48

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT.
Three men and three women, including Grace, were standing before Adele with their heads bowed down. The others had no idea why they had been summoned, but Grace knew and she was trembling on her spot.
Adele stood far beside the window while Jamal walked to the center of the office to meet them.
“Grace, what was the instruction I gave yesterday concerning Miss. Mackenzie?” Jamal asked calmly but firmly and Grace raised her head up to look at him with the most sorrowful look in her eyes.
At that moment, she wished she could rewind time and treat Adele properly. She was at the brink of losing her job just because she was jealous of Adele.
She had no idea who Adele was but the moment she laid eyes on her, she felt Jealous of her and had sworn to give her a hard time and now that was going to cost her her job.
“You said to collect her CV and introduce her to the other colleagues.” She replied with a tiny voice.
“And did you do that?” Jamal asked, looking at her intensely.
“No, Mr. King.”
“Grace it seems to me like you are the boss here. I give you instructions and you go ahead to do what you please. You are the boss now, ain’t you?” Jamal questioned with a stern voice and Grace immediately went down on her knees and began rubbing her palms together as she looked up at him.
“Please forgive me Mr. King. I didn’t mean to humiliate her, I was only taking proper measures to…”
“Proper measures?” Jamal cut her off. “That is to further confirm that I, the boss, have no idea what I’m doing. It further confirms that you are the boss who knows everything, not me.”
“No…Sir… please…. Have mercy on me.” The woman wept in agony.
Adele’s heart shattered into a million pieces upon seeing the woman beg on her knees.
Yes she was mad at her for being rude to her earlier and she wanted Jamal to reprimand her, but she did not want her kneeling before him like he was some God.
Jamal on the other hand averted his gaze from the woman kneeling before him to the other five people.
“I believe you were told that there was going to be a new employee today. Where were you when all this happened?” He questioned fiercely.
“Mr. King, we had a meeting with the marketing department. I intended to attend to the new employee once I was done.” The leader of the group replied and Jamal chuckled lightly as he shook his head.
“You all refer to me as your boss but defy my orders when I give them. Have I ever sent an employee to you in my name?” He asked with furrowed brows and they all shook their heads.
“No, you haven’t.”
“Good. So didn’t it occur to you that this must be very important since the recommendation came from me? Didn’t it occur to you that you had to treat this employee special?”
The entire office went dead silent. The six people looked at each other, totally confused and worried at the same time.
“The five of you neglected her while Grace took it upon herself to humiliate her because for her own pleasure and for that, you all are fired.” He declared and that’s when Adele couldn’t take it anymore.
“Jamal no.” She retorted as she rushed over to them. The other five were now on their knees, begging Jamal as well.
“Adele, they disrespected you. They have to be punished.”
“Don’t you think firing them is too much punishment? Please Jamal, don’t do this. they don’t deserve this sort of punishment. It’s too much.” She pleaded on their behalf and her pleas softened Jamal’s heart.
He let out a heavy sigh and looked at her.
“So, what punishment do you want me to give them?”
“I don’t want them punished. I only want a sincere apology from Grace, that’s all.” Adele said, looking at Grace whose face was drenched with tears.
“What about the others?”
“They didn’t offend me, but if it’ll make you feel better and not have them fired, they can apologize too.” She further explained and Jamal shook his head and thought for a while.
The people on the floor were still murmuring pleas to him and he finally turned to look at them.
“You all are lucky that she is compassionate enough to plead on your behalf. You would be jobless for the rest of your lives. Grace, you heard her, apologize this minute.”
“Miss Mackenzie I’m so sorry for treating you poorly, for humiliating you as well. I promise it’s never going to happen again. Please forgive me.” The woman apologized and Adele smiled in satisfaction.
That was all she wanted, Grace’s pride crushed to dust.
“It’s okay.”
“You all can leave now and you will do well to speak of this to no one. If any rumour of this or the fact that I’m acquainted with Miss Mackenzie spreads, I will ruin your lives. Now get out of my office.”
They all scampered out of his office like scared rodents. When the door closed behind them, Adele rushed over to him with her mouth wide open in shock.
“Were you really just going to fire them?” She asked aghast.
“Did I look like I wasn’t going to? Of course I was! They disrespected you!”
“My God Jamal, I only reported this issue to you so you can call Grace to order, not attempt to fire her and five others. Don’t you think that’s cruel?”
“Cruel? Let me tell you what’s cruel. Grace going against my orders and humiliating you is what’s cruel and she deserves to be punished for that. The other members of the human and resource department were supposed to be at the lobby to welcome you, but they went against my orders and went to attend to stupid meeting instead. That’s gross insubordination, something I do not tolerate and they know that!”
“Jamal!” Adele called breathlessly. She was already tired of everything that was going on. “You can’t just fire people as you wish.”
“Well I can. It’s my conglomerate. I decide who goes and who stays.” He flatly told her and she groaned in frustration.
“But what about their jobs? The families they have to feed and don’t you think it’ll be hard finding people to replace them? Why aren’t you thinking of that?”
“First things first, if they can’t respect my wife, then they don’t deserve to be employed by me and secondly, finding replacements for the people I fire is never a difficult thing to do. Adele I get hundreds of applications on a daily basis. People will kill to get an employment letter from me.” He explained and Adele knew he wasn’t bluffing.
He was the richest man in the country, his conglomerate was the most successful. It was everyone’s dream to be employed by him, except her tho.
She dreaded coming to work there.
“Even so, Jamal. You just can’t fire people because you can. That’s unethical and you know that.”
“The only unethical thing is your employees disrespecting you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are my wife Adele and what’s mine is yours. In essence, this conglomerate is yours and everyone who works here is under you. They are obliged to respect you as much as they respect me and if they don’t, they will be fired.” He explained in detail and Adele chuckled in amusement.
“How are they gonna respect me as they should if they don’t even know I’m your wife?” She asked with raised brows and Jamal smiled.
“Should we go make the introductions now? I’m ready to tell the world you are my wife!” Said Jamal, walking over to his table. The moment he picked up his phone, Adele flew over to him and seized it from his hand.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” She asked in horror.
“I’m calling a meeting so we can make the announcement. That way, you don’t even have to work here and you will have to come with me home.”
“You have totally lost your mind, haven’t you? Nothing of that sort is happening so hold your peace!” She scolded and Jamal could tell from her tone and the look in her eyes that he was serious.
He raised both hands in the air as a sign that he was surrendering to her.
“Okay, okay, fine. I’m not going to do it.”
“I’m serious Jamal, no one can know about our marital status.” She insisted and Jamal nodded his head in agreement.
“Your wish is my command, dear wifey.”
“And stop calling me that.” She grumbled inaudibly as she handed over his phone.
“Now that everything is settled, you can go home now and report to work at eight am tomorrow morning. Grace will show you to your workspace and she will behave better. Is that okay with you?” He asked, concerned.
“Do I have a choice?” She asked rudely.
“No, you don’t.”
“Then that’s fair enough. Have a nice day.” She said and turned to leave, but Jamal’s call stopped her.
“Adele.” He called and she stopped on her tracks and turned to look at him. When she saw him make an attempt to walk towards her, she held out her right palm before him, signaling him to stop.
“Don’t you dare come close to me.” She warned and Jamal obeyed. “I want you nowhere close to me. Get that into your thick skull.” Then she turned around and exited the office.
Jamal chuckled lightly and threaded his hands through his hair.
He was slowly getting there. He was positive that they were going to be together again someday.