Chapter Four - Back From The Dead

It had been exactly three days since Zaria divorced Logan and moved out of his house. Everything she had been doing was to take back her parents' company and what they had left for her; the Williams Corporations.

The only reason why Logan had been able to come across Zaria in the hospital was that day after her parents died in a car accident; she was also attacked by unknown people. She was lucky as her elder brother had been around and was quick to perform a surgery that saved her life. By that time, her so-called uncles gobbled up the company, taking it for themselves. She was further mortified to learn that her youngest uncle had had his daughter Carlin get some men to kill her. Carlin had hired some mafia guys to take her out.

Realizing that if she just went back to the company without evidence or protection, she was as well sending herself to be killed. With Theo, her elder brother’s help, she pretended to be a nurse in the hospital and that was when she found out that Logan also had an accident that day that was also how they met and the reason she got married to him.

While she stayed away from the company, Theodore had been keeping tabs over the few shares that her uncles hadn’t gobbled up when they took over the company. Unlike Zaria, both of her elder brothers weren’t very business-oriented and weren’t interested in taking over the company and that was why their parents had decided to hand over the company to her.

Zaria picked up another file on the table flipping through it quietly. A soft chuckle slipped past her lips and she flung the file back to the table.

“It was just one year and we already lost this much?” Zaria asked with anger in her voice.

A tall lanky, slim but very handsome was seated opposite her with his chin in his palm. He appeared unconcerned with Zaria’s anger and didn’t say anything. There was another thin man standing behind him and the latter immediately bowed his head.

“Your uncles are bad at business. They kept making contracts for short-term investments and a lot of companies took advantage of this and duped them” the man said and Zaria scoffed.

“What was the Director of Project Management doing when all this was happening?” Zaria asked, her eyes glaring hatefully at no one.

“They laid off everyone who opposed their decisions” the man replied again and the first man sighed softly.

“Don’t be so angry, at least you are back now. We can take care of them now” he said and Zaria sighed.

“Is everything ready?” She asked and Theodore chuckled.

“We are ready and set. We’ll start as soon as you say so” Theodore replied and Zaria nodded.

“I still can’t believe we lost over 600 billion dollars in less than a year,” Zaria said through gritted teeth before rubbing her forehead.

“You took too long as well,” Theodore said and Zaria turned to him, sighing softly. She had indeed gotten carried away.

“I….” Zaria started but Theodore shook his head, cutting her short.

“It’s totally fine Zaria. It’s totally fine” he said with a smile that made Zaria’s lips also lift up in a smile.

“You have surgery in less than an hour,” the man behind Theodore said quietly while Theodore nodded; pushing himself to his feet while Zaria also got her feet as well, walking towards Theodore, and wrapped her hands around him.

“I’m so glad my little sister is back” Theodore cooed ruffling Zaria’s hair softly.

“Let’s do it tonight,” Zaria said and Theodore nodded his head.

“Understood” he muttered as he bent and dropped a quick kiss on Zaria’s cheeks before walking out of the room. Zaria walked towards the window and stared at the huge building standing miles away from her. By the next day, she would be back on the top floor and unlike every time when she went there to see her parents, she would be there as the President. A small smile hung at the other side of her lips before turning and walking into the room.

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Nobody knew why or what happened but overnight, the Williams Group stocks plummeted and the shareholders were crazily selling their shares at low prices that would terrify one but what shocked everyone was the fact that only one person had bought all the stocks and shares.

It happened all too fast for the business world to comprehend. In less than twenty-four hours; the owner of Williams Corporations had changed hands so fast and no one knew who it was or who now owned it. The stocks which were plummeting crazily at once went back to normal and only a smart person would understand that it had been planned.

Zaria stared at the document in front of her quietly before picking up the file and staring at it closely. Her eyes got red but she bent and grabbed the pen on the table before bending and scribbling her name and closing the file. In a week, she had scribbled her name on two different files; one was to end her one-year loveless marriage and another was to signify the beginning of her new era as the President of the Williams Group.

“Congratulations Madam President,” Theodore said, standing on his feet and bowing his head along with his assistant. Zaria chuckled lightly looking at them. If there was anything she was grateful for the most in her entire life; it had to be her family but all that was left was just her and her elder brothers and they loved her to death. There was no way she would have done it without them; they supported her in everything she chose to do, asking no questions but standing behind her unconditionally.

“Schedule a meeting with the shareholders and Directors tomorrow morning,” Zaria said and Theodore nodded.

“I already sent out a notice for secretaries and assistants for you. it would be a private interview” Theodore’s assistant said and Zaria nodded her head.

“Thank you” she muttered, glancing at the file on the table and pursing her lips.

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The conference room was full to the brim and everyone was talking in hushed tones and curious tones. Every few shareholders hadn’t sold their shares when the stocks had plummeted and so the greater parts of the people in the room were the Directors and Deputy Directors; everyone was more than eager to know who the new President was and how much force the person had to get all those shares at once. Those shares were worth over 100 billion but because of the plummeting stocks, the shares' prices had dropped and they were sold for about 50 billion, and even at that 50 billion wasn’t a small amount of money.

Just as they were talking in hushed tones, the door opened and everyone rushed to their feet while Zaria walked in. She was clad in a navy blue suit with the clothes hugging and fitting her in the right places. Her hair was placed upwards in a bun and a pin to hold it together while her face was void of makeup or lipstick but the arrogance that swirled in her bones couldn’t be mistaken.

Zaria sat down in her seat while nodding her head at everyone in the room to sit down. In a daze, everyone managed to find their seats and sit down. Zaria’s sharp gaze swept across the room as she relaxed into her chair.

“If you do not recognize me; I’ll re-introduce myself. My name is Zaria Williams and as of this moment; I am the President of the Williams Group” Zaria started allowing her words to sink in. Everyone had shocked and surprised looks on their faces when Zaria’s parents had died; it was more like she had disappeared from the surface of the earth and now everyone could understand why and how she could buy those shares.

“I do not wish to know how President Sebastian and the rest ran the Corporation when I wasn’t here; we are going to be doing things my way” Zaria continued.

“We are going to be reassessing every single Director and Deputy Director, the employees that had gotten employed in the last year won’t be spared either. Each Department will be given new projects to work on, and every Director and Deputy Director who cannot clearly deliver will be sacked on the spot. Am I clear?” Zaria asked. She wasn’t shouting or yelling but her voice was resonating in everyone’s ears and it came with a commanding tone that absolutely couldn’t be ignored.

“Am I clear?” Zaria asked again, her eyes scanning everyone’s face.

“Noted Madam President,” one of the Directors said and the others started echoing after him.

“Noted Madam President”

“Noted Madam President”

“You are all excused,” Zaria said watching as everyone scrambled to their feet and rushed out of the conference room

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“What do you mean Zaria is the new President?” one of the men seated asked. The two other men in the room also froze. The other person on the phone seemed to become impatient and annoyed at the question.

“I said that Zaria Williams was the one who bought all the shares and is now the President of Williams Group. I have to go” the person replied and ended the call abruptly. One of the men turned to the youngest one with a frown on his face.

“Didn’t you say Carlin took care of her already? How is she alive?” she asked and the man who was being questioned shook his head.

“That’s what she told me too” he complained, grabbing his phone to call his daughter while his hands became sweaty. It wasn’t just him but the two other men were very sweaty too. If Zaria found out everything they had done; she wasn’t going to spare them. The phone connected after the second ring.

“You! Didn’t you say you took care of Zaria already? How did she show up at the company as the new president?” he asked and the other person seemed to be confused.

“Dad, what are you talking about; Zaria is dead” a female voice drifted into the room and one of the men frowned.

“Dead my ass. She’s the new President of the Williams Group, didn’t you attend the Director meeting?” he asked.

“If you couldn’t do it, you could have said you couldn’t!” the last one yelled over the phone irritated.

“What do we do now?” the youngest one asked with fear in his eyes.