"She got on the plane safe."

Angelo was giving the text from Sam on his phone so much attention that he had almost forgotten where he was. The room was filled with every member of the board in ever adult age and facehe could think of. He swallowed hard and pushed the home button on His screen.

She was gone.
And he didn't even get the chance to say goodbye.

'Let it go Angelo. She's better off. You did the right thing.'

That was all he told himself. His excuse for letting Patricia go. His excuse for avoiding her since the wedding. How on earth could he even face her after the way he hurt her?

He swallowed hard and then turned to the rest of the board. He couldn't concentrate with the way they argued and he wasn't even sure what they were arguing about.

'So this was the board?' He asked himself looking at them one after the other.

They just looked like a regular bunch of people in who had so much going on in their lives but covered it all up with expensive clothes and shoes, people who come together once or twice in a month to argue and vent their anger out on each other for not agreeing with one another.

He could care less what they were arguing about. They weren't a part of his problems at that moment.

No one had even noticed Anna walk in besides him. She tried to look as gallant as possible. She had to look like one of them. To blend in. The only difference was none of them had two large bodyguards standing behind them. None of them needed to protect themselves. As far as Anna was concerned, her bodyguards were necessary. She had lived with the humans for so long to know that the importance of Atian security could not be overemphasized. There were still a lot of enemies of the integration program, waiting for the right time to strike am guess who had become the most wanted on their radar, the new chief executive of Trusk enterprise. Her.

Anna swallowed hard as she sat on the seat at the head of the large table.
She was the CEO after all.

She could feel Angelo's gaze on her but she wasn't going to look back. Not after what happened that morning.

'You've got this Anna.'  She told herself as she shut her eyes to pray shortly for a minute. 'You've got this.' She really hoped she did.

"Hello?" She tapped the mic so they could notice she was there but no one did. They didn't stop arguing. They could care less.

Anna wasn't even sure she knew how to address all of them. Angelo watched her carefully. For some reason, he was so anxious to see how she was going to handle all that crowd of angry people all on her own when she was the reason they were in such a mess in the first place.

In all the history of Trusk enterprise, in all the history of the world, Anna had become the first Atian to ever lead a human company and it had made the headlines of every news anyone could think of. It was a really popular subject that had got all those people from far and near contemplating on it and throwing reasons at each other why they wanted no part in it.

"Hello everyone?" Anna said trying to control her breathing. She was so nervous. Angelo watched her puff air in her mouth and then let it out. This was so hard. Harder than she had ever imagined and she had no idea what she was doing, she knew nothing about things like this, about calming the nerves of a bunch of really angry people.

She took a deep breath, trying to make herself as comfortable as she could be in the large seat. Why wasn't anyone paying her any attention?

She heard a mic get tapped before she tried to say another word and it wasn't coming from her Mic. She turned to Angelo and watched him speak into his.

"Can everyone be calm for a minute please?" He announced keeping his voice as calm as he could while Anna watched him. She took a quick glance around the room when she noticed how the noise was beginning to subside slowly as everyone gave Angelo their attention.

Finally.

Anna scoffed. She had no idea if she had to be upset that he was trying to steal her spotlight after being so mean to her back at the house or just grateful for brining a sort of peace in the room.

Angelo smiled and then pointed at Anna. They all turned to look at Anna with huge frowns on their faces.

Anna smiled nervously.

"Uhh," she rubbed her shaky hands together "Good day everyone. My name is Anna, Anna Trusk." She went forward to introduce herself even though she knew everyone must have heard about her. "And from today, I'm the new CEO of Trusk industries."

Silence

Angelo covered his face as he shook his head in dissapointment. He had no idea what she was doing and neither did she. How on earth did she intend to sway the board with such a lame and self absorbing introduction?

"So the rumors are true then? "
Anna turned to the lady two seats away from hers.

"Nathan left the company in the hands of a total stranger. An Atian ."

"No need to be racist about it Mrs Edward." The man sitting across the woman said. "She's a Trusk now. And I think if she's fit to rule then we should let her."

"Come on, she's just a child." Another woman said. "She has no idea how to run a company, she has no idea how to be a leader. She has no experience in this field. And let's not forget the fact that she's an Atian. What do you think the public and investors are going to think when they find out all their cash is being handled by the enemy?"

"The enemy? The last time I checked, Atians share the same rights with humans now. How can we still call them the enemy?"

"It still doesn't change the fact that a stunt like this could destroy this company. This is not something we should bargain. This is an expensive investment."

"I think I go with Mrs Edward. Trusk industries has achieved so much these past few years. We can't let it all get dragged into the mud because of Nathan's mistake. For all we know he might have been forced to make such a decision like this one. I've never for one been able to imagine Nathan as a man that can do something like this on his own free will."

"Forced? You have forgotten that the Atians have no control over their powers. They can't do anything with their mercury bracelet on."

"What if she used other means? It's no coincidence Nathan died few days after his son, her fiance."

"What are you trying to say Mrs Edward?"

Anna swallowed hard. She was sitting right there but it didn't stop them from saying all they wanted, from arguing how much of a monster she was. Not like those weren't words she had heard before anyway. They weren't even ready to accept her. It looked like she was never getting that benefit of a doubt. How on earth was she going to do this without Shink? She shut her eyes. She was so embarrassed.

"Mr Trusk?"
She heard one of the members turn to Angelo and the rest remained quiet.
Angelo turned to look at him.

"As the son of Nathan Trusk and the husband to Mrs Trusk here, what do you think about this whole situation?"

Angelo blinked twice. Were they really asking for his opinion? Why? He didn't prepare for a speech. They were all looking at him, expecting him to address them. Including Anna. She fidgeted with her fingers.

Angelo got up slowly and cleared his throat.

"Uhh, " he looked at them one after the other. Angelo took a deep breath. He hoped he wasn't going to regret this later. He hoped he wasn't going to regret helping Anna at all.

Angelo sighed.

"When I was younger," he started with a story. "An Atian showed up at my doorstep. She looked so scared and so tired. Tired of running, tired of being beat up with whips laced in mercury and tortured. I promised to help, to protect her but I was too weak to. And because of that, she set my house on fire and took the soldiers out herself. I lost my mum to that fire and until this morning, someone made me realize something." He turned to Anna.

'What was he doing?'
She asked herself, looking at him.

"That little girl did not set my house on fire because she wanted to, she was only trying to protect herself. All she wanted was to stop the men that always hurt her from hurting her again and my mum was a casualty from that incident. But that same girl that set my whole house on fire jumped into that same fire to save me, and died in my place. Now all I'm saying is that we have lost a lot because of them but compared to what they've lost because of us, all I can say is we are very lucky. We can't be quick to judge them all because like it or not, there are good people among them. And my wife here, " he looked at Anna. "She's one of them. She's kind and good and when she really cares for something, she protects it with all her heart. At least that was what my dad thought even till death."

Anna had her mouth in an upturn. How did he lie so much and with such confidence? How was he such a sweet talker? He turned to the rest of the crowd.

"I know it looks like this is not something you're used to and this might have a really negative result on the company for the first two months but I also know that my father was a wise man. And he chose her to lead this company because he knew she was the push Trusk industries needed. Like it or not ladies and gentlemen, Trusk industrues isn't going to fall anytime soon. And even if it does, it's not going to be because an Atian or a Trusk was leading, it's not going to be because an inexperienced child was leading, it's going to be because we didn't support her. It's going to be because we all turned our backs on her, when we were supposed to help her get this company to where it needs to be. Now I believe in second chances just as I believe in Anna. I know she's not going to let us or Trusk industries down. All we have to do is trust that she can do it because she can. "

He turned to look at Anna. She was smiling without even knowing.

Clap! Clap!

She blinked at him when their eyes met and then frowned quickly as she turned away to hide her smile. The members of the board got to their feet, most of them anyway, clapping one after the other till the room was filled with loud claps and excitement while the rest that weren't moved by his speech stayed glued to their seats with huge frowns on their faces.

Anna couldn't help herself from smiling uncontrollably. They were going to give her a chance, at least the majority of them. She could still see Mrs Edward and a few others in their seats but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were accepting her.

Angelo sat down slowly.
He could not believe a word he just said.

Anna turned to look at him. He shrugged his shoulders and then looked away. Causing her to smile a little after a tiny scoff.
'Thank you Angelo.'

She said in her heart.
Maybe getting married to this man was not a bad idea at all.