CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE.
Adele bit her lips hard as she let his words sink in her brain. He was striking every nerve in her body and getting her extremely enraged with every word he said. The only thing she could feel for him at the time was hatred.
She hated the fact that he had come back to her life, she hated the fact that he had the power and connections to do whatever he wanted at any time, she hated him for ruining her life.
She loathed him with every fibre in her body and if she were to set eyes on him at that moment, she would give him two solid snacks on both his left and right cheeks, then maybe her anger would subside after that.
“You are nothing but a sick bastard.”
“I am just an unfortunate man who married a very beautiful woman. A woman who looks pleasant in the eyes of every man. The most desired woman in the world. I have to protect her at all costs, otherwise hungry lions will devour her for me before I even realise it.”
“The only hungry lion devouring me right now is you, Jamal!”
“As it should be. I am the only Lion permitted by law and ethics to devour you, wifey.”
“Don’t call me that, I am not your wife!” Adele sneered and Jamal chuckled on the other side of the phone.
“Enough with fighting, let’s get down to business.”
“What business?” Adele questioned in confusion.
“Now that I’m done getting rid of the guys trying to hit on you, let’s dive into the next step of this operation”
“Jamal, I don’t know what the hell your operation is all about and trust me, I don’t want to know about it. Keep it to yourself.”
“I can’t, because it greatly involves you. Tomorrow morning, you are going to turn in your resignation letter to your boss, as in, you are going to quit your job and come work at the conglomerate.” He calmly deciphered.
Adele, who had been listening keenly, chuckled hysterically for a while and then suddenly stopped with an eternal frown masked on her face.
How she wished he could see that frown.
“You are joking, right?” She asked in a serious tone.
“Should I turn this call into a video call so you can look at my face and see that I am not joking?”
“Jamal that is never going to happen. I love where I work and I don’t want to be part of anything that has got to do with you. I do not want to work for your shitty conglomerate!” She dished out furiously. Her chest rising and falling as she breathed hard.
“This isn’t up for a debate, Adele. I need you close to me so I can watch you better and hurl away vagabonds that think they can have their way with you. I need you to work in my conglomerate so I can protect you more.”
“I don’t need your stupid protection. I’m not in any sort of danger. Jesus Jamal! Stop all this madness and let me be!” She scolded hard in the car.
Her head was pounding from within and she felt dizzy. Jamal was driving her crazy.
“As I said before, this isn’t up for debate. You will turn in your resignation letter tomorrow. The manager of the human and resource department is going to give you a call, make sure to answer it. She’s going to tell you all you need to bring alone to the conglomerate on Wednesday so you can submit.”
“Jamal… stop all this nonsense. I’m begging you please stop. You have no right to control my life as such.”
“See you soon, Adele.” He hung up and Adele tiredly placed the phone on the console and slammed her head on the steering wheel.
“What did I do to deserve all this?” She asked rhetorically in a shaky voice.
Jamal was simply back to ruin her life.
**********************************************
Adele did not prepare any resignation letter. She woke up that morning and left for work like she always did.
She was not going to give into Jamal’s wish for her to quit her job and go work in his conglomerate.
That was the last place she wanted to be. She never wanted to be anywhere close to the Dominicks after all what they had done to her and Jamal was not going to force her to do so.
When she walked into the office, she noticed everyone was quiet and when they noticed her presence, they turned to look at her with concerned looks on their faces.
“Good morning.” She greeted gladfully, but they all just mumbled responses and that got her confused because they had never done that before.
She decided to put their weird responses behind her and go over to the desk so she could commence with her work, but she froze on her tracks when she saw the state of her desk.
Her computers and laptops were gone, and there was just a box on it. She rushed over to her table in shock.
“She doesn’t know?” She heard Kaylee whisper.
“This isn’t good.”
“What don’t I know?” Adele asked in fury as she turned to look at them.
“It’s not in our place to tell you.” Kaylee replied calmly and Adele quickly dropped her bag down to head out of the office. Just then, the door opened and the same manager from yesterday walked in.
“What’s going on?” Adele asked impatiently. “Why is my desk empty?” Her voice was shaky and tears stinging in her eyes. She was trying to convince herself that that wasn’t Jamal’s doing.
She wanted the Manager to tell her that this was a mistake.
“Adele.” The manager called and she looked at him expectantly.
“Yes, Mr. Luke.”
“I’m sorry, but, we have to let you go.” The man announced and the tears in Adele’s eyes broke loose. They ran freely down her cheeks and she took a step backwards as a silent sob escaped her lips.
She wasn’t crying because she had been fired, she was crying because Jamal was the brain behind all that.
“No… no… please tell me it’s not true.” She cried in agony and Mr. Luke felt very sorry for her.
“I got another call from the CEO, asking me to fire you. He said it was some order from above. I tried to plead with him, but he wouldn’t listen to me. All he said was, the entire firm would risk getting shut down if we do not let you go.” Mr. Luke explained and Adele calmly nodded her hair.
She took out a tissue from her handbag and thoroughly wiped her tears away. There was no use crying over spilled milk.
“I understand.” She said once she was done. “I’ll just take my leave now.” She said as she carried her box with her belongings in it and turned to look at her colleagues who looked devastated. “I’ll miss you all and I hope you keep doing the good work. Take good care of yourselves.” She said in a shaky voice.
Kaylee rushed to her and took the box in her hand to place it down. She then engulfed Adele in a bone crushing hug and all the other guys did the same.
When they were done, she left the office, crying like a baby.
The moment she got into her car at the parking lot, her phone rang. When she saw Jamal’s number, the thoughts of ending the call crossed her mind, but she knew there was no need because Jamal would always devise means to talk to her, even if it meant breaking into her house to sit and wait for her to return from work. She joylessly swiped the green icon and pressed the phone against her ear.
“Are you happy now?” She asked calmly. Her voice was raspy and Jamal could tell that she had been crying.
“You’ll thank me later for doing this.”
“The only thing I’m gonna do to you is kill you, Jamal.”
“That would be romantic. Anyway, the manager told you she called over and over again, but you didn’t pick her calls.”
“That’s because I don’t want to hear what she has to say. I have no intentions of coming to work at your shitty conglomerate. I will find a job elsewhere!” She firmly stated.
“Adele, I have already made sure no one in this country ever hires you, except Dominick Co. So if I were you, I would be a good girl and do as I’m told.”
“No you haven’t!”
“Do you want me to have it announced on the news as proof?” She asked calmly.
“My God Jamal! Why are you doing this to me?” She asked in a whisper, tears running down her cheeks.
“You will find out soon enough. For now, go home and have some rest. I will ask the manager to call you again and this time around, make sure to answer her call so she can tell you what you need to bring as documents to submit at the conglomerate. That said, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Have a nice day.”
“Fuck you Jamal!” She cursed before the line went dead.
She had arrived at a dead end.