CHAPTER TWENTY- FIVE

DAMIEN

It's been a week now since Tamara ran out of my office and I haven't heard from ever since. I really need to get her out of my head, because she is becoming a terrible nuisance to me and it's quite annoying. I can't wait to have her in my house by the end of the week so I can finally have peace of mind instead of worrying about where she is and who she is talking to.
The annual meeting for our company is today and I have been up all night trying to read up on the basic information of the companies attending.
To my surprise grandfather called and said he would be attending this particular meeting for some unknown reason which meant that he had something up his sleeve which intrigued and also made me worried.
Everyone involved in Kingston enterprise will be present today including Sanders and Co, so I might get to see Tamara today since she works as a secretary for her father, even if I haven't seen her attend before so it's a 50% chance I get to see her.
At exactly 9:00 am the personnel representing each company in the meeting started to arrive in the conference room, they all took their seats after paying my grandfather their respects because it was rare to see him at the company after I took over.
Grandfather was seated beside his secretary Andrew so I also went to say hi before I took my seat waiting for the rest.
When i had almost lost hope in seeing her, Tamara walked in with her brother, she didn't even bother acknowledging me as she sat beside her brother but my grandfather on the otherhand recieved a smile and a hello from them before they took their seats.
Why did her ignoring me worsen my mood and if that wasn't enough, Daniel also walked in with some files on his hands, he took a seat beside the head of finance David Cameron and smiled at me, he was trying to bait me but I wasn't going to let him get to me this was an important day to finally convince a major client father had lost while the company went through bankruptcy.
When everyone was finally seated I stood to my feet to welcome everyone, "Hello, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Damien Kingston as you all know and I would like to start the meeting with our head of finance telling us how the company as been doing so far but before that I would like to acknowledge the presence of my grandfather Mr Zane Kingston" I said my gaze moving to him and everyone gave him a a round of applause as he stood to his feet to greet everyone with a wave. When he took his seat Mr Cameron stood up to start his presentation and the meeting commenced.
It took twenty minutes for him to brief us on the finance of the company and from what he explained and showed us we are doing pretty well compared to last year. After he was done and he took his seat we moved to the next thing on the agenda which was introducing the new projects each company had.
Each secretary from each company gave their presentation and none of them caught my attention or the client I'm trying to impress.
He kept looking uninterested until it was finally Sanders and co turn and Tamara stood to her feet, she was dressed in a black simple body hug gown with a pair of black flats and her hair was packed in a bun, she looked really nice and caught every young males attention in the room.
"Hello, I'm Tamara Sanders from Sanders and co and we major basically in interior and our current project is on A.I"
"A.I, you mean artificial intelligence"my grandfather asked, I knew that look anywhere, he was interested in her idea.
"Yes sir, artificial intelligence, we would like to incorporate A.i in making houses called Smart homes, where everything would be controlled by a software, be it the lights, bathroom, kitchen and so on" Tamara said, her gaze moving to the screen displaying her presentation."Actually to tell you the truth this is not a new idea because smart homes are already being built in other countries but I would like our company to be the first to build one here in Newyork"
"I'm sure building such homes would be quite expensive, what is the budget" my grandfather questioned.
"Half a million give for an apartment building and to build a Morden family house half a billion" Tamara answered as she showed us the equipment and other smart homes that have been builtbin her PowerPoint slides and they were quite detailed she left nothing out.
"How do we know we know we can trust you with that amount of money because half a billion or million is no joke, we can just hand it to you" Daniel asked, his gaze running over Tamara full length.
"You won't be trusting only Sanders and co with that amount, this homes are a group effort, the other companies would also be involved in the building of these smart homes, we will just be In charge of the interior and the installation of the A.I system" Tamara answered, sparing him a quick glance, was he trying to embarrass her or what.
"What if no one is interested in buying buying this houses, we will be at a loss and that would affect the company" Daniel questioned again.
"That's why I went on to do a survey with our clients to see what they would prefer: a simple traditional home or a smart house and 70% of the chose the smart house as you can see from the polls above" Tamara said as she directed everyone's gaze to the display monitor.
"You are quite prepared, Miss Sanders," one of the investors we've been trying to get back said his name was Mr Anderson William, a prominent figure in the building and hotel business.
"I'm just doing my job Mr William" Tamara answered, she was like a robot and had a response to every question and remarks that were thrown at her.
"You father should be proud of your hardwork Miss Sanders" Mr Williams said with a smile adoring his aged face.
"I'm sure He is" Tamara said her gaze moving brother, my gaze moved too him and he looked extremely proud of her.
"Well, out of all the ideas I've heard today, Miss Sanders idea is by far the best and would love to take it up that's if you still want me to invest in this company and put my money and trust in you again Mr Kingston" Mr Williams said his gaze moving from Tamara to me, his smile was gone and was replaced with a neutral expression.
"We would like to take a vote on the matter" Daniel butted in but Mr Williams paid him no mind his gaze still on me
"Mr Kingston, I'm waiting for you response" Mr Williams asked and even if I hated agreeing with Daniel, we have to take a vote incase any other shareholders was against her idea.
"Mr Williams, Mr Daniel is right we have to take a vote on the matter like we did with the rest" I answered and he just stared back at me.
"If you Insist then, but I see no use in doing one, I'm sure everyone agrees with me, it's a really good idea" Mr Williams said as relaxed against his seat while Tamara walked back to take her seat sending a grateful smile in Mr Williams direction, in which he returned which somehow annoyed me, why was she civil with everyone but me?.
"All in favour of going with Miss Sanders' idea please raise your hand and those not in favour don't" I said and almost 90% of the room had their hand up including my grandfather, only Daniel and two other men I really didn't recognize had their hands down.
"It's looks like we are going with Miss Sanders idea" I said and her eyes lightened up as she looked to her brother who gave her a proud smile.
"Congratulations Miss Sanders, you won the whole room, my partners and I will look forward to seeing how this projects works out and hope to have more from you in the latest future" Mr Williams said as he stood to his feet and walked in her direction, on getting to where she was sitted he stretched out his hand fir a handshake.
"Thank you so much sir, you don't know what this means to me, I won't disappoint you" Tamara said smiling accepting the man's handshake.
"If we are done here i would like to take my leave Mr Kingston’s, it was nice meeting you again Zane, old age doesn't look good on you"
"Speak for yourself Anderson" my grandfather responded, causing Mr Williams to laugh as he patted him on the back.
"Congratulations once again Miss Sanders" Mr Williams said before leaving with his associates and the meeting was adjourned.
The man I've been trying to win over for the past year just got won over by my fiancée in just a couple of minutes and boy did that hurt my ego.