Chapter 15
JORDAN.
I LOOKED ON AT THE CHAOS THAT HAD ENSUED IN MY OFFICE CALMLY.
Blaine and Melanie, wearing looks of shock and outrage respectively, were trying to talk at the same time and instead of one of them to keep quiet for the other, Melanie decided to raise her voice louder.
“Why didn’t you tell me this was your plan?
“I cannot be your personal assistant-
“You said you’d give her something fitting-
“I shoot guns and swindle people for a living. You can’t possibly
“I thought we made decisions togeth-”
“Will you shut it I am speaking here!”
The last statement came, obviously, from Melanie and to my surprise Blaine actually kept quiet and slumped back in his seat, leaving Melanie to face me squarely with wrath in her eyes. She took a deep breath and expelled it with her statement. “I will not be your personal assistant.
I leaned back on my desk, toying with the ballpoint pen I’d been using to write a memo.
“And why is that?” I asked her.
“It is not in my skill set. I am being undervalued here” she shot back immediately.
I studied her in silence for a moment, “Your file says you recently worked as a clerk at the stock exchange.” “Yes, but-”
It was my turn to cut in “Do you know how to type?”
“Yes, but-”
“Schedule appointments?”
“Yes, but-”
“Take calls from angry, irritating people without cussing them out?”
“Well
“Then I don’t see the issue here,” I said smoothly, watching her get frustrated.
“You’re not lastering to me. I spy on people. I wear disguises. I steal from under people’s noses. I do not sit at a desk all day like an android and push papers“, She said firmly.
I tilted my head and blinked at her, “But you worked at the stock exchange.”
She was ready to scream at this point
“Only out of necessity”
Have had enough of this back and forth.
“You
“You signed a contract agreeing to work in any capacity I put you in. You will be whatever I say you should be. Essentially, you’re my lapdog for a year. If I say jump, your response should be ‘how high Understood?“.
She opened her mouth, probably to argue back, and I stopped her with a wave of my hand, walking towards her until our bodies were almost flush with each other.
“You should learn to pick your battles wisely, little bird. This is one you can’t win” I whispered.
She glared up at me in fury and I matched her stare with a calm one. After a moment, she turned on her heel and stormed out, making sure to slam the door as hard as she could like a petulant child.
I ran a hand through my hair and glanced at Blaine
“Make sure she’s properly settled in, would you?”
Chapter 13
“Of course. Your wish is my absolute command, since that’s what we’re giving out these days” he said.
Larched a brow. “And what is your problem?” I asked him.
He shifted and crossed his arms, uncrossing them again before speaking
“Ever since she got here, you’ve changed. We used to make decisions together, or at least you’d hear my opinion first, but lately you’ve been doing stuff on your own. Like when you wanted to kill her-”.
“You’ve never had an issue with me ending other people who crossed me before” I pointed out, discreetly glancing at my watch. I had a meeting in about 45 minutes, but I let him talk anyway.
“Yes, but I never wanted otherwise before. When I suggested we could take other avenues, you just steamrolled right over me. He retorted.
“She is still alive right now because you found a better use for her, isn’t she?” I was getting impatient. I hated long talks that led nowhere.
“That’s not the point. You made her your PA without even telling me. You put her in that villa and I only found out this morning. You even gave her Julio, which is why I haven’t had breakfast“, He ranted
I reminded myself that this was my best friend, and kicking his ass out of my office was not something you did to your best
friend
“Blaine, there’s this position called CEO that I happen to hold. There’s also this little matter of me owning this company. which means I get veto power over everything that happens here. While I encourage and appreciate your input from time to time. I’m not bound to them.”
I hated pulling the I’m–the–boss card on Blaine because he’s my right–hand man and I owe a lot to him, including my life. but he was getting on my nerves and needed to be put in his place. We had been through a lot together and despite his playfulness. I’ve always known him to be a rational person. This irrational behavior was confusing as fuck.
Despite my better judgment and despite having more important things to see to, I walked to the door which Blaine hadn’t closed fully and looked into the outer office where Blaine was explaining things to her while trying to persuade her to get her legs off the desk to no avail.
She insists on being stubborn and defiant at every turn and, for someone like me who didn’t even have to speak before people scurry to obey me, it was challenging. I loved a challenge.
“What happened to his last PA anyway?” I heard her ask, twirling the cord of the telephone between her fingers. Blaine let out a sigh as he pried the cord out of her hand and set the phone at a safe distance.
“Ah.. Rosa. She was excellent, but she had a bleeding heart and let people who weren’t supposed to be there into his office“. I heard Blaine say to her. He sat on the edge of the desk before continuing, “Which brings me to the next item on the agenda, People you should never grant entry.” He ticked them off his fingers “People claiming to be family. Puffed–up people demanding entry like it is their right. A certain set of politicians, I’ll give you a list. And it’s doubtful they’d get this far, but charity cases too.”
“What He doesn’t give to charity? What kind of man chooses to sit on all this wealth and ignore the starving people of Indonesia or the earthquake victims in-”
“Papua New Guinea?” he finished for her “Trust me, we know.” He thankfully left it at that and moved on.
“I left one set out, Little Girl Scouts selling cookies or candy.” “That’s oddly specific. Is there a story behind it?” she asked and Blaine laughed.
I smiled a little too, remembering the day this cute little thing in pigtails walked into the conference room attached to my office and demanded we buy her candy
Needless to say, she walked out candy–free and full of cash, Blaine said it was a story for another day and, satisfied that she was in good hands, I stepped away to prepare for my meeting.
