According to my watch, I was dead on the money when I finally stepped onto the twenty-fourth floor. The secretary remembered my face and waved me back and I hastily rushed deeper into the office where Janice was waiting for me.
“Hi! I’m so sorry I’m late, I—”
She held her hand up and shook her head. “You’re right on time, Mallory. Good to see you again.”
I smiled and nodded in agreement, remembering the way her friendly demeanor had put me so at ease during the interview. Had I been speaking to anyone else, I doubted I would’ve landed the job. I was so nervous my palms were sweating.
“Ready to dive in?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I confirmed, glancing nervously at the frantic people who were shuffling around the office. “Is it always like this?”
Janice shook her head. “No. Today’s a crazy day for all of us, so just try to keep up and pay attention. I’m going to give you a brief walk-through before sending you out on your own.”
“On my own?” I asked, swallowing nervously at the sight of her curt nod. “Isn’t there some kind of training?”
“Nothing formal. It really isn’t required.”
It didn’t seem like I had much of a choice other than to take her word for it, so I changed my direction of questioning while I jogged to keep up with her.
“Will I be meeting the boss today?”
“He’s booked solid with meetings today. I’m sure you’ll see him at some point this week.”
I frowned and asked, “This week? Aren’t I supposed to be his assistant?”
“Officially? Yes. But that’s really just an umbrella term. In fact, I have to give this same spiel to the three other new assistants today.”
“He has four assistants?”
“No. Like I said, it’s an official title. Those of us who’ve been here for a while like to refer to you lot as swings. You’ll be working wherever you’re needed doing primarily menial tasks. You’ll report directly to me for your daily assignments, or Mr. Wolfe, assuming he’s available.”
Janice was still breezing through the office past employees who looked like they were a breath away from fainting. I caught myself swallowing nervously again, wondering if I’d be able to keep up with the fast-paced environment.
It was a small consolation that I wouldn’t be learning the ropes alone if what Janice said about three other new assistants was true. Though it did make me wonder what happened to the last four assistants if they were all being replaced at once.
“So where should I start?”
“Just learn the office and help anyone who needs it. The coffee maker is in the break room and the copier is just through here.”
She led me into a small room and gave me a quick rundown on how to use the copier before pointing to other things I might be asked to fetch.
“Everyone here knows the swings are new, so you shouldn’t need to know more than this for today. I’ll be around if you need anything.”
“I’ll do my best.”
She must have sensed my self-doubt because she gave me another warm smile and gently patted my shoulder before whispering, “You’ll be fine. Just roll with the punches and you’ll feel at home in no time.”
I nodded more to myself than to her and whispered, “Thank you.”
Someone shouted her name from down the hallway and Janice rolled her eyes. I frowned as we stepped back into the hall and waited as the man behind the voice stepped into view.
“My next appointment for the day,” Janice murmured. “He’ll be working with you. Fair warning—watch what you say around him. He’s Mr. Wolfe’s nephew.”
I could only hope that the relation didn’t mean the guy wasn’t willing to work. From the sound of it, all of the assistants would be continuously busy and I had no intention of pulling a slacker’s weight.
When the man came into sight, my blood ran cold.
He froze to the spot, his grin widening with disbelief as he shouted, “Mallory?!”
“You know each other?” Janice asked in surprise.
Jeremy laughed and nodded as he approached.
“Hell yeah. We graduated together,” he explained, his eyes gliding up and down my body. My skin crawled as a lazy smile tugged at his lips. “And we used to date.”
I’d hardly call his attempts to get into my pants dating, but I didn’t have it in me to point that out.
All I could do was watch in horror as my fresh start went up in flames.
2
Brian
Some might think that a man who built his own empire from the ground up would be happy with his life. Or his job, at the very least.