"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?!"

Remind me to curse Sloane's fortuneteller because that woman probably cursed me when she said the rubbish she said!

Because! If not for her, would I be standing in front of these large oak double doors contemplating if I should kneel and beg Xavier Steele or threaten with suicide?

Of course, it has nothing to do with that I insulted my billionaire boss and called him crazy to his face in the presence of an audience.

Aaaargghhh!

I straighten the non-existent creases on my grey- colored sleeveless dress, and knock.

"Good morning sir. Hazel Dawson at your service." I say cringing at how my voice sounds.

"Is the colour of your dress a depiction of your mood when working Miss Dawson?"

Goodness! That rich velvety but cold voice. You'll agree with me if you hear it as well.

"Not at all sir." I reply staring at his tousled hair.

Who has a tousled hair early in the morning? My billionaire boss, that's who.

"Your desk is the empty one outside. I'll call you through the intercom if I need you."

"Is that all sir?" I ask bewildered.

"Were you expecting something else?"

"Not at all sir."

'Except maybe that you lift up your head if you want to address me?' I add inwardly.

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

I think Xavier Steele is a ticking bomb.

I've been coming to the office as his new secretary since Tuesday and he hasn't given me any bit of work. His emails, appointments, dislikes or likes, I have no idea about.

I have asked, trust me, I'm not a lazy ass.

Since he's seen my face, I'm sitting on edge waiting for him to talk about it.

The elephant in the room.

It's terrible trust me. I'm walking around with fear covering my tippy toes if he recognizes me and when he does, if he'll fire me.

I'm supposed to be happy right? A pay bump from 50,000$ to 108,000$ base salary is nice right?.

I don't even have any work to do that might waste the day away, so I'm here playing Call of Duty (COD), my back slouched against this beautiful ergonomic chair.

My thumbs fly across the screen, my eyes dutifully locked on the last enemy soldier in the match .... just a little bit of stealth with the right positioned headshot ---

Bang!

A stack of papers lands on my desk like a brick hitting concrete. My hands flop causing my phone to fall to the floor.

Shit.

"Digitize this." Mr. Coffee bastard barks at me.

"By this afternoon, I want you to memorize the faces of everyone here. They have appointments this afternoon." he tosses a fairly light bunch of papers onto the table.

My gaze flickers to him, "I could have memorized it if I was the one who set the appointments, you know? Like doing my job properly."

"Here I was thinking giving you time to familiarize yourself with the job will make me seem like someone with common sense." he shrugs at me dismissively.

"What I mean to say is that having to learn all these faces by noon is a tough feat." I press my lips into a thin line.

"Seems to me that it's easier than having your precious coffee spilt, lady."

I stare at his retreating back for a moment bothered that ---

Wait ---

He remembered?

Fuck!

But he's been acting like he doesn't!

Shit!

I grab my phone off the floor inspecting it for cracks first - don't ask me why, priorities or maybe I was trying to build my courage to destroy my remaining life in corporate America - and hurry after him.

I'll burst into his office and tell him why he shouldn't fire someone like me, or even worse, make my life miserable and hope he doesn't.

I push the door open with the flourish of a movie lawyer defending an innocent client with several charges racked up against him.

And like several times before, hope decides to fail me again.

The tip of my shoe snags on the edge of the corner rug, pushing my body forward.

Next thing I know, I'm sprawled out on the cold floor, my mouth kissing the floor cleaner.

What just happened?!

I lay there for a second considering whether to fake death or if terrible work conditions would work if I decide to sue Xavier Steele aka. Mr. Coffee bastard.

"So the coffee stain was too lonely? You had to throw yourself on the floor to get a matching marble pattern on your dress?"