Chapter 7 Unbridled

"Whew! It was hot in there," He said to the furniture in his office immediately he entered and closed the door behind him. The air conditioning in the ball room was working perfectly fine, the heat was coming from inside of him, and he had Brenda to blame for it. He needed to calm his nerves and emotions that went into overdrive at the sight of Brenda Lewis.

He had just wanted to satisfy his curiosity, when he was told that a daughter of an aspiring gubernatorial candidate had his small banquet hall booked for her welcoming party. Peradventure, he had hoped she was the one that booked his hall, having seen her father being interviewed the day before. Normally, he would send some of his top executives for PR purposes- A strategy that has helped his business a lot in the past; because he frequently hosted celebrities and political personnel, some of which he had enjoy a very good relationship with and some are even his friends. But on a personal front he wanted to confirm his speculations, and he turned out to be right. Brenda Lewis was in his hotel; speak of the irony of Life. He saw her picture on the welcoming banner directing guest to the hall, so he confirmed his notion, but what he didn t prepare for was the striking beauty that walked towards him; she has changed a whole lot. She was all grown up with curves in all the right places.

Once again she was the pure innocent girl who defended him to her friends, who was sweet enough to share her pocket money with him even when he didn t want it. The girl who taught him social etiquette many of which he found handy now that he had a lot of social functions to attend. But she lost her trust in him, when he needed it most- that thought alone crumbled his initial fantasies. Now, it is payback time, especially for Brenda s father.

Desmond Lewis did not only rob him of his mother s last wish- which was to rest her head on her son s lap, and quietly slip into eternity, but he also accused him of theft; had him beaten, and thrown in a dark room, while at the other side of town, his mother s breath slowly left her body. All because he was a poor pauper; as for Brenda, who was meant to support him at his lowest. He had deserted him and left him to suffer for a crime he didn t commit.

It was heart wrenching for him; when he was finally released from the guardroom the next day, and he found that his mother had passed on. He cried, and then mourned; wishing for just another day or even minutes with her, but Jemima Campbell was gone to the world beyond. And nothing could bring her back. Daniela was angry with him for days for not coming through when Mama was calling for him. She thought maybe she would have stayed a little longer if Dave was around.

Dave went to the grave site many days after his mother s death, and would sit for hours crying, praying for her forgiveness, and cursing him for not being a good child to her, and for all she had to suffer especially for him.

He got over his feelings of sadness, but never got over the fact that Lewis robbed him of the most important thing in his life. He had promised to stay clear of the Lewis; the fact that his mother died on Brenda s birthday left a bad taste in his mouth, hence his promise.

"Amazing!" he whispered to the empty room. He didn t know he was crying until a salty tear slipped in his mouth. Now that he knew she was attracted to him, it would make his job a lot easier. Even if she weren t he intended on a full blown Dave Campbell- seduction. Thankfully she was, because he recognized female attraction to him any day; though she tried to hide it; it was obvious in the tilt of her head towards him, her nearness, her pupil dilation, and her slightly parted lips. "Oh! Trust me to take full advantage of that attraction to settle the score," he exclaimed determinedly. Talk of killing two birds with one stone. He stood up from his reclining position and planned his first act of seduction.

He went to his restroom to get his emotion under control. He washed his face, and then clean with the towel, staring at his handsome face in the mirror, "You can sure use a little of this drip to get what you want," a sinister smile spread on his lips. He got back to his desk to resume his work, but his mind kept drifting back to the beautiful woman whose party is going on downstairs in one of his ballrooms. After several minutes of failed attempts; he closed his laptop and left for the day. He told his secretary to cancel all his appointments for the day, and then to inform Paul that he left for the day.

***

Dave was determined to put Brenda out of his mind; he couldn t keep dwelling on their chanced meeting yesterday. He had to launch his attack, if he was going to get what he wanted- revenge.

Dave sat back at his desk, he called his Personal Assistant.

"Hello Paul, see me in my office right away…"

Paul Percy peeped through, after knocking gently on the power door. "Good Morning, Boss"

"Come in," Dave barked. Per adventure his lack of sleep is making him feel a little irritated this morning; courtesy of a certain little princess who happened to be not so little anymore.

***

Paul walked towards his boss seated behind the massive table in the centre of the well furnished room, watching Dave s expression closely. The boss was definitely in a very bad mood judging by his tone and stormy expression. Mostly, he enjoyed working for Dave; exclusive of his temper, he was not only generous but also diligent, driven, and goal oriented. Whatever Dave wanted he got. Paul often viewed him as a mentor, they might be around the within same age bracket but Dave was an achiever, and a very smart one at that. He single handedly built his empire from ground up, with the help of people like him of course-loyal employees. Dave might be many things but he never undermines the role of his staff members in his achievements, which made him a compelling employer, howbeit mystifying and a very sad one. He was surprised when he decided to represent himself at the party earlier, something he usually delegated. Just when you thought you had him pegged, he sprang up a new one on you. He wondered what he was up to this time. But whatever it was, he owed Dave Campbell his loyalty. "Good day boss"

"Contact my Private Investigator immediately; I want him to dig up everything he could find on Desmond Lewis, good, bad and the ugly."

"Ok, got it, would that be all?" he scribbled on his pad.

"Yes, that would be all". Dave swung his chair to attend quickly to a mail that just came in. He then turned back, when he didn t see him move to do his bidding, he narrowed his eyes at Paul. An action that would make a lesser person squirm in his seat, he asked "Anything else?"

Paul leveled his eyes on his Boss. "It might not be my place to ask, but since it is my job to represent you, I thought why not... I observed a change in your demeanor recently, and I know whatever it is, it s definitely eating you up. God knows you don t express yourself enough, which was I know this must be pretty disturbing to warrant a crack in your armor."

Dave s first reaction was shock, which he expressed with a raise of one beautifully arched eyebrow. Never had anyone been bold enough to talk to him this way before especially not his employee, but he must respect Paul s boldness. He joined him a few years back and he came in highly recommended, given how he handled his affairs the last years, he would say his recommendations were well earned. Though he admired his brazenness he would not encourage such audacity, especially not from his employees.

He kept his face expressionless. "Thank you…Paul, I m fine" he dismissed him, but again, thank you."

"Alright, I guess I should get going on the assignment." He took his leave wondering what happened to him that made him shut everyone out.

"Yes! You should!" he barked and turned back to his laptop he entered the investment market online to see where else to put his money. It is safe to say that investment is his hobby, he thought as he focused on the screen before him.

*****

Brenda walked on cloud nine all morning, and it has nothing to do with Dave, or that he sent in flowers, so she told herself. "Focus, enough already" she chided herself. She chose to see the beauty of her surrounding instead. The sun was shining rather beautifully. She drove along Salvage Street of Victoria Island, directly opposite the Lagos Atlantic, with two goals in mind – one is to check out an apartment and the other is to see maybe she could look around for an office space. Brenda turned off the air-conditioning; she wound down the windows, allowing the cool breeze from the Atlantic to blow her sun-kissed skin.