Episode 14

Onika's POV...

When I reached office it was exceptionally quiet. What the hell happend here over night? I checked my watch I was already 10 minutes late. I was having an ominous feeling at the back of my head, nagging at me. My instincts telling me to run away. I ward it off, thinking that it's just because I am still disturbed by the past events.

Why haven't any one arrived yet. Is it a holiday or something? But if it would have been so, Theodore would surely have informed me about it.

Then I saw a security guard coming towards me. Before he could speak anything I asked him "where is everyone Robert." He took a few seconds to catch his breath before replying.

"Ma'am everyone is in the Seminar Room".

I furrowed my brows in confusion, there is a seminar going on and I had no prior information?

"Who is con--" he cut me off.

"Mam I don't know the details I was just told to inform everyone"

This is weird. Usually the security guards over here are the most well informed person about what's happening around. "Okay, I am going there thanks for informing me", with that I left for the Seminar Room.

Whole seminar room was packed with the staffs, every one bearing a confused expression, talking among themselves in hushed voices to make sense of what was going around.

Seems like I am not the only one who knows nothing.

"Hey! Onika you are here."one of my colleague and good friend Lyla came rushing to me. "Yes, but what is happening here?"

"Just now the COO came and announced that the company has been sold to some business tycoon and he will be here any minute. The COO went to receive him."

"What! H-How? When? Fuck!-" I looked at her in shock, millions of questions rising in my head all at once.

"I mean why weren't we informed before and every thing was just going fine with the company why will Theodore Sir sell the company to someone just like that."

Strange.

People don't just sell their company to someone over night and definitely not a company which is in profit and I have known Sir for two year now, no matter how big of a flirt he was, the one thing I have admired in him, apart from his looks, was his devotion towards the Company.

"I don't know. I am really afraid. What about our job security will the new owner fire us all?"she asked in a frightened voice.

That set another tide of panic to roll in my head.

"NO! Of course not, he can't do that to us and Theodore sir must have had an agreement with the new owner. He just can't disappear on us like this without offering us any job security." Oh God, what kind of coward does that? We are walking here on thin ice and he is no where to be seen, left us all alone to deal with this absurd shit.

You are better than this Theodore, or at least I think you are, but then again its already an established fact that I am not the best at judging people. The living example of it being Agustin bastard DeLuca.

And what's more, I am already in debt to this company. What if the new owner asks me to pay it all at once?

All the air got stuck at some part of my jammed throat.

God No.

Tell me he can't do that after all I have a contract drawn to pay it off in one years. He can't go against the contract that must be illegal. I am not having a good feeling about all this.

Then a possibility occurred to me. A scary, terrifying possibility, making me go weak in my knees out of fear.

I remembered I haven't asked who the new owner is. As I was about to ask Lyla, Our COO entered with a man whom I can't see clearly as he was surrounded by an army of 20 bodyguards in black uniform from all sides. I presume is our new owner.

My heart picked a pace. Something is really wrong. I should have listened to my instincts, and right now it's telling me to run away as far as possible if I want to live.

He was walking towards the dais probably to introduced himself. Now his back was to me. He motioned his guards and others to stand there by the side as he reached the dais.

He turned toward the crowd And then it happened, a wave of cold fear ran down my spine, my breathing caught in my lungs, I felt like my heart stopped beating, a lone tear slipped from my eyes as I realized I was directly looking into the eyes of the reason behind my nightmares, Agustin Deluca. I was shivering with fear by the time I realized what it means. He found me and he won't spare me this time for running away. He will torture me even more this time.

I am dead.

Agustin's POV...

And then it happend, a wave of electricity ran down my spine, my breathing accelerated, I felt like my heart started beating after two long years as I realized I was directly looking into a pair of most beautiful and innocent eyes I have ever known. Onika DeLuca. My Onika.

I felt alive after a very long time.

Every part of my body felt alive.

My eyes remained locked at her face, studing every inch of it, every expression. Whole world taking a back seat. It's her. Only her. Nothing else exists.

The fear in her blue eyes were evident even from a distance. Her face paled in colour . She was looking very thin and tired, with dark circles around her eyes. She had never looked this fragile and weak before.

I cursed at myself when my subconscious rebuked me for it.

It was then I noticed, she was shaking in fear like a leaf.

Then realization hit me. Jesus, she doesn't know that I know the truth. She is thinking that I am here to torture her again. She is on the verge of having a panic attack. The look of pure fear on her face at this very moment made me hate myself a thousand times more then I already do. This is what I have done to her. There was not a trace of the ever smiling and carefree girl she once was. I have reduced her to this.

My chest constricted in unbearable pain. Needles pricking every inch of my skin.

I was just staring at her like a possessed soul.

I was brought out of my trance only when Jacob signaled me to start my speech and I came back to the reality that hundreds of eyes were on me and the sooner I get rid of them the sooner I can be with Onika.

"Good morning everyone. As you know I am the new CEO of this Company, Agustin Deluca. If you all are worried about your jobs then don't worry your job is safe." I saw the crowd shagging in relief like idiots I haven't even finished speaking.

" I am not finished yet let me complete my sentence that is, your job is safe till you give me a reason to fire you. I don't tolerate any deficiencies or laziness in work so I will give you a fair chance to prove yourself as worthy of working under one of the world's best company."the growing tension was palpable in the environment, just the way I like it. I smirked internally.

"So I will give you all 3 months to do just that at the end of which I will decide whether or not I fire you." I could see fear on everyone's face but I couldn't care less. These vermins working for that fucker Theodore Black are in no sense deserving to work under me so, initially I was planning on birectly firing everyone except for Onika of course but I didn't want to scare Onika by doing that. I have to take each and every step carefully because she is way to innocent too witness anymore of my ruthless ways.

Then I looked at Onika. She was looking anywhere but me. She is in deep thought I can tell. I can bet she is thinking about ways to runway. My sweet little princess you should have known me better than that. I would love to see you try. If you think that I will let you get away ever again then you are delusional. Ignorant. Naive.

Shit, I forgot I haven't yet dismissed the crowd "There are some ground rules which you all need to follow. As I don't have that much time to spoon feed you all my assistant will let you know. You all are dismissed go back to your works mean while I will go through your files and if I feel like someone is just used as a filler and is not really needed here you can kiss your job good bye." With that I left the seminar room but not before catching the sight of a very angry Jacob. Not again. I rolled my eyes internally.

As soon as I reached my cabin I called my assistant "in my office right now",

"Yes sir", came his firm reply. I like his confidence he is not like others peeing in their pants at my mere sight. He is very confident just the way I like my employee. Though I feed on people's fear but the choice of people I rely on is another story. When you are at such a high position you can't afford to have dumbasses walking with you. They need to have a class and the confidence to work for me.

There was a knock at the door. "Come in." I said in an authoritative voice thinking it to be my assistant but, it was Jacob and here we go. . .

"What the hell is wrong with you? Can you for once act like a human being?" he shouted at me.

"Look Jacob you know I do not do charity when it comes to work. If, I want to regulate the quality of staffs working under me then what is so wrong in it. That is what I have always done, it is nothing new, I don't see any reason to change it now, so don't fuss over it."

"It's not what you want it's how you express your wants. I warned you before not to scare her and everyone but you did just that. By being the old self if you do not show her you have changed she will never come back to you and wow what a grand entry you made. Mark my words Agustin she is an intelligent lady she will always judge you by how you behave with others and not how you pretend to have changed for her. Not that you haven't behaved like a monster to her as well. I am warning you Agustin change your ways or you loose her for forever."

I looked at him in exasperation. He always has to exaggerate everything.

"What are you talking about you told me not to fire anyone and I did just that so that I won't scare her but you are still complaining." I threw my hands in air out of irritation. Jacob basically has a problem with every fucking thing I do.

"Oh suck it, whom are you kidding we all know you have just delayed their resignation by three months it's basically the same thing. You are not fooling me Mr. DeLuca."

" I just don't understand why are you picking up a fight with me on such a trivial thing. Onika doesn't need to get scared of me on how I treat others I will never treat her like that. She is not one among the others, she is my wife for fuck's sake. She just fucking needs to ask for anything she wants, and it would be infront of her before she can even blink."

Jacob looked at me incredulously.

"You are fucking ignorant, delusional, unfeeling bas--" he clenched his fist to control his anger, he was just a second away from throwing a punch at me.

What's the deal with him?

"You'll never treat her like that? It is laughable Agustin, it may even be the funniest jokes I have ever heard."he said, his tone leashed with note of sarcasm.

"Wake up man and open you eyes you have already treated her worse than a criminal let alone your employee." His statement made me clench my teeth. He is right, but that doesn't mean he will always rub that on my face.

There was a knock again. It must be my Assistant."wait a minute outside." I shouted at him.

I inhaled and exhaled two three times to calm myself. Onika's scared face flashing infront of me. Shivering like a little kitten who just saw a big wolf, and have nowhere to run. Trapped. She looked trapped. . .and petrified.

I raked my hair in frustration. Okay fine, he is right . I myself saw how scared she was as soon as she saw me but still I did that. What is wrong with me?

What the fuck was I thinking, or was I even thinking at all? Makes me wonder my brain have actually atrophied in these two years without Onika.

Screw this, everyone can have their jobs, if they want I will pay them even if they don't do any work. Nothing is worth upsetting Onika. Not for something this insignificant.

"You are right, I am sorry, I shouldn't have done that I need to change my ways and I am trying okay? It is how, I have worked for years but I get that my ways are wrong I can't keep on continuing it anymore. I got it. It won't happen again." I accepted my fault with reluctance.

"It better not. Look Agustin I am no enemy of yours I just want to help you, you need to handle things with care okay? She is already very broken give her time to heal and be patient with her. I know it's against your nature and you have been waiting for this for a long time but you need to take things slow and don't push her over the edge, give her time to adjust to the sudden change of events rather than giving her all the new reasons for fearing you."

I nodded my head in reassurance.

"Okay then I shall get back to work now. Who knows after three months my boss might even fire me if he comes to know I am gossiping around." He joked.

I laughed lightly at his childish joke while he scurried towards the gate.

"Hey! Your assistant is standing out side shall I send him in." Jacob asked.

"Oh yes, send him in." I totally forgot about him.

"How may I help you Sir." He asked curtly, his head slightly bowed down.

"I want you to send Mrs. Onika De.. I mean Coulin to my cabin within 5 minutes or else you are fired" Shit, I hope Jacob is not standing outside. I did it again but, the fact that I have to call her Onika Coulin is getting on my nerves. This has to be changed soon. My assistant's eyes widened at that but he managed to say"Ok Sir." and strode out of the cabin as fast as possible.

I am sure by now she must have tried to runaway so I had already send two of my bodyguards to keep an eye on her. My heart was beating wild in anticipation any minute she will be here.

I felt nervous for the first time in my life. Felt unprepared. My sweaty palms were the evidence.

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