Chapter 4 ''Unspoken Tension''

ANTHONY POV

The moments I looked at her face, everything inside me prayed she lift up her, and when she looked at me it seemed I was drowning in her ocean eyes. She is my employee, and this is the second time I've felt this way toward her. I thanked the universe for blessing me with such a powerful mind, although it didn't sweep off the feelings, it perfectly hid them.

"Why are your hands shaking?" I asked.

"Nothing sir. I'm just... Sorry, nothing."

I rolled his eyes away from her. "Write. This is a few minutes past eight, precisely ten minutes. So, by 2 pm I will be having a meeting with the Executive board members, and also by 3:30 pm I have to meet with the company lawyer, and by 5 pm I will be heading to the family mansion, mother said she has something important to discuss with me; I wished I know what I that is. So, bear in mind that you are not just my secretary but also my assistant, you are paid to do both."

"Is that all for now, Sir?"

"Yes. You can leave."

She gave a weak bow and turned to leave. From the moment she turned till she reached the door, my eyes were fixated on her. Her long straight brown hair and her moderate, curvy hips gave me showed the beauty in her. The image of the first time I saw her was stuck in my head, I dropped the back of my head on the top of my seat and gazed up to the sky as I felt the hardness in between my legs.

How can someone be this beautiful, I said in my mind.

I took her off my mind when I turned on my computer and started going through the emails I had received from several investors in Mart Groups. It's barely a week since I became the Chief Executive Officer, and although my father had trained me to manage the business properly I had always refused to get myself physically present in any of the company's activities. Initially, I never wanted to take the position, but I had to.

My father and my mother had made lots of sacrifices building and keeping Mart Groups, which was founded by my grandfather a decade before his death. Seeing these messages on my computer boiled my heart in rage. I knew what they wanted, to act friendly but in the end, steal what the Martins family had spent years to build.

I moved my icon to delete each of the messages and stopped at one of the messages. I looked at the address, it caught my interest. Jonathan Martins.

"What's this bastard trying to say?" I said to myself. I opened it up and read the message.

Congratulations on being the new CEO of Mart Groups. We expect you to lead wisely just as Father did. This is advice to you brother, Mart went public three years before Dad's demise, and many of our shares and stocks are held by ambitious and perfectionistic folks. Self-confidence won't keep you on the seat, competence will – and I hope you have. Have a nice day, brother.

I clenched my fist tightly and grit my teeth, I could feel the folding of my furrowed brow. Everything about this bastard son of my Dad pissed me off. He had always tried to prove himself better than me. I blamed Dad, who refused to keep himself away from his mistresses and had a son out of wedlock two years before getting married to my mother. I could tell he had always longed for my birthright.

I scoffed and deleted the message immediately, "Fool." The competition of which son had ended a long time ago, Jonathan can never get anything from my father's wealth and I had made that possible. If it was in my power, he wouldn't have been in Mart Groups in the first place.

That would end today. He will feel the authority of the true heir.

I picked up the company files that contained the details of every staff and officer in Mart Groups. I flick through the pages and took notes of names on a separate book. It took me a lot of time and my back hurt.

I picked up the telephone by my side and placed a call to Mitchell. The thought of her made me lost for a minute, the image of her beauty melted my heart. I exhaled after hearing a lot of "Hello Sir..."

"I'm still on the line, stop talking! Get me a cup of coffee now," I hung up the telephone and dropped it down hardly.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I have to end this feeling completely, but the more I try the more it becomes stronger.

There was a light knock on my door, and it opened up with Mitchell approaching with a cup in her hand. She dropped it on the table on stood some inches away from my desk.

"You can leave."

She walked away and I tried all I could not to look at her. I couldn't remember having such feelings for anyone since I left high school. My parents had always put pressure on me to keep up with my illegitimate brother who was initially loved by all my father's friends because of his warm gesture and outspokenness. I saw him as a weakling, always opening his arms to welcome anyone, my father nicknamed him the "Good Samaritan" always diplomatic.

I looked at my wristwatch, in a little while I will be having the meeting with the Executive board. I rested my back in my chair and meditated on the last days I had with my Dad just to ward off my thoughts of Mitchell. It also helped me lose track of time.

I heard a knock at the door and sat up. I turned to the clock on the wall, it was five minutes before 2 pm. It's time already.

Mitchell came in, I stood up immediately and took the notes I had written down all I wanted to talk about in the meeting and tucked them into a folder. I walked up to her dropped the folder on her arms and walked passed her. "Let's go."

We got to the meeting room and all the executive members were seated, including Jonathan my half-brother. They all brought up their proposals and I had to take a look at them and appoint those who would be my fellow members of the board as the new CEO of the Mart Groups.

"I have seen and gone through everything that you all have contributed for the past years you've worked with my father. And, I have already made my choice and selected the names of those that will work with me from now onwards."

"The deputy Chairman of the Executive Board is Monroe Mount. The Chief Accountant is Fidelity Stine. The Chief Marketing Officer is Brian Stone. The Chief of Media, Publicity, and Adverts is Jennifer Myers. The Chief Secretary of this board is Gwen Forrest. The Chief Security Officer is Kelvin Burn. The Chief of Technology is Silas Wayne." I have called all the names of the people in the room including Michael Apollos and Jonathan.

"Michael Apollos, you are the new Chief Financial Officer and the Director of Staff." Everyone was shocked. I knew why.

Jonathan Martins has been CFO for about a decade since he graduated from Yale. "These names I mentioned are the new executive members and they will be the only officers in charge of every duty in Mart Groups."

"You can't do this, Anthony!" Jonathan said standing up and glaring at me.

I turned to him, "I can, and I just did it. Can you please leave us? We have important things to discuss."

Jonathan folded his lips and nodded before walking out of the room. I felt like I had accomplished the world, my long-time rival had completely been put in his place.

My phone beeped, I turned and looked at the screen. I am expecting it tonight. I have a surprise waiting for you, my dear son. It is very important.

Surprise? Mother don't do surprises, I said in my mind.