Chapter 6
Chester
After Will left to go pass out at his place, leaving me in a food coma after our large breakfast, I sent a junior associate out for another coffee to get me through the rest of the day.
Of course, he annoyingly messed up my order, bringing me some sort of vanilla latte that was too sweet.
How difficult was it to order a cappuccino?
This just further irritated me that I was without an assistant, and now had to assign an idiot junior associate to do the simplests of tasks.
The thought of calling up my formers assistant and chewing her out crossed my mind several times.
I could see to it that she never worked again, but I had too much on my plate today to be that spiteful.
I choked down the too-sweet drink just to at least get some caffeine in me, and looked at my calendar for the day.
Thankfully, my former assistant had the professionalism to schedule everything in before quitting during a night of debauchery in the club.
I pressed my fingers to my temple as I read through the day.
My phone trilled on my desk, and rather than answer it again, I ripped the cord out of the wall.
Until I found a new assistant, I would not be answering that again.
I would need to find one quickly. Ideally, by tomorrow, but with my particularities, it was doubtful.
I remembered what Will said about hiring Juliet as my new assistant.
The idea was preposterous, but an intriguing one all the same.
She was an accountant, not an assistant.
I had also seen her naked, and wanted to see that again, which posed more of an issue than what her career skillset was.
I chuckled to myself, shaking my head for even entertaining the idea.
Will loved stirring the pot, even where millions of his dollars were invested.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at my desk, becoming better acquainted with the non-profit I was taking over and rehearsing my little speech for the board meeting later that afternoon.
All the while, I kept having flashes of Juliet’s wet, bare skin on my mind, causing me to start thinking up excuses as to why I needed to go down to the accounting floor.
If she was my assistant, I wouldn’t need excuses to see her.
I pushed the thought out of my mind and continued going through the pile of paperwork on my desk.
A knock sounded at the door and I looked up to find the same junior associate who had flubbed my coffee order. He looked nervous as he shuffled in his shoes, as if he were a child playing dress-up.
“Yes?” I asked harshly.
“Th-the department heads are in the conference room…” he said, almost as a question than a statement.
I glanced at the time. Hell, it was already 4 p.m. I hadn’t even taken a lunch, being still so full from breakfast. I looked at my calendar and sure enough, there was the meeting highlighted in yellow on my computer screen and I was late.
I cursed under my breath. I stood from my desk and strode past the nervous associate and out the door.
My assistant would always give me five-minute warnings for every meeting.
Maybe I would call and leave her that voicemail with a piece of my mind…
I walked through the office, keenly aware of everyone’s eyes on me.
It was the first time I had emerged all day.
I didn’t have time for introductions or even nods of acknowledgments to their existence.
I strode into the conference room with my chin held high, making no apologies for my late entrance.
I was the CEO. I didn’t have to apologize, nor answer to anyone.
These people now answered to me. Everyone in the room seemed to sit up a little straighter.
A few nervous throats cleared as I stood at the head of the long, rectangular table.
“Thank you all for coming today,” I said, commanding everyone’s attention and placing my palms on the table.
“Today marks a historic day where Brandfield Enterprises merges with one of its biggest non-profits to date. I look forward to seeing what other history we can make together through this acquisition.”
The room was quiet, eyes watching me carefully. I decided to continue on to fill the silence.
“With any merger, there will be an adjustment period, but I have my sights set on taking us to the very top. It’s what I’m good at. But I still want to hear your ideas on how to make this as smooth a process as possible.”
It wasn’t like I was really going to listen to them, but I wanted them to believe their voices and thoughts mattered.
Plus, it would give me a better idea of who I wanted to stay and who would be going.
Who had the guts to speak up? Who spoke up with a moronic idea?
Who stayed quiet and offered nothing? All of it mattered, but none of these people realized that I was sizing them up.
An hour later, I walked out of the conference room with a headache.
Most of the department heads were morons.
I wondered how they had been running a company for as long as they had with the small ideas floating in their brains.
I had already written a mental list of which ones were to be let go.
I couldn’t have people in charge who don’t have the same vision as me, which was to succeed and become painfully rich, even for a non-profit such as this.
I figured I could start chopping from the top and work my way down to even the custodial staff.
These old men had more than enough money to survive anyway.
They were executives with penthouse apartments and yachts in the Hamptons.
I wasn’t worried about them. I wasn’t worried about those far less off than them either.
They didn’t call me the “hatchet man” for nothing.
Cutting out the dead weight of a company was what I did, and without that weight any company I acquired rose to the top.
I would give these department heads until Friday.
Firing them on my first day would not look good for me.
The press would have a field day, even if I had them all sign NDAs.
These things had a way of slipping out, and I needed the look of this merger to be nothing but positive.
That was why I even decided to save this sinking ship in the first place. It would look good in the papers.
Chester Brandfield: A Charitable Man.
Back in my office, I sank into my chair with a tired sigh.
Mergers at the beginning were always grueling, but worth it in the end.
They were how I had grown my empire so large.
I was like Mr. Monopoly, buying up businesses throughout New York as if they were pennies.
Most truly did cost that much to my ever-growing wallet.
For the next hour, I started compiling my list of who I was letting go, in order to provide it to HR by the end of the week, so they could handle their terminations and severances.
I added the junior associate to the list too.
A cappuccino and a vanilla latte were very different things.
If he couldn’t handle a coffee order, then he sure as hell couldn’t handle working here.
My phone buzzed on my desk and I picked it up to see a text from Will:
You’re not bailing, are you?
Shit.
I checked the time. It was already past 6 p.m. I had almost forgotten about his gig.
I looked out the large window behind me and was surprised to see it dark outside already, with no moon in the sky, giving the city’s buildings their opportunity to shine against the inky black sky.
I rubbed my face with the palms of my hands, mentally drained from the day that seemed to have gotten away from me.
The board meeting must have gone on far longer than I had expected it to.
Once one moron decided to pitch their ideas, it seemed to snowball into more morons thinking their ideas were the next best thing.
Little did they know, the more they spoke, the more they endangered themselves.
Truthfully, the last thing I wanted to do was go to a club, no matter how small Will promised it would be, but I had said I would be there. Plus, maybe a bourbon and live music wouldn’t be so bad. It would drown out the long day that I had here at the office.
Me: Of course not. I’m on my way.
I groaned as I forced myself out of my cushy, leather chair.
I stretched my neck from side to side, hearing a trill of cracks as I strode for the set of wooden double doors on the left side of my office.
I pulled them open, the overhead lighting flickering on as I stepped inside my closet.
Building a closet into each of my offices was a little luxury I enjoyed for days like this when I needed to change, without having to go home.
Most said it was unnecessary, but most didn’t have my kind of money.
They would be surprised at what they would buy if they had that kind of money.
I ran my hands across the black glossy shelves and made my way to the center rack.
Three suits hung in a row, alongside my gym clothes.
I cursed, realizing I didn’t have a pair of jeans or a casual button-down.
I made a mental note to add that to the wardrobe before pulling down the charcoal gray suit from the rack.
It was the most casual suit out of the three, even though it cost as much as a car.
It was either that or a pair of black gym shorts and a cutoff tee.
Taking off my navy suit, I placed it in a dry cleaning bag and redressed into the charcoal gray suit.
I paired it with a white button-down, and opted for no tie.
Will would still give me shit for showing up at his gig in a suit, but it was the best I could do.
Plus, I would rather be overdressed than under-dressed.
I reached for my cologne and spritzed my neck and wrists, before running some pomade through my hair at the small, arched mirror of the vanity within the closet.
After stepping out of the closet, I shut the doors behind me and walked out of my office.
The floor was empty, everyone cleared out for the day.
I realized I probably hadn’t made the best impression as CEO by mostly staying holed up in my office.
I supposed I could try a little harder tomorrow, just for appearances.
Speaking of appearances, I thought of Juliet and how she had arrived well before everyone else in accounting to make a good first impression.
An idea struck me that perhaps to continue with that good first impression, maybe she had stayed late.
I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the floor of accounting, even though I hadn’t thought of an excuse as to why I would need to show my face there.
The gold doors opened and I stepped onto the floor, disappointed to see the accounting office door closed and the lights off through the window.
She had left. That, or she had quit after my casual mention of her livestream.
Perhaps I had taken it a little too far with that comment.
The fact that I was disappointed by her absence gnawed at me as I stepped back onto the elevator to head down to the lobby.
It would be too bad if she had quit. I was just starting to have my fun with her.
Out on the curb, my limo was waiting for me. My driver spotted me and quickly rounded the car to get the door for me. Once settled in the driver’s seat, he looked at me expectantly through the rearview mirror.
“Home, sir?” he asked.
“Not tonight.” I shook my head. “Head to Webster Hall,” I said, double checking the text Will had sent earlier with the address.
My driver tilted his cap at me and peeled the car slowly from the curb to join the early evening traffic.
I sat back against the seat and closed my eyes, wishing I had enough time for a nap or another cappuccino.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I slid it out of my jacket to see an incoming video call from Will.
I hit the green button and his face appeared on my screen.
It was hard to see him in the dark lighting of the venue.
“Dude. Where are you?” he asked, peering at me as if trying to assess where I was.
“I’m in the car. I’m on my way,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed.
“The venue is already filling up. The opener is about to go on.”
“So? I have time. I don’t care about an opener.”
He rolled his eyes. “Ah. Come on, man. They’re good.”
The sound of a snare drum crashed loudly in the distance, making me wince.
“Oh yeah. They sound really good,” I said sarcastically. “I’ll be there soon.”
I hung up before I had to hear any more of that ruckus. At least Will was good. His music was mellow, much more my speed. I leaned forward and called to my driver, “I’m gonna need you to hit the gas, Jenkins.”