I will lower the moon for you Page 4

  I heard her silently wondering if ever I will be able to feel wedding jitters like her, what it would be like to get married for me? After Nate, I hardly could trust in love, let alone thinking about getting married. I was truly happy for her, at least someone was getting her forever fairy-tale ending.

  What I had with Nate ended awfully, and I believed I would never be able to pick my pieces again. Even if I recovered, it would be still scarred, far from perfect.

  Getting my mind off these hurtful things, I looked at the time, and it was already nine pm.

  We wrapped up dinner, and I headed back to my office.

  "Good Luck with your meeting, Emma. Don't stay up too late." She gave me a side hug before leaving.

  Hours later, I quickly thought of an idea and called Niki. She had a spare set of keys to my apartment; I would probably have to go to Richmond Corp directly from here in the morning, if Niki could get me a change of clothes, it would be extremely helpful.

  Thinking, I dialled your number, and it went straight to voice mail.

  I sighed, figuring I would need to stop at my apartment early morning and quickly change to go to Richmond Corp's office from there.

  Looked like a long night and day ahead.

  Amidst my proposal work and nervousness surrounding the same, curiosity still took the better of me, and deep inside I was intrigued to see who this ruthless CEO was?

  Chapter 6

  The Man of my Dreams

  Emma.

  Next Morning, I woke up with the sound of my phone alarm that I had set up for six am. I hardly slept all night; I completed the proposal work roughly around three am and then spent another hour self-reviewing it and detailing it to my satisfaction.

  I think I dozed off at four am on the most uncomfortable couch that there can be, and was up within two hours. I carefully placed the proposal file and Mark Hanly's card in my office bag and headed home. I saw Benjamin's message; he had his baby boy at around mid-night.

  Both Raina and baby were doing fine. I sent a congratulatory message and thought of visiting them at the hospital after I wind up work today. I felt so happy for them.

  I took a quick shower and changed into my favorite office wear. It was a dark green blouse with a high waist pencil skirt. I brushed my hair and pinned them in front, making my open locks fall on my shoulder. I applied minimal make up just enough to cover the puffiness under my eyes. I then picked my short black blazer and was ready to leave.

  On my way in the sub, I got a call from Niki.

  "Hi Emma. I saw your call this morning. Sorry, I umm… stayed over with Barry last night."

  Niki and Barry had been dating for three months now and their relationship was going strong and steady.

  "Smooth. I know what you mean Niki and sorry I thought of disturbing you. I have my first client meeting today. I am heading to Richmond Corp. I will call you once I am done".

  "Wow. That's great Emma! Aren't you still in probation? Anyway, Congratulations! This calls for a celebration. My treat for you this Saturday, I will invite Barry too." She was suddenly very excited.

  "Done, but let's not celebrate so soon. I am very nervous, let's talk after the meeting."

  "Ok, all the best. Call me when you get free".

  I closed my eyes and tried to relax a bit. Thinking about everything since yesterday, I was most intimidated by what people said about Jacob Richmond. I had fair confidence in my work but thinking about facing a guy of his stature in my first client meeting left a knot in my stomach.

  With that, I arrived at the station and my destination – Richmond Corp was just two blocks away.

  ***

  I walked past the grand entrance of the office and reached the reception area. There was a beautiful girl, probably in her early thirties seated at the reception. I reached to talk to her, but without even looking at me, she waved and asked me to wait.1

  I thought that was rude of her specially in the morning hours when there was not much of a crowd in office and she didn't look necessarily busy.

  She looked up at me, scanning every inch of my appearance from head to toe and said in a vague tone, "Yes please, how may I help you?"

  I was almost confused by her stare, wondering if I didn't look up to mark for the meeting. I gathered my thoughts and replied nevertheless, "Hi, I am Emma Carter from S&M, I am here to meet Mr. Mark Hanly". I handed her his visiting card that Benjamin gave me yesterday.

  She took the card, scanned it for a minute, and dialed a number from her landline. She informed somebody on the phone about me, and then again waved her hand without making eye contact as an indication for me to sit and wait. I gave her a helpless look and made myself comfortable in the sitting area.

  Soon within minutes, the front door of the office opened, and a handsome man dressed in a formal blue suit entered the reception. He had a pleasant personality and his face cut could give models a run for their money.

  He paused for a minute and almost gave me an intense look before finally approaching me.

  "You must be Emma Carter. Hi, I am Mark Hanly.". He extended his hand for a formal shake, which I took and returned with a warm smile.

  "Mr. Benjamin told me about your arrival for the meeting today. You are early though, it's still eight-thirty am."

  "Yes, Hello Mr. Hanly, I just got in before time."

  "Call me Mark, and no worries I appreciate your punctuality, we anyways have a lot to cover before the ten am meeting. Hope the proposal is ready."

  "Yes, absolutely."

  "Great, let's head to the Conference Room and review it in detail. Other members from my legal team will be joining by nine am." He headed to the main door and gestured me to follow him. The office facility was extravagant, I thought S&M had a decent space, but Richmond headquarters was something else altogether.

  We settled in our seats, and I took out my laptop and proposal file handing it over to Mark. We were so engrossed in work, I didn't realize when, but soon other members from the Richmond's legal team had joined us in the room as well.

  "This is good work Emma; I am going to forward it to the Big Boss for him to review before the meeting".

  "Big Boss?"

  "Yes, our CEO Mr. Richmond. He would be joining us for the meeting too." He collected all the documents and got up from his chair.

  "We are expecting BLK's Board of Directors along with their legal team to be here any minute. I have to go and receive them at the front office. Please feel free to make yourself comfortable".

  "Sure, Thanks Mr. Hanly, umm I mean Mark."

  He gave me a soft smile, and I could see his stare stuck on my face for a minute too long. He might have realised it too, as in the very next minute, he cleared his throat, and dodged eye contact.

  "There is a small cafeteria down the corridor at the end. If you want, you can take a quick trip there while I am gone".

  Mark looked like someone who was in his late twenties or early thirties. He appeared to be a dedicated employee and extremely loyal to his boss. He was handling everything with utmost professionalism and had managed the meeting agenda so well.

  I was impressed by his style of working and felt like this was just the beginning and I could learn a great deal from people like him. He left and was back after fifteen minutes, soon the conference room started filling in with people. He made everyone settle down in their respective seats and headed back to his seat next to me. He took his phone and made a quick call.

  "Boss, everything is ready. You are expected to be here in five minutes".

  I was looking forward to see Mr. Richmond in person too, I felt too small sitting in a meeting full of highly experienced and professional employees and I was about to witness the youngest and most brilliant CEO in action who had made consistent headlines for his sheer business strategies ever since he joined office.

  I was suddenly very nervous again, my heart beating so fast already.

  There was pin drop silence, until an extremely gorgeous girl entere
d the room. Her heels rattled against the marble floor.

  She could easily pass for a super model if not seen in this conference room wearing those fancy formal clothes. She was wearing a tight fitted skirt with a white blouse perfectly highlighting her curves, her blonde hair tied in a neat bun. She was most likely the secretary and following her entered Mr. CEO.

  The moment my eyes fell on him, I think the world stopped and I forgot how to breathe. My voice got hitched in my throat, and my pulse was literally dancing in my veins.

  "Jake?"

  In front of me, was not Mr. CEO, but instead dressed in an immaculate grey suit, white shirt and the perfect blue tie- was Jake. The same Jake who I met in Corsica. Same icy blue eyes, I couldn't mistake them for anyone else.

  The man of my dreams.

  It seemed he got out of my thoughts and stood right in front of me. I could not believe my eyes and pinched myself to check if I wasn't imagining things. This indeed was real.

  How could this be? He told me his name was Jake, same eyes, the perfect well-built body and his slicked back dark brown hair.1

  My eyes went back to see him, he was now settled in the center seat of the vast round table. He scanned the people around him, nodded with a smile as sign of his greeting to everyone present. As soon as his eyes fell on me, he froze. He was still and staring in my direction as if his icy blue eyes were measuring every inch of my face. The pause was way too long for a comfortable glance.

  By now, everybody turned in my direction wondering what took Mr. CEO's attention. I found a dozen eyes staring at me with confusion and curiosity. I wanted to melt in my seat and disappear from the face of this conference room. My temples and palms were sweating, and I bore my eyes onto my lap to avoid eye contact. Seconds later, he cleared his throat making a grunting noise, and greeted Mark.

  "Good Morning everyone, Mark if you could spare me a second please?" Jake stated in a stern voice.

  Mark who was seated next to me, quickly responded and the tension was diffused as everyone assumed Jake was looking at Mark and not me.

  The meeting resumed once Mark attended to Jake. My head was still trying to wrap around the shocking revelation.

  Did he have a twin or something? Jake and Jacob, could be?3

  Thousand questions came to my mind, I felt an enduring restlessness seeing him in front of me after months. My heart was beating drums against my chest, somehow, I still managed to confirm one last time, before I totally freaked out.

  "Who's that?" I whispered to Mark.

  "He is the big boss, our CEO, Mr. Jacob Richmond."

  Chapter 7

  The Indifference

  Emma

  Richmond Headquarters

  I kept looking at Jake, my eyes drew to his face after every passing minute, but his never left the projector screen. He did not look in my direction again.

  I gathered myself and focused hard to follow the screen, trying to make sense of the quotations projected by BLK. Everyone took notes and kept up with the pace of the meeting.

  Next up the projector was the proposal prepared by me. The Legal team from BLK took serious interest and were discussing something internally as the proposal slides advanced.

  The proposal was interjected by one of the spokespersons from BLK.

  "Mr. Jacob, your team's risk assessment numbers are way higher than what we projected in our calculation" A man in his mid-forties said while looking at his laptop screen.

  "We really could use some explanation to verify the authenticity of your projected numbers". He finished in a serious tone. I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. This was my work, and my credibility was at stake.

  He was now slowly talking to his other colleagues, not very audible to the larger group. After few minutes, Mr. Ben Muriel, CEO of BLK, the company acquired by Jake, continued, "I think we will have to regroup on the risk assessment Mr. Richmond, as clearly we do not have consensus on the projections here. These revisions might even take a couple of weeks’ times."

  Jake did not look pleased by their request at all, he replied sternly, "Let's circle back for a minute Mr. Muriel, I am sure my legal department has valid explanations for your questions."

  Jake gave a go-ahead nod to Mark, and he immediately stood up to handle the questions. He headed to the white board, and gave quite convincing explanations for a brief one-hour walkthrough that I provided him this morning. This only showed how good he was at his work.

  However, he got cross-questioned again on one of the parameters that he didn't cover.

  There was pin drop silence in the room, piercing gazes stuck on Mark, who was looking into the proposal file figuring the best explanation. Soft whispers filled the room and it appeared as if Richmond Corp was losing face.

  Jake was giving deadly stares to Mark, and I am not sure if it was the adrenaline rush or the bout of nervousness that abruptly transformed into boldness, I stood up from my seat, and offered Mark to take it forward from where he left.

  I confidently walked towards Mark, and took the marker from his hand. I turned around and introduced myself.

  "I am Emma Carter from S&M; we are Richmond Corp's legal partners and I would be the right person to provide you the basis of our projected numbers here." I started in a stern loud voice; these calculations were on the back of my hand as I prepared them less than eight hours ago.

  My eyes did not leave the white board for a second, however, I could feel my back pierced by Jake's serious stares. I dare not look back at him even once during my presentation, as I was sure the strength I had unexpectedly summoned would fall in splits the moment my eyes would meet his.

  I forced myself to maintain calm and continued writing down the numbers for everyone's benefit. Once I was done, I felt satisfied by my explanation. I did a thorough research and was positive that this could not go wrong.

  The BLK Spokesperson looked a little agitated yet still nodded in agreement.

  "Alright Ms. Carter, we agree with your calculations here, however, for our record keeping, we will need the explanation sent as a separate attachment?" Mr. Muriel said in a bossily tone.

  "You will have them faxed to you by nine am tomorrow Mr. Muriel". Before I could reply, Jake cut me out and responded in a firm tone.

  "Good, we will look forward to receive it then."

  Mr. Muriel said while getting up from his chair and shaking Jake's hand. I stood there, silently observing each one of the members from BLK leave the room.

  There was a deafening silence in the room again, only present was Richmond Corp's legal team, myself and the big boss himself along with his secretary.

  Jake finally turned around in my direction, and our eyes met for the first time after months. For split of a second, I forgot how to breathe.

  His expressions were cold and blank, I tried searching his eyes to get a glimpse of what he was thinking, but I got nothing. He stood there; I could see a lump forming in his throat too.

  He started at me for few seconds more, and then turned to Mark.

  "Mark please provide Ms. Carter all the required resources for the paperwork. I would be looking at the final proposal in detail overnight and will have it sent to BLK before 9 am tomorrow". Mark nodded and with that Jake stormed out.

  The minute Jake left the conference room, Mark and his team walked in my direction and stood next to me.

  "You were great Emma. Well done." Mark smiled at me, as his other team members stepped forward to shake my hand.

  "Thank You." I muttered with a small smile while shaking their hands in return.

  I was numb and did not know what to think. It felt my heart and spirit left the room with Jake. All words falling on my ears were like faded whispers. I was lost in my thoughts while Mark was briefing the team.

  Once finished, Mark offered to escort me out of the office. He behaved like a true gentleman and was constantly appreciating me for my work.

  Once he left, I almost burst into tears. I was not even sure why I was crying. I
did a great job today and we had this acquisition well under control, that too on our terms. I pulled off what I had promised Benjamin and today's meeting would definitely lead to a strong foundation between Richmond's and S&M.

  I saw Jake after seven months, something that I always desired in my heart and yet I wasn't happy.

  The moment he stormed out as if I was non-existent and just another employee who worked for his mighty company, I felt so small.

  He was one of the most powerful business men of today's time and a girl like me would make no difference in his high-end life.

  Obviously, what would I mean to someone like Jacob Richmond? Why would he waste his precious time acknowledging me?

  ***

  "You mean the Jake you kissed in Corsica is actually a big shot CEO of this huge organization - Richmond Corp?"

  "Yes" I barely muttered.

  I was so restless that I decided to take a short detour and planned on meeting Niki for a quick lunch before I headed back to my office. She immediately agreed to see me and soon we were seated in an upstate Italian restaurant two blocks away from my office.

  "The sole beneficiary of the vast empire that his father left him, and he owns more than half of the oil and refinery industry?"

  "Yup, it's him."

  "So, he is the new guy who has set daily headlines on fire in the past month with his business maneuvers?"

  She repeated all those questions in complete state of shock and aww.

  "Yes, and he is one of my company's biggest client". I sighed reflecting upon the irony of the situation, "and worse is he doesn't seem to recognize me or know me. As if the kiss that made a big deal in my head, meant nothing to him."

  I tried holding back my tears, and took a deep breathe. Niki was listening to me with empathy and compassion. She was sitting patiently allowing me to pour myself out.

  "I don't know what was I expecting Niki? I wish he could have been just a simple guy who happened to kiss an ordinary girl in that beautiful beach in Corsica. Now, I can't even dream about that memory again. He suddenly became this farfetched reality that was forbidden to touch."