CHAPTER 4: UNVEILING THE PAST

"Who was that guy that brought you back and why so your eyes look so swollen?" Sarah asked walking towards Emily.

Emily didn't know the perfect response to give, all she wanted at that point was to get in bed and have a good night's rest.

"Uhm, he's my new friend, that's all and as for my eyes,  I think I just need to sleep, I promise I'll be fine by morning" She finally said dragging herself upstairs. She was so drained and didn't want to speak to anybody about what she just heard. Sarah being an understanding friend that she was followed her upstairs, prepared a warm bath for her, made her bed and said goodnight. She knew that her friend would eventually be fine by morning.

Emily got in bed and starting thinking about all that took place that evening. She was supposed to be thinking about how to come out of whatever she might have fallen into but the thoughts of Alexander filled her mind, she remembered the first time their eyes met at the charity event and how he looked at her. Despite the fact that he was rarely nice to her, she convinced herself that there was something about him that drew her to him. She liked him, she thought. She was slowly drifting away to sleep when her phone rang. It was him!!!!!

"Hi Emily, hope you're better now?"

She wasn't sure why she was smiling at that question but why wouldn't she be better after just hearing this voice.

"Yeah I'm better, getting ready for bed" She totally forgot about her worries just by listening to him speak. They spoke for like an hour then she slept off almost immediately after the call ended.

Alexander and Emily kept seeing each other, they went out more often and spoke about the energy renewal project amongst other things and Emily completely forgot about the plot against her. Things started getting heated between the two of them and Damien started noticing the 'lover boy' part of his boss. Alexander didn't want to do too much because according to him, his past shouldn't repeat itself.  He had limits to how he showed affection but he was sure that he 'liked' Emily.

The fact that Emily was in love was so evident. She became extra nice, smiled more often than usual. Who wouldn't notice that something was up with her?

Taylor was the first to speak about it to her.

"Emily, you've been overly excited these days, what's the secret?" He asked brushing her left shoulder gently.

Emily couldn't help but blush. She didn't even realize she was smiling that hard until Taylor snapped her back to reality.

"Oh, uhm sometimes people are just bound to be happy" She replied still smiling.

Taylor still not satisfied with her answer went on to pull her legs.

"So who's the man?" He drew closer this time to find out more.

Emily laughed for a while after realising that she had been caught.

"He's Alexander Stutter, CEO of roman empire" She answered, her cheeks flushed.

"Oh, I know his empire is well-known all over the globe and I heard that they have a lot of rivals including our own organisation" he said returning to his former position.

"Whatever his empire has with other organisations has nothing to do with how we feel about each other"

Satisfied with her response, she returned to the numerous files on her table. Soon after, Emily received a call from her manager. She left everything she was doing and rushed to meet her boss. It turned out her boss wanted her to meet with a new board of directors for the renewal energy technology project, they wanted a collaboration with their organisation so that they could finish up with the project on time.

Emily didn't know how to feel about meeting with these new board of directors. Since she received that mysterious email to join the research team because of her major involvement in the research, every day new people wanted to know more about it. The thing about those kind of projects was that everyone wanted to be the first to discover it in as much as it involved a whole team.

While on a dinner date with Alexander, she told him about her supposed meeting with a new board of directors concerning the renewable energy technology project however the board was to remain anonymous till the meeting date. Alexander advised her to be careful about how much information she gave them and they proceeded to spend the night at Alexander's place.

The day Emily was supposed to meet with the new board of directors came and it turned out that the 'board of directors' was just one man.

"Good afternoon Miss Emily Collins, I'm Dwayne Sinister. I'm sorry we had to meet this way but I have a lot to talk to you about". The introduction wasn't quite satisfying to Emily because she was scared of this particular meeting and she didn't understand why.

"Good afternoon,  I see you're here to talk about the renewable energy technology project. Please ask your questions and I'll be pleased to answer you in the best way I can, thank you" She started off professionally,  she didn't want to exchange any more pleasantries with the 6 feet, bald headed man sitting before her.

"Oh well, Emily, I'm not here to really talk about the project, I only used it as an excuse from your boss to have an official meeting with you" he said smirking in a way that totally disgusted her.

"I'm here to talk about your past" he said again not allowing her to react to his previous confession.

Emily became so nervous at this point, she really didn't want to speak about herself to anybody right now and not to this stranger who already lied to get to her.

"Mr Sinister what do you want from me?" She asked nervously, adjusting herself on her seat.

Dwayne smirked in a very weird manner while he replied her question  "Ah, Emily, my dear. You hold a key piece of information that could bring Alexander to his knees. You see, our paths crossed long ago, and he has been trying to bury the truth ever since".

Emily became so confused, she thought this was supposed to be about the project.

"What truth? I don't understand".

Dwayne leaned in and whispered to her.

"The incident, Emily. The one that shattered your world and left you scarred".

Emily couldn't take it in any longer, she kindly excused herself and left the hall. She texted Alexander almost immediately and asked him to meet her at her house after work.