Chapter 5 5.

"Looks like someone has a secret admirer." My assistant, Lotus, exclaimed while bringing the bouquet into my office. "Could it be from the lovely fiance?"

I doubt it.

"I hope so." I gave him a fake smile before standing up to grab the vase. I pulled out the card and carefully placed down flowers. Lotus stood waiting for me to open the card.

"White roses for my goddess." I read.

"How sweet."

It was sweet, but who were they from?

"Oh shit. What time was the meeting for today?" I questioned while quickly opening my planner. "It's right now, Lotus, why didn't you remind me?"

I frantically grabbed my things and my computer. I rushed out of the office with Lotus hot on my trail. We arrived at the conference room where the bored staff sat waiting for my arrival.

"I am so sorry about being late."

They remained quiet while adjusting in their seats. They hated me. I could hear the whispers of the office about how unfit I was to be the CEO of S & W. Often I felt the same way. Being late to meetings or having speeches unprepared. This was all new to me and it was hard getting myself adjusted.

"I have a few sketches for the runway presenting our new look." My shaky voice said while reaching in my briefcase. My folder crashed to the ground and everything fell out. "Shit!"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm so sorry, please excuse my language."

I laid my designs out on the board before picking up the scrambled papers on the ground.

"I wanted to do a cohesive theme between the men and women clothing. So I actually wore this design before. It's a dress completely made out of rhinestones in a pyramidal pattern. I designed the boys' look to have the same pyramidal pattern in the jeans. So they have these lines that can be created with a stitch."

"That dress looks a little familiar." The old man sneered.

"Yeah, isn't that your night out dress? I'm sure we don't want to market that."Amanda shook her head causing the entire office to irrupt in laughter.

"Well, what do you suggest? I can keep bringing this up. S & W will fail if we don't go in this new direction. Ankle-length, pleated skirts are out. You want me to send them down in tacky ass new balances and an ugly cardigan?" I pointed towards her outfit.

~

"Athena Love Solana!" My father lectured.

"Daddy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper on them, but they were humiliating me. You've always taught me to stand up for myself. It's my company, really I can talk to them, however."

"It's my company that I'm letting you borrow. I have people to please and with you mouthing off, that won't help. Learn to control your temper and stop acting like your mother."

"Acting like my mother? My mother was a coward, at least I'm standing up for myself. I refuse to sit in the middle of the conference room and let them tear me apart. You're a motherfucker for not defending your daughter!"

"I can't defend you when you're always acting wild. Who would want a CEO who gets drunk and kicked out of a club because she can't handle her liquor."

"You've always been embarrassed by me. Business has always been more important than me."

"I'm not embarrassed by you. You constantly make a fool out of yourself to where I won't accept it. You do realize that you're carrying my image and the Landons' image. Learn to settle down and stop getting angry."

He hung up the phone before I could say anything else. I placed my coat on the rack before wiping away my fallen tears. No one has faith in me, not even my father. I had one drunken night and now I can't do anything to prove myself.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" I hear Tobias question from the kitchen.

I walked in and grabbed the glass from the counter.

"I'm sorry about the yelling. My dad-"

"I heard." He said while filling my glass.

I slowly took a sip before sitting down at the dining table.

"Woah, this wine is amazing. What is this?" I furrowed my eyebrows while staring at the bottle in his hand.

"I invested in a winery a couple of years back and this is the first product. Glad to see you like it." He smiled. "Kaleb will be here later to prepare dinner."

"He's been gone for a minute. I will kinda miss your cooking."

Which, Tobias was an excellent cook. We had been doing this same routine for the last week. I'd come home from work and he'd be in the kitchen scrambling together a recipe.

Our order was peaceful. We talked about our day before dispersing into our rooms for the night. Tobias wasn't so bad. He'd occasionally get in his moods and won't talk to anybody, but he'd always apologize for them afterward.

"Well if you will excuse me, I have to come up with a bunch of new designs." I sighed while grabbing my glass of wine.

"New?"

"They hated my ideas. Apparently, the girls' look gave them flashbacks about my drunken night at the club. That's why I was on the phone with my father."

"All because of the designs?"

"No, I kind of went off on the whole office."

"It's your office."

"Exactly! But not to my dad." I shook my head. "Athena Love Solana, you're an embarrassment to the Solana and Landon name."

"You're not an embarrassment, trust me. I didn't know that your middle name is Love, that's cool."

"It's alright." I shrugged.

Tobias nodded. I gave him a small wave before going upstairs and into my room to work on the designs.

I quickly shot up and rubbed my eyes. I glanced over at the clock that sat on the dresser.

1:56 am

I had been working on the designs all night. I felt my stomach growl and sighed before stepping out of bed. Hopefully, Kaleb saved me a plate from dinner.

I slowly went down the stairs and heard two voices echoing from the kitchen. It sounded like Tobias and someone else.

I made my way to the kitchen and froze.

"Oh."

"Oh," Lauren responded while staring at me. "It's nice to finally see my boyfriend's fiancé."

"Hello, Lauren." I gave her a fake smile.

"Athena."

"You guys know each other?"

"Yeah, we do." She intensely stared at me. "We go way back."

"Way back." I nodded.

It remained silent as we both stared at each other. Tobias cleared his throat.

"Uh, is there anything you need Athena?"

"I was seeing if Kaleb saved me a plate from dinner. I fell asleep."

"Oh, this was for you?" Lauren asked while stabbing her fork into the food.

"I'll just go to Taco Bell." I sighed. "I think they close at three."

Tobias and Lauren didn't respond. I grabbed my coat and walked out of the door. A bouquet of white roses sat with a card peeking out.

Another one? I opened the card.

Roses are red but sometimes white, sometimes it doesn't hurt to tell a lie. The truth will come out soon my goddess.

The truth? Who kept sending me these strange messages. I headed outside and tossed the bouquet in the garbage before tucking the card in my pocket.

I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Athena?"

"Are you the one sending me flowers and strange messages?"

"No. Athena. I'm in Milan at a business meeting. I'll call you later." He hung up the phone.

Asshole.

~