Doukakis's Apprentice

The atmosphere changed from one of carnival to one of consternation.

Pinned by that intense, dark stare Polly felt his disapproval slam into her with lethal force.

‘My office,’ he growled. ‘Right now.’

CHAPTER THREE

‘TAKE my calls, Janey.’ Dropping his phone onto his PA’s desk, Damon strode into his office with Polly following close behind.

The moment he heard the door close, he turned, intending to launch a blistering attack on the sloppy, unprofessional attitude of her staff, but the sight of her swaying in the centre of his enormous office killed the words before they left his mouth.

He’d never seen anyone more miserable or more ex hausted.

Whatever else was going on, he could see Polly Prince had had one hell of a week. It couldn’t have been easy watching her cushy life slip through her fingers. A few more strands of that shiny blonde hair had escaped from the restraining clip on top of her head, there were black smudges under her violet eyes, and her cheeks were the same pristine white as his shirt.

Standing in the centre of his enormous office, she reminded him of a lone gazelle that had lost the rest of its herd.

‘What?’ She was watching him warily. ‘Do you think you could stop frowning at everyone? It’s really hard to operate in an atmosphere of terror.’

‘I do not create an atmosphere of terror.’

‘How do you know? You’re not the one on the receiving end.’

‘We do three-hundred-and-sixty-degree reviews here. If staff feel afraid, they have the opportunity to say so.’

‘Unless they’re too afraid to say so.’ Tiredness laced itself through her voice and suddenly her shoulders drooped slightly, as if the effort of maintaining all that attitude was just too much. ‘Look, I know you think I’m a complete waste of space and actually …’ She paused and pushed her hair away from her face. ‘Actually, I don’t completely blame you for that because all the evidence points in that direction, but sometimes things aren’t entirely as they seem.’

‘Your company is a circus. What exactly isn’t as it seems?’

‘We may look chaotic to you, but we work well in a relax, informal atmosphere. It helps us be creative.’

‘If that’s your way of asking if you can keep the fish, the answer is no. I don’t allow pets in my offices.’

‘Romeo and Juliet aren’t pets, exactly. They’re an integral part of the workforce. They cheer people up and staff motivation is hugely important. I’m asking you to relax your rigid principles for five minutes. You might be surprised what a bit of work enjoyment does.’

‘What I think,’ Damon said slowly, ‘is that the way you do business is sloppy and unprofessional.’ And the irony was, he wasn’t even interested in the business. He’d taken control in a desperate attempt to flush Peter Prince out of hiding but so far it hadn’t worked. There had been no contact.

The knowledge that Analisa could have called him and hadn’t added layers of pain and anxiety to his anger. She always accused him of being over-protective, and maybe he was, but was it really being over-protective to want to prevent someone you loved from being hurt?

The affair was doomed, and the thought of having to deal with a heartbroken Arianna sent a cold chill through his body.

Once before he’d held her as she’d sobbed and he never wanted to do that again. Never wanted to see his sister that sad.

Polly was frowning at him. ‘Look, I know this whole thing is a mess, but give me a chance.’ There was a desperate note to her voice. ‘Now that you’ve got rid of the board, I know I can turn this company around.’

‘You?’ Her astonishing claim momentarily distracted him from thoughts of his sister.

‘Yes, me. At least let me try.’

For the first time since he’d walked into the Prince headquarters, Damon felt like laughing. ‘You’re asking me to give you free rein to do more of what you’ve been doing?’

‘I know you won’t believe me but I do know what our business needs to make it successful.’

‘It needs someone at the helm who isn’t afraid to take tough decisions. The fish have to go. I’m not running an aquarium. All you need to do your job is a laptop and an internet connection. I assume you have heard of both those things?’

But he had to admit he was surprised by her vigorous and ongoing defence of the staff. She appeared to care passionately whether they lost their jobs or not.

Presumably it had finally come home to her that if the company crashed, she’d be out of a job and an inheritance.