A Not-go-good Day

Sienna’s POV

The soft chime of the elevator echoed as the metal doors slid open and I stepped out with a deep exhale before walking into the office space I shared with my team.

I was still recovering from the embarrassment of earlier. How could I have been so stupid, to allow my emotions blind and lead me into hugging Roman?

I would never forget the stunned look on his face when I hugged him for what seemed like an entire minute. After I had recovered and come back to my senses, I had been so embarrassed and apologized, blaming it on how stressful the day had been.

Stress?

I was almost laughing at myself now.

How dumb and ridiculous! Couldn’t I have come up with a better excuse?

Thankfully, Roman had brushed it off and given me a lift to the company as agreed. However, I had asked him not to walk me inside. I wasn’t sure what to expect from my colleagues when they saw me with Roman. They would probably spread more gossip about me and accuse me of sleeping with my so-called sister’s husband.

As I walked into my office space, a small frown crossed my forehead as I took in the sight of the empty rows of desks and vacant chairs. Usually, at this time of the morning, the space buzzed with the hum of phone calls, the clatter of keyboards, and the chatter of my co-workers.

So, why was it oddly quiet today? Where was everyone? Was there supposed to be some sort of break that I wasn’t informed about?

My eyes scanned the offices again, but there was nobody in sight. I gulped, feeling my heart race.

In for another round of trouble, are we?

The sudden sound of footsteps behind me almost made me jump out of my skin and I spun around at once to see Ms. Helen, the elderly cleaner, mopping the floor near the entrance.

Breathing in a huge sigh of relief, I approached her, planting a small polite smile on my face once I reached her.

“Good morning, Ms. Helen.”

“Good morning, Miss. Blake.” She lifted her gaze to meet mine, a small warm smile crossing her face too. “You’re quite late today.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Something came up.” I rubbed my fingers over my temple and let out a small, nervous chuckle. “I’m curious, though. Where’s everyone? It’s too quiet.”

“They’re having a staff meeting in the boardroom.” She replied to me, gesturing her chin towards the hallway.

My heart dropped to my stomach and it took all the self restraint I had left in me not to pull out my hairs.

A staff meeting? Today of all days?!

“Thanks, Ms. Helen.” I thanked her anyway and quickly headed towards my space, dropping my handbag and the shopping bag on my desk. Then quickly, I hurried down the hallway, hearing my heart pound heavily with every step that I took.

Why was this happening to me? Today was supposed to be my best day as it was Livvy's birthday. But it seemed like the heavens weren’t in favour of me today.

Once I reached the large double doors of the boardroom, I inhaled deeply and reached for the doorknob. My nerves prickled at my skin as my fingers hovered over the handle. I bit my bottom lip, trying so hard to keep my nerves in check.

“Don’t panic, Sienna.” I reassured myself, finding it difficult to even believe my own words. “Just walk in quietly, sit down and blend in. Everything will be fine.”

Easier said than done.

Exhaling deeply through my mouth, I pushed the door open slowly and peered inside. Everyone was seated on the long conference table, focused on the man talking before them. I shifted my eyes to the man in question and holy shit, was he smoking hot and good looking!

He was dressed in a navy blue suit that fit like it had just been made specially for him. He was tall and had a sexy, muscular build. His sharp jawline was clean shaven and he had a strong aura around him that screamed an air of control.

He was handsome. Stunning. Almost like Roman. But not really close to Roman’s handsomeness.

I slapped myself mentally. Stop thinking about Roman already and move on!

I listened as the handsome man continued his speech, unaware that I was there.

“…and as I said, I will be overseeing operations at this branch for the next quarter. I expect full cooperation from every department as we push for better results.”

My heart gave a jolt and I blinked as I diluted the information. Then, my gaze shifted to the large screen behind him which had a name displayed in bold, white letters.

Ethan Crawford.

President & Chief Executive Officer, GBC Network

My stomach did a wild flip. President and CEO of our TV network?

Fuck! This was definitely not a good day to be late.

Carefully, I edged towards an empty chair near the side of the table as if I was walking in glass. Slowly. Carefully. Quietly.

Almost there. Just a few steps left.

I released a small sigh of relief as I finally reached the chair and carefully sat on it with a small self satisfactory smile playing on my lips.

But the smile wiped off as soon as it appeared on my face.

The sudden high pitched screeching sound of the metal legs of my chair scraping against the tile floor as soon as I sat on it, interrupted the moment at once and drew everyone’s attention to me. Including that of Mr. Ethan Crawford.

All heads turned towards my direction, every pair of eyes in the room now locked to mine. I felt a hot wave of embarrassment rush through my face that instant and I couldn’t imagine how visibly reddened my face would be looking like this instant.

I forced a dry lump down my throat, locking my gaze with Mr. Ethan Crawford. He didn’t look quite mad. Instead, his facial expression was unreadable and cool, so it was hard to decipher what thoughts could be running through his mind.

Oh god. What if he fires me this instant?! That would be the end of me.

“S…sorry.” I stuttered, feeling completely hopeless.

“You!” The angry voice of a woman suddenly thundered across the room, almost causing my heart to jump out of my mouth.

I averted my gaze to the direction of the voice. It was a young woman, seated next to the head seat. And although she was strikingly beautiful with short glossy blonde hair, her lips were curled back into a snarl as her eyes bore into me like lasers. Her perfectly polished nails gripped the edge of the table so hard that her knuckles were almost turning white.

I blinked in confusion, glancing around to confirm if she was really referring to me. But with her eyes staring daggers at me, it was obvious that I was the one.

But why? Was she this angry at me because of my lateness and interrupting the meeting?

“Sabrina Pierce, you treacherous little bitch!” She barked at me again and before I could comprehend her words, she lurched at me, grabbing my hair and pushing me out of my chair to the hard tiles.