It's good to be back

IVAN
~•~
The atmosphere was tense. My eyes caught sight of men adjusting their ties, drawing ties up and down, knotting and unknotting, constantly and repeatedly clearing their throats. In that moment, u was grateful to Elina for her gracious heads up. I was not sure I would have been able to keep my sanity in this moment if I did not know what was coming.
The tension was so thick, I could reach out and touch it. Ian had a slight crease on his forehead. My brother continuously tapped the table with his fingers, a sign he was running out of patience.
Elina settled back into her seat.
A man I knew as Daniel Reece rose from his chair. I fought back the urge to scoff. Of course it would be him.
This man, almost the same age as me, put himself in an unnecessary and unhealthy competition with me for everything, including my father's adoration.
But everytime he rose against me, I beat him hands down.
Between Ian and him, I could not tell who despised me more.
He cleared his throat and looked around, requesting a silent approval from the board. When no one else spoke, he turned back to me. I coukd swear I saw excitement in those green eyes of his when he locked eyes with me.
"There is no easy way to say this, mister Holloway." He began.
Of course, there wasn't.
"I believe I speak for the board when I say that this is a necessity, one which we had to consider for the good of this company.
The company my father and I built from scratch, but I allowed him go ahead.
"We recieved an anonymous report on some certain areas of your life. Medical, to be precise, which we believe would affect not just your decision making, but the image and reputation of this company should such an information…" he paused for a while, took his time to recapture his audience before he spoke again.
"Leak to the public press."
The murmurs that erupted from around the room made me want to slap each man hard across the face, engrave my five fingers into their skin so that they knew never to mess with me.
"But…" He pushed a file from his side of the table and began to pass it round. It landed in the hands of three men, before it touched my part of the table.
"We would need you to open that file, mister Holloway."
I gave him a short glance, watched the satisfaction on his face.
His dream was finally coming true, or so he thought. I have to admit, I almost pitied him.
I flipped the pages of the file in front of me. Elina had not been bluffing, my medical report was right there, in front of me.
I made careful effort to hide the shock in my eyes.
I could feel Elina's gaze burning through my skin. I know she wondered what I had done with her infromation, if I had prepared anything for counter attack.
"In there are your medical reports from the past six months mister Holloway. The board knows about your…metal state."
My jaw hardened, my fingers gripped the paper subconsciously. When I looked up,my eyes found Elina first. She shook her head gently, warning me against whatever I had in mind.
Daniel should be grateful to her, if not, his head would have been smashed against the tempered glass walls.
"We are sorry, but by all indications, you are mentally unfit to chair this company and a weak link to our image, both national and global."
I couldn't help the thin smile that formed on my face. My left brow arched as my eyes met with his. He looked away from me, he always did.
"A weak link?"
I watched as they all exchanged glances. Ian was quiet, watching and enjoying the silence.
He wanted me to rave and throw the papers on the floor, cry, scream and curse at all of them, maybe even attack Daniel Reece. My silence, as I could see, was driving him nuts.
"You said you got this information from an anonymous source." I started, speaking for the first time since he opened his uncouth mouth to call me names.
Daniel cleared his throat, adjusted his tie and turned back to me.
"Yes, we did."
"So, you went about searching for information to fire me from the board, or you were alone in your home, on a beach in Malibu and my medical report just what? Happened to drop at the feet of your door?"
I could see the men exchange uncertain glances.
One thing was sure; they didn't think this through.
Daniel stood straight, an acute frown on his face.
"How we got the information doesn't matter, mister Holloway…"
"But it does. I am a public figure, I have enemies. The doctors who signed these reports, did you ever get in touch with any of them?" I asked. Boy! I was loving the confusion on his face, on all their faces, including Ian's.
His hands began to shake beside him.
"No."
"Did you bother to enquire if these are real signatures?"
"Their names are there!" He gnarled.
He was the one losing his temper, while I? I was as calm as a dove.
I cast one last look at the paper.
It was then I was grateful for my smart idea to make my previous doctors sign a pact of confidentiality. None of their names were on my reports, only my signatures.
I never went to a hospital, so I had no records in any hospital building.
The reports were not even letter headed, I covered all my tracks excellently well.
My thin smile widened.
"Are they? I don't see anything."
Daniel's frown deepened.
He banged his right fist against the table, everyone stared at him in shock, some disappointment.
"That is ridiculous! Your brother, he said he…"
His statement hung midair. I could not help the loud laughter that escaped my throat. I threw my head back and stretched my hands on the table as I laughed heartily.
I had to press my right hand against my stomach to curb the effect of my painful laughter. When I finished, there were tears in my eyes.
Elina was red too, I could tell she had been fighting back the urge to laugh as well.
"I apologize, I apologize." I finally spoke, still breathless with laughter.
I leaned into the table and continued to shake my head. It was too funny, I couldn't bring myself to stop laughing.
"Let me get this straight. My brother, the same man who you all know how my father struggled with, before finally banishing him to Europe, comes back one day with a medical report, telling you all that I am mad. And you what? Just believe the same man that tried to run this company along with my father and I, to the ground? That's not very smart Daniel. I didn't expect this from you."
"Are you saying this is a lie?"
Elina was the one to speak out. I turned to her. We both feigned the most serious and intense frowns we had ever given to each other.
"I am saying that my brother is a clown. And so is everyone here who even gave his words the time of day! I mean…" I leaned back into my chair, stroking my chin gently.
"You all can do better than that. Have some little faith in your brains."
Ian sprang up from his chair. I smiled, it was about time.
"He is lying! You know he is! Why has he not shown up for work? Kept himself in the dark, away from work! Do you expect to run the company in the shadows? Something is wrong with him!"
"Why?" Thomas Henderson rose up from his seat.
"Because he decided to take a break? We all do that, don't we?" He spoke calmly, searching the eyes of the rest of the board. I saw heads nod affirmatively.
My heart swelled with joy.
Yes. I had won already.
"Thomas is right. We should have looked into all these before believing the prodigal son and wasting our time." Elina chipped in, adding fuel to the fire on purpose.
Remind me why we were not married again.
"We apologize mister Ivan, there has been a terrible misconception. But, just to be clear, we would have to see a copy of recent medical reports. We know that you have been seeing a therapist due to recent…circumstances. We would appreciate your cooperation." Matthew Bates, the tallest man in the room spoke.
I nodded affirmatively.
"I understand and appreciate your concern. I would send a copy to all your emails before the end of today."
My gaze found Ian. He shook his head and stomped out of the room, threatening to pull my glass doors down. Daniel Reece followed him behind.
"Good to have you back, mister Holloway."
Matthew Bates spoke.
I turned to the rest of the board with a broad smile on my face.
"It's good to be back."