Chapter 3
3
[She] will win, who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
THE ART OF WAR , SUN TZU
OPERATION TROJAN HORSE
Secure access to CM’s office.
Make MB Smile. Once.
Get A to stop smiling so much.
Find a better coffee shop.
Bella frowned at the website’s welcome page, not happy with it. The marketing company had developed some great-looking mock-ups, but the content was stilted and performative.
‘Ali, who wrote the copy for the website’s landing page?’ she asked, without taking her eyes from her screen.
‘Julia did, just before Christmas.’
Maurice was returning from lunch with an old colleague, ostensibly ‘catching up’, but instead actually trying to uncover the industry gossip on Nayak New York. The gallery was working with Magenta, a marketing and PR firm, but it was Bella’s job to oversee both internal and external comms and until she could develop the business contacts she had to rely on a still reticent Maurice for ‘on the ground’ information.
She caught his gaze as he took a seat and Maurice grimaced. Clearly the gossip was not good. Bella internally groaned. She might be determined to tank their boss, but she still had a job to do in the meantime and to do it convincingly too.
‘What do you think of the home page copy?’ Bella said, swivelling in her chair to face him as he took a seat at his desk.
He sniffed. ‘It’s not my job to think about the copy of the website.’
Despite his words, the single raised eyebrow of disdain had her convinced that he thought the same as she did.
The copy was awful.
Over the last four days, she’d been kept busy enough by what she was beginning to think of as her ‘day job’, Operation Trojan Horse had been put on the back burner. Between getting up to speed with half completed plans for the gallery opening, website copy, mailing lists, advertising slots, Magenta’s marketing plans, and working with Maurice on the brochure content, she’d actually not seen much of Chase since Monday’s team meeting.
But that was about to change. She gathered her tablet and made her way to Chase’s office, knocking on the glass door.
He was staring at his computer.
Bella frowned. Had he not heard her? She knocked again a little louder and when there was still no response from him, she pushed open the door.
‘No.’
Shock had her pulling up short. He flicked his gaze angrily to her and back to the desk.
Bella opened her mouth. ‘I?—’
Chase held up a hand to cut her off and she realised that he was on speaker phone.
‘No, not that either. Or that,’ he said, clicking through something on his computer screen.
‘Chase, you have to take into consideration?—’
‘I don’t have to take anything into consideration, Dermot. You think that you can treat me like a first-time gallery director who can’t tell the difference between unsatisfying back-list paintings, rather than recent works of value. And, putting it mildly, it’s offensive.’
His tousled hair hung in tufts as if he’d run his hands through it several times. Frustration rolled off him in waves, and if Bella were honest, she didn’t actually mind that one bit.
‘Tell Michaela to call me if she wants to talk. But I’ll not deal with you again.’
And with that Chase hung up the phone.
‘I wasn’t sure if you—’ she tried.
‘I didn’t tell you to come in,’ he said, finally turning to face her.
No wonder the last comms director left. Chase Miller was clearly a monster to work for. What on earth had Astrid been thinking?
‘You didn’t tell me not to either,’ she countered saltily, stepping further into his office. She was quite aware that Maurice and Ali were capable of seeing this interaction and she didn’t want to have her authority questioned any more than it already was.
It only struck Bella, much later, that Chase might have been feeling exactly the same way.
‘I need to talk to you about the copy being used for the website’s welcome page.’
He eventually gestured for her to take a seat.
She lowered herself onto the sofa and presented him with the page pulled up on her tablet as he took a seat in the chair at her right.
Bella had marked up the copy with her concerns which he scanned with a shrug.
‘I’m not sure what the problem is.’
Which was worrying enough. She bit back a sigh. She had hoped to get him on side in the first week here. Lulling him into some kind of false sense of security. That, however, was proving to be almost impossible when he was making the most basic errors.
‘The copy here is clear, precise and informative.’
‘Yes,’ he stated.
‘But it lacks tone .’
He was already glaring before she’d finished. ‘And?’
Now it was Bella’s turn to frown.
‘Well, it’s just that the copy you have here is’ – she searched for a word that wouldn’t offend – ‘a little flat.’
He simply held her gaze. Either he was being purposefully obtuse or simply didn’t care.
‘Chase, the copy lacks anything that would convey to a perspective client what it is they will experience here.’
‘I don’t want to sell an experience,’ he said as if the word was a curse. ‘The work here will speak for itself. Quality, precision and innovation are where we will attract the right clients.’
She was unable to bite back the scoff of incredulity that fell from her lips.
‘Of course you want to sell an experience. Especially on the home page of your website. You can absolutely sell quality, precision and innovation – if that’s what you want, but this,’ she said, picking up the paper. ‘No one will come for this,’ she stated boldly, suddenly free from the need to ‘play nice’ by his wholly irrational behaviour.
‘I don’t want the kind of hard sell, cynical jargonistic crap that comes with art galleries,’ Chase said, leaning back in his chair.
His phone vibrated on the table and he picked it up and put it in his pocket without checking the screen.
‘You as an artist, or you as a director?’ she said, the response slipping out quickly and deadly and landing, somewhat unintentionally, with the impact of a full punch to the jaw, from the way his eyes narrowed.
She wouldn’t regret her words. As an artist, he had shunned the fame he had found. But as a gallery director, he couldn’t afford to do the same. And while she was happy to help Chase fall flat on his face, she was less happy at the idea of him taking the gallery with him.
‘Because as director, you should know that hard sell, jingoistic crap works. It attracts the people that enjoy that kind of stuff. And they tend to be the people with fat wallets.’
‘As director, I’m saying the copy is fine,’ he declared.
‘And as your comms director, I’m letting you know that it’s not,’ she said, getting up from the sofa and leaving the office.
As she threw the folder back onto her desk and sat in her seat, she heard Maurice announce, ‘Round One, Miller.’
Just Desserts WhatsApp Group. 16.42EST.
Bella
Is it illegal to copy a set of keys for your office? Asking for a friend.
Sienna
Depends what’s written in your contract.
Astrid
Depends if you get caught.
* * *
Chase watched Bella leave and closed his eyes in frustration. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw five missed calls from Tej. There wasn’t really any avoiding this. He went back to his desk and pulled up the video call app.
He steeled himself and hit send.
Tej’s worried face appeared before the ringing stopped.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes Mom ,’ Chase fake-whined.
‘That’s shit, man, I’m sorry.’
Chase shrugged his shoulder, hoping he could pass his speechlessness off as nonchalance. But it was shit. They had lost their feature artist, Zadzisai – a South African painter Chase had been courting for months – following the news of Julia’s abrupt departure.
‘Look, this didn’t come from Zadzisai.’
‘I know,’ Chase bit out.
He knew where it had come from and why. There was an understandable amount of scepticism about his role as gallery director. General consensus seemed to be that either he would get bored and go back to being an artist, or he would fail because he didn’t know what he was doing. Only a few people seemed to think that he could actually do this. Zadzisai had been one of them.
At least until Julia. Her sudden departure had run through the art world like wildfire, and Tej’s chosen replacement, another complete newbie, had been the nail in the coffin.
‘It’s not your fault,’ Tej continued, attempting to counter the inner demons haunting Chase’s internal monologue.
‘I know,’ Chase lied. ‘I’ve got a call in with another possible artist I’m hoping to meet with later.’
‘That’s great,’ Tej replied, a little heavy on the enthusiasm. ‘Really great. How’s everything else?’
Chase looked over to where Bella stared mutinously at her computer screen.
‘I just went head to head with the new comms director,’ he admitted.
Tej smirked. ‘And how did that go?’
‘I’m impressed,’ he admitted. ‘She held her ground.’
Tej winced. ‘She still breathing?’
‘I’m not that bad.’
‘You can be chilling, bro.’
‘And you sound like you’re still in high school, bro , yet you’re running the US arm of a family business that would rival Rupert Maxwell.’
‘What was it? The home page website copy?’
Chase nodded.
‘You hate that copy. Julia wrote it,’ Tej offered.
‘I know. I just wanted to see what she would do.’
‘That can backfire, you know. I wouldn’t do it again.’
‘It wouldn’t work again; she’s too clever for that,’ Chase admitted. Bella had been careful but fierce, and he’d liked that.
‘High praise from Chase Miller. She just earned herself a bonus.’
‘No need to go overboard,’ Chase muttered. He dragged his eyes away from the halo the table lamp was creating around her golden hair and focused on Tej.
‘Is she aware of what people are saying?’ Tej asked, referring to Bella and the bitchy gossip that sailed horribly close to Chase’s first reaction to her hire.
Chase pulled a face. ‘Doubt it.’
‘Do you think it’s worth giving her a heads up?’
‘I think we were the ones that hired her to do this job. It’s up to us to hold the fort until she can prove herself. Telling her now would only make her self-conscious.’
‘Your call,’ Tej said, leaving it with Chase.
And Chase hoped it was the right one. It was a fine line protecting her from the industry’s doubts about her, but he’d put money on Bella changing their minds pretty damn quick.
‘How’s your mom?’ he asked Tej, changing the subject.
‘From anyone else I’d think that was the start of an insult, but she loves you more than me, dude.’
‘What can I say? I’m charming. Mothers love me,’ he said, ignoring the tightening of scar tissue across an old wound.
‘Can you start on the aunties too? They’re the worst ones. Beta , I have the perfect woman for you. Beta , you just have to meet her. Beta , she makes the most amazing insert-your-favourite-snack-here.’
Chase smiled as Tej’s accent thickened with his impressions. His mother had been trying to get him to marry for the last five years and so far, Tej had done everything to avoid an engagement aside from declaring himself gay – which he couldn’t do, because he couldn’t lie to his mother. But ever since his thirtieth birthday last year, things had got intense.
‘Just go on a few dates,’ Chase tried.
‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but only a white guy would say something so monumentally stupid to an unwed Indian first-born son this damn close to the marriage mart.’
‘Fair enough,’ Chase said, raising his hands in surrender.
‘Have you told the others about Zadzisai?’ Tej asked.
Chase pulled a face and shook his head. ‘I don’t want to worry them. And Bella will really want to change the copy then.’
Tej smiled. ‘I like her.’
‘Mmm,’ was all Chase would say in response. The jury was still out. Though she had won some points just now on the copy for the website.
‘I’m due back in New York in a week or so. We’ll grab some drinks.’
‘It’s a plan,’ Chase said, leaning forward to disconnect the call, hoping that he could find a solution to the main featured artist just as easily.
* * *
Bella’s eyes hurt. She wasn’t exactly a stranger to staring at a computer, but at this hour the overhead light was off, leaving her at the mercy of the glare from her screen. Covertly she watched Chase shut down his computer and stand back from his desk.
She trained her eyes on the email she’d re-read a million times, not wanting to make eye contact with the arrogant, cheating, jerk as he left the building. She tried not to flinch when she heard his knuckles rap on the glass door to the office.
She peered around the screen and raised an eyebrow in question.
She thought for a second that he was repressing a smirk, but she couldn’t be sure as Chase was mostly in shadow.
‘Did Maurice show you how to lock up?’ Chase asked.
‘Reluctantly,’ she admitted.
‘Don’t mind him. He just wants to make sure that you’ll stick it out,’ Chase explained. ‘Call if you have any problems.’
‘I won’t.’
‘Fair enough,’ he replied, and this time she did see a smile, which just confused her even more.
She’d have thought that her clipped responses would have irritated him, or at least offended his clearly delicate sensibilities. But the about-turn from his behaviour left her reeling.
And then, he didn’t even say goodbye, he just left.
Damn the man!
Bella waited at least five minutes after he’d gone before making her move.
She had a two-pronged plan of attack. One would take almost the entire run-up to the gallery opening to achieve – that was the end of his professional career. She had to be meticulous. The second involved a series of short-term sneak attacks, intended to destabilise and disorientate.
She had chosen this two-faceted approach because to cheat on someone, to drag an innocent woman into the mess too, Chase Miller clearly didn’t value his personal life. His career on the other hand… a very different matter.
But to simply sabotage someone’s career wouldn’t work either, because then Chase could just blame it on someone else. No, Bella’s plan was much more complicated than that. She would have to undermine Chase’s belief in himself . She would have to make him believe that there was something wrong with him .
Because wasn’t that the true just desserts? Hadn’t he made Astrid question everything about their relationship and herself? Hadn’t he taken his marriage vows and betrayed them, leaving his poor wife to discover his infidelity for herself when she’d turned up at the hotel room to find Astrid and Chase together?
So that was what she was going to do. Slowly, bit by bit, step by step, she would make him question everything. And her first idea had come courtesy of her sister’s favourite childhood story: The Twits . Which only seemed fitting really. Given that Chase Miller was a twit of the highest degree.
Heart pounding in her chest, she crept into Chase’s office, remembering how she’d explained all this to the girls on the group call they’d had last night.
‘You,’ Sienna had said with a wariness in her gaze that hadn’t been there before, ‘are actually quite a scary lady.’
‘You know,’ Paige said, after some consideration, ‘after this, I really think you should consider government work.’
‘The federal civil service?’ Bella had asked.
‘No. The CIA.’
‘Private sector pays better though,’ Astrid added. ‘I’d imagine,’ she clarified a little too quickly.
Bella smiled as she pulled out the chair behind the desk. She got on her hands and knees, wanting to get in and get out in the quickest time possible. She lowered the chair by one centimetre and loosened one of the wheels.
She moved the desk light back just a few inches, but that was all she would allow herself to do today. Any more and he’d just think the cleaner had moved things and that wouldn’t do.
No, he needed to question it himself . It needed to seem so minor he could be imagining it.
Then, she carefully removed the doctored sugar sachets and placed them into the holder that Chase kept on the coffee station on top of the fridge, mixing them with the others. It had taken her nearly an hour and a half last night after finishing her call with the girls, but she had achieved perfection. And given the fact he consumed enough sugar a day to keep Krispy Kreme in business, it shouldn’t take him long to hit her substitutes.
She backed out of Chase’s office and went through the process of closing down the floor as Maurice had directed – in a very detailed, fifteen-minute briefing – and left the gallery humming all the way back to the apartment.
Round Two, Carmichael.
Just Desserts WhatsApp Group. 18.55EST.
Bella
Didn’t get caught!