Part 10

Now that I was back it was time to make some changes. Shaq and Anna would each be put in charge of a project and evaluated on their performance by the staff under them but they would not be aware of this part of the evaluation.  I wanted to know how they would perform under pressure and if they would abuse the power given to them. The project would be something simple but with different aspects mixed in. With this idea in mind, I called them into my office,

"Shaqueal and Adrianna thank you for joining me on such short notice. I have a task for you. You will each be assigned a team and a project. You will be evaluated on the use of budget and a few other things that I will mention later. I want to stress to you the importance of the success of your projects. They aren't dummy projects, these will be running projects with the company logo and name. Any questions?"

"What is the timeline?" asks Anna

"You will have two months to plan and execute. You will still have the daily tasks to do as well so manage your time well" I say

"When will we know who our team is and what our project is?" asks Shaqueal

"I am still sorting out a few details so by early next week you will have a breakdown of your teams and project. Any more questions?"

"No, thank you."; "No." they both say

"Ok, you can continue with your day"

They leave my office and I turn around and face the skyline. 

'In a few short months I will be married, president of my own company with the new CEO that I trained'

After a few minutes of affirmations, I walked back to my desk and continued my day.

With the recent embezzlement problem at Fields, we decided to maintain the board of directors with the ones that were left and we will be voting a new Head in to replace Eric. It was a decision we made because, in light of the new merger, both companies boards will become one.

I set aside all merger-related business and focused on my own company. I put together a product advertisement plan for my graduates. They would be in charge of coming up with or improving a product/service that we can add to each hotel to increase profits, come up with an advertisement plan. I will then review the plans, make the necessary adjustments and then they will execute according to their budget.

Just as I finished the final draft of the project I heard a knock at my office door, I spoke up 'come in'. Blair walked in she was wearing distressed black skinny jeans, a red men's design shirt tied to show off her midsection. Top two buttons left open, hair in a high ponytail. 4-inch heels and a medium-sized handbag that had a gold chain on her shoulder.

"Let's have lunch," she says when she stops next to my chair.

I stand up without a word, with her heels on she's almost my height. I look down at her, place one hand on her waist. 'soft'

I look into her eyes, bring my other hand to her cheek, I see her eyes begin to dilate. I move closer until I can feel her breath on mine, I look down at her lips, her tongue peeks out to moisten them. I look up to her eyes and close the distance. She whimpers when our lips meet, I press harder into her and nibble on her lower lip. I move my hand from her cheek to her neck, I use my other to pull her closer. She places her hands on my chest as if to find balance. She tastes a little like coffee, cherries and something else I attribute to being uniquely Blair.

I pull back for air, we are both panting slightly, her eyes are still closed. She takes a shaky breath and opens her eyes, I smile at her and she blushes a little. I kiss her on the cheek, reach over to my desk to grab my car keys.

"Let's have lunch yeah," I say

Blair chuckles a little, grabs my hand and we walk out of my office towards the elevator.

*time skip*

It's Monday morning 

As soon as I arrived I asked my assistant, Simon, to call Anna and Shaq into my office.

"Good morning, please have a seat," I said gesturing to the chairs in front of my desk.

I handed them each file with their names; detailing their budget, team and guidelines.

"In your hand, you have the details for the project I want you to complete. It has the names of each of your team members and their current job titles, your assigned budget and operating guidelines. You are welcome to ask me questions, but I would like you to have possible solutions to any problems you encounter before you come to me. From today you have 45 days to draft a strategy on your project. I will have the final say at the end. Any questions?"

"Yes, will our team members be working on this project only or will it be divided between daily duties and the project?" asked Anna

"You and your team will come up with a schedule that works for all of you, regarding how you break up the work but daily tasks will not change for anyone," I reply

They both nod considering this new information, before standing up, saying their thank you's and walking out.

Once they leave I start my day.

Around lunchtime I get a distressed call from Carys, begging me to come home. I rush to my car and speed to the house, a million scenarios running through my head. It escapes my notice that my father isn't featured as a victim in any of them. I pull into the yard, tires squealing. I throw my door open and sprint into the house. I call out for my mother and sister, they call me into the receiving room.

I find my father sitting on the far left side of the room, balled up cloth to his face, with what I assume is ice. Cuts and blood, buttons missing from his shirt, tie askew. On the side closest to where I came in, is a young woman I don't recognise, standing on the right side. She looked to be Carys's age, 14. She had her arms folded over her fashionably torn crop top, her hair was layered, black skinny jeans tucked into military-style boots. 

She turned towards me and I immediately knew, this was my father's child. She may not have had my green eyes, which I got from my mother, but they were shaped similarly. She shared the same RBF as Carys, arched eyebrows like me and my father, the defining feature was the beauty spot, under her right eye, I had it, Carys had it, my father it, his father also had it.

I looked over to the right side of the room, my mother was fuming, I knew she wasn't mad he cheated, she was mad he had a child and lied about it. She kept looking over the to the mystery love-child like she wanted to pull her into her arms and squeeze her tight. Carys was standing next to the chaise my mother was sitting in, arms folded over her chest, glaring at my father.

I turned to the mystery love-child

"What's your name?"

"That's it? You're not going to ask who I am or what I'm doing here?" she replied

"Well no, there is no need. I have already deduced that the idiot over there," I said gesturing to my father, who glared back at me. "is your father and you either want an explanation or you need something. You also look like you would rather be elsewhere, so. What's your name?"

"My name is Knox," she said 

"Ok, well Knox how about we go to the kitchen and then you can help me understand the situation,"

"Why should I trust you?" she said looking very uncomfortable

"I am the oldest, also who else in this room would you rather talk to?" I asked with a shrug

She looked around the room, looked back at me, then nodded.

We left the receiving room and went to the kitchen.