Chapter Two: Less than a peace offering

“What?” I sputtered completely past the point of schooling my words so they were the epitome of politeness.

“I can’t, I have a job.”

“You do?” and I didn’t like the intonation in his voice, “How long do you think that would remain true?”

“But, you don’t even know me. Whether I’m qualified or not. And are you expecting me to work for free because I am pretty sure that is highly illegal? I know enough of my rights to know that.”

His expression was still stern and an expression I was sure I would associate with the most emotionally removed people. He didn’t seem to care about my protests.

“It’s administrative work. A personal assistant role, if you can run a restaurant by yourself when the owner has instilled that trust in you to run his establishment,”

“Her,” I bit out, “Her establishment.”

He brushed over my comment as though it had no relevance at all.

Great, he was an emotionally unavailable misogynist.

In other words, impossible to reason with.

“You are more than qualified, you have shown that you can perform under stressful situations,” since when had this become a full-blown assessment of my performance as a manager, “Keep a calm and professional demeanour, you would be adequate at the job. And of course, you will be paid just as all my other employees are paid”

Adequate?

This guy.

“I still don’t understand why would you want me of all people. There are surely people who are more suited to this job. And what benefit do you gain from me being employed by you.”

“Such a quick wit. Though you will be paid just as everyone else is paid, it will be as you put it, at a discounted price.”

The penny just dropped. Of course, there was a catch and it all made sense. Cheap labour? A businessman’s best friend.

I could feel the scowl on my face, and he had thought he was so intelligent to use my own words against me.

“So I’ll work for you for less pay? Talk about extending the gender pay gap,” I muttered making sure my voice was just loud enough for him to hear.

He gave me a scalding look, “The pay has nothing to do with your gender. I for one do not stand for paying anyone any less than what they are worth. I hire by pure talent, I don’t care about your biology.”

I found that hard to believe.

“And I assure you the pay will probably be far more than what you earn now. So what is it to be Miss Laurence, the risk of your employer's establishment being pulled under or working for me?”

There was something sly about his words but you couldn’t catch it just by looking at him, from beginning to end his features hadn’t even twitched with the slightest amount of expression.

There was a part of me that itched to say yes, to get back into the corporate world, the rush of manking deals, working hours to see a project through, and being in a high-rise building surrounded by people that pushed themselves beyond belief. Many didn’t like the office lifestyle but there was so much more than that in the business world. And I did miss having my own monitor in front of me tapping away at intricately designed spreadsheets, manipulating company data had always been a great challenge for me. I longed for that feeling again, the push and pull of a world that I had been shunned from. And maybe this was my shot back in, the man before me clearly had no clue about me, or why it would be very stupid to hire me. He would soon realise that it would be a mistake to hire me, one look from any of his other business partners and it would be clear that I was damaged goods.

There was a reason I couldn’t get a corporate job no matter where I went. He had followed through with his promise of ruining me, just to make sure that I knew that I wasn’t worth anything without him.

I truly was nothing without him.

But I would prove him wrong even if it meant following this ludicrous proposition. I needed that excitement again, and though being a PA would be a far lower position than what I had been before, I needed an out. I needed a chance, to show him that I didn’t need him. 

Maybe, just maybe if I was good enough even when this man before me realised why the industry wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot barge poll, he wouldn’t care and I would have my road to the world I had missed so dearly.

He could see it on my face I knew, he could, the quirk of my lips, the pensive look, the furrowed eyebrows that suddenly relaxed when I met his eyes, the strangest colour of eyes I had ever seen, sharp with every look and holding so much hidden emotion that his face refused to show.

You only live once, Andrea.

“Fine. I’ll take you up on your offer.”