CHAPTER SIXTEEN

*SOPHIA'S POV*

It was finally time for me to resume work at my company (Hems and Halo), and I was fully prepared for the tasks that I needed to complete to get it back on track.

I was fully dressed and ready to leave when Bran walked into the room.

"Pierre will drop you off at work."

"There is no need for that."

"There is a need for that, you are my wife, and I can not have you turning up to your first day at work without a ride."

"This is my company, I owned and worked there before, remember?"

"It is either Pierre drops you off or you don't bother resuming work," Bran said, quite determined.

I stood there and looked at him for a while, and lots of thoughts flowed through my mind.

I picked up my handbag, exited the room without saying a word and went downstairs to meet Pierre, who was already waiting for me.

"Good morning, ma'am."

"Good morning, Pierre, shall we?"

"Of course"

Pierre led the way, and I followed until we got into the car and drove out of the residence and to my company.

*JANE'S POV*

"I heard today is Sophia's first day at work," I said as I watched my husband get dressed for work.

"Uhh yeah, that boy went ahead to appoint her as the ceo of the same company he took ownership of from her," he said as he tried to knot his tie.

"And you did not think to tell me, hmm, Tom?" I asked and passed him his suit to wear.

"I am sorry, I did not keep it away from you intentionally." he collected the suit from me and wore it.

"Little details like this matter a lot, sweetheart. Who knows what she has planned to do the moment she gets to work?"

"I am really sorry."

"That is all you say all the time, sorry. In the same way you did not deem it fit to update me on the emergency board meeting we called for the other day, I had to hear from my P.A Ren," I said, with my time slightly high.

"You know how it is with these meetings and these men, I just did not know how to tell you, after all the effort you put into it."

"You are lucky you have me as your wife, Tom, I don't know what or where you would be if I were not here."

"Of course, you have always been my lucky charm," he said and came close to pecking me, but I withdrew my face.

"We don't have time for all of that," I said.

"Yes, of course."

"Taking care of Mr Brown was not in the plan, but I only did that, else we would be at a loss." I grabbed the glass of wine from the bed chamber.

"I understand you, Jane, I understand all that you do for me to take over the company from Bran, and I don't take them for granted."

"That is good, we would not want to end up like Mr Brown, would we?" I said threateningly and walked out of the room with the glass of wine.

Tom is my husband, but he is more of a puppet than a man to me, a man who can't think up ways to survive this political warfare with his nephew and comes running to me for solutions.

There are no feelings between me and my husband, or better still, from me, as our marriage was an arranged marriage that would benefit both families. We have been married for quite some time now, but no children.

Initially, I was the one who did not want any children and Tom agreed with that, but as time went by and I knew that there was going to be some differences between Tom and his brother, I decided to try having children so that Tom could come first in line when it comes to inheritance.

But things did not go as planned for us, I could not bear a child. But that did not stop me from doing what I had to do to get what belonged to us.

Tom's elder brother, Craig, tossed us aside and gave everything to Bran despite my and Tom's efforts to expand and grow Garner Industry.

I could not bear to be seen as a laughing stock despite being the one who jointly brought Garner Industry to where it is.

*SOPHIA'S POV*

Pierre drove me to my company, and when I got out of the car and stood right in front of the building, I felt a good sense of belonging.

"Let me know when you close from work so I can come pick you, ma'am."

"Oh, that won't be necessary, I am sure I will be able to find my way home."

"I insist, ma'am, Mr Bran would not like that."

"Fine"

I said this and walked right inside the building and into the elevator that would take me to my company's floor, while Pierre got back into the car and drove off.

Ding! The elevator opened up, and as I walked into the Hems and Halo space, I already felt welcomed. I met with one of my staff at the entrance, as she was surprised and happy to see me as well.

"Miss Sophia!" she exclaimed, left the coffee she was making and hurried over to my side and gave me a hug as I laughed happily.

Soon after, this caught the attention of Tessa and other workers around as they also approached and welcomed me.

"It is so good to have you back, boss," Tessa said with a smile.

"It is so good to be back here, I missed you all so dearly."

"We missed you too, boss," some of the staff chorused.

"I trust we have been well during the break, I am really sorry you all had to witness all of that without warning."

"Please don't say that, boss, we knew you were going to bounce back one way or the other, plus, we are quite passionate about making baby wears to stop now," Tessa said and smiled.

"Then I guess we have a lot of work to do."

Everyone clapped, cheered, and I retreated to my office along with Tessa.

"Does this mean we are to begin production of the last design you came up with, boss?" Tessa asked.

I walked over to my desk, took my seat and brought out my laptop.

"You would have to hold on with that for now," I said and opened my laptop.

"Hold on? Is anything the problem, boss? We are already behind schedule for the release date."

"There is something I have not told you, Tessa."

This piqued and increased her curiosity as she wondered what it could be.

"Me being back here as the ceo of my company didn't just come on a platter of gold."

"What do you mean, boss?"

"Garner Industry controls and decides on our future decisions and releases of designs from now on," I said, a little disappointed in myself.

"What??"

"Hems and Halo's ownership rights are now in the hands of Garner Industry."

"But…but how? I thought the company was closed down because of your father's debt. How did it end up with Garner Industry?"

"It is a long story, Tessa, things and methods are going to change around here for a while, only for a while."

"Do you have a plan?"

"You should know me by now, there is no way I will be controlled or made a puppet for a long time, we just have to bear with things for now."

"I really can't believe your husband would do this, he should know how much time and sweat you have put into this company."

"He doesn't and will not define what or where my company would be in the future, so I would like you not to think about the future of or make decisions for this company based on him, alright?"

"You are right, we have to focus and work on getting Hems and Halo back on track and better.

"Yes….. Now, regarding the new design we had pre-launched, send me every document regarding it so I can go over it and make some amendments for approval."

"Bringing them right away"

Tessa said this and exited my office to get the relevant documents that I needed.

I looked around my office, it felt so surreal and distant that I suddenly remembered what it was that pushed me to be where I am today.

Thinking about all of that, I suddenly felt a deep and heavy surge at the bottom of my stomach. I sometimes had this slight, painful surge happen once in a while for the past six years.

I was not scared or worried because I knew exactly what I went through, what it was and what it meant to me; it was nothing short of a constant reminder.