The CEO's Secret Wife

Chapter 15: Staying Strong

Abbi's POV

"Why are you crying? Crying won't solve anything. You've cried enough. Besides, nothing happened...It just almost happened."

"You can't let this destroy what you've built. You're strong, this little incident should not bring you down. You can't let all the confidence you built over the past months die because of this."

"You're fine, as long as you don't see him everything is fine. You just have to not bump into him. Even If that happens, just ignore him. Yes. Yes, that's it. You're strong." I finished speaking to my reflection in the mirror.

I checked the time and it was past 8 pm. Eric should have been back by now. He should be downstairs.

I flinched as I turned towards the door to see Eric standing there.

"Umm...hey...wh...when did you get here? I asked hoping he didn't see me talking to myself. He would probably think I'm crazy. I really should tell him what happened but I don't know how to.

"My love! Are you okay?" I heard, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Umm... I'm alright. I was just going to make dinner."

"There's no need for that..."

"You've had dinner? It's alright, I understand. I should have made something earlier..." I cut him off before he could say more.

"No. I was going to say we'll order something instead. I don't want you stressing yourself."

"Ohh...but that's no stress. I can fix up something for us."

After a second of silence, he let me cook.

***

Eric's POV

My face still hurts from those punches thrown at me. It's a good thing it didn't leave any cut.

After freshening up, I went to see how far she was gone. I don't know what she's preparing but I'm sure it will taste good. Immediately after the elevator opened, a beautiful, pleasant aroma hit my nostrils. I seemed to smell pasta, plantain, and some beef but, when I got closer, I couldn't see any of those things except the beef.

I'm definitely sure I smelled pasta. Even if I was mistaken, there was no way I was wrong about the plantain. The more I got closer, the more I was confused about what she was doing.

"What are you making?" I asked, instead of trying to figure it out.

"Pasta and fried plantain," she replied.

"But I don't see any pasta."

"That's because you didn't look well. It's over at the counter on my left" she said with a smile.

"Ohhhhh," I said, seeing the pasta.

"My love, is everything okay? You can talk to me," I said to her while we were lying on the couch after dinner in each other's arms.

"I just want you to remember that I'm always here for you my love. If you want someone to talk to or a shoulder to lean on, I'm always here, okay?"

She hesitated for a moment before speaking "I...I just...it's,"

"You don't have to tell me now Abbi, it's alright," I said, seeing she was struggling to tell me about what happened to her.

She held me tightly, her face In my chest, and began to sob.

I don't know how long we stayed that way, but she fell asleep. She looks so cute while sleeping.

I picked her up and took her to our room.

"No! Please...please don't do this. Aron no...no,"

She murmured tossing and turning her head while sweating profusely.

My heart ached to see her that way. I took a towel and tried to cool her since she was burning up.

I wondered who that person was and all she had to go through alone.

After an hour, she looked relaxed and her temperature had returned to normal. She was now sleeping peacefully and this is how I always wanted it to be.

***
I didn't want to go to work today but there's a lot to be done. I still have to clean up the mess Ben made.

I finished dressing up and decided not to wake Abbi. She should take the day off. I really hope she feels better.

I had been working with Mark and other trusted executives to help fish out the corrupt employees. I was still worried about Abbi. The nightmare that she had bothered me more. It means she went through this in the past. If I ever get to meet that Aron of an asshole, his fate will be worse than that of Ben.

Arriving at the office, the atmosphere was tense. I could hear whispers and murmurs through the hall as people begged not to be thrown out. They should have thought of that before messing up my company.

"What's up, Mark? What are you doing here?" I spotted him right by the elevator.

"We need to talk Eric," Mark said, his voice low. I couldn't help but notice the urgency in his voice.

"I've been running an investigation just like you asked last night and I found this," he said, handing me a file as soon as we got to my office. "The damage is much Bro. Twelve of them have been embezzling the company's funds and starting up their businesses somewhere else. About a hundred billion dollars have been lost,"

My blood boiled as I went through the file he gave me. How could they do this? These weren't just ordinary employees, these were the people my dad trusted with the company and they betrayed him in this manner?

"Those traitors! Did they think they'd be able to get away with this? They thought they could just walk away with all our money?"

"We have evidence against them, Eric, it's left for you to decide what you want to do with them,"

"Submit the evidence to the station. They have to pay for what they've done," I took a deep breath trying to calm the rage inside me. "My main focus now is stabilizing the company. Too many people involved in one illegal act or the other and I need to get rid of them today,"

Mark nodded understandably. "I'll handle getting the evidence and sending it to James. He'll know the right person to handle this. Just focus on getting the company back together."

After Mark left, I called an emergency meeting with the executives and key staff members. The room was filled with unspoken tension.

"Thank you all for coming on short notice," I started, my voice firm as I sat at the head of the table. Many of you might be wondering what has been happening since this morning. The company is reshuffling the employees and kicking out the bad ones," Looks of surprise and confusion filled the room.

"Also, some of you might be aware that there are some people in here at the moment that have been embezzling the company funds and engaging in some illegal activities, putting our company at risk,"

Murmurs, shock, and disbelief erupted. I looked at the faces of the people in question. While some masked their face with shock, others showed fear of being caught.

"I assure you that those involved will bear full responsibility and be held accountable,"

Just as I finished speaking, some officers barged into the board room and arrested all those who were involved in embezzlement.

"This will be the fate of anyone who chooses to follow in their steps," I said and dismissed the meeting.