CHAPTER NINE
EMILY
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J ulie arrives mid-morning and takes me on a tour of the office, introducing me to loads of people. I’m so stressed that I don’t remember anyone’s names.
Most comment on my British accent and tell me it’s adorable.
“Restrooms are through here, and...oh, here’s Terri.” Julie smiles. “She’s another one of the personal assistants, so she can help you get settled in.”
I could do with a friend. Not that I can share anything with anyone. I can’t wait to speak to Lexi later tonight.
“Hey!” Terri greets me with a friendly smile. “Welcome aboard.”
I start to relax.
It was a terrible start, but if I can make some friends and show Sebastian I can put what happened behind us, then perhaps I’ll get to stay.
“Thank you,” I reply.
“Oh cool, you’re British,” Terri says. “Let’s head downstairs. I’ll show you the café and the courtyard where all the smokers go.”
“I’ll leave you girls to it.” Julie answers her phone, giving us a wave.
“I don’t smoke, but I’m keen to see everything.” I follow her down the hallway.
“Me neither, but it’s a cool hang out.” Terri grins, leading me down a large sweeping staircase that joins two of the floors. “So where in England are you from?”
“London.”
“Your accent is so cool. My friends are going to love you. You must come out with us on Friday. Are you into clubbing?”
“Is the pope Catholic?” I tease, although I’m not a huge partyer, I still enjoy a good dance and few drinks.
“Last I heard,” Terri chuckles.
“For the record, I don’t do drugs. Not my thing.”
No judgment of those who do, but I never have, and the last thing I need is to get involved with anything like that—or a crowd who does. That will give Sebastian more cause to fire me.
Perception and all that.
“Girl, same. Fuck that shit.” Terri pushes the button on the elevator as I silently let out a sigh. “I am halfway through a law degree and not going to destroy my brain cells.”
Great. Another career-driven person while I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. Everyone seems to have their careers planned out but me. Or perhaps that’s my father inside my head.
You can’t drift through life, Emily. Do you even have a goal?
Yeah. I do. Getting away from his judgmental ass.
“That’s cool. A lawyer.” I smile. “I don’t know what I want to do.”
Terri leads me through the lobby and out the back of the building. “Being a PA is still cool. It pays the bills and helps me support my mom, who is sick.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Not wanting to pry any further because we just met, I ask, “Who do you work for?”
“The CFO. Mr. Sanderson. Victor,” Terri answers. “I was hoping to work in the legal team, but they don’t have a PA. Only interns.”
I shoot her a sympathetic smile; imaging how much better suited it would be for her than working for the finance team.
“Is he nice?” I ask, wondering what the other senior managers are like. Hopefully, they are friendlier than Bastian—fuck, I mean Sebastian.
Usually, the CEO is a good indicator of the culture of a company and so far he’s not giving me any reason to believe they will be friendly.
Despite having a good reason.
Julie and Terri are nice, so it’s probably just Sebastian.
“Victor is...how do I put this?” Terri hums and taps her fingers on her lips. “He’s bossy and critical. Kind of cocky. He also has a crush on Julie, and it's creepy as fuck, so we’re all waiting for Mr. Remington to fire him.”
Oh.
“Do you think he will?”
She shrugs. “Not sure. He’s been with the company since day one, so probably not.”
“Has she complained?”
Terri shrugs again. “Not sure. It’s just office gossip. Well, unless you’re blind, you can’t miss it.”
We both share a small laugh, then Terri introduces me to a few of the smokers.
I zone out while they chat about things I have no idea about yet. Something occurs to me. If Terri and I become friends, I could ask her about finding another job in Manhattan.
Trusting that Sebastian won’t go back to his six-week plan is not something I can do. I need a backup plan. I don’t have the funds to stay in New York, and I refuse to go home with my tail between my legs.
I’ll also keep my promise to him and not say a word about meeting him on the flight over.
It serves me as well.
Plan A: Do really good work and hopefully he’ll value me.
Plan B (while doing Plan A): Find something else just in case he fires me.