DEATH'S SECRET LOVE

BETRAYED

Soft sound radiates from the orchestral on the magnificent stage in the hall and men in suits and women in lovely gowns were exchanging pleasantries. Different gorgeous ladies and women are in groups smiling and clinking champagne glasses while they exchange talks and greetings

"Hello chairwoman!" The voice called out from behind and Mandy looked back to see Mr. Nathaniel smiling at her.

"Oh wow, who am I seeing? It’s been ages Nat" she burst into smile and quickly approaches him for a slight hug

"How have you been Mandy?" He asked raising his glass for a clink

"Well I have been doing good but it’s so stressful not gonna lie"

"I understand, money comes with stress but you spend it to relieve the stress" he remarked and they both chuckled.

"Will you be staying for long? Jones & Burg can provide you the best accommodation you know" she winked

"I’ll be staying for two days, I look forward to you taking care of me"

"Absolutely" she replied before excusing herself.

*****

"You look great" Mandy complimented Flora who was in an armless pepper red dress with golden streaks of pearls on the neck line, accompanied with a white fur jacket and white heels to match.

"Thanks mom" she replied giving a bright smile

"Come introduce yourself to the shareholders" Mandy drags her along to their table

"Trust you are enjoying yourself?" Mandy smiled as she stopped at their table

"Oh chairwoman, we surely are" one of them responded and others nodded in unison

"This is my daughter, Flora" she gestured and Flora gave slight bow and a smile

"Wow, she’s grown a lot, I saw her last when she was I think 15? Wow she’s now a woman" one of them replied and they all laughed

"I trust you will take care of us" Mandy commented and they all gave an okay expression before Mandy and Flora exited the table and moved to the other business women. They had just finished introducing themselves when the MC coughed into the microphone and told everyone to be seated, the party was about to begin.

Everyone obeyed and settled in their respective seat before the MC proceeds to open the ceremony, he introduced the guests and everyone present while others clapped for anyone mentioned before inviting Mandy up to the stage to give her speech. She rose up from her seat in her powder blue drop waist off shoulder gown and elegantly mounted the huge stage before walking graciously to the microphone stand.

I sincerely welcome you to the 25th anniversary of Jones & Burg. As you all know, the company is older than 25 years but we decided to start celebrating the anniversary the year it was inducted into the shoe market and here we are celebrating the company’s achievements not only as a shoe designing company but also as a big corporation which consists of fashion as a whole, hotels and other branches. I want to thank the shareholders, directors, employees and also our customers for their uttermost trust and support, we were able to come this far because you’ve always supported us and we trust that you will always support us, we promise never to fail you.

The crowd gave her a round of applause and she gave a bright smile before continuing her speech

Also I want to thank my brother even though he’s no longer here, he did laid the foundation of this great company through his sweats and toils, I’m sure he will be happy seeing how great this company has become, I pray he continue to rest well in a good place

"Cut the crap and bullsh*t " the voice blurt out and all eyes were fixed on the entrance to see Cassy resting on the door with her long peach gown lined with furs at both sides starting from the waist to the tip of the dress. She walked in swaying her hips and displaying her silver rocket shaped purse and her silver shoe, her dress was sweeping everywhere as she moved in deeper into the event hall.

"No seat for me?" She asked looking around with Becky behind her packing her gown’s tail

The ushers quickly brought two chairs to the table and have her and Becky have their seat and were both served wine and water immediately before Cassy makes a scene.

"Sorry for the interruptions, as I was saying, please continue to support us and we will do our best to give you the best" Mandy concluded and the crowd gave her a round of applause.

"I really hope you give us the best as promised, I’m putting on a product of J&B and what the crap is this tacky cloth?"  Cassy remarked, stood up to give the crowd a great look of the gown

"This is too uncomfortable for a party don’t you think so? Please give us the best as promised Chairwoman Mandy Thomas" she smirked before having her seat while murmurings filled the hall about who she is or why she’s tackling the chairwoman before the MC spoke to the microphone diverting all attention to him.

As we all know, it’s our culture to select few customers and give them chances for review and questions and also award the employee of the year, we will have a random call of number and the customers with the chosen number will come up to give their reviews but before that we will be stating the employee of the month.

T"he employee of the month goes to…" checks the book in front of him and raises his head with a smile and gesture towards the left side

"Clara Franklin, please give a round of applause" the MC instructed and rain of applause followed with her coming on stage for her award which was a golden shoe designed plaque and a sum of money.

"Thank you for choosing me as the employee of the year, I’ll do my best to take care of the company and its customers with uttermost care" Clara stated and gave a slight bow before exiting the podium.

"Now let’s move to the review section, please take the microphone and give us your review and what you feel about our goods and where we should improve. Number 10, please can we have your review?" The MC called out and a lady in pink Flower Applique Long sleeve ball gown with beautiful rings to match her pretty long fingers stood up to give her review. This went on for two other people and they all gave reviews from their point of views.

"Thank you everyone, we will be calling the number for the last review" the MC said and the hall suddenly went quiet, everyone was checking the number tags with them to see if they would be the next while the MC was stalling time to increase the tension

"We call on number five for their review" and everyone’s eyes were busy looking for where the number would stand from as silence graced the room.

Cassy slowly rose to her feet and every gaze was on her, Mandy lifted her back off her the chair as if she wants to stop her from talking.

"Well I don’t have a review but I do have a shocking announcement"          

The sound of her words brought murmurs into the room as they all whispered about what could be shocking, Mandy was fighting with all her muscles in order to keep her feet grounded, she wanted to run to her and drag her out before she spew any nonsense or do anything stupid but she will be the dumb btch so she just sat there with spit in her throat to see where this drama is going.

"Though this company has been greatly run by my aunt for long and it’s blooming, I still feel the need to reveal that she’s not the rightful successor of the company, the will read to the whole world was a fake".

At the drop of her bomb the murmurs turned to discussion but still at lower range, everyone was busy asking themselves what she meant by what she just revealed.

"Yes, I know it will be shocking to hear that the will read was fake and I have someone here to prove it" Cassy added and gestured for Becky who had gone out earlier to bring the witness in, it was her father’s lawyer, Mr. James that was led in and he mounted the podium to give his own part of speech.

Hello everyone, I’m very sure you know that a will was read after the demise of the former chairman and it stated that the position of the owner should be transferred to someone, pauses, yeah I’m the lawyer that was present to sign the will as witness and I want to tell you today that the will read that day.. pauses and let out a cough making the room as tense as possible, everyone was paying rapt attention to the lawyer in grey suit standing before them to testify.

"The will read that day….was the real one"

"What?" Cassy mouthed in astonishment as the lawyer testified against her. She had been stabbed in the back.

"We all know Ms. Cassy is the daughter of the late owner and how she would be feeling like she should be running the company since she’s now an adult but the will and company doesn’t work that way. I already explained all of these to her when she came to find me but seeing how she was bent on going on with it, I had no choice but to comply and pretend to help her" Mr. James explained and different types of expressions filled the room.

Cassy could feel eyes roam her body, ones of disgust, hate and spite at that. She had suddenly became the bad person, she has become the one who wants to push her aunt out of the company out of jealousy, everyone was pointing hands at her and she could feel her head start to spin. She placed her two hands at the both sides of her head and gave out a loud, piercing scream before fuming hard at the lawyer who didn’t even flinch

"Well played, it won’t be so interesting if it’s so easy from the start, I’ll be coming back for you" Cassy gritted through her teeth before storming out in anger.

Everyone was busy stating how surprised they were and what all these could mean except one person….