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Chapter 56

Monday morning Jason was dressed and in the kitchen when Cody arrived. Despite having his own business to run the former guard insisted on going with Elizabeth this morning to the gallery. He wanted to meet her assistant as well as supervise his crew while they installed the new security system.

"She'll be right down." Jason handed his friend a coffee mug.

"You ready to play CEO." Cody smirked.

"I just have to sit there and look pretty. Diane does most of the real work." That wasn't true, but Jason did not hesitate to let others know how hard his COO worked. He had been pleased to not hear any reports that she and Francis had killed one another.

"Speaking of looking pretty, is this the new work uniform?" Cody asked sipping the brew.

Jason was in a suit sans tie. "Yeah, the whole office is business casual." He wasn't going to make anyone else wear a tie either. "I'm thinking of instituting casual Fridays." That way he could wear jeans once a week.

"I already did that at the firm." Cody also hated ties. Only when meeting with clients did they have to be worn.

They both turned as they heard Elizabeth coming. "Good morning." She smiled at both guys. She was excited about going to the gallery. "My assistant is meeting me there?" Elizabeth was only slightly nervous about meeting the young woman.

"Yup." Jason looked at the clock. "I have to go. I have an early meeting with Diane and Francis." He gave Ella a quick kiss. "Don't forget we are meeting for lunch."

"I won't." She was looking forward to it. "Ready?" She asked Cody.

"Let's go." He would follow her over in her car. Jason had told him yesterday that this would be Elizabeth's first time driving alone.

She got behind the wheel of the Porsche and tried to relax. Last night she and Jason had talked about her driving today. She wanted her first solo drive to be without him present. She felt it was important to do it like that. Jason had totally agreed.

Pulling out of the garage Cody followed her when she passed his car. It was quick drive to the gallery and she was only shaking slightly. 'Take that Kiefer.' She thought to herself. Each time she drove it would get easier. Hopefully next week she would be able to go out on the scooter. As hard as she was shaking when she got in the car she would never have been able to balance the lightweight bike.

"Nice building." Cody said coming up behind her.

"Wait until you see inside." She already had her keys in her hand ready to open the door.

"Ms. Webber?"

"Yes." Elizabeth turned and saw a young woman about her age. She was also a brunette, although her hair was a darker brown. She was taller and had a bright smile on her face. Elizabeth was aware that Cody was taking all this in.

"I'm Barbara Jean Jones, your new assistant." The young woman held out her hand.

"Hi, Jason told me all about you. Please call me Elizabeth or Liz." Elizabeth said smiling.

"Thanks, you can call me BJ." The other woman replied.

"BJ it is. This is Cody Paul. He owns the security firm that is putting in the system today." Elizabeth made introductions. She wasn't surprised when Cody nodded instead of speaking when they shook hands.

Cody had seen the young woman approach them. Before making her presence known he had watched her take in the building and surrounding area. She had also given him a long look. He had spent the better part of his life as a soldier. First in the Marines and then in the mob. Everything about BJ's approach indicated she had extensive training of her own. Maybe Elizabeth's assistant could do more than type. If Elizabeth wasn't aware of that when she found out she was going to rip Jason a new one. Cody grinned. He hoped to hell he was there when it happened.

"I figured that the first few weeks we would work out a routine, scout out some new talent, and get the gallery up and running." Elizabeth explained to BJ.

"Sounds good. Mr. Morgan also said that you painted as well." That would be great. If Elizabeth spent a majority of her time upstairs then that would be less people she interacted with.

"I do. I hope to do some painting, but I won't leave you to do all the work." Elizabeth assured the other woman.

"I don't mind." BJ really didn't. She had no problem running the gallery.

"I'm thinking that I'll hire someone to work the floor and we can take turns managing. On the days you're here then I can paint." Elizabeth felt that was fair.

"I'll be here every day that you are." BJ said smiling. "Mr. Morgan wants it that way since you don't know the language well."

Cody just stood back and watched the interaction. He noted that BJ had subtly maneuvered Elizabeth to the part of the room that couldn't be seen from the windows. She also put herself between the door and Elizabeth. To the casual observer it wouldn't look like anything, but someone who was into security would pick up on what she had done. The woman was young but very good. He was going to be running her as soon as he got to his office tomorrow.

"Let me give you a tour and tell you what I envision." Elizabeth started for the stairs. "Cody are you coming?" She asked her friend.

"I'll wait for the crew." He told her. As BJ passed she looked at him and smirked. Clearly she knew who he was. That was fine, if she was aware of his training then she would know that he would be watching until she proved herself.


Jason walked into the lobby of the building where Vento was headquartered. It was a striking glass structure that was one of the tallest in the city and he owned it. His company had their offices on five floors in the middle of the tower. The top would be too obvious and the bottom made them too vulnerable.

He stopped at security and showed his ID. At the guard station before you got to the elevators he had to feed the small plastic card into a scanner and have a body wand waved over him. It beeped as it passed over his gun but the guard didn't stop. They already knew he would be armed. Cleared Jason boarded the elevator and headed up.

"Mr. Morgan." He was greeted as he stepped off the box by a receptionist. No one without an appointment got past this point. If the polite no didn't make them leave then the gun the receptionist had under her desk would get her point across. Jason took security seriously.

"Ms. Blake." Jason nodded as she buzzed him in. He had been here briefly last week and before that came to Vento at least once a year so most employees knew him on sight. He also knew the name of everyone who worked at the headquarters.

"Mr. Morgan." The young man who was standing just outside the conference room greeted him.

"Hello Felix. Are we all set for this morning?" It was just a casual meeting among the three top executives.

"The board room is all set." Felix grinned at his boss. He had been working for Jason as his assistant since Vento opened. He was hoping that would continue now that Jason was here full time.

"Great. Felix, don't call me Mr. Morgan." Jason told his assistant.

"Yes sir." Felix grinned. First no ties and now just Jason. Having his boss here was going to be interesting. "Mrs. Miller and Mr. Corelli will be here shortly."

"Mrs. Miller?" Jason asked as he moved into cool room and fixed another cup of coffee.

"Diane eloped last week. We are all wondering who managed to pin her down." Felix worked closely with Diane and liked her very much. He was still getting to know Mr. Corelli, but Gia said he was nice.

"Looks like I came at just the right time. Things are getting interesting." Jason couldn't imagine Diane married. "I'll be in my office after the meeting. I'm having lunch with my girlfriend so I don't know how long I'll be out. No matter what your day ends at five." Jason wouldn't ask him to stay because he was having a long lunch.

"I don't mind staying." Felix was well paid so the occasional overtime was not an issue. Besides the night guard was a hottie and they'd been flirting.

"So noted, but not today." Jason liked his assistant. Felix was organized, smart and could think for himself when the situation called for it. Jason liked to promote from within he'd have to see if there was another role for Felix to fill. If he was interested.

"Jason." Francis grinned as he stepped into the room.

"Francis." Jason looked at his friend. There was something different about him.

"Jason." Diane was smiling as she walked into the room followed by her assistant Ellie Trout. The younger woman would be staying to take notes.

"Mrs. Miller." Jason grinned. "I hear congratulations are in order."

"Thank you." Diane knew the next few minutes would be telling.

"Who is the lucky guy?" Jason didn't expect it to be anyone he knew.

"That would be me." Francis said laughing at the shocked look on Jason's face. Ellie and Felix were also stunned. Proving he was smart Felix grabbed Ellie's arm and pulled the redheaded woman from the room.

"You married each other. Did you kill someone?" Jason asked Francis. He couldn't think of any other reason they would be married. They didn't even know each other.

Francis laughed out loud. That was a Jason answer if ever he heard one. "No. Diane and I have been seeing each other for the last three years. We decided to make it legal."

"You've known each other for three years?" Jason hadn't seen that one coming. Of course it did explain why Francis never seemed to be seeing anyone. They all figured he had a lady stashed somewhere, it just didn't occur to Jason she was in Siena.

"Yes. It was an accidental meeting that took on a life of its own." Diane smiled at her husband. "Will this be a problem?" There was no policy about fraternization but executives marrying might not be something Jason wanted.

"Keep your clothes on in public spaces and I will be fine. If you can handle it then so can I." Jason shrugged. "I do ask that you keep any personal problems you have out of the office." He honestly didn't care that his executives has married one another, he was just enjoying the fact that Francis was clearly happy.

"We already agreed to that with one another." Francis told his friend.

"Good. Congratulations." He said again before moving on to business. He'd get more details on them knowing each other later. "So how is the integration of Deception going?" Jason asked them.

Diane opened the door and told Ellie to come in. "Fine, we rolled the French cosmetics company into it. Since Deception is the more widely known brand we decided to keep that name."

"Okay." Jason opened his file and looked over the numbers. Both companies had strong profit bases. "Dominique Baldwin is staying on as head of North American distribution. So I need someone to run Deception from here. I was thinking of taking it on myself."

"You already oversee shipping." Diane pointed out. She ran the day to day of all branches of Vento, but shipping was Jason's personal baby. "I think that you should stay there. We can promote someone from within."

"Who do you see?" Jason leaned back and asked his COO. Francis wouldn't really contribute to this discussion.

"The two obvious choices are Gia Campbell and Felix Dubois. Both have been running things in both your absences. I know that the two of you review things before having your assistants implement them. However there are everyday decisions that need to be made and both have shown themselves capable."

"Set up interviews. I'd hate to lose Felix especially while I'm learning how things work here." Jason had no intention of changing how the office worked. Diane had a system in place that clearly worked. There had been almost no turn over in the time he owned the company. People didn't stay if they were miserable.

"They are both in today, so I can speak to them before the day is over." Diane turned to Ellie. "Call them both when we get back to the office." Her assistant was also good but Diane had something else in mind for her. "About the retail outlets we have purchased. We need a new head buyer."

"Recommendations?" Jason looked at Diane.

"Ellie." For the second time that morning Diane's assistant looked stunned. "You'd need to move to Paris."

"We would cover relocation." Francis told her.

"We are talking about replacing possibly two of our three executive assistants at once. Is that wise?" Jason looked at both Diane and Francis.

"No one would leave until replacements are trained. I am handling the running of Deception at the moment. I can continue to do so until either Gia or Felix are ready to take over. If you need Felix we can remove his name as a candidate for promotion. As for Ellie I already have someone who comes in when she is on vacation. I can just promote her." Diane had all her ducks in a row. She wouldn't have made the suggestions if she hadn't given it a lot of thought. Jason's comments weren't taken personally, Diane knew this was how he was.

"Ellie?" Jason looked at the young woman. He knew her resume. She'd actually come from the fashion industry where she worked as an assistant to a designer. She left when the woman went to rehab for the fifth time. She also had a degree in international business. "Would this be something that interests you?"

"Yes." Ellie would love it.

"Alright then." Jason nodded and just like that it was done.

"We'll start getting everything ready for you to take over." Diane said to the younger woman.

"Thank you." One year working for Vento and she was being given a division to run.

"Okay Francis, your turn." Jason turned to his friend. Once the meeting was over they would have a long talk about keeping secrets. He was going to bust his friend's balls. But not nearly as much as Johnny would.


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