Arson & Ache (Surrender to Them 8)

Marissa

“She’s coming!” Hannah, one of the girls that sat near my desk looked at me with concern in her teal colored eyes. “Those are heavy steps—she’s not happy.”

“I have her coffee!” I stood up and grabbed the cup sitting on the edge of my desk. “Hopefully it will be enough to save us from her wrath.”

“Maybe we should say a prayer just to be safe.” Hannah folded her hands in front of her chest and started muttering.

“Too late!” I hissed across the aisle and darted around my desk as Ms. Stone approached with her ear-length brunette curls bouncing with every step she took.

“Good morning, Ms. Stone!” Hannah hopped to her feet and brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.

“I have your coffee, just the way you like it!” I tried to be as cheerful as possible as I presented her coffee like it was my most prized possession.

“Good.” Ms. Stone took the cup from me and her nostrils flared like she was about to shoot fire from both of them. “Okay, get back to work—both of you.”

“Yes ma’am!” Hannah nodded quickly.

Ms. Stone walked towards her office and I let out a long sigh of relief. Hannah looked like she had been shook to her core as she sank back down into her chair and her hair fell out from behind her ear. I had only been working at Livingston Capital for two months, but I was already looking forward to retirement. Ms. Stone wasn’t just a horrible boss, she was the personification of true evil in a designer dress and red-soled shoes. I was just glad none of her anger was directed at us—but the day was still young. She had plenty of wrath to go around, so if she didn’t find someone to yell at over the phone, our time would probably come. I returned to my desk and prayed that her door wouldn’t open. I had more than enough work to do without having more piled on top of me, and the phones were already starting to ring.

“Livingston Capital—Veronica Stone’s office. How may I assist you?” I answered the phone with my normal dose of cheerfulness.

I spent most of my morning answering the phone, taking messages, sending the relevant ones to Ms. Stone, and directing the rest of them to the file at the bottom of my trash can. Ms. Stone got a lot of phone calls. Livingston Capital was a stock trading company, and Ms. Stone was the CEO, so all new investments required her approval. That meant that the phone rang off the hook with people who wanted to pitch opportunities she just couldn’t miss. All of those went directly in the trash can, but not before I promised them that Ms. Stone would be happy to return their call—which was obviously a lie. She had more investment opportunities than money to spend, and she only picked winners. That’s why she was so good at her job—and why everyone tolerated the fact she was the biggest bitch on Wall Street.

“I need a vacation.” Hannah sighed and leaned back in her chair once the phones settled down some.

“You just came back from vacation—and you can’t do that to me again.” I shook my head back and forth. “She’s even worse when you aren’t here!”

“Trust me, it can get a lot worse.” Hannah stared at her computer with tired eyes, despite the fact that it wasn’t even lunch yet. “You don’t even want to see how bad it gets when one of her investments doesn’t pay off.”

“I can imagine.” I nodded and reached for the phone when it started to ring.

“Marissa, I need to see you in my office—now.” Ms. Stone opened her door, demanded my presence, and slammed her door so hard the glass on the windows next to it shook.

“I’ll get the phone.” Hannah motioned for me to go.

I was a little scared when I got up from my desk and walked towards Ms. Stone’s office. She rarely called either of us into her office. She was usually content to just yell at us without the courtesy of a closed door. I hoped that she wasn’t going to fire me. As bad as it was at Livingston Capital, the job did pay really well. I was also learning a lot about investing, even if I was just a secretary. I applied at Livingston Capital because I wanted to be an Account Manager and was initially offended when I was offered a job as Ms. Stone’s secretary. Getting my foot in the door seemed more important than my pride, especially when I found out that the last three girls who worked for her had been promoted to Account Manager in less than a year. Hannah was the exception, but she didn’t have those aspirations—or maybe she just secretly liked being tortured.