gloria is my only lifeline.
She eventually finds a dress and I have breakfast before heading out and instead of taking the car that is parked out front, I decide to instead walk the two blocks distance to my office.
Upon reaching my grandmother's office I am relieved to see no weeping employees sprinting out of her office, so after knocking I walk in and noticed my grandmother in her usual position staring out of her window which displayed the streets of New York, packed in all her rush hour beauty.
"Good morning grandmother" I say to get her attention after I had been sitting at her desk for 5 minutes and she had not noticed me.
"Good morning my dear" she says as she spins around in surprise before beckoning me to take a seat,
"Becca I have something important to discuss with you" she begins and seeing that two weeks ago when we had our last serious talk I had received bad news, I impatiently cut her off so that we can skip the long way to the point.
"What's wrong grandma" I say and she takes a deep breath before replying
" you see my dear I am getting older and so are you, soon this business which I have kept together for so long will fall into your hands and as an Esposito it is your obligation to show strength and intelligence when dealing with clients or other potential ventures which will in turn bring profit to our organisation" she says as she opts to still take the long way around instead of just getting to her point.
"Get to the fucking point grandma" I say as I already anticipate the fact that I'm not going to like the next words that come out of her mouth.
"Don't be angry dear but, I have decided to send you to a meeting this afternoon with a potential client of ours, a Nigerian drug lord named Caleb Okoye who wants to use our art smuggling operation to smuggle drugs out of Nigeria and to the rest of the world. You are to secure a deal with him which will bring a large amount of profit for our organisation" she says slowly as she tries to gauge my reaction.
"This afternoon? Are you off your meds again because you can't actually expect me to be ready by this afternoon" I say angrily
"I have faith in you" she says but it sounds more like a question and it's not exactly that reassuring
"I better get a 50 percent raise after this" I say as I storm out of her office.
After clearing my head, I decide that I need a game plan and In order to carry out this task my grandmother has given me, I first need some information and I know just who to get it from. Luckily for me he picks up on the second ring
"Good morning Becca" James says in a tone that tells me that he doesn't appreciate me disturbing him on his day off
"Morning James" I reply sweetly in an effort to sweeten his mind towards helping me.
"I really need your help" I say sadly and hoping that he can hear the cute pout in my tone.
"It would be an honour to help her highness" he replies with mock reverence punctuated with chuckles
"This isn't the time for jokes" I say as I laugh along with him.
"ok let's be serious now, I need Intel on someone I'm meeting this afternoon for lunch, a Nigerian drug lord named Caleb Okoye" I say and a moment later I hear the click of keyboard keys and 3 minutes later he's done
"it says here that he is ruthless as fuck but a real traditional person as well as a stickler for really cultured families so I would advise making him feel a bit at home maybe take him somewhere that serves his traditional dish" James suggests
"That's actually a good idea" I say before playfully adding "thanks for being useful for once James" I say before hanging up so that I can begin the search for African restaurants around the area to have our meeting, I wasn't going to leave anything to chance, I had to prove myself.
Noon came calling and so I headed downstairs but just before I could enter the black SUV that would take me to the restaurant, I notice a flock of my female employees circling a sports car. I scoff at how they are behaving but once again I stop short of entering the car. Instead I stand back and make some calculations and after assuring myself that it couldn't possibly be him I decide to enter but I stop once again.
With a groan I turn around and head towards the mob of employees who immediately part like the red sea the moment that they see me. And there he is in the centre of it all, with his black hair so unruly that it looks perfect. And a navy blue suit on his body that makes him look so much more powerful to me. 'Now this is what a CEO should look like' I think to myself as my body melts just by looking at him.
At that moment his captivating blue orbs finally meet mine and he smiles at me before pushing off from the car and walking towards me
"I believe we have plans for lunch beautiful" he says with a smirk.
"When did you get in?" I ask with a smile as we continue to make eye contact
"This morning, and since I had nothing to do I thought about taking you to lunch" he says and even though he's not trying, he sounds sexy as fuck.
I am about to reply when my assistant walks up and after exchanging pleasantries with Nathan, she reminds me that I have a meeting to attend to.
"We can reschedule lunch if you're busy" he offers but I decide that maybe he can come along which he accepts so I decide to go with him and send my assistant with my car. He opens the door for me and I get in and in 25 minutes we arrive at the restaurant just around the same time that Mr. Okoye arrives
"Good afternoon Mr Okoye" I say as I stretch my hand out to take his
"Good afternoon Ms Esposito" he says as he takes my outstretched hand and shakes it, after which I introduce Nathan as my fiancé and we walk in.
"I see you have taken into account my love of tradition" he remarks with a smile on his face
"Yes I have, after all you are a top priority client to me and my organisation" I say to him which he seems to like because he smiles for the first time since we met 2 minutes ago.
Okoye and I spoke for some time and after 4 hours and a lot of drinks we were all smiling and trading jokes. After the meeting Okoye remarked on how my family had been running this organisation for so many generations which I knew was a wonderful plus on my side, and the he said "I'm sure you must realise by now Ms Esposito, that this line of business is majorly dominated by the males which is why I am impressed to find strong and willing females such as you and your grandmother who have not settled for anything less than the best"
"You flatter me Mr Okoye" I say as a blush forms on my cheek from the compliment
"It is only the truth I have spoken Ms Esposito and that truth is the reason I will agree to this deal with you and your organisation" he says and so I beckon for my assistant who was sitting in the corner, she brings the contracts forward and Mr. Okoye signs them.
After he said this we shook hands, spoke a little bit more on the logistics of our business arrangement and then he left.
I turn to my assistant and tell her to take the contracts back to the office and that after that she can have the rest of the day off. She leaves as Nathan and I walk towards his car.
"Thanks for coming with me today. I was really nervous about the meeting and you really helped me get through it so thank you" I say as I look forward
"That was all you and you were amazing" he says with a smile which makes me blush.
"Seeing as neither of us wants to claim the win, why don't we chalk it up to a team effort?" I suggest and he nods as we both laugh at how drunk we are.
We get to the curb and see Isaac waiting for us in front of a black SUV, with a chauffeur hat on his head "What's he doing here" I ask in what I believe is a whisper but apparently he hears me cause he replies
"Well if you must know Becca, Nathan here is allowing me work out my poker debt by being his designated driver for the same rate that a cabby would charge" he says as he looks at Nathan with a frown on his face.
Nathan and I laugh a little before climbing into the car and 30 minutes later we're in front of my building. We get out as Nathan walks me to the front door and then I turn to him as I say
"I had a really fun time today Nathan. It looks like this arranged marriage is already raking in the profits. I mean who knew we could close a multibillion dollar deal by acting like a couple" I joke with him but he seems to get some sort of call cause he mutter a quick "I have to go" and then he leaves without saying goodbye.
'His loss' I think to myself as I go to enter my building after the SUV drives off with him in it.