Time Off

•Ethan Hale•

“Take care, baby. Daddy will call you later,” I said and the voice at the other end mumbled something incoherent before the call ended.

I got out of my car and walked into my company’s building. I had some documents to sign for the COO before I left the country.

Most employees greeted me or bowed slightly as I walked past and towards the elevator. I gave a curt nod or mumbled a greeting.

This was the exhausting part of the morning, having to be social. And while I was trying my best, I was still labelled as the grumpy, anti-social boss.

It wasn’t supposed to affect me until the words began spreading. According to them, they risked losing their jobs if they said the wrong word to me - which was 100% true by the way - and it scared the shit out of them to say anything to me.

And I was a man of prestige and integrity, they were my employees and humans, so yeah they deserved to be treated as such.

The company won’t be here without them and I had plans of giving them Christmas bonuses. There’s always been bonuses but maybe I’d increase it.

I knew how hard everyone had worked during the year, our shares and sales increased drastically compared to the last year. The media team were doing their work pretty good and everyone contributed fantastically.

We even got Best Fashion Line of the year.

And yeah, I was looking at expanding. Establishing in more states and investing in other businesses. Yeah, the resort. In Switzerland.

I’d discussed this with the board members and I had to finalize and close the deal before Christmas.

The owner of Swiss Alps was proving to be difficult. We wanted to buy out the place and after offering mouth-watering benefits, he still stood his grounds.

He wanted more. More than what we could offer.

I entered the elevator and as the doors slipped close, I tipped my head up, sighing in relief until they stopped. And… my PA scuttled in.

He glanced at me, before scooting his hair backwards and pressing the button for the last floor.

The hell?

He clutched his tablet to his chest and gave me a once-over before pursing his lips.

“You look sharply dressed sir. Is there a meeting I don’t know of?” he asked, his voice overly bubbly.

I rubbed my brows.

“Is there any meetings that you don’t know of?” I countered and he stared at the top of the elevator probably thinking. I huffed.

“None actually, unless that sleazy ass secretary fixed one,” Annoyance rolled into his features.

I exhaled. “Tell me you’re just not coming,”

He perked up and I gave him a glance.

“No sir. I’ve been… well,” he stared at his wristwatch. “Three. I’ve been here for three minutes, so technically, I’m just not coming,”

“Adam,”

“I’m just arriving sir.” he said immediately and I gave a nod, saying nothing.

Adam has been my Personal Assistant for a while now and the man had an… interesting personality? Aside beefing with my secretary who doesn’t like him either.

I’ve never seen two men despise each other the way they do.

“Cancel anything on my schedule today.” I said and pursed my lips.

“In fact, keep my schedule open till whenever,”

“Okay?” Adam drawled and I stared at him with his gel-slicked hair and dark eyes. He just stared at me…expecting an explanation.

“I’m leaving for Switz in the morning. I don’t know how long I’d stay, so find accommodations that are open…not limited,” I said before tugging on my tie.

The chauffeur would come around later on.

“Okay. I guess you’d spending Christmas there?” he asked, typing whatever into his tablet. The elevator pinged and I stepped out as he followed behind me.

I rubbed my scruff. “Yeah. Depends.” on how fast I closed the deal.

He hummed. “Any preferences? It’s the season, just in case you’d like to have fun… or something?”

We walked past my secretary who snickered at…whatever Adam.

“I don’t know. A place not too cold? Quiet, standard and suitable for a hike,” I opened the door to my office and stepped in.

“You sure know,” he mumbled under his breath, remaining by the door as I walked towards my desk.

“How long would it take?” I stared at him and he pursed his lips, dragging his eyes from the tablet to meet mine.

“An hour. Two tops.” he glanced at the tablet again. “There are well… quite a number of matches for what you want. Should I make the pick or would you?”

I did not have the time to go through accommodations for where I’d be staying for God knows how long.

“Make a pick.” I gave him a dry look. “Something reasonable,”

His lips tilted up slightly as he nodded.

I sank into my seat, opening the cupboard and extracting the files I had to sign.

“Is Devion here yet?” I asked, picking up a pen and Adam cleared his throat.

“I just arrived, sir. But I’ll check,” he said and I nodded, flicking my fingers at him dismissively.

“Tell him to see me,” I muttered and he gave a nod before leaving, shutting the door behind him.

I went through the files for a couple of seconds before slumping against the chair.

There was quite a lot I had in mind. Family issues. I was low-key happy I’d be going away for a while.

The wrong decision I’d made six years ago was coming back to bite me in the ass and while that decision had resulted into something undeniably beautiful, I still disliked it.

And now, it was threatening to take everything away from me. I knew a potential threat when I saw one.

It was just something I couldn’t let happen and since family intervals wouldn’t help, we’d have to go higher.

Things might get worse after now. But once I close this deal, I’d face this issue.

There was only one authority that could settle our case and that was a judge.

And yes, I’ll be filing for custody of my daughter. Let the best man win.