"Ms. Mallory." I stand up straight, plastering a fake but collected smile on my face.

"There was dirt on the floor. I was cleaning it." I add, laughing nervously, while hoping she makes no comment about why I'm holding my bag vertically against my body or why I'm

blatantly lying to her face.

She gives me an unimpressed look that can rival the one of my sixth-grade teacher successfully and I have to tell you that woman was a terrifying witch.

"Dave wants you in his office."

I tense.

My manager? For what?

As a PR officer on the lowest rung of administrative level, I have learnt to be invisible, so what does Dave want with me?

"Dave d-- does?" I clear my throat hoping my shaky voice didn't convey my fear.

"It's been over 10 minutes he's asked for you, so if I were you, I'd think of something better than dirt on the floor as my excuse and get to his office." She giggles and saunters away.

I groan inwardly, Raven Mallory and I must have been enemies in our past lives because she takes every opportunity to bully me.

And I have no idea why?! I mean, she's better paid than I am, has a better work title, work descriptions and me, I'm just here.

I rush to the cubicle I share with Sophie - a lady with beautiful big eyes but with snarky comments aimed at me every time.

"Hey. What's with your shirt? Decided your life was boring so you chose to make it interesting by playing in the mud?"

"Hi Sophie" I reply ignoring her question.

"You're late." she says, continuing to stare at my shirt.

"Well done, Captain Obvious." I say under my breath.

"You're sure Dave's not going to fire you today?"

I take a deep breath in, "May I borrow your jacket?" I stretch my hand to her jean jacket hanging on her chair.

Sophie laughs awkwardly, "Nah. It's not mine, you know. It's my niece's and she's already pissed I took it today, so if I give you, she'll be even more angry."

I bite my lips, fighting the urge to scream, "How would she know, Sophie? I just want to use it to get to Dave's office and back."

"Maybe you can borrow a scarf from someone to cover up the stain." Sophie contorts her face in annoyance.

"No-one's going to have a scarf readily available in summer." I reply.

"Same for a jacket." she smiles at me in a contortingly sweet manner and take the jacket off her chair, stuffing it into her bag.

I sigh again, 'is it really that hard to borrow me a jacket? Or am I just having a more terrible morning courtesy of that coffee spilling jerk?'

I stare at my shirt, the conspicuous brown color against the white shirt so noticeable that I can't hope Dave wouldn't see it.

"Hazel, you haven't gone to see Dave yet?"

I turn my head to see Raven headed towards me, a Starbucks cup in her hand.

"I'm heading there now." I say to her and grab a couple of papers from my desk holding it close to my chest as a last minute resort to hide the coffee stain.

I stand in front of Dave's door, the plaque on the door reading 'PR MANAGER' a pretty white color on black creating a contrast that brightens it.

I should hope that Dave will be nice to me this morning, but I've already had a shitty morning and hoping has not been going well for me this morning so I just raise my hand and knock.

Tap. Tap.

I hear a distant voice saying,"Come in."

"Good morning Dave." I say to the Brown haired man furiously typing something on his laptop.

"Hazel?" he calls out, not looking up from his laptop.

"Yes sir?"

"I hear you assisted Raven with the MAPO conference emailing."

Well, I did it all by myself after Raven dumped it on me but Dave doesn't have to know that.

"Yes, I did." I say.

"Well, that failed. Raven could do better without your help. Don't badger her that you want to learn. We don't have the resources to make up for your mistakes on important occasions."

My mouth opens gaping like a fish.

I have no idea what to focus on right now. The fact that Raven set me up to take the fall or that the work I put my complete energy into failed.

I swallow tightly, ignoring the tight knot forming in my chest.

"That will be all." Dave dismisses me.

" How did the S.E.A.M perform?"

"Quite well. Leave Raven to handle her projects next time. She's experienced and advanced than you are."

I blink, letting a soft chuckle excape my lips.

"Is there a problem Hazel?"

"Nothing." I begin, "-- Just that Raven had me assist' her with the MAPO project because I did S.E.A.M project alone and it was excellent." I complete raising my fingers to make air quotes.

For the first time since I entered the office, Dave raises his head to look at me, "The S.E.A.M project was your work?"

"From the idea to the execution, it was mine, yes sir." I reply.

I know my answer might land me in a worse position with Raven Mallory but I don't care at the moment.

Sorry. Not sorry.

My self-destruct button is in play already. I'm fucking frustrated.

Dave presses a button on the intercom and speaks into it,"Get Mallory into my office now please."

He regards me with curious eyes while we wait for Raven to come in which doesn't take long at all.

"You sent for me?" She asks with a smile as soon as she comes in.

"Hazel says the S.E.A.M project was hers. What do you say?"

Raven stares at me shocked, and I stare right back at her.

Naturally, I wouldn't dare to do this, but my self-destruct button is in play now.

I don't give a fuck about anybody right now.

"Raven? I am so disappointed in you for stealing another worker's successful idea and trying to pass it off as yours." Dave says.

"I apologize sir but it was the only way to get the project recognized to get the okay for take-off." Raven says.

"I'll tell you what I tell my sixteen-year old daughter. No excuses cover up your mistake. Own up to it and figure how to rectify it." He shakes his head and turns to me, "You can go Hazel."

"Wait, are those documents for me?" Dave looks at me with anticipation.

"Ermm--" I laugh awkwardly clutching the papers closer to my chest to cover up the coffee stain.

"Why did you come late to work today Hazel?" Raven asks me turning Dave's attention to me while smirking and watching as my eyes widen with frantic fear.

What a bitch!

"Effective immediately, this company is under new ownership-Steele International."

HR-.

I stare at the email. I click over and over again in an attempt to Refresh and refresh.

Surprise!

Nothing changed.

"The Xavier Steele?" Sophie leans over whispering conspiratorially.

Today she was dressed in a pencil brown skirt that hit just above her knee, a monochrome blouse and a gold chain belt that sat carelessly across her hips, no jacket, but I didn't need it anyway.

"Xavier Steele?"

"You don't know Xavier Steele?!" Sophie screams causing eyes to turn to us.

Raven's eyes meet with mine and we break eye-contact instantly.

Dave's reprimand has not made her any nicer to me but she has not specially gone out of her way to make my life terrible.

For that, I'm grateful, since I'm no longer in my self-destruct mode.

"Is he someone important?"

"S0meone important?" Sophie looks at me with incredulous eyes.

"Like a NEPO baby, you know?" I say.

"How on earth did I think you were better than me?." Sophie scoffs.

I brush the brunt of her backhanded insult, "Are you going to talk about Mr. Xavier Steele or not?"

"Keep the Mr. out of your mouth Hazel, because Xavier's a treat!"

"So like a pretty Nepo baby?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Shut up. He's better than that. You should be tied to the stake for speaking about Xavier Steele this way." Sophie replies shaking her head at me.

"Whatever. I'll look him up online." I grab my phone.

"Don't!" Sophie holds her palm out in an attempt to stop me.

I roll my eyes in response.

"Honestly. This man should be described to you, not just by seeing. It's like chocolate fudge caramel cake. The sight is beauty but the taste describes heaven."

I sigh. Sophie's crazy. Plus I don't really think chocolate fudge caramel cake tastes like heaven.

"The first thing you should know is that Xavier Steele is a crazy man. By your standards and every other person's standards about his background, then yes, he qualifies as a Nepo baby. BUT! He's not your random trust fund baby."

"I'm following you Sophie. Go straight to his business mannerisms. How is he like?"

"I'm getting there, chill the fuck out. So, his first business was in real estate when he turned 17 years old. he expanded into the construction industry with the profits from real estate but after a year, he sold the company. Mind you, the construction company was also successful. He said he sold it because he didn't feel called to solve the problem of the construction industry." Sophie raises her index finger up.

"It sounds like he's great with business." I say flippantly.

"It's greater than great. Since the construction, he's built a conglomerate of businesses in Fashion, Tech and Electronics. Recently, during an interview, he declared his interest in Cars and buying a company."

"Buying not building?"

"Asking the right questions." Sophie smiles and I'm mesmerized by a fraction of a second on how beautiful her smile is.

"Xavier Steele is not just respected but also feared in the business world. Why is that?" Sophie picks up her pencil and starts drawing invisible circles on our shared desk.

"How would I know? I don't even know the guy, how much more why he's feared." I frown.

Sophie giggles, throwing her hands up in the air, "That's because he's deeply invested in M&A."

"Buying and Selling of companies?"

"Yup. He acquires them, folds them out, squeeze out every last penny and sells them for bits, all without running any loss on them. I tell you Hazel, all business venture this man has gone into has only been a success."

"So he's great at what he does."

"That's not it alone. His face looks like -------------------"

"I see. But if he's majoring in acquisition and sales of companies, doesn't that mean he's going to sell our company as well?" I interrupt her.

Sophie pauses then shrugs, "He doesn't really sell companies that are in his major nicheee. You get?" she says drawing out the word niche.

"Nope. I don't understand."

"Goodness, you're terrible at this."she rolls her eyes at me.

"Gossip, maybe." I respond with a half-hearted shrug.

"We deal in electronics and he has Electronics as one of his major business activities. So, he's probably just going to acquire and merge."

"That goes against normal business laws. He's supposed to expand his market and move into different industries."

"Probably removing the competition. I thought you weren't concerned. Why are you asking?" Sophie regards me curiously.

"I'm concerned. People have been known to lose their jobs after a merger or acquisition."

Sophie rolls her eyes at me, "Xavier Steele wouldn't even have time for your bullshit. He's the one who founded Zerf-AI."

"He founded Zerf?!"

"Welcome to the real world" she snorts.

"Wow, so he's that good. What will then happen to our CEO and board of directors?"

"What the fuck is your business with caring for people who don't give a shit about you?" Sophie snaps.

"All I know is that, I'm not concerned about people that do not pay me the same salary as they collect. Plus, they settled this without informing us."

I shrug. I could see Sophie's point, and although I didn't agree with her, it'd be a crazy thing for me to try argue with her.

"Oh, here is his picture. Isn't he so yummy?" she shoves her phone in my face and I'm forced to suddenly lean back to get my eye focus back.

"I told ya!. You're fucking speechless. This man is so fine." she giggles, punching me in the shoulder with her free hand.

"It's not that." I whisper, my eyes glued to the phone.

"Then what?"

I pause staring at phone and then her and then the phone.

How do I say I made the biggest mistake of my life this week?

Because my eyes are currently staring into green eyes belonging to the bastard who spilt his coffee on me.

Correction.

Handsome Greek god/Coffee bastard is about to be my boss.

"Quit staring at his picture." my best friend says, her red hair bouncing on her shoulders as she walks from the kitchen, a plate of spaghetti balanced on each arm.

I groan, hitting my head repeatedly on my palm.

"Don't hit your head on the table or your palm." she adds, stretching her hand to give me a plate of the spaghetti.

"Thanks." I murmur, collecting it.

"Sloane, what are the odds?"

"What odds?" she gives me a quizzical look.

"The odds that Xavier Steele is going to fire me as soon as he goes through the employee database."

"Why don't you eat first?"

"Aaa-rggh!. I can't stomach anything right now."

"You need strength to be able to fight whatever is coming for you." Sloane says.

My heart drops, "What's coming for me..". I repeat, my eyes widening in fear of the unknown.

"Yeah, my fortune teller says something is coming your way soon." she smirks.

"Sloane!. Don't scare me like that." I jump up, rushing over to her to tickle her.

"S--Sto-- stop. My --- fo-- foo--- fo-- food!" she wheezes out laughing.

Soon, I join her laughing, both of us doubling over in the middle of my living room.

"I don't know who's crazier; you or your fortune teller" I say to her.

"I think the girl who exchanged words with a billionaire on the street of New York with a beggar as an audience and expecting the beggar to support her like a lawyer is the crazy one." she chuckles, going back to the sofa.

I facepalm, "Don't remind me. I'm dead."

"How did you not even recognise that that was Xavier Steele?!"

"How was I supposed to know?! plus, I told you about it as well and you didn't know."

"You told me he was painfully handsome. So many people can be." Sloane quirks her eyebrows at me.

"And I said he also has green eyes." I retort.

"Do you know how many people has green eyes?" Sloane looks at me, her mouth half full with eyebrows raised.

"Apparently less than 4% of the population in the world. Less than that in New York and you couldn't identify him from my story." I reply, shaking my head at her.

"You're crazy. That's what you are." Sloane turns her attention back to her plate.

I shrug, "If you couldn't identify Xavier Steele from my story, then why do you assume I'd be able to identify him?"

"Because you saw him!" Sloane raises her hand in an exasperated fashion.

"For someone who knows nothing about him, there's no way I'll be able to recognize him and for you who knows all about him, why couldn't you identify the villain of my story?"

"Fine. You've made your point."

"Good, cos' I only know celebrities." I retort.

"So, what will you do now?" Sloane looks at me.

"I don't know!" I cry out.

"There's one thing though." Sloane begins.

"What?"

"How many people are working at your company?"

"Over one hundred."

"Exactly. If he's looking through the employee database, he'll most likely skim through it and not look at it like a chef tearing through layers of onions." Sloane clicks her fingers.

My eyes widen, "True! Sophie said that he mentioned his goal is to enter the Car industry, so he'll focus his remaining time there. Oh. Thank you, thank you, thank you." I say to Sloane.

She winks at me, "Will you show the spaghetti some love now?. Remember you still need strength for what's ahead."

I stick out my tongue in a playful manner, "I'm not a consumer of the heebie-jeebies of your fortune teller. Everything is just business and she's scamming you to keep a roof over her head."

"I'll remind you when you eat your words later." Sloane retorts sticking her own tongue out at me.

"You wish." I laugh.

***************

It is a week after my encounter with Coffee bastard.

No, scratch that.

It's been a week since I met Xavier Steele and like Sloane predicted, things have been quiet at work.

Even my hidden fear of random firing and craziness that occurs in the first month of company acquisition seems uncalled for.

Sophie must have been right about Xavier Steele.

A man who conquers to monopolize.

My hand flies over the email I'm composing, my mind elsewhere.

"Hazel!. My office now please!" Dave yells, standing in the door space of his office.

Everywhere goes quiet immediately.

There's only one reason Dave comes out to call someone in personally and not do it with the intercom in his office.

I am in trouble.

My hand hovers over the email I'm replying to and my wrist shakes involuntarily.

Even Sophie keeps her tongue tied faking a newly found deep attention to work and separation from gossip.

I feel blood drain from my cheeks, saliva drying up in my mouth,"coming." I manage to reply quietly.

Dave nods, "Back to work everybody." he says and walks back into his office closing the door firmly behind him.

Immediately, Sophie turns to me, "Should I help you pack your things? I bet you will be fired in less than five minutes."

I give her a fake sweet smile, "Thank you for your unsolicited concern Sophie but I will manage. You should look out for yourself seeing as you are one foot out of the door."

"You seem to have both feet out the door." Sophie chuckles.

I stand, my eye meeting with Raven Mallory's.

She smirks and mouths, 'bye' to me.

Fear, I'm sure is palpable on my face. Raven may be a bitch, but she knows what she's saying.

She has years of experience working with Dave.

She knows him better than I do.

I swallow hard and knock on the door.

Tap. Tap.

"Hello Dave." I say, closing the door firmly behind me.

Dave stares at me, his fingers clasped in a villain fashion from behind his chair.

I feel like I'm in front of Darth Vader.

" I have no idea why I was called in." I say, half-hoping he does not hear the shake in my voice.

"Hazel" Dave scoffs.

This is not good.

Dave never scoffs.

Well, maybe not never never, but I've never heard him scoff.

What did I do?

What's going on?

I wring my fingers behind me frustrated, "Yes?" my stable voice betraying the way I feel.

"I'd understand if you were called because of the S.E.A.M project, but there's no information and I'm not in the position to ask apparently." He scoffs again.

A frown takes over my face, "What's going on?"

"I was hoping you would shine some light on that Miss Dawson."

"How would I know what's going on if you don't tell me?" I ask.

My hands wouldn't stop shaking, no matter how many times I wrung them, so I press them to my sides firmly.

"You are required to move to the top floor tomorrow to begin work, Hazel." Dave says.

My eyes widen, my hands going slack by my side, "The executive floor level?"

"Higher, Hazel." Dave eyes me.

"I don't understand."

"The new CEO requested you to resume work at his floor tomorrow."

"Wh--- what --- the -- fu--"

Dave looks at me in a weird fashion, "Whatever you did to earn that, it worked. Congratulations."

I pause for a minute, my brain reeling from the new information.

"I'm going to be working directly with Xavier Steele?!"