Dark Revenge Of A Jilted Bride: Till Life Do Us Part!-Chapter 18: First Day IV

"I apologize, Deputy Director," Gianna started when she walked into the office with Mason.

Mason, who had leisurely stepped away from her, took a seat in one of the chairs surrounding the large table in the middle of the room.

"I lost track of time while working on new designs... actually I had expected my secretary to buzz me in when the time was right but..."

"She mentioned she did, Gianna Aldo. It will do you good not to lie against an employee, not even if she is your secretary. We get that it might be different from the norm in your previous company, but the case is different here. We don’t appreciate it, at all."

Gianna’s lips were pursed. She took a rather short look at the Deputy Director who had just spoken.

The Deputy Director was a woman with a stern face, in her late thirties, dressed in a baby-pink suit—mildly adorned with jewelry that pinched the eye with restrained taste.

Her hair was chic but official, bangs soft over a dark-brown mane; she met Gianna’s gaze with a harsh frown.

Another fuss to be tolerated? Gianna hoped not. She rather hoped it was resentment borne from misunderstanding.

"Ma’am..."

"Call me Daphne." The woman cut in harshly, impatiently.

Gianna swallowed, but her countenance didn’t change. She would not give any of the people satisfaction to see her rattled.

"I apologize again, Daphne. I wasn’t aware of the formalities." Her gaze was intense on Daphne as she spoke.

"As for my mode of conduct, I think the company should check on my background at Aureates, on my relationship with employees... I might not be perfect Mary, but I never look down on subordinates, nor do I disrespect my superiors. That isn’t my signature, Daphne."

A pause. "About my secretary, she is playing an ungraceful game with Esme to spite me... this morning, Esme..."

She paused, looked at Arthur who seemed entertained. "Was she the Esme you said would understand changes... Mr. Arthur?"

Gianna of course knew the bitch was the one, but she needed to make a point here, needed to save her butt.

Arthur only gave a nod.

"I don’t think she understood these changes, sir. Because this morning when I walked into the office, she was whispering nothings to my secretary... minutes later, she was confronting me..."

Gianna dropped her designs on the table, fixing her gaze solely on Arthur. "I explained to my secretary that I hated unnecessary troubles, but I didn’t think she understood me."

Another pause, which upped the dramatic tension in the boardroom.

"Mr. Arthur, if you want me to operate at my highest potential, fusses like a disloyal secretary, who lies behind my back, trying to soil my reputation in the company—for I lost count how many glares followed my back as I walked to this office with Director Mason—is the least of what I want." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

A sharp silence sat like a held breath in the room. There wasn’t a direct threat, but it felt like one hung on the shoulders of the superiors, and some weren’t happy with it.

"So you want a secretary to be sacked because of a mere misunderstanding? Miss Gianna, if we are to cater to your whims at every junction, wouldn’t that mean you are directing us?"

Gianna turned to face the male who had spoken; it was the same male with the snake head, the same that had tried to stare her down at her last show in this room.

Richard Fallows, Head of Marketing. At least Grace had done the introductions right.

"Mr. Richard, you are twisting my words. Weren’t you all debating my possible demotion because of that mere misunderstanding?"

Richard’s eyes brimmed with barely restrained anger. Who did this woman think she was to talk to him like that?

"I didn’t say she should be sacked too... she can be resigned to Esme’s office since they both love talking together. Surely, you would understand that disloyalty is a sin against a superior?" she returned her gaze to Arthur who was nodding now.

"She is right."

"Is there proof that Esme hadn’t told her?" That was Daphne, unsatisfied.

"Is there proof that she told me then?" Gianna didn’t even look at the woman whom she was fast losing respect for, so she didn’t see the murderous glare aimed at her.

She sighed, then pushed the designs forward. "If you can’t trust me, if your board members have a problem with me being here, then I shouldn’t be here. I hate working in an unnecessarily hostile environment, Mr. Arthur."

Sharp intakes of breath threaded the room.

Even Arthur hadn’t seen that coming. "Now, young lady..."

But Gianna wasn’t done, not when she had just remembered something.

"Is there a camera in the secretary’s office?" she asked, the question crisp and deliberate. She hoped there wasn’t one in hers though.

Mason shook his head, smiling faintly. "Not installed yet."

Gianna nodded thrice slowly, before pointing at the designs. "It should be. It would help resolve cases like this without much fuss."

Daphne bristled, surmising that Gianna was referring to her reporting as a fuss, as a tantrum.

"We are not fussing here, Gianna!" Daphne snapped.

Gianna frowned—the first break in her countenance—confusion tugging at her strings.

"I never said this was a fuss..." she answered, squaring her shoulders. "Why are you bent on kicking me out, Daphne? I’m not sure we have quarreled over anything—over a man, or land, or property before? I don’t think we have even met! Or have we?"

Daphne gritted her teeth and turned to Arthur who was already going through the designs Gianna had made. "She needs to go! I can’t work with someone like her! She has no respect!"

Arthur didn’t even look up from the designs when he answered. "I think you are blowing things out of proportion, Daph. Remember, it is the secretary that should be at the receiving end of your wrath."

He passed one of the designs to Mason, to give to the fuming woman. "And you should take a look at the designs before asking me to sack her."