"Thanks Jenna." There had been a lot of tension in the building since last week when I was given the corner office and I had spent the rest of last week listening to people whisper about how I'm as much Braxton's whore as Stone was Braxton's pet. I played ignorant when my co-workers gave me smiles, the bunch of back biters! I knew that the reason for the corner office was that I would need more space to work, already there were a million Post-Its on my desk with various projects that needed advertisements and billboards made up. Not to mention Braxton had already ordered designs to be done for next years toys and his engineer had been calling me constantly.
I caught the elevator to my floor and went straight to Stone's office, I knocked twice since his door was closed and he told me to come in. "The hell is wrong with you?" I asked when I pulled the door open. Stone had taken last week off so that his bruises and bumps could heal, but today his face was drawn and he kept running his fingers through his hair, a sign that he was stressed since Stone never fidgeted.
"Who did you tell about L.A.?" He got straight to the point, motioning for me to close the door.
"Nobody." Well, not exactly, but nobody who would run their mouths, only Cassie and Roman.
"Braxton will be here by ten o'clock with his new COO, a job that was promised to me. He called me this morning, told me that I couldn't be trusted with what was important to him, demoted me and announced that his nephew is going to run his New York office."
I looked around Stone's office and noticed the boxes for the first time, the walls that were usually decorated with artwork and certificates were bare. "I don't understand."
"Neither do I, but since we have a meeting with him as soon as he arrives, I'm sure we're about to."
I swallowed, Stone pulled out a strand of hair and stared at it curiously. "You're going to leave aren't you?"
"Damn right I'm leaving. I worked for Braxton for a long time Brooklyn, maybe not as long as some of these other losers, but I invested my heart, soul and life into Braxton's companies. Hell, I'll even take credit for making it what it became over the last five or so years, and for that man to demote me as if I'm just another worker here..." His voice trailed off, his hands fisted on the desk. "Roman did this."
"What? Roman would never..."
"Roman did this!" Stone roared, I jumped. "You see how he was at the airport, he was pissed and he knew how much my job meant to me."
"I think you're jumping to conclusions."
"And I think you're delusional about the kind of person Roman actually is. He and JQ were pulled off the streets, they did...things, before Braxton found them."
I was taken aback, "What kind of things?"
Stone gave me a long look before he finally chuckled and shook his head. His telephone rang, "Hello? Okay." He stood up and motioned for me to do the same, "Braxton's here."
*****
Azari Braxton looked a hell of a lot like his uncle and both of the Braxtons stared at Stone as he stood at the door beside me. Howard Braxton toyed with a ring on his right ring finger but his gaze never left Stone. "I'm disappointed in the both of you." He said, still looking at Stone. "I do not condone inter office relationships, they cause conflicts of interest and I cannot have that at Kandy Shoppe. Don, you were in the running for COO and you broke one of the simplest rules." Braxton shook his head. His eyes fell on me and I shuddered, "There are rules here at Kandy Shoppe Ms. James, who would have thought that a rule concerning sex would be one of them considering the business." He chuckled, but there wasn't a damn thing funny.
I folded my arms, "Are you just doing this to Stone because he told me of your little arrangement with Roman?"
Braxton raised an eyebrow. "Ah, that." He smiled, "You are a very beautiful woman, but you've gained some sexiness. I have to admit I was attracted to you from day one, wit is one of the things I enjoy in a woman and you have a lot of that, which is why you are an asset to this company." He flicked a wrist at me, "I'm rather impressed that Don beat me out, but I've been very busy lately. To answer you question, no, this is not about whatever the two of you did in L.A., that is your business. It becomes my business when the man I trust with every aspect of my office bullshits me." His eyes turned to stone, "I'll be damned if I sit on my ass and let this Sicilian fuck take my company from right under me." My mouth fell open, "He's been wining and dining my female employees, dipping into company funds to buy them fancy things, erasing details from files so I wouldn't fire some of them..." Braxton sighed.
I looked at Stone in disbelief, his blue eyes had turned black and he said, "Braxton, I have no idea where you got this bullshit but that's all it is. After all I invested in Kandy Shoppe, I would never...."
"Save your story Don." Mr. Braxton leaned back in his chair. "Your investments are what alerted me to your activity Don. You are not a man who lives for praise, so why would you put so much into a company that does not fully benefit you? When it comes down to it, only me and mine benefits one hundred percent from Kandy Shoppe. Do you think I was oblivious to the reason you had so much interest in my daughter?" Braxton questioned, "Never underestimate the wrath of a woman scorned, the women in this office sang like coronaries so you screwed yourself over there. When I sent her away you had to regroup, go with your original plan and weasel your way up, get close to me and once you had full access to my money and my information you could destroy me and ultimately take Kandy Shoppe." Braxton smirked, "Too bad I don't trust anybody, just ask my mother. I see your things are packed, pride will be the death of you Don." Another flick of his wrist dismissed Stone who slunk out of Braxton's office.
Howard Braxton got out of his chair and paced in front of the floor to ceiling windows that gave him a marvellous view of the city scape, a city he peered out at as if he owned it. With money came power so maybe Braxton did. "Boooklyn I'll be straight with you, when you first showed up here, yes, my intentions were to make you my mistress, but now I see a greater potential in you."
I swallowed, Braxton turned away from the window to look at me. "This is my nephew Azari, I raised him alongside my own daughter and he's more my son than my brother's. Azari has been learning how to run this company since puberty, with you doing promotions and Azari doing overall work, I'm sure you can continue to make Kandy Shoppe great." He raised an eyebrow, "Why is your lip trembling?"
I sucked in my bottom lip and looked up at the white ceiling. My entire body was trembling because Stone had not only fucked over Mr. Braxton, but he had literally fucked me over! I don't think I'd ever felt so used in my life, I never had a fairytale dream about losing my virginity, but shit, I didn't think I would be conned out of it. Had he intended to treat me like he had the other women in this office, made me feel special to dump me when Braxton brought in somebody new?
"Do not worry yourself about Don, Brooklyn, he will get what is coming to him...in due time." Azari chuckled at his and his uncle's inside joke. "Welcome to the real world Ms. James, Lord, you are such an innocent."
Now I was just embarrassed. "You can take the rest of the day off Ms. James, I'll have your things moved up to this floor and see about getting your advisers in place. You will also be required to take management and business classes. You will enrol in NYU as a part time student in the Spring. Thank you for your time Ms. James."
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