Guys!! 22 reviews Every single one of them made me so happy, I really loved reading them and hearing your thoughts. Some of you may not like this, some of you might, but I did say that 20+ reviews earn you an update, so here we are:
Disclaimer – Twilight belongs to SM, this plot and characters, mine, ok?
Last time…
"Yes, we're meeting for lunch on Thursday."
"What?! Just the two of you?"
"Yes, Mr Cullen is there a problem?"
"You are not going alone. Excuse me."
What the hell? He just walked right out of his office and I was left way more confused than I was fucking comfortable with.
Chapter 6 – Lunch
"Any wine for you Miss?"
"No thank you." I set my mouth into a grim line. Why the fuck did I even agree to this in the first place. Sitting here right now, I had no fucking idea.
The last two days had been a test of my self control. I was this close to setting my girl loose like Jaws on my CEO, who had been acting like an incompetent arse ever since I announced I was going to lunch alone with Aro Volturi. He fully understood that the purpose of said lunch was to discuss the finite details and implications of this acquisition project. The one thing that would have been oh so helpful was if said CEO was actually focused on this and not solely focused on the fact that he thought I wouldn't be able to handle a meeting alone with Aro, that I didn't know what he was capable of.
I knew someone like Aro would try and catch me out on small details, so in order to ensure that I gained the respect and trust that I deserved, I read up on every detail and statement surrounding the Quileute Corporate Group, which CGB was going to be bidding to take over. There was no motherfucking way that I was going to let some small little details get in the way of me and this project being a smooth success.
So far, even though it was still early days, the one thing I was becoming concerned about was Mr Cullen, despite the ridiculous effect his presence seemed to have on me when I let my guard down, I was quickly starting to feel disappointed again with my boss. I really did think that the fucker had changed, turned a new leaf or some shit, but it seems that when even the slightest thing upsets him, he flies off the handle like a kid not getting their own way. This of course only increased the frequency of me calling him "Junior" instead of Mr Cullen.
After he had stormed out of his office on Tuesday, and once I had got over my confusion, Angela had told me that he was nowhere to be found, and once I'd phoned down to Demetri, who said that Mr Cullen had "left the building rather quickly", I was fucking angry. He may think that because he has the title of CEO that he can do whatever the fuck he wants. Not on my life Cullen, not on me. It was now clear to me that the man I'd seen in the first few days, who seemed repentant and determined to achieve better, was just a ruse, a fucking mask so that he'd be able to get away with shit and fly under the radar. Yesterday, Wednesday, he didn't get in until nine o'clock, which is no fucking good to me. It meant he was three and a half hours behind schedule and he was barely awake when he walked into his office.
I could practically smell the alcohol on him, and fuck, if that was left over from the night before, then he must have drunk a hell of a lot. I told him he was disgusting which I hoped would spark some fire and quick wit but he practically shut me out of his office where he stayed for the remainder of the day, occasionally taking calls, until five o'clock, when he decided he'd fucking done enough. Arsehole. I knew I'd already explained to him that this position, this job, that he was so very lucky to have. We worked shitty hours, yes, but we also did a fucking amazing job.
This nine-to-five bollocks does no fly.
And this morning, he'd got in at another unreasonable time; so of course, I had nothing the fuck to say to him that didn't involve copious amounts of curse words and telephone throwing. Obviously I worked on until lunch today as per usual; I then set my computer to an "out of office" status before my business lunch. Because I had access to Mr Cullen's daily schedule, I was able to confirm with Angela that he had a client meeting regarding the project at lunch, something I knew that even if wouldn't miss. Client meetings in general are the worst fucking things in the world to organise because they think that the world revolves around them, making it ok for them to pretty much pick when and where they want to see you.
"No wine Isabella, I must say I'm surprised, or perhaps you prefer something stronger. It's near the end of the week, new job; you must be feeling the strain."
You have no fucking idea.
"I have enough passion and raw determination in me to get me through anything my work week throws at me. I've never been much of a drinker."
Yeah, apart from the almost illegal amounts of coffee you consume each week.
Well there is that.
"How interesting, I can't say I'm as disciplined as you there Isabella, I've always been partial to Italian wines, especially those produced in the area of Montepulciano, you know Tuscany, simply mouth watering. Have you ever been to Italy Miss Swan?"
Almost as shitty and unnecessary as small talk, and we haven't even ordered food. Great…
I shook my head, "No, unfortunately I can't say that I have, I feel like much of the world is a stranger to me, there's just so much." I tried to keep it light, and not come across as though I really didn't care what he was saying, or what fucking wine he was drinking, and that I just wanted to talk about the project.
"Of course, of course, it's such a shame that you couldn't have, well, experienced more before the accident, you must be under such restraints, especially with my job."
"Fortunately, Aro, I don't need vision to be able to see and understand everything that goes on around me. And I don't think you could find any of my colleagues anywhere, at any company, who would ever say that they thought be lack of ability to see, ever disadvantaged me in my job, which I am very good at."
Don not for one minute think that I won't hesitate to throw my glass of water at you if you bring up the "sight issue" again, it's pathetic, laughably so.
"Absolutely Isabella, I wasn't suggesting anything against that. So tell me, how have you found things this week?"
At this point, I am tempted to nickname him Snoopy, because that is exactly what he's doing, I don't see it as dangerous, just a kind of small obstacles, and I hate things getting in my way.
I sit back in my chair, and thank my lucky stars that at least it's quiet in here and I don't have to overhear other people's conversations, it totally puts me off, an that this chair has a very surprisingly straight back to it. Oddly comforting.
"Great, I mean it's fantastic to be back here, because for me, this is where it all started, but, I mean everyone has been so friendly and welcoming, but it's, as you can imagine, quite exhausting, I'm sure you understand, the first week is always filled with paperwork and - "
"Keeping the boss in line? I know Edward's reputation with women is somewhat, well, exotic, to say the least." I stared incredulously at him and I could hear the smirk on his face as he spoke.
This is weird, I mean, there's having inkling about something, and then there's down right knowing. And I really didn't appreciate him almost implying, that I should be wary of Mr Cullen, you know just in case he jumps me in my own office.
Now that would make getting up in the morning a little less painful, semi-or unclothed Junior…Mmmmm…
Clearly my I internal harlot didn't receive the memo that we weren't happy at all with Junior, not one bit.
"What do you mean?" Fucking hell, feign ignorance, feign ignorance.
"Isabella, you're a smart, and in this field, very experienced young woman, I think we both know that Edward here doesn't really know what he's doing." He spoke as if he were talking about a kid at school who was holding all the other children up because they were slow. With Junior, despite being a fucking dickwad, that wasn't the case.
"I'll agree with you on the former, but on the latter, I completely disagree."
Half a truth, he's fucking useless, technically he knows what to do, but he doesn't know the process. Also adding to the fact is that he lied about wanting to progress and then reverted back to arsehole status number 1.
"Oh really? How so?"
"Mr Volturi, with all due respect, this is the second time, in my presence alone, that you've expressed concern over the capabilities of Mr Cullen, that he has been assessed as capable of doing, by none other than his father, the very man who tutored you here. So by showing disrespect to your boss, you're also discrediting the value of Carlisle's judgement, which I would say to be a very unwise thing to do."
"So you don't think that there is any reason to be concerned about Mr Cullen's behaviour and unpredictable nature?"
Lie Bella, you need to lie.
"I'll repeat my earlier sentiment that I shared with you on Tuesday, excellence and hard work is the only kind of professional behaviour I have ever witnessed from any of the Cullens, I do not suspect Carlisle's son to be any different, evidence of which I have already witnessed this week."
This was so far from the truth, that if I wasn't in a business meeting, I would have found this shit funny as hell.
"Very well Isabella, from everything I have heard, I can think of no reason not to trust your judgement, which evidently has not led you far astray from your goals in the past. But one thing that has us concerned -"
What?
"I'm sorry, us?"
"My brothers, who are, by the way, very keen to meet you, we have discussed this at length, and even when the first mentioning's of Carlisle's retirement were announced, we had our doubts that young Mr Cullen, at such a young age, would be able to follow in the footsteps of his father."
"Sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but Carlisle was twenty-three when he first worked here, a year younger than Mr Cullen."
"With all due respect, Carlisle had his own father as a mentor and advisor, Edward has -"
"Me, as SNP, part of that is my job, to provide my colleagues and superiors with advice and any help they may need concerning the project, or another professional matter. The role that Carlisle's father provided for him, I can do for Mr Cullen."
"So you are here to tutor Edward?"
I slammed my hands down onto the table, firmly enough to let him know I was serious, but then maybe a little too loudly because the few voices that were surrounding the restaurant, had just disappeared.
"I adamantly refuse to continue any further conversation concerning your opinions on Mr Cullen; any direct issues should be taken with the man himself. I was under the impression that I was here to discuss project details and not indulge in idle gossip." I spat the words out fiercely, the rest of the office may be comfortable discussing other people' lives like that, but I was not one of them.
My opinion of this man had significantly altered since a few days ago, before I would have defended him in light of his reputation if others were to put his professionalism into question, but now, I'd throw him to the fucking lions, very hungry lions.
He cleared his throat; it must be time to order,
I hadn't had time to eat any breakfast this morning, so my stomach grumbled very loudly when I thought about what they wanted to eat.
"What can I get you to eat sir?"
"I'll have the fillet mignon, medium rare please." Cheese, I definitely wanted cheese.
"Excellent choice, and you Miss, what would you like."
"Isabella do you need me to tell you what's there, do you need it in Braille?"
I waved my hand at him; hopefully he would understand the gesture to be dismissive.
"A Braille menu will be about just as useful as one with bigger print, I never learnt to read it and I never fucking will." I turned my head to the side of the table where I expected the waiter to be; hopefully he'd be able to get me something nice. "I haven't read the menu and quite frankly I don't plan to, do you think you'd maybe be able to get me a cheddar cheese omelette with a little dark soy sauce, please?"
Clearly they didn't have fussy SNP eaters very often as he seemed to stutter for a few moments and then turn to Aro to get his order.
"I'll have the spinach and ricotta cannelloni please."
"Very good sir, your orders should be with you soon."
"So where were we my dear in our conversation?"
"I think I was telling you how fucking inappropriate it was that you speak about our employer in such a derogatory way and seem to be partaking in idle gossip at every given opportunity. And then I'm sure after you had expressed your concerns, you were about to discuss the project with me, since that's the reason we're here, isn't it?"
"Quite, yes, Isabella, tell me, how many "take-overs" have you been involved in yourself?"
"Well of course I'm familiar with the process, both basic and extensive, other than my most recent at JIG which was more of integration really, I've had two other short term projects at various establishments which have as I'm sure you know, been very successful. If you have any reservations about me on this project then I'd prefer, unlike you've done with Mr Cullen, that you address me with your concerns rather than the closest available listener."
"Absolutely Isabella and I apologise for the way I approached you about this. I just want you to understand that when it comes to these types of projects, I undoubtedly have more…experience here than you do, and after all, I will be leading the acquisition team, I will defer to you to confirm decisions, but I hope you know, that unofficially, at the end of the day, my word on this is final."
"Yes, but I'll remind you that I am programme director for this project, therefore officially, my word is final, and if I see any untoward behaviour or reckless decisions made, then I will not hesitate to use my authority, I hope you understand that I will not be intimidated, on any level, by anyone. Is that clear?"
"Crystal Isabella. Have you discussed our clients' details with Edward?"
"Mr Cullen has a lunch meeting today with our potential clients, where he will hopefully proceed to outline the available options and finances, this should run fairly smoothly."
"And what exactly is the offer."
Here goes Snoopy again…
"Oh Aro, you don't think I'd really discuss something that confidential at dinner, do you? If you have any queries regarding the finances, then I suggest you send your enquiries to the guys in Finance." I didn't give a flying fuck that I sounded condescending as hell, the question he asked was beyond ridiculous, I'd barely discussed it with my boss, so why the fuck did he think I'd talk to him about it? Sometimes these bastards fucking astound me…
"I am curious though, changing the subject slightly, as to why there is so much investor interest in that Quileute group. What exactly are they offering?"
"Now that, I have no idea about, I've spoken to a couple of people on the floor and they seem to think that there are a lot of frozen assets, which once CGB take over, will become active assets which the group can utilize, but that still doesn't quite account for the volume that we've seen, it's really extraordinary."
"I think that maybe once my team in acquisitions are able to get a higher level of information about the group then we'll have more of a lead on what we're dealing with."
"Certainly but in the mean time, I need to get everyone, on the principal team, for a meeting tomorrow morning. I want to brief everyone on exactly what I expect from them, you know sort out the wheat from the chaff, also, I noticed he's not on the list, but there's an IT guy I want to bring on board."
"Isn't it a bit late to be hiring, when the project is due to launch in only ten days?" Time means nothing to me; I can pretty much make anything happen.
"Not really, he's already an employee, so technically I'm not bringing in anyone new, but I think he could be a really valuable asset to the project, from what I've heard anyway; we can always fast track his department transfer paperwork, it really shouldn't be a problem." I say.
He laughed lightly, "Yes, I've heard all about your "fast track" methods, only four days in and already attacking HR."
This was about Tanya-I'm-a-whore-and-don't-I-know-it-Denali. Well I wouldn't be sorry for that, it was the right decision.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, you'll have to clarify for me."
"Oh Isabella, I think you do know exactly who I'm talking about, I believe Tanya Denali is, well was considered quite a credit to her department. And you've not been here a week and she's being shipped off to start somewhere else. Now why would that be?"
"The precise details of Miss Denali's transfer to the New York office, where she will in effect, be continuing with her current job, are confidential. I and several others members of staff on my floor had found much to be desired with her attitude and lack of respect for others. It reflects extremely poorly on the company if the employees in Human Resources are more of a hindrance than a help. Does that satisfy your curiosity Aro?" I say exasperated.
"Far from it, but it was an adequate enough response."
Fucker…
"Sometimes the lies people choose to believe are far more compelling than the truth, which often falls short in expectations. I apologise for not creating enough drama for you."
"Oh Isabella, I think, over the next few months, you're going to give us plenty of drama."
Yeah no shit.
"Not of the variety you are expecting, I'm sure."
"So, tell me, this young man you speak so highly of in IT, what's his name."
"Cheney, Ben Cheney. He actually worked at JIG at the same time s me for a couple of weeks, though unfortunately, then, I never had the pleasure of meeting him, I don't think I've ever meet a more personable IT technician."
"Well, now I feel all the more unprepared for not having met him."
"Well if you show up at the team meeting tomorrow morning, nine o'clock sharp, then you won't be missing out."
"Excellent, you'll also have the opportunity to meet my brothers; I assume you know of Marcus and Caius."
"How could I not?" I smiled in a plastic
I'd never had the pleasure of meeting those two although the things I'd heard so far had not given me an especially positive predisposition for our first meeting. The fact that Aro was Carlisle's favourite out of the Volturi brothers made me want to count blades of grass on a fucking football pitch instead of meeting two more fuckers.
Apparently Caius, who worked in the dealing room, had a very temperamental nature and flew off the handle at the smallest thing, so it was bets to be prepared for a perpetually scowling riled up man-kid, Marcus, to me sounded worse, he worked in legal and although people said he was unnaturally calm, which in this shitty line of work, is never that good, it's always best to have the tension running at a medium to high level. I knew I'd have to be careful around him, people that were calm and quiet, obviously didn't spend their time talking, were usually fuck-awesome listeners, in a freaky manipulative sort of way.
My internal insulting was soon after interrupted.
"Your cannelloni sir, and for you Miss, your…omelette. Would you like anything else, any side orders?"
"No thank, you" I just fucking prayed that they could make an omelette, well at least the plate was hot, if even that shit wasn't right, the place needed to be shut down, pronto.
-
It was quite good I guess, my omelette, but I'm certain that I could make a better one, which was especially surprising seeing as I'm blind and everything. I was lucky that Aro kept the conversation to a minimum while we were eating, thank God. I guess I didn't quite know what to say to him, I was quite happy to talk to him about the project, but the only thing he seemed to be really after was gossip. The spreading of office gossip had never been something that I was willing to partake in. If people wanted you to know shit about them, then they would fucking tell you, the idea of an invasion of privacy pissed me off to no end.
When I first lost my parents, and also my sight, privacy was something that it seemed, was automatically taken away from me. People seemed to think that because of all this, I would never want to be left alone, I told them they were fucking wrong, but did they fucking listen? Oh hell no. I felt like I'd lost most elements of control in my life because not only did I now depend on a dog but all these other people, who I didn't know, would traipse me around when all I ever fucking really wanted was to be left the fuck alone and be allowed to wallow. People never thought it was good to wallow for any reasonable amount of time, at the time, I felt I fucking needed it.
"Incoming call from Angela Weber, accept?"
Not fucking now! I'd been very specific today with Angela that I not be interrupted during this. I knew Mr Cullen might at some point ask Angela where I was, and I'd specifically told her not to tell him where I'd be, the last thing I fucking wanted was for him to show up here, and make a fucking scene.
"What was that?" Apparently Snoopy here was out of the loop on something, quelle surprise! I guess it would be fucking weird if someone's blackberry actually started talking.
"It's my EPA, electronic personal assistant, instead of having a person, I have everything on my blackberry, it helps, you know, with the being blind thing."
"Oh, right."
"Accept call Renee." I was met with the frantic breathing of the PA Angel, Angela, and I hoped for Junior's sake, that he has not been unnecessarily stressing her out. Fucking moron if he has.
"Miss Swan, um- Bella, oh God I am so, so sorry to be calling you but you said only in an emergency,"
"Is it my dog? Sheila, is she ok?" I'd left my girl with Angela because even though she was a guide dog, restaurants were horrible to have to sit through for her, she was a big girl and she'd barely have any room. I'd had Jacob escort me into the restaurant and he was coming to pick me up later.
"No, it's something else, something bad, Sheila's ok, but Bella, oh shit because-I mean- you said- and now, I really think, qualifies as that, you know an emergency." Poor thing was hardly making any sense, and was very clearly stressed out and worried, and something in my gut told me that Junior was behind all the fuss, there'll be pain, fuck that, after this week, there will be blood.
"What's the problem Angela, slow down a sec, whatever it is, it's ok; I'm sure you did the right thing."
"Mr Cullen stormed out of his three o'clock meeting with the Quileute group representative when he asked me where you were, he said he wanted you to be present for something. I told him you were unavailable, and he's been demanding for the last fifteen minutes to know where you are. I haven't let him in your office, I'm sorry I don't know what to do, I think he left, I rung down to D-Dem-Demetri and he said he'd gone somewhere." Poor thing sounded on the verge of tears.
Fuck. I knew. I just knew there would be a fuck up today, and that it wouldn't be my fault. Junior had really stooped low to try and intimidate his PA, which sounded like it had fucking worked because she was the one who had sounded fucking scared on the phone. Why he had to make such a big deal out of this I did not know. I mean, I would understand, if the man I was meeting was a serial rapist, then there'd be some cause for fucking concern, but Aro wasn't. He was an employee at CGB and also a long standing colleague of Papa Cullen.
He must have thought that he'd managed to work his way into my good graces in the first two days and didn't want to tarnish that, by having me talk to someone who clearly stuck his nose in constantly where it wasn't wanted. Fucking prick.
He obviously didn't think I could handle myself; well Junior had another thing coming. I've handled larger bastards with much bigger egos before, and they soon started singing the Swan theme tune, I'd have him humming in no time. I would not let someone like him ruin my practically flawless track record and reputation. I'd worked through some tough shit and had run my own butt into the ground with how hard I had worked; one man wasn't going to ruin this. No sir.
And now I'd have to handle the mess he'd made.
"Ok, ok, you did the right thing, you hear me, and you did just fine, just breathe. Where is the rep now?"
She sniffed, "I told them to wait a few minutes because I was sure Mr Cullen would come back, but they seemed really annoyed so I tried to arrange another meeting but they wouldn't, I felt so embarrassed."
"Don't worry, I would too, hell I do. Do you have any idea where Mr Cullen is now?" Please don't say he's coming here, please not here.
"I don't know, but he was pacing about the hall, muttering something about calling Jacob, getting Jacob Black. I don't know what that means, but I presume he needs him for something. I'm sorry."
H.o.l.y.J.e.s.u.s.
He's coming. He's called Jacob to take him to where he dropped me off.
"Don't worry Angela, I know where he is, it's fine, and don't apologise, you did exactly the right thing calling me. I think you should go home, today's probably felt fucking horrible for you, just come back tomorrow and if I need anything I'll let you know."
"Thank you Bella, but what about Mr Cullen?"
"All he needs in the next twelve hours is a verbal bollocking, which I will be very glad to provide him with. You head on home now Angela, try and enjoy the rest of your afternoon."
"Bye Bella."
"Disconnect call Renee, thank you."
I breathed a sigh of exhaustion, I didn't think I had the energy to deal with this right now, I felt the omelette in my stomach and felt a little ill. This is not what I need right now. Breathe, Bella, breathe, this was just another thing that needed sorting the fuck out. The fuck up with the client could fuck up the timing for everything, if they weren't satisfied with the deal they were getting then it would through much of my planning and initial ideas out the field.
Why is so much fuckery going on?
I rationalized that I may have killed or tortured people in a past life, and now I was getting my fucking comeuppance. Actually that sounded a lot like me now…
Speaking of now, I'd completely forgotten that Aro had actually heard the whole thing, and was still here.
Shit, twat, fuck.
"Mr Volturi I, that was unprofessional, it was an urgent call and I felt that it couldn't wait, I apologise."
"No worries, I completely understand." Yeah I bet you do, nice little bit of info to file away for later to question me about. Perfect, fucking great.
"Oh, sorry, and while you were taking your call, a note arrived from the maitre d', at the front of house, shall I read it?"
"Yeah well I'm not fucking going to, so sure, go ahead."
"There is a Mr Cullen, waiting for Miss Isabella Swan at the reception to the restaurant. The gentleman is requesting permission to come over."
He'll be requesting permission for me to stop scratching his eyes out soon.
I smiled as cordially as possible and spoke as calmly as I could "Well, I think that's my cue to leave then. Today was a pleasure Aro and I look forward to discussing the project with you and your brothers at the meeting tomorrow. Please excuse me, have the bill sent over to Angela on expenses."
"Of course, a pleasure Miss Swan." I held up my hand for the waiter, and he came over quickly and escorted me to the front of the restaurant. I really hoped I was given a minute to cool down a little before Junior appeared.
Apparently not…
"I told you not to meet with Aro, and I know you've had some kind of problem with me this week, but I never thought you'd just ignore what I said and go!" He was seething.
He grabbed a hold of my arm hard and dragged me, I presume to a quieter corner of the reception and turned me round to face him. Right there is where I lost it.
"Listen, you take you hand off me right now, what the fuck are you doing?!" I pronounced each syllable slowly and clearly to show just how fucking angry I was. He still hadn't let go of my arm.
"The right thing Bella, you don't know anything about this." With my free hand I slapped him hard, real hard across the face and that made him let go. He flinched back and hit some kind of wall.
"I'm so-sorry; I didn't mean to touch you, I – Bella, sweetheart, I didn't mean it." He tried to cradle my very sore wrist but I pulled away.
"Leave me the fuck alone, you think I'm not competent, I get that, but you have no fucking right to ever treat me like this. Ever!"
The only thing I wanted to do right now was run, run away and cry. The first time in eight years I'd be shedding a tear and it was because of Edward fucking Cullen.
Please don't hate me...please?
25+ reviews and you get a chapter before Wednesday, maybe.
I feel this had to happen; it gives you several clues to Edward and bit of Aro+Bella show down.
Leave me love…
Aurora