CEO DANTE; The one for me

My heart thumped as I walked up the stairs. I was certain the panties and bra, as well as the dress lying on the floor of our living room, weren't mine. My anxiety was over the roof, I walked quietly to the bedroom and pushed the door open. It was at that moment my heart sank to my stomach, the world paused for a second and I couldn't control the tears that flowed freely from my eyes.

"Marcus, how can you do this to me?"I yelled in tears and that was when I noticed the lady he was in bed with was my best friend, Camilla. I felt the air suffocating me and I couldn't control the burst of anger that overwhelmed me.

"Camilla, you snake!"I screamed and began to throw things at them on the bed. Everything my eyes came in contact with, I picked up and threw it at them. Camilla tucked herself underneath the duvet and Marcus hurriedly came to hold me down.

"Are you crazy, Sienna?"he asked, holding my arms tightly.

"Do you want to get us injured?"he asked.

I couldn't believe it, my husband was having an affair with my best friend and yet it was I who seemed crazy?

"You're a mess Sienna, your life is messed up, I can't deal with you anymore. We've been married for five solid years and yet no child, it's driving me crazy", he yelled and punched the wall.

"Sometimes I wonder what the problem is, but I'm certain it's not me, Sienna. You are the problem, go and fix yourself somewhere else but I can't do this anymore. What's a marriage without babies?". Marcus's words pierced through every corner of my heart. I knew our childlessness was disturbing but he always assured me that he would be patient until God decides to bless us with our own child, yet here he was venting at me. Tears continued to flow effortlessly down my cheeks.

"I want a divorce", Marcus said, staring at me from across the room.

I was struck. "You can't be serious about this, Marcus. After everything we've been through? After giving up my family for you? You want to give up the nine years we've shared together just like that?", I asked in disbelief, hoping to hear him say he didn't mean what he said, but it was inevitably clear that his mind was made up.

"My lawyer has prepared the divorce papers already, all I need is for you to sign them", Marcus said, pulling out some documents from the drawer beside the bed. He walked up to me with a pen in his hand and my life flashed before my eyes.

"Don't make this difficult for both of us. Here you go", he said, handing the papers over to me with the pen. I was still in awe and Camilla's smile was more salt to my wound. I took the papers from him and signed on everywhere he asked me to after carefully reading through.

"You can come back to pick up your stuff, but you'll have to excuse us for now", Marcus said, going back to Camilla on the bed.

"One more thing. Camilla here is pregnant for me, she's going to be the mother of my child soon. I hope this clears your doubts and prove that you're the problem, not me" Marcus said with a smirk on his face

That was the last straw that broke the camel's back. I burst into a loud cry and ran off away from the house. I ran as fast as I could, crying and sniffling. I had no idea where I was going but I just knew I wanted to be away, far away from all of this. I finally stopped when I ran out of breath. I couldn't help but cry some more, my whole life had been destroyed.

I called my friend, Jess and she immediately came to pick me up when she heard me crying on the phone. Even she couldn't believe that Camilla would do something like that but I couldn't kill myself. Life had to go on. I stayed up all night, vomiting and crying and I felt sick as hell. Jess had to take me to the hospital the next morning even after I convinced her it was nothing to worry about, I was just going through a lot of stress. The doctor ran some general checks, I was sent to the lab for some tests and an hour later when the results were out, I was confirmed pregnant.

Like I hadn't been through enough in the past 24 hours. I was really excited about the pregnancy, Jess was even more excited for me but considering the circumstances between Marcus and I, I had to make up my mind. He made his choice already and I respected that. I decided I'd move to a new city and have a fresh start for my baby and I. I made Jess promise me that she wouldn't tell anyone about the pregnancy, especially not Marcus or Camilla. I just wanted to be away from all that drama and heal so I could be a good parent to my child regardless and Jess respected my decision. I made some reservations online for a hotel in California and also made contact with some housing agency so I could get a house there. I was assured that in less than a week I'd get a place that suited my preferences and budget. And that was it, my mind was made up, I also contacted a towing company to get my things from Marcus's house and move them to me in California and in less than 48 hours, I was on my flight to California.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We're beginning our descent into Los Angeles International Airport. We're currently 8 minutes away from touchdown..." the pilot's announcement cut through my daydream.

It was all so overwhelming for me, just two days ago, I had planned the most romantic dinner to celebrate I and Marcus's fifth wedding anniversary and it all turned into my worst nightmare and here I was, Pregnant, Divorced, betrayed by myself best friend, completely without any family and I was starting my life afresh.

Los Angeles was a very welcoming city. The people were extremely friendly and the weather wasn't harsh either. Just as the housing agency promised, in two days I had gotten an apartment that fit my preference and budget. It was a two bedroom apartment on the third floor of a five storey building. It wasn't really big but it was convenient for me, the view from the balcony was really beautiful as well. I didn't have to do much because the apartment was fully furnished already, all I had to do was a bit of cleaning and I moved in my luggage.

My remaining stuff from Marcus's house hadn't arrived yet. Jess told me she was informed it would take almost a month to get here.

On the first night of my arrival to Los Angeles, I took out time to submit my resumé on some job openings I saw online and I got back an email from one out of almost twenty I applied for. It was a record label, not what I had typically hoped for but I had no other options. I had to prepare very well for the interview because I couldn't afford to miss out on the opportunity, the pay was a really good offer. On the scheduled date for the interview I made sure I was very formally dressed and I took a cab to the location. On arrival there was already a long queue of people who I presume were also there for the same interview. The process was quite fast and the line kept moving steadily and later stopped moving completely and we had no idea why.

"What's going on there? Why has the line stopped moving?". an arrogant looking young man yelled from the back of the line.

"Could you be quiet?", the lady at the front desk yelled back at him.

After roughly 10 minutes, the young man walked to the front of the queue and began to make a scene. "Why has the line stopped moving?", he yelled and banged on the desk.

"Hey Mr, if you don't mind, can you go back to your position?", a petite lady said to him.

He immediately set off to vent his anger on her and chaos broke out. All the men in the queue began to yell at the young man for raising his voice on the lady. And everybody one way or the other got involved in the quarrel that had ensued. It was a mix of loud voices yelling, men threatening to beat up each other and lady's cursing out at the men.

I remained calm on my seat and completely ignored all that was happening. My mind was more focused on what would happen next if I didn't get the Job. I was also feeling quite nauseated but I tried the best I could to stay calm.

The security unit was called on by the lady at the front desk and they were instructed to get everybody out of the building and shut them all out. I stood up to walk out before the security would come to throw me out.

"Hey, Lady with the black jacket, Not you", a voice came from behind me.

I turned to see who it was and to everyone's greatest surprise, it was the arrogant looking young man. Turns out he was the CEO of the company and everything that happened was just an act to test everyone's conduct.

"Come with me to my office", he said, walking far ahead of me.

I heard people murmur behind me as I walked swiftly to meet up with him. "Maybe it's because she's really pretty", a female voice said. I couldn't care less, I was just excited.

We got to the office after walking for what seemed like forever to me. It was really beautiful, decorated with Luxurious brown leather furniture that complimented the extremely large chandelier hanging down from the ceiling.

I stood until I was offered a seat. We sat in silence for a few minutes and I felt very uncomfortable because he was staring directly into my eyes. For some reason I didn't look away, I looked right back into his own eyes. His bright grey eyes were so hot, anyone would get lost staring into them.

"Sienna right?" He asked, his deep seductive masculine voice cutting through my thoughts.

I simply replied with a nod.

"It says here that you're pregnant"

"Yes I am, sir", I replied, hoping that wouldn't be a reason for him to decline me the job offer.

"It's alright, you'll be working 7 hours everyday considering your condition. No one gets to me without getting through you, I believe you've read the job description"

"Yes sir, I have"

"That's alright. You resume tomorrow, I don't tolerate Lateness to work. Cause as my secretary, if you're late to work then I'm late and I do not like being late. Is that clear?"he asked with an extremely stern look on his face.

"Yes, yes, yes sir", I stuttered.

"Good, there's a clinic on the third floor just in case you need to see a doctor or a gynaecologist if need be"

"Thank you so much sir", I said, standing up to leave the office.

I was so excited I got the Job, I immediately called Jess to tell her the good news and she was extremely happy for me.

I went to the nearest restaurant I saw to get lunch, this pregnancy kept making me want to eat every single minute. Not even up to a month and I could feel so much stress already. The constant cravings, the mood swings, the morning sickness, all of it was just a lot to handle, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from working, else how would I be able to pay my bills?

As I sat in a chair, Waiting for my meal to be served, a familiar gentle feminine voice called out my name.

"Sienna", I heard the voice call out and it sounded like whosoever it was wasn't really sure if it was me or not. I turned to see Daphne standing behind me.

The last time I set my eyes on Daphne she was still so little, 10 years old Daphne and the one that was right in front of me were very different. I burst into tears and gave her a really tight hug. I missed her so much, I missed my family so much. I was only sixteen years old when I left home and abandoned my family and everyone who had been a pillar of support to my existence, and now that was the biggest mistake of my life.

Eight years since I lost contact with my family and every single day I've had to live with the burden of knowing that I abandoned my little sister for a boy and robbed her of the opportunity to have a big sister to look out for her and be there to support her.

"Oh Daphne! You're so grown now", I said, wiping the tears off my face.

I was so happy to see her but I guess she wasn't happy to see me. She stared at me in surprise but she kept her distance from me after I let her off my embrace.

"How's everybody at home, does mom still have her garden?" I asked with tears still streaming down my face.

"Mom says you left us because of a boy. She says he'll ruin your life and you'll regret it. Well if you're still with him, I hope he ruins your life and makes you regret it because you ruined our lives too, mine especially", Daphne said and hurriedly walked out of the restaurant.

"Daph-", I tried to call out to her, but it was of no use.

If only she knew that Marcus had indeed ruined my life, maybe it'll have given her the satisfaction she hoped for.

I had lost my appetite all of a sudden and I asked the waitress to pack up my meal so I could take it home.

Later that night, I set an alarm to wake me up by 5am the next morning. I couldn't afford to be late on my first day on the job. I picked out an outfit as well before going to bed.

"Excuse me, Excuse me, Excuse me", I was running late already and the Street was bustling with people in a rush to get to wherever they were going. I overslept and even the alarm didn't wake me up. I had less than 15 minutes to get to the office and the traffic was something else.

Two minutes before the clock struck 8am and I was at work already. I felt so relieved.

"Hey good morning", I responded to the greeting from the lady at the front desk. She handed me my work ID card and I hurriedly went to take my position at my desk. Lucky me, the boss wasn't in yet. I settled in and set up my laptop and went through the work overload from the last secretary. Everything seemed okay with a few lapses here and there, but that wasn't a problem for me.

I could hear voices faintly greeting from a distance and I was certain the boss had arrived. My anxiety began to build up, I hadn't forgotten what his prying grey eyes looked like and occasionally, thoughts of how good looking he was crossed my mind. Lost in thoughts, I didn't realize when my boss got to my desk.

"Seen a ghost?"His deep seductive masculine voice brought my mind back to reality.

"Good morning Sir", I said feeling slightly flushed with embarrassment.

"Any meetings on my schedule?"

"Yes sir, a meeting with the new artist that was signed last week for general briefing and acknowledgements"

"Ohh scratch that, attend to him when he gets here. Everything he needs to know is in the folder that was sent to you already, it doesn't have to be me to do it"

"Sir? Me?" I mumbled.

"Yes, you. Any problem with that", he asked with an eyebrow raised above the other.

"No sir", I simply responded.

"Good, if anyone comes for me off that schedule, I'm unavailable, I'm attending to very serious work", he said sarcastically.

"Okay sir", I responded, almost letting out a slight chuckle.

At the due time, the artist arrived for the briefing and I had to attend to him as instructed by the boss.

"Your recording sessions have been scheduled for three hours daily. The studio team will be very glad to work with you, considering how good you are", I said, rounding up everything I had to say to him.

"Thank you ma'am. So please when do I get to meet the boss? I was told I would be meeting him here today".

"Oh well, the boss is very busy attending to urgent work so your meeting with him would have to be rescheduled for another time. That would be all', I said hoping to dismiss him

"But ma'am, there are some very important things I need to discuss with him, do you mind getting me at least five minutes with him, I won't be long I promise", he said persuasively.

"I'm sorry there's nothing I can do about that, the boss's instructions were very-", and before I could finish my sentence he had walked into CEO Dante's office uninvited, I immediately rushed behind him.

"I'm so sorry sir, I made it clear to him that you are very busy and wouldn't be able to attend to him, I had no idea when he walked out on me, I was focused on completing the file share on my computer", I said apologetically.

"Leave my office now", the CEO ordered and we both made our way to the exit.

"Hey, just the boy, not you"

I immediately turned expecting the query that would come after.

"Come here", the boss ordered and I walked over to the opposite side of his. I was slightly scared he would yell at me, I had heard him yell a lot over the phone that morning.

"I'm really sorry sir", I further apologized.

"Well, since you can't do your job properly, I think I have a better offer for you"

Oh well, I just knew I was about to get fired.