C3 CHAPTER 3

I’m so happy today is Saturday and I don’t have to go to work. I couldn’t bear seeing Vivienne’s face on weekends. I’d tear it off. That woman is something else. But I refuse to ruin my weekend thinking of her and our snobby boss. Mr. Crawford is the most arrogant person I‘ve ever met. Every time I greet him at the office, he acts like I’m a ghost. He doesn’t say or ask me to do anything, and I don’t know if I should be happy about it.

I’m in a taxi on my way to visit Carson I’d planned to spend my weekend watching TV all day on the couch, but Carson asked me to see him. Maybe he wants to see how my first week at work went. I arrive and pay the taxi before walking to Carson’s mansion gate. The security guard lets me in the gate once he sees me through the cameras. I thank him before walking to the front door. I ring the bell and a, beautiful brunette opens the door.

“Hello, Eleanor,” Kassie says. She’s one of Carson’s housekeepers.

“Hello, Kassie, how are you doing today?” I ask and walk inside the house.

“I’m doing great, and how are you? I heard you got a job. I am so happy for you,” she says, smiling.

“I’m great, and thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Mr. Crawford is waiting for you in the garden.”

“Thank you,” I say, heading toward the garden.

I walk to the backyard where the garden is. There’s a fountain and white statues with lovely flowers planted between perfectly trimmed grasses. I find Carson reading a book on a bench and sneak up behind him to scare him.

“Hello, Carson” I say, close to his ear. He cringes in fear, but once he realizes it’s me, his face lights up.

“Oh, good God, you scared me, dear.”

“That was the plan,” I say, smiling.

“How’re you doing, dear?” he asks.

“I am doing great, and you, sir?”

“I’m doing wonderful. How was your first week at work?” he asks. I try my best to mask my face with the lie I’m about to tell.

“It was good. I can’t wait to get back next week,” I say with a fake smile. I hope he can’t see through it. I don’t want to tell Carson about how my first week really went. I don’t want him to scold his grandson because of me.

“Really? Jason isn’t making things difficult for you at the office?”

“No, he isn’t.” He only snubs me, so you have nothing to worry about. I make sure to leave that part out.

“That’s great. I was a little worried he might make things difficult for you in the office, but I’m glad I was wrong. I’m happy he’s not giving you a hard time,” he says, smiling.

I feel bad that I am lying to him, but it’s for the best. I don’t want to come between them just because Jason thinks I’m after their money and probably hates me.

“Me too. I’d like to ask something if you don’t mind,” I say, maintaining my fake smile as I think about work.

“Go ahead, dear.”

“Since he already has Vivienne as his secretary, why did you hire me?” This question has been on my mind all week. Since Vivienne is such a great secretary, why was I hired?

“I hired you because I believe Jason needs another secretary. The company is expanding; he and Vivienne can’t do all the work by themselves. They need an extra hand.”

“Oh.” What he says makes sense. But even though I was hired to reduce the workload for both of them, they don’t assign me anything work-related. But Carson doesn’t need to know that.

“Yes,” he says, smiling.

***

Monday comes faster than I wished. Last week I was excited to start working, but today I’m praying it goes well enough that witch Vivienne isn’t making me plan her death. I walk inside the building and greet Nora on my way to the elevator. While in the elevator, I can’t stop thinking about how Nora looked at me when I greeted her. Her eyes had this pitiful look in them. Was it for me? I don’t have anything going wrong in my life, so I wonder why she would pity me.

I step out of the elevator and quickly walk to the lunchroom to make coffee for Vivienne and Mr. Crawford. I didn’t stop to drop my bag first because if I’m a second late, Vivienne will make my day horrible, and it’s already bad enough when I’m not late. Once I’m done making coffee, I walk to Vivienne’s office to deliver hers and then to Mr. Crawford’s office to drop off his. I knock on the door and wait for him to say come in before stepping inside. He’s in a different position than he usually is, sitting on the edge of his desk with his arms crossed over his chest. He looks pissed off. Isn’t it too early to be pissed off?

“Good morning, sir,” I greet while placing his coffee beside him.

“Good morning, Eleanor,” he greets, smirking. Wasn’t he just frowning a minute ago? Is he bipolar or something? “How was your weekend?” he asks and takes a sip of his coffee. “Good?” he asks.

“Yes, It was good, sir. How was yours?” I ask because it seems he wants to make conversation. I’m happy he’s talking to me.

“Really? It was good? I’m not surprised because if yours was good, it’d explain why mine was so shitty,” he says, stepping dangerously close to me.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, sir,” I say, scared with the change in his behavior and how he continues coming closer to me. I start to take tiny steps back from him.

“You don’t understand, Eleanor. You don’t understand,” he says repeatedly as he continues coming closer. He only stops when my back hits the wall, scaring me more. What’s going on? Why is he behaving so strangely?

“Yes, sir, I don’t understand,” I say, my eyes facing the ground, uncomfortable with how close he is. I wish I could push him away or tell him to step back, but I’m not that foolish. He’s angry about something. All I can think to do is try to calm him down and leave this office in one piece.

“So, you’re telling me you didn’t tell my grandfather Vivienne’s been making things difficult for you at the office? That I haven’t assigned any work to you?” he asks, his eyes widening.

“I didn’t tell your grandfather anything about work last week,” I tell him honestly.

How did his grandfather find out? I might’ve had a fake smile on my face while talking about work, but I didn’t mention anything that happened, so how would he know?

“Really? So explain to me how my grandfather knew everything that happened last week. And let’s not forget you visited him on Saturday.”

“Yes, I visited your grandfather on Saturday. But I didn’t tell him about how things are at work.”

“You want me to believe that?”

This isn’t good. I knew something like this would happen if I told Carson about how things are at work. That’s why I didn’t. Even after I lied to him, he still found out. Carson must’ve scolded his grandson, and that’s what I was trying to prevent. I start playing with my fingers, trying to think of a way to prove my innocence.

“Will you stop playing with your fingers and look at me?” he shouts. He pulls my chin up to look at him.

We lock eyes. I wish I wasn’t attracted to him. His eyes are so beautiful, and I can see myself getting lost in them. They’re pulling me into their lava of caramel. They’re like pools of sweet brown candy.

“Come back to earth and stop ogling my eyes,” he says, snapping his fingers in front of my face. He caught me daydreaming as I was staring in his eyes. I feel my cheeks heat up; I’m sure they’re bright red right now.

“Sir, I don’t know how your grandfather found out, but I didn’t tell him,” I say, hoping he’d believe me. But instead, he says something worse.

“It makes sense now. This was your plan,” he says, stepping away from me.

“What do you mean?” I ask, releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding. His closeness was uncomfortable.

He continues to walk backward, away from me. He looks like he’s thinking about something. After several long minutes, he speaks.

“I should’ve known. You never planned to seduce me.”

“Excuse me?” I ask, confused with how this is related to what we were talking about.

“You want my grandfather to give you the company. Ha! You’ll have to kill me before you can do that. You’re fired,” he says, shocking me.

“What? I’m fired?” I ask, not believing his words.

“Yes, you’re fired.”

“Why? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I can’t have someone like you in my office threatening my position as CEO. You’re fired.”

“Mr. Crawford, please, you can’t fire me. I’m not here to threaten your position,” I plead.

“I don’t believe you. Leave my office before I call security to throw you out.”

I consider begging him to reconsider but decide against it. Mr. Crawford is never going to trust me. He’ll always believe I’m after his money. I’m on the verge of tears, but I hold it in until I reach the bathroom.

I’m dumbfounded. I lost my job after a week because my boss thinks I’m out to get him. I shouldn’t be surprised. It was either he make my life living hell or fire me. I should be happy he fired me, but it hurts losing my job like this. I’m back to square one. How am I going to pay off my college debts now?