Chapter 6: HE’S GOT A HIT LIST?
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Kyle dropped me off at the nearest auto-workshop where I left my car a few days ago. It needed a thorough repair, and I had to spend a bunch of money, but I hoped it was all worth it.
The sound of drilling mixed with the hard clinking of metal hitting against metal and the rumbling of the welding machine welcomed me. The huge garage was dimly lit, smelled of motor oil and grease as I coursed through rows and rows of cars when I finally stumbled upon the one I was looking for, and guess what? It was shiny, beautiful, all fixed up and dandy.
I smiled so wide I think I creeped out some of the employees there.
After thanking them profusely and signing a few papers I took my car out of that dungeon and drove it to freedom, and by that I mean my workplace. I found a parking space, stepped out into the gloriously pleasant sunny day and walked towards the entrance of the building.
I was kinda excited for my first day at work, looking forward to new office friends and all that hassle as I stepped inside the automatic glass doors.
“Signature Heights” the company name and logo was on the automatic sliding doors, I noted and tested it on my tongue. Well, that’s gonna look classy on my business card.
When I got to the reception, a beautiful vase with fresh lavender caught my eye and made me smile. The receptionist wished me “good morning”.
I replied “Hi, I’m actually new here, and -“
“Are you the new sales executive?” She politely cut me off and I nodded.
She gave me the directions to my office and said “Have a good day.” when I started to walk away.
I smiled back and said “you too” over my shoulder.
I couldn’t help the gasp that left my lips as my eyes took in the awesomeness that was my office “wow! This is perfect.” I told my assistant Nick since he was the only one there.
The room was white and blue, spacious with translucent glass walls and a huge desk on the far end that held two computers and three chairs surrounded the table, one was on the other side facing me. The lights were slightly diffused so they wouldn’t blind you and there were shelves and drawers holding a bunch of files visible through the transparent glass doors. A huge set of couch and coffee table occupied half the room for entertaining guests and a closed-door in one corner which I was guessing either led to a washroom or a balcony.
Nick was already waiting for me when I got here, he was like the typical assistant, he stood beside me holding a few files.
His dirty blonde hair was gelled up and he wore a blue button-down shirt with formal Black pants. his voice pulled me out of my trance “so you like it?” I just nodded wordlessly, still too busy taking everything in through my eyes.
Nick handed me some files and told me which project we were currently working on, and after that he left closing the transparent glass door behind him.
Work can wait. I rested the files down on my desk and sat down in my comfortable reclining chair, I started playing around spinning the chair like a little kid.
“I see you’ve made yourself comfortable.” Someone said and I almost had a mini heart attack.
But after twirling around in my seat when I saw a very familiar figure walk up to me, I smiled, as I prepared to stand. “I thought it was vital for me to connect with my workplace.”
“No, no, there’s no need to stand.” Olivia was quick to stop me and she herself took a seat in the chair facing me. “I just dropped in to see how you were settling in.” She smiled, her smile was still as gentle and genuine as the one I saw on the day of my interview.
I don’t think I would have got this job If it wasn’t for the fact that she was my interviewer. She was friendly, yet her voice commands authority, she was hardly a few years older than me, but I could not match her stature and experience. Since the day of the interview, I respected her immensely and it was an honour to be chosen for this position, I realised I had some pretty big shoes to fill.
“I’m great. Just a little confused as to what I should be doing.” I told her honestly.
“Uh-huh…and that’s where I come in, I’ll help you understand your job and prepare you so you’ll be equipped to tackle this on your own, it’s not too different from what you’ve been doing in your previous jobs, but I’ll just guide you with some nuances.” She explained, immediately putting me at ease.
Olivia was leaving this company for good, hence I was hired to take care of everything after she’s gone, although I don’t understand why she would want to leave, she clearly had everything going for her here….or maybe I couldn’t tell.
“Why are you leaving this company?” I asked her and then hesitantly added, “If you don’t mind me asking.”
She chuckled and blushed slightly as she said: “I’m not leaving this company, I’m just going to work from the branch in Minnesota…. actually I’m getting married next month.” Wow. I did not see that coming. “So…I decided to move in with my fiance, he lives in Minnesota and I think some change will do me good.”
It was a good thing, I was not expecting something of this sort. I took her words in, realising how much of a big deal it was for her. “Congrats.” I smiled, “looks like you have bigger things to worry about than this job.”
“Don’t fret, I’m not leaving until Jensen gets back in two weeks, he’s in Missouri to take care of a charity event,” Olivia said.
“Jensen?” I asked in confusion, unsure if I needed to know this person.
“I meant Jensen Black, the CEO, I’ll introduce you when he’ll be back.” She waved it off casually, but I sort of froze for a second, damn! How could I forget? I remembered reading his name multiple times while researching the company, but it wasn’t accompanied by a picture so I couldn’t put a face to the name, from what I read, he took on the role of CEO after his father and was very successful in his job.
I was working directly under him, gosh…it was daunting and there was no room for error. I imagined a middle-aged man, with a powerful aura, and a wise face. If he was anything like my dad we’ll get along really well.
***************************
Days at the office flew by faster than I anticipated. I had lunch with Kate every day and we just talked on and on about anything and everything.
My colleagues were quite welcoming and Nick helped me sort out my work and schedule with clients and other small-big things.
Kate shared with me all the glory details and some funny and popular anecdotes related to a few clients so I wasn’t all that left out. I also found out that Olivia was a very close friend of our CEO, Mr Black and everyone in the office was really close to each other creating a friendly work environment, and so it came as no surprise that Olivia was working from his office all this time while he was away.
Mr Black seemed like a genuinely nice person from what I’ve heard, he was not very social apparently and only conversed with a selected few people. He was a businessman and philanthropist who made this company what it currently is with his hard work.
He owned a lot of real estate assets, some private but most were business investments under company regulations, mostly consisting of hotels, clubs, party venues, vacation housing and certain residential buildings all over the city. According to the graphs, it was a constantly increasing credit income as the stock prices went up with property price and market value. Additionally business also consisted of interior design and it was tied in pretty well with the main real estate work.
Olivia helped me out with any queries I had and dealing with clients was my very natural talent, everything else was smooth sailing. She has helped me understand that the job title sure was ‘sales executive’ but I needed to wear multiple hats in this case, the work demanded a lot more than the simple job title could define.
After my name was etching on the glass door, Olivia encouraged me to change the setting of my office according to my taste, but I loved it’s colour combination and setup, and I was sure I would ruin it if I tried being creative with it, so I just left it untouched. Plus I wasn’t exactly looking forward to any kind of decorations after planning so many parties with mom. No. Just not happening. Olivia laughed when I told her my reason for staying away from any form of interior decorating.
I was maintaining and updating our records to check if there’s any way to increase the sales percentage as usual when Kate walked into my office and informed me about my ‘first official meeting.’
She told me that ‘Some important clients are gonna come, even Mr Black is going to be present for this meet, so maybe I should go and discuss it with Olivia.’
I quickly agreed with her suggestion. “Um… okay, I’ll go talk to her.” I picked up my phone from the desk and rushed out towards the CEO’s office and knocked lightly before entering.
The office room amazed me every time I laid eyes on it, it was huge, with high ceilings, there were various doors labelled as ‘conference room’ and, the picturesque view of the city from the huge windows was currently blocked by the silky grey curtains that hung to serve their purpose, I could only imagine what it would look like at night, the whole city lit up with lights below a starry night.
Olivia smiled up at seeing me, but went right back to her work on the computer, she talked as she typed. “Alex, I just sent Nick to fetch you, I’ve sent a few documents for you to look at…poor guy must be searching for you all over.”
“He’ll find me eventually,” I said cheekily, and then changed the topic as I took a seat in one of the chairs that she gestured towards. “I heard Mr Black is back?” I asked, wanting to confirm it from her, even if Kate had more than convinced me.
“Yeah, he returned from Missouri yesterday, and there’s a meeting scheduled with a client in about two hours, so he’ll be here.” She told me. “I’ll introduce you two, I’m sure he’ll be pleased.”
I couldn’t exactly explain what I felt….. maybe nervous excitement. I had to be on good terms with him he was my boss after all, and we’ll be working alongside for many projects. There was this pressure on me to impress someone, and I had no idea what he was like. “Well, I sure hope so.”
She rolled her eyes as if I was being ridiculous like there was no chance of him disliking me, not the slightest. I took comfort in her confidence.
“By the way Alex,” Olivia’s tone changed, became more serious and low, as she looked away from the computer screen and focused directly at me. “I meant to tell you….. tomorrow will be my last day here, so I hope you can take care of everything.”
I blanked a little bit, not expecting this, “so soon?” I said, feeling slightly dull, I had found a really good friend in Olivia and I didn’t know how to process this information.
“It’s been two weeks now, and you’re here Jensen is back, you all can handle this without me, I mean you’re way better than I was when I joined the company, you’re going to do great, I just know it.” She smiled. “Plus my event planner is nagging me to fly out for the whole wedding planning thing.”
I thought of mom instantly “Are you sure you didn’t hire my mother? You might wanna check again.” I said jokingly and she laughed.
*********************************
I went through the file regarding today’s meeting, and it seemed simple enough. The meeting was about a new development that included our company and another one called ‘Collins Constructions’ to work together to launch a chain of Hotel facilities closer to airports in various cities.
Olivia told me that it was pretty much a done deal, only a few formalities had to be taken care of in the meeting, where both the businessmen were supposed to sign the updated version of the contract.
The clients, investors and partners were arriving for the meeting which was scheduled to start in an hour. The bustle and stir outside my office were hard to ignore, especially when I was curious, slightly nosey and my door was conveniently transparent.
All my thoughts came to a sudden stand-still when a familiar face in the crowd caught my attention. I shot to my feet and stared out the tinted glass door to see him entering the Chief executive’s office accompanied by several others.
No, no, no, this can’t be happening!
That day when I saw him in the parking lot, I gave it a thought and assumed that he might have some connection with this company, but this….this is too much!
As I soaked in this new information, one thing was for sure, my life is officially hell, great!
That arrogant thing is the Client? Please tell me the universe does not hate me this much. Oh my god! What do I do? And where’s Kate? I need Kate!
I rushed out of my office looking for Kate, as soon as I found her I brisk-walked towards her, she seemed busy but this was an emergency! I needed to tell her. “Kate, I’m dead. I want to quit or jump off this building right now!!” I cried.
Kate looked at me flatly and said: “Alex I don’t have time for this.”
“What?!” What a lovely friend she is.
She continued while walking in a hurry and I followed “You know there is an important meeting in the CEO’s office, you’re supposed to attend by the way and I have to set up everything.” She shoved some papers in my hand and left.
I stood there like a stranded kid on a roadside looking pale as ever.
Time for some damage control Alex! I should go and talk this out with him before the meeting starts, yeah, that sounds reasonable. If he’s capable of reasonable conversation that is, I thought searingly.
Slowly I started walking towards the office room, oh god, if he sees me here he’ll probably shoot me or stab me to death. Should I call the cops on him? He’ll definitely make Olivia fire me when he remembers my awesome first impression, I should probably hit him in the head so that he won’t remember me.
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god… what should I do?
My mind was screaming various ideas at me and no matter how brilliant they were, they still weren’t helping my current situation.
I was now standing in front of the office door, afraid of lifting my hand to knock.
It was almost time for the meeting, I wondered how many people would attend my funeral?
I shook my head and tried to be optimistic, “No Alex, don’t think so negative. It’s all going to be okay!” I pulled myself together, took a deep breath and prepared to enter when another hand reached for the doorknob and pushed it open.
I froze in my spot, staring at this person that came out of nowhere, he paused in the doorway looking at me inquisitively making me frown slightly at his curious gaze.
“….-new here?” His lips moved but I couldn’t hear what he said.
“Pardon?” I said, apologetically.
“I asked, are you new here?” He said, repeating himself. He was a foot taller than me and seemed young and attractive in his dark blue blazer from where I stood.
“Yeah…I joined, a few weeks ago.” I answered. He nodded as if that somehow made sense.
He opened the door wider, gestured a hand inwards and smiled at me “After you.”
I paled at what that implied and shook my head instinctively, all the courage that I had managed to gather dissipated to nothingness.
The man standing in front of me raised an eyebrow at my reaction seemingly amused. “You don’t wanna come in?”
“No…yes…I mean, I need to be somewhere else.” I had to hold back from face-palming immediately.
“Ohkay…” He nodded, “well, see you around.” With that he walked inside, letting the door slide shut behind him.
Oh gosh, stupid Alex! Why did I tell him I had to be somewhere else, when I’ll walk in there to attend the meeting, he’s gonna think I’m a nut job. What do I do now, and how do I talk to that guy in private?
No, no, no, this is not going well.
I should at least tell Olivia, but she was already inside with everyone else and I can’t go in there without ticking him off like an atomic bomb.
I paced around for a few minutes and then pushed the door open to enter the office, it was empty as expected as the meeting was being held in the conference room 2 which had started fifteen minutes ago. I could hear the tumultuousness going on inside the conference room and decided to go in even if I was running late now. What a first impression to make.
Someone walked out of the room, leaving the door open a crack so I could now look inside and hear what was going on, and it halted me in my spot.
There he was, the arrogant man from the restaurant and parking lot (gosh I can’t believe the number of bad encounters I’ve had with him), he was sitting at the far end of the conference table like a boss and suddenly his presence was so daunting that I wanted to run back and never step foot in there again.
I saw that guy from a few minutes ago casually settled in one of the many chairs, his attention was entirely focused on his phone. He seemed bored from where I stood, there was nothing in front of him except a can of soda. He had a ‘chill-out’ vibe around him, unlike others in the room.
Suddenly Olivia spoke up, inviting Jensen Black the CEO to step up and share the details of the project with all the members of the meeting.
I was excited and curious about this part, particularly to find out who he was and what he looked like, but my horror had no limits when the guy I was so indignantly avoiding this whole while raised to the task as if he was the chief executive.
Oh no, the Universe hates me immensely more than I had originally expected. I then had a sudden recollection of that time he told me that he owned this building. How the hell did I forget that?
All of a sudden the strength that I had mustered abandoned me and my legs felt like jelly. As the meeting progressed it became abundantly clear that he in fact was the CEO of this company and I was so fired.
Holy bagels!
It felt like I was watching all this on a screen, like a movie with remarkably realistic settings and a brilliant cast of actors, and the end of this movie could change my life irreversibly.
My senses came back to me when the man himself asked for the newly appointed sales executive.
Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!
Olivia looked around only to realise my absence. I obviously wasn’t there so he asked for his secretary and then after a moment I saw Kate coming up to his side, I saw her high heels walk as fast as she could.
He said something that I couldn’t catch, but he seemed quite angrily.
That jerk!
Okay fine, I agree it’s my fault this time.
I felt bad for my friend, poor Kate. She’s facing his condescending wrath while I’m out here too afraid to lose my job, I have to stop being a coward and face him.
I made up my mind. It’s okay if he fires me, I have to do this. I prepared to walk in when I heard Kate saying “She was here, I saw her this morning, she might have gone the wrong way, I-I’ll go look for her.”
“There’s no need for that,” I announced my presence. All eyes turned towards the door where I stood. Kate looked relieved, Olivia smiled at me, the guy in the blue blazer seemed randomly amused for some reason and Jensen Black, looked dumbfounded. No one noticed this except me, and I was the only one who knew why.
Olivia took it upon herself to make introductions and announced my name to the room full of important people, “This is Alexandra Brook, she’ll be taking my place in the company as the new sales executive.”
Everyone clapped, and I cringed as I knew that I was gonna get fired soon. I turned to our ‘dear beloved CEO’ only to find him looking confused and utterly befuddled, I greeted him with a handshake and timidly uttered “nice to meet you” while shrinking inwardly.
I’m so fired, I’ll probably be the first person to be fired in the first hour of my first most important job. Maybe I’m setting a new record unknowingly.
Here it comes.
He shook my hand, his grip was firm but had an edge that only I could feel through our joined hands. His eyes recognised me, he seized me up and didn’t say anything…but then why did it make me feel so unsettled, why make me feel like the calm before the storm…like chaos was soon approaching.
He spoke in a peculiar tone which made it hard for me to distinguish if he was joking or being serious. He gestured for me to take a seat. “Welcome to Signature Heights Miss Brook.”
What?! Did he mean ‘welcome‘ in a sarcastic way? Like, ‘welcome! It’ll be fun to drink your blood and make you miserable’ in a non-vampire or mosquito way?
I gawked at him, questioning myself and the spark of recognition I saw in his eyes. What’s wrong with him? Did he not remember me? Did he suffer from amnesia? Isn’t he gonna drag our previous ‘meetings‘ out, isn’t he gonna fire me?
On unsure, trembling legs I moved and got seated in the chair, the man in the blue blazer whos name I quickly learned was Josh Collins, sat straight across in front of me, he smiled at me with slight surprise.
I also learned that he was the owner of ‘Collins Constructions’ the company with which the contract was signed.
He was the only person who looked alive in this room, others were all like some kind of work machines nodding along with everything the boss had to say. Though the course of the meeting it became clear that Josh was a very close friend of Mr Black and this project was their joint venture.
After a few minutes, the meeting came to an end after everything ran smoothly, the contract was signed, legal documents were exchanged, commencing a new project and a lot of new work, soon afterwards everybody was dismissed.
That was my cue to run straight to the forests of Amazon.
Run Alex, run!
“Excuse me, Miss Brook.” Jensen Black said and I halted in my spot, slowly I turned back around to meet his gaze.
Now it was just me, the CEO and his friend Josh in his office. Even Olivia left? Oh my god, who’s gonna save me?!
Josh spoke up first, “Go easy on her now.”
Yes! listen to your friend and go easy on me, or better yet just let me go. He barely knew me and he was taking my side, My boss was obviously surprised by his friend’s sudden switch in sides and shot him a flat look before he turned to face me.
“I believe Olivia wouldn’t just choose anybody for a job like this, and I trust her…. which is the only reason you’re still here in my office, do I make myself clear?” He asked sternly. It was like he took one look at me, labelled me desultory, and stacked me away with things he needs to get rid of.
I understood completely, it all made sense now and so I nodded and said, “crystal.” Not sure what else to say in a moment like this.
A file was sitting on the table next to him, and he slid it towards me. I took it without question. “I’d like you to work on this.” He added.
I nodded again “I’ll take a look.”
“You may leave now.” He said lastly and I almost ran out of that room thinking that me NOT getting fired was the only positive outcome of this situation.
By the time I reached my office, I felt a little lightheaded from holding my breath in anticipation of something bad happening, thankfully it never came.
But why does it strangely feels little the silence before a calamity, like the more time it takes the larger is the destruction?
Seconds after entering my office there was a knock on the door, I turned around annoyed but then smiled when I saw who it was.
“Got a minute?” He asks with a smile on his face.
“Of course” he walked in and stopped in front of me.
“We haven’t officially met, I’m Joshua Collins.” He says offering me a handshake, “Call me Josh.”
I took his hand and said “Alexandra Brook.” his grip was firm and warm.
“You at the meeting, gotta say- that was something” the way he said it, it sounded like a compliment.
I chuckled, “something embarrassing?” Being late for such an important meeting definitely didn’t create a good impression.
“More like something intriguing.” He corrected me.
“What can I say, sometimes that might happen as a byproduct.” I laughed.
He smiled amused like he didn’t know what the joke was. “Well, that was one heck of a meeting, and I noticed how speechless Jensen was, I’m sensing there’s a story there…” he guessed.
“Why don’t you ask him? You both seem pretty close” I said what I observed.
“Yeah, unfortunately” he sighed like it was really a huge burden to carry, and I laughed. “But he’s not a good storyteller, so I’m asking you, plus I needed an excuse to come talk to you.” He told me slyly.
I had to hand it to him, he was pretty smooth, and I rolled my eyes, “I might have splashed him with red wine and destroyed the headlights of his car once in the past, no big deal.” I explained like it was all normal.
Josh laughed loudly, “That was you?!” He seemed to have connected a few dots in his head. I was slightly surprised to discover that he knew of these occurrences but quickly got over it.
“Oh wow, this is priceless. You have no idea how pissed he was about those things.”
“I can guess,” I said. “In fact, I’m surprised he handled my presence here so well, to be honest, I expected him to explode or something…”
“With good reason, I believe.” Josh said, “I know how he could get.” He glanced at his watch then and said: “oh man, I have to go attend another one of my stupid meetings” he made a sour face at that thought.
“It can’t be that bad,” I said reassuringly.
“Oh, I know exactly how bad it is going to be,” he mumbled, sure of himself. “Anyway gotta go, I’m already 45 minutes late, it was truly an honour and pleasure meeting you Alexandra.”
“I prefer Alex,” I informed him and he nodded in acknowledgement.
“Okay Alex, it was nice to put a pretty face to Jensen’s horror stories,” He said, making me chuckle.
He then turned to leave carelessly as if he’s not at all late for anything. He unbuttoned his cufflink and glanced at his friend Mr Black’s office, attempting a telepathic goodbye maybe…..and then he was gone.
I went back to my desk and started working on my computer, picking up where I left off.
A few minutes later I saw Kate marching over to me with a murderous look in her eyes.
Oh no!
As soon as she closed the door of my office she said in her typical half panicked-half angry voice “Do you have a death wish? What the hell were you thinking?!” She hissed at me.
“What? It’s my fault now? This morning when I told you that I was in serious trouble, you didn’t even listen to me.” I said plainly.
“How does that have anything to do with you being half an hour late for that meeting?” She asked, completely confused. “You couldn’t be there on time? Why do you already have to get on top of the bosses hit list?” Kate barged in.
“He’s got a hit list? Why am I not surprised…” I said much to Kate’s annoyance, but before she could scold me I quickly said, “sorry, I’ll not joke.. It’s just that, I’ve met my boss before and not in the best of scenarios…”
I sighed, closed the files in front of me and then went ahead to explain in excruciating details about my previous meetings and ‘beautiful’ escapades with Jensen Black, and how today I was at the brink of unemployment.
She had her eyes wide and jaw slack when I stopped narrating my story
“So, let me get this straight. You’ve stomped all over his important work papers…” She started.
“Yes.” I said.
“Threw a drink in his face…” She added.
“Expensive red wine.” I supplied.
“Rammed into his car deliberately.” she counted.
“I’m not proud of that one.” I said cringing.
“And called him offensive names.” She ended the list and I winced.
“Twice.” I specified.
“And you’re still alive?” She blinked, looking genuinely surprised.
“Geez, don’t be dramatic or anything…” I said sarcastically.
“Maybe he’s keeping you around to get revenge.” She wondered, her anger long gone.
Possible.
“Working for my new boss is going to be a piece of work.” I huffed.
Kate patted my shoulder with sympathy. “All the best to you…”
I rolled my eyes, but in my mind I braced myself. Bring it on.
“Anyway…I need to go, have calls to attend, appointments to schedule, e-mails to reply, will see you later” she smiled slightly, sighed tiredly and then hurriedly left my office.
Rest of my day was boring, but miraculously it wasn’t my last day here, and that for now was enough.
I worked on some new investors and read through a Co-investment plan that I didn’t completely understand and so decided to seek out Olivia’s help.
I was about to knock on Olivia’s door but it was already halfway open. I realised a heated conversation was going on inside, It was Olivia and some man as two sets of voices travelled to me…
I didn’t want to eavesdrop and so I turned to walk away but I heard my name and stilled. They were clearly talking about me and the other voice I realised was of Jensen Black.
“Are you saying you don’t trust my judgement?” Olivia asked, her voice firm and almost intimidating.
“I am not blaming you Olive, you know you’re the only one I trust, I don’t take business advice from you for nothing… ” I didn’t realise they were so close for nicknames and all.
“Then why do you have a problem with her? You don’t even know anything so far, she’s perfect for the job and she’s only just getting started…” Olivia defended me.
“I seriously doubt that. ” He said.
“Give her a chance Jensen, her record speaks for itself, I’ve seen her past work… and she’s a strong person, even in her personal life she’s been through a lot and she’s already doing a great job at all her tasks.”
“I doubt that, but I’ll keep her around if you want me to…she needs to learn she’s not cut out for this job-..” Unable to hear anything more I walked away. My happy mood took a tumble and doubts clouded my mind.
Was I really cut out for this?
Nothing better than being on a job where I was not wanted.
*****************************************************************
What do you think of this new development?
And what should Alex do now?
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I hope you liked the chapter.
Thanks for reading.
-vinee
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