Page 17 of Tell Me the Truth

“Sure thing buddy! I’ll wait for the link. See you soon!” He hangs up before I can. After that call, I know that I have to cut off the fires of misinformation before they spread.

I try to reach out to Alexandra again, but again it goes straight to voice mail.

Everything will be all right. Please call me when you can.I type into my messaging app. Send.

Next, I call my secretary, Cynthia. Three rings and she answers, “Hello?”

“Cynthia,” I start, “Sorry it’s so late. I’m in the boardroom right now. Can you please set up a video conference with all the board members? 11:30 … so 15 minutes from now.”

She confirms a few things with me before we get off the phone with each other.

While waiting for the meeting to start I glance through the articles about me and Alexandra. It seems that the number of articles has doubled since I saw the first one about an hour before. Every article tells the same story.

I’m the most eligible bachelor. Taken off the market by the princess of Biotech. Then varying reports of how my behemoth of a company must have plans to overtake her innovative, yet fledgling company.

I switch over to my email at 11:28 p.m. and click on the link to the board meeting. There are six members in the meeting already, but I hold off on niceties until the actual meeting starts.

At 11:30 p.m. on the dot, everyone has joined and I start the meeting. Beginning with my wanting everyone to know that the articles and photographs, although real, absolutely do not mean that I have changed my mind from the meeting we had earlier in the day.

I can tell from Richard’s face that this is not what he expected to hear in this last-minute meeting. He wears the same face of disappointment and disbelief as I had seen on him earlier that day, now with a tinge of anger.

I echo the words from our last board meeting. “Let me be absolutely clear. We are still letting the Seth BioTech deal go.”

No one interrupts me, since I muted everyone else for this meeting.

“But, first. I will provide you all with details regarding the sightings of me and Ms. Alexandra Seth.” This is the information they have all been waiting for.

“I met Ms. Seth in person for the first time yesterday in the coffee shop down the street. It surprised me, but she did not know who I was.”

I continue. “I recognized her the moment I saw her. She stood in front of me in line and I decided to talk with her because I was genuinely interested in meeting her. I didn’t have any ulterior motives or intent to dig for company secrets.”

“Over the course of the past two days, we have gotten to know one another. And that is all. Ms. Seth and I never once talked about a connection between our two companies.” I can tell that I have all of the partners’ attention now. “And that’s all I need to say about that.”

“So, redirecting to what is truly important, back to the subject of our company.” Everyone is still apt to pay attention.

“Brent-Sigma’s new direction is to go back to what made us big in the first place. Our innovation. The drugs that we developed that have since saved or prolonged millions of lives. So, in addition to continuing to add or merge companies into our fold who want to work with us, we are again going to create, modernize, and be the leaders in advancements in our field.”

I pause for a moment to emphasize again this last important detail, “And, again, we’re leaving Seth BioTech alone. Period.”

After the board meeting, I see that the last two people still online are Richard and Belinda. When I click the button to leave the meeting, I immediately think,They’re up to something. But if that’s the case, I’ll deal with them later. I sit back in my chair and know that I’m determined to figure out how to set things straight with Alexandra.

Chapter Six

Alexandra

Wednesday

This morning started off marvelously, with waking up hopeful about my relationship with Ellis and finding out my research is a success. Then it did a total nosedive and I felt like I was doing a walk of shame through my own company up to Lance’s office and into this morning’s board meeting.

For the rest of the day, though, I work with Lance and my executive team, and I manage to convince them to terminate the Brent-Sigma deal. Everyone is satisfied that our latest product is moving to the clinical trial stage, and we focus all of our time on that transition. No one talks about the tabloids. At least when they’re in the room with me.

I get the feeling from the way a few of my board members still look at me that they are thinking that I am irresponsible. No doubt they have their own judgments of the news stories about Ellis and me. But, it’s my choice what information to share and keep private, so I just have to brush aside those feelings I have about what others might think of me.

I’m thankful that the actual business of running my company has kept me occupied. Working with Lance and my Board is giving me more of an appreciation for what they do and why I hired them. It’s another reminder why the Brent-Sigma deal threatened to sneak through. I can’t be so entirely focused on the science and completely disregard the business side of things.

Throughout the day, I didn’t have a lot of time to think about Ellis. And, when I did, I was quickly distracted by some important business detail.

It’s after work now and I will thankfully wash away the stresses of the last ten hours with a warm shower, then relax with a bottle of wine.

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