Chapter 26
How's work going? Are you being bothered? Do you have a minute to talk?
Nyla smiled at the text messages, one right after the other and stopped typing on her laptop to answer them. No, surprisingly enough. And yes, I can talk to you for a minute. What's on your mind?
A full minute passed by before the next text message came through. Look up.
When Nyla did, confused amber eyes saw none other than Roman Reigns standing in her doorway. What the HELL? She looked down at her phone and then back up at him again, her brain trying to compute what was going on. Even though it was obvious, she was having a hard time believing Roman was the person she'd been texting with over Thanksgiving break. How did he get her phone number? Was it Dean? Was it Macaria? No, Macaria didn't know Roman, but she had told Dean and if Dean went to Roman…Nyla slowly set her phone down, not taking her eyes away from the huge Samoan. Christ, he looked so good in a black leather jacket, black shirt and jeans with his long black hair pulled back in a bun at the nape of his neck.
Her attire was soft grey pants with a red and grey striped long-sleeved buttoned up blouse, red pumps on her feet. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a neat bun, not a hair out of place and minimal makeup adorned her face. To Roman, Nyla Miller was the most beautiful woman on planet earth, but her eyes were dead, no light in them. No life. He was about to change all of that, if she let him. This would take a great deal of trust on her part, so Roman would not be surprised if she told him to go to hell at first. They hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms prior to his emergency hernia surgery and, at the time, he had no idea what the Authority was doing to her.
Roman knew the truth now.
"You? I've been talking to…you?" Nyla wrapped her arms around herself, standing from her chair, but kept the desk between them. "Who told you what was going on?"
"Dean." There was no reason to lie to her. "Macaria told him everything, Nyla." His voice was low and soft, a deep rumble coming from his chest. "And I meant what I said, I want to help you…"
"How? How are you going to help me? The Authority will be gunning for you now that you're back and try to put you on the shelf again, Roman." Nyla pointed out the obvious, hating how unfazed he was by those words. He wasn't bothered by that fact at all. "Nobody can help me…"
The amount of sadness in her voice broke his heart. She truly felt as if there was no hope in the world, no way out of this predicament with the Authority. "Yes I can, and I will, but you have to trust me first." Roman took a step toward her desk, then another and stopped, seeing a slight fear enter her eyes. "I'm not gonna hurt you either, Nyla, not the way that piece of shit has…"
Along with the fear came tears and Nyla couldn't stop a few from rolling down her cheeks. "I-I can't…" She whispered out, planting her hands on the desk in front of her and shuddered at all the horrific memories flowing through her. The most recent being raped by Seth in front of Hunter. "I-I'm too deep into this now and I can't trust anyone…"
Roman expected and anticipated this, not surprised and held his hands up to show he meant no harm. "You trust Macaria. And you trust Dean…"
"No, I don't trust Dean." Nyla corrected him, wanting to make it clear Macaria was the only one she trusted and that was due to the fact the woman didn't work for the WWE.
"Okay fine, but you still trust SOMEONE. Well, Macaria trusts Dean and Dean trusts me, which is why he told me everything that's been going on with those assholes." Roman tried to keep his voice soft, not wanting to scare her, but anger laced his tone at the mention of the Authority. "You can trust me, Nyla…"
Suddenly, a surge of anger and defiance rushed through her as her amber eyes turned to hard gold. "Oh really? I'm supposed to trust a man who thinks I'm nothing more than a cunt?" Roman was taken aback by her attitude and Nyla didn't care.
"I never said that! I never called you that!"
"Not to my face, no. But you still thought of me like that." Nyla retorted, folding her arms tightly across her chest. "Don't bother denying it, Roman. You hate me for all the shitty storylines and scripts I've written for you, even if they were forced."
She would not make this easy on him. Roman scrubbed a hand down his face, not recalling ever thinking of Nyla that way. Granted, he was pissed at her for the ridiculous storylines that kept him away from Seth Rollins, but he never actually hated her. He thought she was a fool to side with the Authority. There was never any real hatred from him though and he'd never called her anything more than a bitch, only when he got REALLY irate.
"I don't help people out I hate, Nyla. I don't go out of my way for people I hate. I don't text people I hate either." Roman pointed out, taking another step toward the desk, which was the ONLY thing separating them. "I don't waste my time and effort on people I hate. You are not in my 'hate' category."
"I don't need to be rescued like some kind of damsel in distress!" Nyla actually backed up to put more space between them and hoped Roman stayed where he was. "And you SHOULD hate me because I'm a weakling! I'm weak when it comes to the Authority and I've allowed them to have complete control over me…I-I've allowed their golden boy to…do things to me and I haven't fought any of it…" Coerced into sex was still considered rape since she did not want anything to do with Seth or his dick.
Roman shook his head, not agreeing with anything she said. "No. You're not weak. You have a little girl to think about and your parents. You've been doing all of this, enduring the pain and being controlled to keep them safe. You aren't weak, Nyla. You're brave. And I've figured out a way to protect you and your family, but you have to trust me."
"Roman…"
"You don't trust me right now, I get that. But you WILL trust me in time…"
The amount of certainty in his voice sent a shiver down her spine. "How can you be so sure?"
He smiled, tempted to reach across the desk to caress her cheek, but Roman also liked his balls where they were. "I just am. And I know when push comes to shove, you will make the right decision and let me help you."
"Roman, if you knew what they've done to me…" Nyla didn't tell Macaria everything, only tidbits about what she'd gone through with the Authority and Seth Rollins. If he knew, he wouldn't want to help her, that much she was certain.
Nyla couldn't have been more wrong. "I don't care what they've done to you. What I care about is making sure it NEVER happens to you again and you're safe and protected. Your daughter and family too." Roman could see the skepticism in her eyes and wanted to go to her, but now wasn't the time or place. "You talked to me through text for almost a week and you didn't even know who I was. But you still talked to me."
Her eyes lowered from him, unable to deny that fact. "I didn't know it was you…" She mumbled, folding her hands in front of her and twisted them gently, eyebrows furrowed.
"So if you knew it was me, you wouldn't text me?"
Nyla felt a headache coming on, tossing her hands in the air. "I don't know! You're asking me too many questions! Just stop!" She gripped her head and pulled open the drawer to her desk, retrieving and taking some much-needed aspirin. "I can't talk about this right now. I have to get back to work…"
"I'm gonna keep texting you…and if you need my help, I'll be there for you." Roman backed up toward the door, knowing he'd taken up a great deal of her time. "Just letting you know, Seth will probably come for you tonight. Stephanie fired Dean's journalist." That made her head snap up, fear-filled amber eyes locked on deep brown. "And I think she's offering Macaria a job here…" Not without some kind of consequence, he was sure of that much. Stephanie NEVER did something out of the kindness of her heart.
"Thank you…for warning me." Nyla murmured quietly, taking her seat again and opened her laptop, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth for a minute. "Roman."
He stopped, the door cracked open and looked back at her. "Yeah?"
"Your return feud will be against The Big Show. I know that's not what you want to hear, but…I wanted to warn you ahead of time…" Nyla felt she owed him that warning since he'd told her about Seth's distracting journalist being fired. He would more than likely focus his time and effort on her again, which she wasn't looking forward to.
Heaving a sigh, Roman would not snap at her and mumbled a quick 'thanks' on his way out the door.
"Have a seat, Macaria." Stephanie requested, gesturing to the chair across from her desk and sat down after Macaria did, folding her hands on top of it. "So, I did a little background check on you, just to verify a few things and make sure you're a legitimate photographer."
"Technically, I'm not because I don't have my own studio. I was interning for Miss Landsbury and she was paying me for it…once the article was finished." Macaria explained, correcting Stephanie in the process because she didn't want any nonsense popping up at a later date.
Stephanie nodded, appreciating her honesty. "Well, I've also looked at some of your work, mostly from college, and I have to say you really do have a keen eye for this position." Seth hadn't been joking when he recommended Stephanie to hire her into their photography department in WWE. "Your attention to detail has been noticed too."
"Thank you, Miss McMahon."
"Please, call me Stephanie. There's no reason to be formal here." Stephanie smiled genuinely for the moment and was able to be cordial for the time being.
"All right, Stephanie…" Macaria tested it out, sounding unsure and cracked a hesitant smile back at the woman. "So, why do you want to hire someone that doesn't have a lot of experience and just graduated from college not long ago?"
Stephanie leaned back in her chair. It was a fair question, she supposed, but she also had to be careful what she said to Macaria. "Because I recognize talent when I see it, Macaria. And you have talent, there's no doubt about that. I can't imagine what hell you must've gone through working for Miss Landsbury, but I assure you, the WWE has top-notch benefits, insurance and pay for photography. You are paid an X amount, based on your work and how often you produce results." In a nutshell, she would be paid for every picture she snapped and the company accepted, which made it commission. "Now then, not only do you get a commission for your work, but you also get paid a salary, no matter what. So every hour you work for us, you're paid for it up until 40 hours a week. Any overtime is not paid with salary, but as long as your work is exceptional, the commission will more than cover that."
"Okay, do you mind me asking what the salary and commission is?"
This job was too good to be true and Macaria blinked at the amounts flying out of Stephanie's mouth. That was…very impressive, to say the least. She would definitely be able to get out of her shabby apartment and someplace safer, for sure. Hell, Macaria would never have to worry about being in a financial crisis again.
"Wow…"
Stephanie knew money talked and, with a young woman like Macaria, who was just starting out her photography career, out of college, this was an incredible opportunity. "Now, I'm going to be honest with you, Macaria. The reason I'm offering this position to you is that one of our photographers was recently caught in a DUI. Drinking and driving, while home on his days off. We don't tolerate or condone that type of behavior and have a zero tolerance policy. The handbook I will give you will explain all of that. However, there is another problem I see with hiring you…" Here was where things would get a little hairy, but…being the boss wasn't easy.
"Okay…"
"Now, while there are individuals in the company that are together in relationships and some are married, it's still frowned upon to date within the company. My father doesn't like it." A little white lie wouldn't hurt. "I know you and Dean Ambrose are together…"
"We're not…"
"You don't have to lie to me, Macaria. Aya knew about the two of you and she informed me of the pictures you have of her and Seth you were holding over her head." Stephanie held her hand up before Macaria could protest. "It's fine. I've done some blackmail in my time and you were doing it to survive. Completely understandable…however, if you take this job, I'm going to need those photos. They need to be destroyed."
Macaria didn't know how to feel about that and just nodded, rubbing her hands together nervously. "Dean and I aren't together in a relationship, we're just having fun…" Those were his words, just having fun and hanging out.
"Are you having sex?"
That was a very personal question to ask in a job interview and Macaria's cheeks reddened, her eyes lowering to her lap. "Yeah…"
"Then you're together. Even if it's just for fun, you're still together. If you want to succeed in this company, you have to put your career first and leave the boys behind. Sleeping with a coworker can cause a lot of problems, especially if you two don't work out. You will be taking photos of all the Superstars and Divas within the company, you understand. If you have any negative feelings towards the Superstars and Divas you're photographing, it won't look good for the company or your career, in general." Stephanie explained, using a kind gentle voice and crossed one leg over the other, leaning back in her chair. "Believe me, when I first got together with my husband, we went through HELL on earth with my father. He did NOT want me dating a wrestler at all. He even threatened Hunter a few times with his career and Hunter actually broke up with me, but we found our way back to each other. But it was a very LONG process and he put his career first before me. I didn't understand at the time, I was hurt, but now that I'm the boss, I understand why he did it and don't fault him for it. Maybe just cool it with Ambrose for a little while, just until you're here for more than a minute, established, and see what happens. I just don't want you to take this job BECAUSE of him, Macaria. You have a probation period of six months here before your benefits and insurance kicks in."
As much as she hated admitting it, Stephanie made a lot of sense and Macaria honestly didn't know what the future held for her and Dean. She didn't know how he felt about her. She was slowly falling for him, but they were nowhere near the L word level. Would she really give up this once in a lifetime opportunity in order to be with a man she had an uncertain future with?
"So, if I stay with Dean and keep having fun with him, you're not going to hire me, are you?"
"Unfortunately, no. I want to hire someone who is 100% committed to this job because it's very vigorous and you will be busy. I don't need my new employee being distracted because of a fellow Superstar."
At least she was honest. "So if I sign with WWE, and I wait until I'm established and we 'find our way back each other' like you did with your husband, I won't be fired?" Macaria wanted all the cards laid out on the table.
Stephanie smiled, shaking her head and had to wonder what this woman saw in Dean Ambrose in the first place. The man looked like a gutter rat. "No. I won't fire you, but you have to wait at least until after your probation period is over before you pursue anything with him. That's 180 days. And if you want, take the week to consider my offer and let me know next week at Raw. That'll give me time to draw up the contract and everything."
Macaria left Stephanie's office, trying to wrap her mind around this offer/ultimatum and had no idea what to do.
