"What did you just say?!" Odelia, who had just entered and heard what the second man said, asked in shock. When did Adam become the CEO of her company?
"It's just as I said; CEO Gray has promised to increase our salaries and add more bonuses and allowances to the meager amount we were paid initially by some malicious people who had decided to pocket the excess money," the man sneered, looking down at Odelia.
He was one of the previous employees who didn't like Odelia and had even helped Adam persuade some of the managers and department heads to agree to work under Adam. Odelia's heart skipped a beat at his words, but she managed to keep her composure and looked at the man calmly.
"I don't know what you are talking about, but as far as I'm concerned, I have not asked anyone to replace me or work in my stead, so if you don't want to lose your job, sit down and let's commence the meeting," she said authoritatively and swept her sharp gaze calmly over all the people seated at the table.
She was exuding such a cold and powerful aura that even though the dark glasses she wore blocked half of her face, for about a few seconds everyone felt intimidated by her presence and quieted down until another department head spoke.
"Huh? Aren't we currently under the management of CEO Gray? How did it become you again?" The man asked curiously, his tone sounding concerned and disappointed.
"Yes! Mr. Gray is the current CEO; the news was all over the press a few days ago; we all know all the rights CEO Gray gave to you have been revoked, and everything had been handed over back to him after the incident about you that was also all over the news," one of the department heads who was in charge of media relations said. He didn't have to go into details since everyone knew what he was talking about.
At this point, everyone remembered who Odelia was, and then they began to say whatever they knew and had heard.
"Isn't this Odelia Graham, the woman who CEO Gray had been engaged to? Wasn't it said that he had appointed her as CEO and had kept his own identity as the sole proprietor hidden and had operated the company all this while behind the shadows?" one person said.
"Yes, that's her. She had been acting so high and mighty at that time and had even won an award for the youngest CEO to own such a big company before twenty, but who knew she wasn't the brains behind most of the things implemented in the company?" another manager said in disdain.
"Yes! She is Odelia Graham, the adopted daughter of the Graham family. They even held a press conference to cut all ties with her; they said they didn't realize she was such a vicious person and had adopted her," one department head who had recognized Odelia also said, his every demeanor showing just how much he looked down on Odelia.
"To think that wasn't enough, it was reported that after CEO Adam left her in charge, she not only embezzled the funds in the company and nearly made it bankrupt, but she also avoided paying taxes and nearly made the revenue authorities liquidate the company. If CEO Gray had not found investors for the company, imagine all the financial struggles we would be going through now," one middle-aged woman who had been quiet all this while finally spoke.
She was a department head for the processed food section and had almost been fired by Odelia because she made a "small mistake," according to her. She had mistakenly forgotten to paste the seafood caution sticker on the food packaging. The Odelia special assorted frozen pizza was made using seafood as its main ingredient, and it was dangerous for those who were allergic to seafood to consume it and could cause serious health complications in persons who were having severe allergies.
But in the middle-aged woman's opinion, Odelia had overreacted when she said she would be fired the next time something similar happened. She was one of the people who were happy about Odelia's current predicament.
The more they spoke, the more excited they became, saying all sorts of things. Odelia, on the other hand, felt like her world was crumbling under her feet whenever they spoke, 'What the hell were they talking about? Adam was the CEO and owner of her company, and he was the mastermind behind everything she had accomplished?' she thought in a daze.
She wanted to open her mouth to speak and refute everything they were saying, but no words were coming out. In her daze, she saw how everyone quieted down with a revered look on their faces as they bowed their heads in respect towards her as if they were seeing her for the first time.
"Good morning, everyone. Did I keep you all waiting?"
A deep male voice sounded behind Odelia, and her knees nearly gave out underneath her. Adam had just entered the conference room, and everyone shook their heads to refute what he said.
"Odelia? What are you doing here?" Adam asked in feigned surprise, as if he had no idea Odelia had called all the department heads for a meeting. Samuel, who was Adam's secretary, saw Odelia looking at his boss in a daze and went ahead and prompted Odelia.
Samuel, who knew Odelia's identity, felt bad for her, seeing the shock on her face that was still discernible behind the huge sunglasses she wore. But he was just a mere secretary; what could he do?
"Hello, Miss, apologies, but we are just about to start a meeting, and it appears that you may be lost. This meeting is restricted to authorized personnel only."
Odelia laughed maniacally as if she had heard the biggest joke of the century. 'The meeting was restricted to authorized personnel only? What was she? A sack of rice?' Odelia thought inwardly. Turning towards Adam, all the laughter left her mouth, and her demeanor was replaced by her usual aloofness.
Odelia was proud and stubborn by heart; the more she realized you wanted to put her down, the more when she wore her toughest mask to hide all her emotions. If you were not close to her, you would think she had never broken down and cried before, and in front of this scumbag she had once loved with all her heart, she knew she had to close off all her emotions and not make mockery of herself. He had called her trash; what more couldn't he do?
"Haven't you done enough? You do know nothing can be hidden forever, right?" She asked in a voice full of reproach.
"What are you talking about?" Adam asked, pretending to not understand what she was saying, but only he knew how much he was panicking within his heart. 'Where did she get her confidence from? Did she know something he didn't know?' he thought. But after thinking about how thorough he had been, his confidence returned.
What even annoyed him was that Odelia had not rushed to him with tears all over her face and sorrowfully asked why he was doing what he did and begged him to come back to her. Dissatisfaction mixed with disappointment added to his ego made him so angry that he decided to teach her a lesson.
"Security! Security! Come and drag this deranged woman out of here!" He snarled, and then he turned to look at Samuel and barked.
"What are you standing there for? Call up the security and tell them to drag her away and never allow her to gain access into the building again."
"No need to worry about that; I can go on my own; just enjoy everything while it lasts," Odelia said determinedly and turned to leave.
"I will be waiting. And the least I forget, prepare to go to court for embezzlement and misappropriation of funds. I will not forgive you for what you did to my company," Adam said confidently without any hints of remorse. He appeared and sounded like a person who had placed trust in the wrong person and ended up being deceived.
Odelia just shook her head and walked out of the conference room without sparing him a glance. She knew that no matter what she said, no one was going to believe her. But she was not going to back down; she promised she was going to reclaim everything they had taken away from her. Odelia had just taken two steps from the conference room when the security men came and approached her, trying to hold her.
"Don't touch me!" She yelled shrilly, finally forgetting to maintain her calm and indifferent demeanor. But they didn't bother and held both hands, trying to drag her out. Not wanting them to touch her, she began to struggle and wiggle out of their hold. Seeing that she wanted to resist, their grip on her hands tightened, and they dragged her out of the building without caring if they were hurting her.
By the time Odelia had been dragged to the entrance of the company, one of the heels on her shoes had come off, her hair was messy, and sunglasses had fallen off, making makeup look smudged in several places. Combined with her haggard appearance, she was a far cry from the prim and proper number one socialite, Odelia Graham, who turned heads no matter where she walked.
Seeing people pointing at her and hearing the whispers all around her, Odelia knew she had to get out of here before she made headlines again, so she flagged down a taxi and entered into the first one that stopped in front of her. As soon as she sat down, she pulled out her phone and searched for all the available news regarding Odelia Foods and Restaurant.
She nearly dropped her phone, seeing the first news that was making headlines. What wrong had she done to deserve this?