Before Vaida could get close enough to hurt Eliza, Gaya tackled her, and had her restrained face down on the table. Now she had everyone’s full attention, because she began to scream. Kalen was embarrassed, so he turned his face away. He had been shocked, then extremely angry when Alrik revealed himself to be the CEO of Crestview. But his shame over Vaida’s actions had quickly overtaken his anger. Even his father’s face was red. Only his grandfather sat stoically, with a blank expression as they all watched Vaida’s theatrics.
"Let me go. How dare you touch me? Do you know who I am? That woman over there is a homewrecker, an impostor. I’m his wife." Vaida yelled, but Gaya didn’t release her.
Instead, she signalled one of the guards to come closer.
"I should be the one getting those expensive gemstones. Look, they all match my skintone perfectly. They were made for me, not that slut. They’re mine. Alrik is mine!"
"Get her out of here." Gaya ordered, and then stuffed Vaida’s mouth with a handkerchief from her purse to stop her incessant yelling.
Once that was handled, Alrik stepped up to the stage.
"There are so many questions revolving around why I chose to move my company headquarters, why I invited bids for partnership, and others unrelated to business. I cannot answer all questions, but most of the others have one simple answer. My wife. I moved here to be closer to her, the partnerships were designed solely for the company she recently took over." He began his speech.
"If it was up to me, I would have closed down that company, and just made her Co CEO of Crestview, but that company is her grandmother’s legacy, and she’s attached to it. Why was my identity undisclosed till now? That was due to unforeseen circumstances. But through it all, I had my wife’s undying love, so now I must make sure she gets a hundred fold of that. I also had the loyalty of the six people seated with her, most of which you must recognise, as they have been the faces of the company in my absence." He paused and allowed the audience to take that in first.
"As for family, my wife and I have no affiliations with whomever we may share blood with, and maybe one day we’ll tell that story, but not today. I’m making this particular announcement so no one gets duped by any person or group claiming to be affiliated with me, or my wife in any way. And lastly, avoid spreading rumours. Most days when I’m bored, I randomly select people to sue for defamation, or slander. You could be the unfortunate number, so better safe than sorry."
He concluded and stepped down while everyone applauded. Food and drinks kept flowing among the crowd, and people whispered as they mingled. Most tried to approach Alrik and Eliza, but were stopped before they could get too close.
"I’m tired. How long do we have to stay till it’s okay to leave? I don’t want to seem rude." Eliza said, and Alrik frowned.
"No need to stay if you’re tired. This is our event. Who cares about being rude." He replied and made a call for the driver to be ready to pick them up.
"Would you like to leave through the front? Or a more secluded side entrance?" He asked, and she smirked.
"The front of course. So the rest of the reporters would get their chance to take more pictures. My new gems are beautiful, and beauty is meant to be flaunted."
He chuckled, then gestured for a guard to clear a path for him. He held her hand, and they walked out together. All the red carpet reporters that had not bothered to take pictures of them before began to click like crazy. Yelling out questions, calling for Eliza to turn and pose.
She stopped, and twirled, posed alone, then with Alrik, before walking to their car.
"Oh, that was fun. Especially the part where Vaida got dragged out. The audacity of her to try and claim to be your wife after rejecting you so many times. So shameless." Eliza said as she poured a glass of wine from a compartment in the car. "Want some?"
"Nah. I drank enough at the event. As for Vaida, I do admit to being surprised. I anticipated Kalen being the one to cause a scene, not her. He was surprisingly quiet. Shock? Or maybe he’s scheming. Who knows."
"My family was also quieter than I expected. Maybe they’ll cause their own scene tomorrow. Just thinking of dealing with them is already draining. Anyway, what’s your plan now that your identity is open now? You need to resume work, right?" She asked, and he shook his head.
"Gaya and the others can keep running point for now. I’ll be going to work with you instead. You still have a lot to do to restructure your company and clean up your family’s mismanagement mess. After a week or two, when I’m sure you won’t be too overworked, then I’lll resume my duties as CEO of Crestview. Speaking of which, the next board meeting for top shareholders in my company will be in two weeks."
"Are you just informing me? Or do you want me to go with you for any specific reason?" She asked as she refilled her wine glass.
"For a reason. I’m splitting my own shares in half, and you’ll officially sign the documents to make the share transfer legal." He said and she gasped.
"Alrik! You’ve given me more than enough. I have controlling interests in my grandmother’s company already. Even half of your own shares is more than ten times the worth of the shares in my company."
"Well, you’re my wife. You should own shares in your husband’s company." He shrugged. Latest content publıshed on noⅴelfire.net
"I’ll only take five percent. That’s still more than enough. Just so my name is among the shareholder’s list to appease you. And that’s not up for debate." She said sternly. "What will I even do with so much money when you’re already spoiling me? You already gave me access to all your accounts, and got a brand new Black card from the bank I can spend with."
She was still speaking when the car screeched to a halt, there was a small crash and they bounced forward.