Chapter Four

GYPSY'S POV

I hold my breath as I enter the foyer of Russo Enterprises the next morning. Letting it go in a deep exhalation, I step out and begin to cross the reception.

As I pass my coworkers, I get looks depicting varying degrees of surprise, pity...and disgust.

The last one makes me wince internally even with my head held high. Obviously, none of them expected me to come back after the humiliation Mr. Forestry put me through yesterday.

But they don't need a job as much as I do. It was a miracle that I got this job in the first place, and I'm not going to back down simply because my boss is a douchebag.

I'm going to make sure to win him over. To impress him until he even starts giving me time breaks to spend with my son.

At the moment, Zeke is in his best friend, Purab's house. The mother of Purab, Mrs Mehra, adores Zeke, and when I told her about my predicament and my job, she offered to babysit Zeke for me free of charge since she's a housewife.

She's such a kindhearted woman.

After dropping my purse off in a drawer at my desk, I make my way to the coffee room to get Mr. Forestry the Douchebag some 'real' coffee.

Returning, I tap on his door thrice and wait for him to tell me to come in. When he does, I gently push back the door and step into the room.

"Good morning, sir." I say brightly.

His head shoots up from his laptop. His eyes widen and his lips actually part open in shock. Obviously, he wasn't expecting to ever see me again.

I smirk internally but school my features to fit the look of a contented secretary. I place the cup of coffee on plate on his table and step back.

"Do you need me to do anything else, Sir?"

He stares at me as if in a daze. It takes him about half a minute to finally regain his composure.

"No." He clears his throat, throwing away the surprised look on his face with his signature impassive one. "That'll be all."

Nodding, I make my way out of his office. Air rushes out of my lungs when I finally get to my desk. I didn't even know I was holding my breath.

Turning on the computer, I type in the password and log into the company's G***l. I start doing the same things like yesterday, replying emails and calling Mr. Forestry on crucial ones that require his attention and forwarding them to his personal G***l.

Halfway through the morning, the telephone rings for the third time. I pick it up.

"Lorenzo Russo's office, Russo Enterprises. How can I..."

"Oh, shut the fuck up and get to my office this instant, Miss Mathews."

I grit my teeth. I'm only doing my job you stupid dumbshit.

Before I can essentially get myself fired with those words, the line drops dead. I quickly make my way to Mr. Forestry's office.

“Here.” Mr. Forestry says immediately. "I want you to review these contracts and submit them to me in exactly an hour. There are instructions you must follow."

His voice is filled with disdain as he hands me a blue folder, as if he expects me to mess up. I grit my teeth as I take the folder and leave his office. I'll show him how good I can be.

After an hour, I get a call from Mr. Forestry asking me to come to his office. I knock before letting myself in.

"Your file, Mr. For... Russo." I correct myself as I hand him the papers, taking a seat in front of him. He doesn't even glance up as he takes the file.

He studies the contracts, taking his time to go over them.

After an elongated silence, he finally finishes shuffling through the folder. "Passable."

My eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. Passable?

"I want you to go over our records and make an analysis report over it immediately,"

He shoves a folder five times the size of the last one onto the desk. "You should be done before lunch.”

I glance from the folder to his face, wondering whether he's being serious. It's only three hours till lunchtime. Aside from reviewing these files, I'm supposed to write a report too.

That would take the whole day!

“Why are you still standing there?" Mr. Forestry's stern voice cuts through my thoughts

Not wanting to give him any reason to berate me more, I grab the file off his desk and scurry out of his office.

I just hope he's joking because there's no way I can finish this before lunch.

I work on the file like crazy even though I know I won't finish. I don't even realize lunch time has arrived till the door to Mr. Forestry's office opens.

I shoot to my feet, my heart skipping a beat as Mr. Forestry steps out of his office. He strides straight to my desk.

Shit, he's going to fire me, isn't he?

"Is it complete?" He asks in a no-nonsense tone.

“Sir, there's no humanly possible way to finish everything within the time you gave me,” I say back defiantly.

At this point, I know he only wants a reason to fire me so there's nothing to lose. I'm going to hold on to my dignity and walk out with my head held high once he says the words.

“What did you say, Miss Mathews?” Mr. Forestry intones, his voice low. Dangerously low.

His jaw clenches as he slowly makes his way around my desk, coming toward me. I take a step back for every step he takes forward until I have my back against the wall.

He stops in front of me and places both of his hands on either side of me, leaving me with no escape. His gaze sears into mine as he leans down, our faces becoming so close that the woody essence of his cologne feels so intoxicating.

Fuck, what is he doing? And why is his closeness making me so breathless?

“Are you challenging my intelligence, Miss Mathews?”

So close, his voice causes a shiver to steal its way down my spine. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. It's as if his closeness has muddled my senses.

“No, Miss Mathews.” He shakes his head slightly, his eyes suddenly turning hard. “Don't project your incompetence on all of mankind. If you're going to keep on being my secretary, you're going to have to be more efficient than that.”

Suddenly, he steps away from me, taking away his warmth and the intoxicating smell of his cologne. My head reels from the loss of his closeness.

“I want everything before you leave today.”

With those words, Mr. Forestry sets off, leaving me staring after him, my mouth agape.

Once he disappears out of sight, I sigh. I calculate the rest of the files I have to review and write reports on and I realize I don't have time to spare.

I would have to skip lunch to be able to finish the whole thing before closing time.

The only thing I ate this morning was some cookies and cappuccino that Mrs. Mehra, the mother of my son's best friend, gave to me when I dropped Zeke off this morning.

My body doesn't do very well without food. Can I survive on that till evening?

*****

"And done!" I squeal as the whirl of the printing machine comes to an end and produces my papers.

After hours of non-stop work, I'm finally done with the work that asshole gave me.

Grabbing the stack, I staple them together and make my way out of the printing room.

Just as I reach Mr. Asshole's office door, I suddenly feel lightheaded and have to press onto the wall to prevent myself from falling.

The lack of food is certainly getting to me.

Knocking on his door, I enter when I receive his accent.

"I'm done with the work you gave me, Sir."

He looks at me. "Good. Trash it."

"Sorry?" I enunciate because frankly, there's no way he could've said what I think he said.

There's no way he's telling me to trash a file that took me hours to finish, forcing me to skip my lunch.

"I said trash it. Those contracts are those that have already been worked on by my previous secretaries so your reports are completely useless. Trash them.” A triumphant smile lofts the corners of his lips. “Next time you know never to raise your hands on me? You're dismissed.”

I don't know how long I stand there just looking at him, praying he's joking. As I watch him return his attention to his desktop, it hits me that he meant every word.

He did remember me from the bar, and this was just his revenge.

My lip quivers. I want to hurl out insults at him but nothing seems to be coming out. With my reports in my hand, I turn to leave his office.

I feel sad and shocked and so damn angry.

All I wanted was to be normal. To have a normal job. Be a normal woman. Why did my first boss have to be such a douchebag?

Just as I reach the door and I'm about to step out, the world spins in front of me. I'm not quick enough to grab onto something this time, and I land on the floor.

Darkness envelopes me.