Chapter Four

Xena Remington

As I follow him to his office, I feel my nerves building up. I am going crazy right now. I felt like how a child would feel when the summer vacation gets over and they have to go back to school.

I hate being put in stressful situations but thanks to Jerold, I am used to it.

We enter his office, and memories of the last time I was in there fill my mind. I remember how nervous I was to see him.

I gulp when he turns around to face me.

Oh god! Why are we not sitting at his desk face to face? Isn’t that how people get fired?

Oh god. Is he going to shoot me?

Don’t be crazy, Xena. He wouldn’t want all the blood to get over his beautiful Italian carpet.

“Xena Remington.” I feel the hair at the back of my neck stand as I bring myself to look into his beautiful yet intimidating eyes.

He said my name.

I felt a rush go down my spine as I try to calm myself down, “This might be a cliché thing, the thing that I am about to do-“

“Oh no, he going to shoot me.” I slap a hand across my mouth as I realize that I just spoke my mind out loud.

I hear him chuckle a little as the distance between us becomes less and less.

He is walking towards me.

I feel his hand circle my wrist and remove it from my mouth, my eyes were still as wide as saucers, “I need you to calm down a little. You are not in trouble.” He says and relief washes over my face.

“I am so sorry.” I say in a deep voice before clearing my throat, “You just yelled at everyone and I have heard a lot of stories about you. So you can understand why I would be terrified to stand here.”

“And yet somehow you manage to speak your mind.” He says making me look up at him with confusion, “Sadly, when you are in a position of power, people tend to butter you up rather than telling you the truth. Like that boyfriend of yours, he is always ready to kiss the ground I walk on, and will never speak up for himself even if I disrespect him. And surprisingly, you are ready to speak up for yourself and your boyfriend.”

I nod my head, still confused.

“I have a promotion for you, I want you to be my personal advisor.” He says and I just stare at him blankly.

“I am not exactly the smartest person in the room,” I say meekly.

“You are smart, brave and honest. You are respectful when you put your point across and you make sure that you’ve made yourself heard if a situation doesn’t sit right with you. That’s what I need in my advisor.”

“Okay. I am sorry but I can’t work in the mafia.” I realize the words just poured out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Fuck.

“I mean it’s different working for an enterprise but I assume if I take up the role of your advisor I would be included in other ‘business’ decisions too. Also, Jerold has warned me about you when it comes to a few things, and we both have promised each other to not get included in your ‘not so legal’ business things.” I said as I used the air bunny twice.

“Jerold? My right man?”

My mouth falls open and I am shocked. Too shocked to move or react, “WWWWWh-a-a-at?”

I feel tears fill my eyes as Axel stares at my face, pity visible on his face.

“Have a seat, Xena.” His deep voice calms me down a little as I feel his hand on my shoulder leading me towards the couch instead of his desk.

“He lied to me,” I whisper, almost to myself. I feel Axel sit next to me, maintaining a safe amount of distance between us.

This has been one of the biggest discussions I have had with Jerold, where I’ve repeatedly expressed how I am not happy with how closely he works with a Mob Boss and how I don’t want him to get sucked into that world.

“Xena, no one in this world is good. Maybe you’ve always led a sheltered life to be aware of this. The minute I saw you, I thought that you were too good of a person for a man like Jerold.” He says but I shake my head.

“He wanted to protect me, maybe? He didn’t tell me about this and went out of his way to make sure that I won’t meet you, to keep me safe.” I exclaim, so naive that I am willing to do just about anything to convince myself.

“Or maybe he knew how not on board you were and didn’t want you to find out the truth about him. Because if you find a woman who does your laundry, cooks food for you and is always loyal, who would want to let go of her? Also, not to mention pays for most of the things, while he lives in your house rent-free.” My eyes widen as I look at him.

“How did you know?”

“I do… very thorough background checks of all of my employees.”

“I think a part of him did want to keep me safe,” I murmur making him chuckle.

“Haha, you are a doll. I am sure you are smart enough to imagine the kind of money he makes if he works for a mob right?”

I feel tears prick my eyes as I realize the number of fixed deposits I might have broken for down payments on my house because Jerold claimed to be broke.

I want to throw up.

The amount of money that I’ve wasted because I used to feel too bad to even ask him to cover for his share. He always told me a lot of his money went behind his mother’s treatments.

I have always been broke for the past 3 years of my life trying to pay all my dues before my deadlines. I have never splurged on myself.

“Oh god.” I cover my face with my hands as I feel tears streaming down my face. I am a twenty-eight-year-old woman, who is completely broke and it is all hitting me right now that it is because of how foolish and gullible I have been? If Jerold never came into my life, I would be living a very decent life instead of trying to make ends meet.

“Ah sweetheart, there is so much more that you don’t know.” He says as I feel him rub my back, calming me down a little.

“Please tell me everything,” I say but the colour drains from my face as I see a little smile creep up on his face. It was both scary and beautiful.

“You really are naïve, aren’t you?” He asks me, making me question everything in the world, “You know exactly who I am and you think I will tell you everything I know, out of the goodness of my heart.”

I take a deep breath in before staring at his handsome face and realizing there is not a lot of gap between us, “What do you want?” I ask.

“How about this? Every time you do something that I want you to do, I will tell you about a thing that your boyfriend hid from you. Deal?”

Deal with Devil. Over my dead body.

“I am not going to kill anyone.”

“I don’t need you for that. You are incapable of killing people.” He says in a matter-of-fact tone, making me take offence to the statement, “I want you to-“

“I am sorry, what makes you think that I can’t kill a person. Hypothetically, in a situation where I am required to kill. It can be possible that I might be able to kill someone. Please don’t underestimate me.” I request, making him chuckle.

“Okay.”

“So you think I can kill people?”

“No.”

“Why not?” I whine, slightly annoyed. I don’t like it when people assume anything about me.

“Xena, do you want to kill people?”

“No, but I don’t want you to think that I can’t.”

“I think this was a mistake.” He says as he shakes his head.

“NO no no. Please tell me what is it that you want me to do.”

“For starters, I want you to take up the job and I will tell you something that you definitely don’t know.”

“I don’t want to be in the mafia. I have my morals. I am sorry.”

“Xena, your work will only include me. You don’t have to interact with anyone else ever. We will always work in the privacy of my office. All our discussions would be private and secret. I will never put you in a dangerous situation.” I hear the promise in his voice.

“But why should I believe the things you tell me about my boyfriend. What if they are untrue?”

“Do I have a reason to lie? And secondly, I can understand your skepticism so from this day onwards, I will provide you with proof.”

I knew not to question Axel Lancaster. He is known for his word. He never lied. He never had a reason to.

“I need some time to think about it,” I say firmly, making him nod his head.

“Of course,” he says as I get up. He extends his hand for me to shake. I look at it for three entire seconds before extending my own.

I felt like a baby as my small hand was enveloped by his big warm hand, “It’ll be great if you could work for me directly. I look forward to hearing your response.”