Chapter 5
FAITH
The next morning, I sat in my new manager’s glass-fronted office, waiting for her and Stephanie to arrive.
Unlike Stephanie’s office’s wood-paneled exterior, this was set up so Victoria Worthington could look out at any moment to ensure her bees were busy.
Two rows of workstations were laid out all the way to a row of multi-paned wood windows.
Victoria’s PA, Amber, sat in between the bees and the queen.
I guessed she was the beekeeper. I could imagine her in a beekeeping suit, helmet thing and all covering her long red hair and slim frame.
She had the demeanor of a beekeeper too—earthy and calm.
I was “usually” good at picking people at first meeting—she seemed nice, and she looked close to my age.
I’d only made three bad calls in my life, and Mark had been one of them.
But this was a clean start.
I turned at the sound of quiet chatter. Stephanie came through the door followed by a statuesque blonde, her straight, shoulder-length tresses falling artfully around a model face.
She was gorgeous in a generic way with plumped lips, false eyelashes, and high cheekbones that may or may not be enhanced—I’d seen a bazillion women on Instagram who looked like a version of Victoria.
Not that it was a bad thing. Not a wrinkle dared set up shop on her skin.
I couldn’t tell if she was twenty-five or thirty-five.
She was still way more beautiful than I was, and kudos to her.
Maybe if I could afford a few subtle improvements, I’d get them.
Of course, she was slim with a small waist, ample bosoms, and long legs. She looked to be about my height with her heels on. A definite force to be reckoned with and probably excellent at landing new accounts. I stood.
“Good morning, Faith. This is Miss Worthington, your new boss.”
I smiled. “Good morning, Stephanie.” I turned to Victoria and held out my hand. I didn’t miss the slight narrowing of her brown eyes. Hmm, what was that about? “Lovely to meet you, Miss Worthington.”
Her smile was subdued, like turning the dimmer switch down on a light.
Maybe it didn’t behoove a manager to be too friendly to their staff.
She shook my hand. “Lovely to meet you, Faith. Let’s get you set up.
” She handed me a blue folder, then went around her desk and sat.
Stephanie sat in the chair next to me, and Victoria said, “Have a look through the paperwork today and have it signed and back to me by five.”
“Okay.”
She asked me a few personal questions and stood.
“I’ll show you around our section and introduce you to a few people.
I don’t need to tell you that we expect excellence at Knight Advertising.
Only the best of the best work here.” She flicked an unreadable, slightly unpleasant gaze to Stephanie.
Stephanie didn’t react. Was there bad blood between them?
No way was I asking anyone on my first day.
I was staying away from gossip—it could only get me in trouble.
The less I knew about and the less I knew my bosses, and yes, that definitely included dark-haired, brooding Curtis Knight, the better.
My goal was to draw good attention for my work.
Otherwise, be forgettable, don’t do anything that could be misconstrued as flirting or bitching.
Shouldn’t be too hard—I’d had years to perfect being a background character in my own life.
Victoria’s assessing and slightly irritated gaze was back on me. “I’m usually too busy to talk, so if you have any questions, you can ask Amber. If she can’t answer them, she’ll let me know. Understood?”
“Yes, Miss Worthington.”
“Good.”
Stephanie rose, giving Victoria a serious, meaningful look that I had no idea about.
What was that? “I’ll leave you both to it.
” She looked at me. “Good luck on your first day, Faith. I hope you enjoy working here.” We exchanged smiles, and she left.
Funnily enough, the slight tension that had been in the room before, escalated. Unless that was my imagination.
Victoria stood. “Any issues you have, you go to Amber. We don’t bother HR with marketing-department issues.” That was a bit weird to tell me, but okay.
Not wanting her to keep staring down at me—it was giving me predator/prey vibes—and also because we were probably going to leave, I got to my feet. “Of course.”
She came around the desk and perused me from head to toe.
I was in the same outfit I’d worn to yesterday’s interview—plain but professional.
The only difference was that Amy lent me a pair of her black designer heels for good luck.
They were way too high with a one-inch platform at the front and stiletto heel, but she wanted me to feel empowered on my first day, considering that walking into a new workplace was never easy.
To be honest, these shoes made it hard for me to do actual walking—I’d wobbled into my new workplace—but I felt sexier, at least when I was sitting.
My Docs or even ugly court shoes would’ve been way more comfortable and user-friendly.
I had my runners in my bag for the afternoon commute.
Victoria’s gaze snagged on said shoes. Her eyes shone with surprise and maybe disbelief, but she said nothing.
I was clearly too lowbrow to be wearing shoes this expensive.
Maybe I’d just ruined this brand of shoe for her.
Did that make me an influencer? I held in a misplaced snicker. Finally, her eyes met mine. “Let’s go.”
Tote over my shoulder and contracts clutched protectively to my chest, I followed her into the open-plan office, which was starting to fill with workers.
Who would become friend, and who would become foe?
Hopefully there wouldn’t be anyone who gave me a hard time, but let’s be real—a certain percentage of the population were narcissists and psychopaths who lived to make others’ lives hell.
I’d just need to figure out who they were and avoid them. If you couldn’t kill them, ignore them.
She pointed to an empty desk, the closest to her office.
It faced away from the glass that separated her from the unwashed masses, so I would never know when she was watching.
The desk abutted another desk. They faced each other, both desks having some privacy with two extra-large computer screens on each, the latest and greatest systems money could buy, if the symbol on the screen backs was any indication.
It was a dream set-up. Much better than Squeaky Butt’s company.
“That’s yours. You can put your things there for now. ”
A kernel of excitement vibrated in my stomach.
Maybe this was where I was meant to end up?
If it was even half as good as I expected, it would be awesome, and there was no way I was going to do anything to mess it up.
Being cheated on and fired might have been the best thing to ever happen to me.
Who knew? Well, hopefully no one here because that could lose me another job.
Stephanie would know that I’d lied about my whereabouts the last two years.
Also, a relationship with the boss didn’t look good either—a mistake I wouldn’t repeat.
Victoria hurried along the row of workstations, her gait familiar.
Lots of supermodels had that walk, smooth, flowing, and guaranteed to have everyone staring.
It was the walk that said, “look at me; I’m confident, and I know everyone wants to be me.
” I threw my things on my desk, then did my best not to trip as I tried to catch up to her.
If I didn’t know Amy loved me, I would’ve thought she was trying to kill me with these shoes.
Victoria stopped abruptly and waved a hand at the collection of desks closest to her office to halfway toward the windows.
Being practically on my toes, my feet were surprised when I halted without warning.
I almost overbalanced as my upper body pushed forward, and my legs stayed put.
Was this payback because I’d ruined the desirability of this brand of shoes for her?
“You lot are the nuts… and bolts of the marketing department—copywriters and graphic designers.” Had I imagined that dig, or was I being paranoid?
“Destiny Jackson oversees this section and has the final say over what’s submitted to me.
I sign off on the aesthetics and messaging for every campaign.
Once I’ve done that, I trust you’ll organize things yourself. Destiny reports directly to me.”
A curvy woman in her early thirties approached us.
A few bold streaks of vibrant blue striped through her curly, black, chest-length hair.
She was wearing purple Docs and red jeans.
I couldn’t help but smile. Looked like I could ditch these sexy trip hazards tomorrow.
Yay! The woman placed her handbag on the desk closest to Victoria.
“Morning, Miss Worthington.” Rather than smile at Victoria, she gave a nod.
Victoria did the same. Ooh, so friendly. Not.
Victoria glanced at her watch, then back at the woman.
“Good morning, Destiny.” Eyes still pinned on the target of her passive-aggressiveness, Victoria gestured my way.
“This is Faith Emery, the newest member of your team. It’s her first day.
Show her around.” Victoria finally looked at me.
“Do a good job, and we’ll have no problems. I have a meeting to get to, but I’ll check in with you at the end of the day when you bring me those signed contracts.
” Her attempted smile was more a bearing of perfect, too-white teeth.
I squinted against the harshness of it until she turned and left.
Looked like I was back swimming with the sharks.
I held my hand out to Destiny and smiled. “Lovely to meet you. I’m here to do whatever you want, and I’m keen to get started.”