LOVE BEYOND THE SCANDALS

CHAPTER 3

The Queen Returns

Elara

“Ms. Monroe, the board is ready and waiting for your arrival.”

I didn’t look up immediately, not even once. “Let them wait,” I said calmly, having no intentions to getting up soon.

“Yes, ma’am,” my assistant replied calmly, knowing better than to argue.

Just five years ago, I still remember how I stood at an airport counter with a one-way ticket and nothing else with me. There was no name, no money left from the one they froze, not future that didn't terrify me.

I calmly picked up my tablet, then rose from my seat, carefully adjusting my cufflinks which was black diamond.

“Remind them again,” I added, “that Aurelia Holdings does not wait for anyone like others do.”

“Yes, Ms. Monroe.”

****************""

The doors to the boardroom opened exactly when I was ready to attend to me them. Everywhere became quiet on my arrival. I stepped in without a smile, not again will I make such mistake.

“Good morning,” I said, my voice even. “Let’s begin immediately.”

Twenty honorable men and women sat straighter in their chairs to listen to me. Some were so scared that they avoided my eyes. Some tried not to land on my bad record.

I took my seat at the head of the table as had been reserved for me alone.

“Attendance?” I asked.

“All present,” the secretary replied quickly before I finished. “Including our overseas partners, they are all here.”

“Excellent,” I said. “You’re late.”

A man across from me cleared his throat to reply. “Apologies, Ms. Monroe. There was a little...”

“A delay?” I finished for him. “No. There was a lack of discipline which won't be tolerated”

The room stiffened, nobody wants to be used to set example.

“I don’t pay for excuses here,” I continued. “I pay for results, excellent results”

No one spoke again. I calmly tapped my tablet once, and immediately, the screen behind me lit up.

AURELIA HOLDINGS – QUARTERLY DOMINANCE REPORT

“Revenue up thirty-seven percent achieved,” I said. “Acquisitions now finalized in Singapore, followed by Zurich, and then São Paulo. Legal resistance reportedly crushed in under forty-eight hours.”

A woman sitting near the end of the table, whom I have been observing suddenly raised her hand cautiously. “Ms. Monroe, the Zurich acquisition, I noticed there were recent concerns about...”

“...Ethics?” I cut in.

She nodded, shock all over her face that I knew her questions before she asked.

I leaned back slightly to clarify her doubt. “We didn’t break the law as it seems to be.”

“But...”

“We rewrote them ourselves,” I said. “Next concern if any.”

She lowered her hand, obviously satisfied. Well, I liked efficient fear, and that's what makes one to strive well.

My assistant calmly slid a glass of water toward me without being asked to do so.

“Thank you, Ivy.”

“Yes, Ms. Monroe.”

I didn't fail to notice the way sone of the board watched her, how they noted that she never spoke or made any comment unless spoken to, that she moved like a shadow, that her loyalty was absolute and efficient.

Once, I had been the one standing behind someone else with everything in me.

Never again will I find myself in such shoes, but I won't take the one standing behind me for granted.

“Now,” I said, steepling my fingers playfully, “let's move over to onto why you’re really here.”

The atmosphere changed immediately. I saw it all, the curiosity on everyone's face, the anticipation, the hunger to hear from me.

“We’ve spent exactly five years without noise consolidating power the way we wanted it,” I continued. “We did that quietly, methodically.”

A man seating across from me smiled nervously, but earger to chip in his input. “As you instructed.”

“And right now,” I said, “we expand to the rest of the world, to be seen.”

Then the screen listed up, and along list of companies appeared, earning gasps.

“Ms. Monroe,” someone whispered all of a sudden, interrupting me, “those are likely...”

“...giants,” I finished up. “Yes, they are.”

Another board member leaned forward to support what was just said. “A hostile takeover at this scale will definitely attract… much attention from different angles.”

I smiled at their fear, then continued in a deliberate, unfriendly manner.

“Good.” They exchanged uneasy looks the moment I said that.

“Are we really prepared for this retaliation at all?” someone asked.

“I am,” I replied without wasting time. There was silence everywhere as I said that. They had already learned in a hard way never to question me without cause. I rose quickly from my seat and walked slowly around the table, circling everyone.

“You all know my policy very well,” I said. “If I aim at something, it’s already fallen and no going back. You just haven’t heard the sound yet, but would definitely do so.”

A few swallowed whatever crap they had to contribute. But one man cleared his throat after a few seconds. “Ms. Monroe… may I ask again to be enlightened on what motivated this particular move?”

I stopped behind him that minute. I leaned down just enough for him to hear me.

“Personal reasons if you must know,” I said softly to his hearing alone. He nodded quickly, knowing too well never to argue.

I returned to my seat instead, all posed, ready for action. “Begin Phase One,” I ordered without looking up.

“Yes, Ms. Monroe.”

“Ensure to leak nothing,” I added. “Do well to control the media narrative before they realize they’re bleeding profusely.”

“Understood.” The meeting ended exactly twenty minutes later. There was no room for arguments, no objections.

As they filed out one after the other, I caught a glimpse of their fragile whispers.

“She’s ruthless.”

“Did you see her eyes?”

“They rumored she built this empire from nothing, from scratch.”

*************************

I stood all alone once the doors were closed. Ivy approached me cautiously as she always did. “Your car is waiting outside for you.”

“Cancel it,” I said. “Walk with me instead.” Her brows raised slightly in shock. “Of course.”

We moved quietly down the hallway, like best friends.

“Any news that might interest me?” I asked.

She hesitated for some time. “Kingsley Group stocks was rumored to have dipped again this morning.”

I stopped abruptly.

“Why that?” I asked.

“Well, speculation,” she said carefully. “Internal restructuring, then leadership strain.”

I nodded once, already doing the calculations in my head.

“Sebastian Kingsley is still the CEO,” she added without me asking.

I resumed walking again, my mind filled with many things.

“Is he married now?” I asked out of the blues.

“No.”

“Engaged to anyone?”

“None that the public know of.”

I felt nothing on hearing that, or so I told myself.

“There were just rumors,” Ivy continued after a few seconds, “but nothing confirmed.”

“Good then,” I said. “It would of course be inconvenient otherwise.”

She carefully studied my profile. “Do you want me to at least...”

“No,” I cut in. “I don’t want any updates on him from now on unless I ask.”

“Yes, Ms. Monroe.”

Exactly five years ago, I had fled the company, arrived in this city with a suitcase and a borrowed name, begging only for survival. I remembered the first night I set my feet here. The hunger, the fear that followed, even the vow I made in the dark, to never beg to be accepted again.

“Ivy,” I called quietly all of a sudden.

“Yes, Ms. Monroe?”

“Schedule the announcement with immediate effect.”

“For which acquisition exactly?”

I glanced back at the skyline, at the empire that once threw me away without looking back, not considering my tears of labor.

My lips curved perfectly, but not in joy, but in promise to return their favor in thousand folds.

“The first one,” I replied coolly.

She nodded, but still, her eyes shoes she had more questions to ask. “What is their name, ma’am?”

That made me to meet my own reflection without mercy, as the flashback became fresh.

And then, I spoke the words that I had waited patiently for five years to be said.

“Target company: Kingsley Group.”