Chapter 5 Madam President

Zaria sighed softly while staring at the empty conference room. She remembered this place, she remembered running into this room many times while growing up to talk to her parents in the middle of a meeting. She touched the leather chair and rubbed her hands softly, she remembered her Dad sitting in this chair. The leather chair was changed almost every year but whenever she saw her father sitting in it. it always looked the same to her.

Her Mom had always talked about how excited they were for her to sit down in that particular leather chair and Zaria had been excited as well. She wanted to sit down on that chair while they watched beaming smiles at her, not while they were six feet under and what was more unwilling.

Zaria sucked a breath while she stood up from the chair and exited the conference room, the hallway was empty and void of any staff and personnel which made Zaria snicker. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she immediately dug her hands into her pockets and brought out her phone. Seeing the ID, she didn't think twice as she picked up the call and continued walking down the hallway.

"Hey," a familiar voice called.

"How was the meeting?" Theodore asked and Zaria smiled.

"It was nice," Zaria replied with a soft smile playing on her lips.

"I got a mail from Mark," Theodore said and Zaria laughed quietly.

"What did he say?" Zaria asked.

"He sent you an assistant," Theodore replied, dropping the resumes in his hand while placing the phone in his hands on the table and placing it on a loudspeaker.

"He hasn't been around in years and yet he knows every fucking thing that goes on around here" Theodore added in a playful tone that made Zaria burst into laughter.

"Send my regards," Zaria replied.

"As you wish my Lord" Theodore's reply sent both him and Zaria into fits of laughter and Zaria chuckled when she ended the call. She didn't remember when last she had laughed as genuinely as that. A figure came into her view and Zaria sneered upon recognizing the person. She slipped her phone into her pocket and continued walking.

"Zariann, it's so...." The latter didn't get to finish what she was saying because Zaria had already closed the gap between them and grabbed her by the throat; pushing her fiercely toward the wall, a sinister look in her eyes.

"Za...Zaria, what are you doing?" the person asked, struggling as hard as possible to get Zaria's hands off her throat but for some reason, Zaria's hands were like steel. No matter how much she shook her hands and scratched her arm, Zaria didn't care. Her fingers only got tighter around her throat till she wasn't able to say anything and was only able to gasp for breath.

"Dear cousin Carlin, it's so nice to see you again" Zaria started smiling.

"I'm curious though. If there was anything wrong, that I did to you. Or whenever you came over to play and hang out whether my parents didn't treat you well, or maybe I had a crush on a boy you liked and didn't tell me about or something else. It keeps me up all night for whatever reason you must have when you sent those gangsters after me" Zaria revealed and despite the fact that she couldn't breathe properly, Carlin's eyes widened in surprise and shock.

It was supposed to be a secret.

"No, don't look at me like that. I offered them something better than you did so they told me who sent them and didn't leave me to die" Zaria continued pursing her lips.

"I treated you like a sister, like a real sister. I shared everything I had with you, Carlin. Everything!" Zaria yelled.

"But what I got in return was a kill order," Zaria added, her fingers getting tighter around Carlin's throat. With the way the latter's eyes were switching between white and red, Zaria knew that she couldn't breathe anymore. Sneering; she released the hold of her fingers on her throat and Carlin dropped to the floor coughing and beating her chest to take in as much oxygen as she could.

"Consider yourself a dead man walking Carlin. Your days are numbered, at the snap of my fingers, your life could be taken away from you. You and everyone who did this to me and my family will not go scot-free" Zaria added walking away while her angry face reverted back to being calm and expressionless.

She pressed the button on the elevator and stepped inside watching quietly as the doors closed as the elevator moved and stopped at the last floor. The doors slid open and Zaria realised that there was someone standing in front of her. The other person was quick to bow in greetings while Zaria raised her eyebrow to ask him who he was.

"Good morning Madam President, my name is Noah Emerson and I'm your new assistant" the latter introduced himself and Zaria nodded while walking towards her office.

"Your schedule this morning is packed with a few meetings but I already had them filtered out and arranged the most important ones" Noah started passing the tablet in his hand to Zaria who took the tablet and swiped through the tablet nodding her head.

"Have the Directors of Project Management and Planning in my office in ten minutes" Zaria said, returning the tablet.

"Yes ma'am" Noah replied as Zaria stopped in her tracks.

"Mark sent you?" Zaria asked, turning to him and realising that Noah was a cold-faced beauty sculpture like her brother.

"Yes ma'am" Noah replied, maintaining a straight face.

"Call me Zaria then," Zaria said and Noah shook his head.

"Hierarchies are Hierarchies Madam President" Noah replied and Zaria chuckled lightly. Trust Mark to have given him strict instructions.

"It's alright then" Zaria replied, pushing the door to the CEO's office open and stepping inside.

The secretary's space was the first to come into view. There was a space for visitors to sit and another personal table and chair with a flower vase on it. At the extreme side sat his table and chair, a fax machine, and every other thing a secretary would need while working. She remembered seating on the table and chair with the flower vase, where she had most of her video calls and did her assignments.

She remembered her Dad's secretary, Miss Priscilla. She had a sweet soul with a sweet tooth and she had also taught her to eat sweet and different chocolates by the ingredients. She was the main reason why she loved chocolates and sweets so much because she would never fail to stuff her with them anytime she came around. But she also died along with her parents that night.

Zaria took a deep breath while striding towards another door beside the secretary's computer and turned the doorknob and stepped into the office. It was what she remembered; at least her dastardly uncles hadn't changed anything. The way the chairs were, the mahogany table, the wide and long bookshelf, everything was the same as one year ago. A lot of the furniture and pieces of art in the room had been replaced but in Zaria's eyes, she could see her Dad seated on his seat, a frown marring his face and focusing on the work in front of him. He suddenly raised his head and saw her standing in front of him.

"What are you doing there staring at me? Your Dad is very handsome right?" he asked and burst into laughter.

Zaria closed her eyes and when she opened her eyes, he wasn't there anymore. A tear slid down her cheeks and Zaria smiled. She took a deep breath, walked towards one of the armchairs and sat down crossed her legs, and closed her eyes.

A knock came on the door a few minutes later and Zaria slowly opened her eyes.

"Come in," she said and Noah stepped into the room. He opened his mouth to say something but paused halfway seeing Zaria's drowsy eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm fine. Let them come in" Zaria said, seeing Noah's hesitation.

"Yes ma'am," Noah said, closing the door behind him, and when the door opened next, there were five men and two more women with Noah.

"Madam President" they chorused and Zaria nodded her head pointing to one of the seats and asking them to sit down.

"The project file?" Zaria asked and one of the women quickly passed her a file. Noah collected it and handed it over to Zaria who opened the file and flipped through the numerous pages before raising her head to glare at the Director of Project Planning.

"You approved all these?" she asked and the other man who was a few years older cowered underneath her glare. He lowered his head quietly while nodding his head.

"Yes ma'am" he replied, his voice as quiet as a mouse. Zaria flung the file to the floor, the contents spilling everywhere.

"Cancel every single one"