Dark Revenge Of A Jilted Bride: Till Life Do Us Part!-Chapter 16: First Day II

So much for not having fusses at work. Gianna mused, gripping her handbag casually, the leather warm beneath her fingers.

Ignoring the taller woman—whom she could now see was definitely not her secretary—she turned to the petite fellow. "Are you my secretary?"

The petite fellow was startled. That was even an understatement. She jerked violently, the coffee in her left hand splashing over the rim and staining the floor.

She hadn’t expected to be the center of attention, hadn’t expected Gianna’s casualness, and neither had the proclaimer of what was hers.

"Are you ignoring me?" the taller woman demanded, her voice rising, her face reddening by the second.

Gianna paid no attention to the talkative. She rather focused on the petite woman, who adjusted her glasses with trembling fingers and nodded. "Yes, I am, Miss Gianna. My name is Grace."

"Grace." Gianna tasted the name on her tongue slowly. Appraising Grace again, she hoped the latter was just as graced, because she wouldn’t tolerate any backbiting fellow as her secretary.

"Grace..." she called out loudly this time, her voice slicing clean through the room. "Get to your desk, and draft me a list of people I should know... I don’t think I would have the time to familiarize... I have a convention to work towards..."

A slight pause. "If you have images, I would appreciate that too."

She turned to walk toward her office, then turned aside to Grace—who had left to her desk, who had picked a handkerchief, probably to clean off the coffee stain on the floor.

"And I hope we become friends, Grace. I am not exactly good to gossipmongers."

Grace bobbled her head, but Gianna wasn’t fooled by the innocence on the latter’s face. She had been burnt by worse. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Words, Grace. Words."

"Yes ma’am." Grace responded military-like.

Satisfied, Gianna started the walk toward her office, totally ignoring the second fellow who looked like she was sitting on shit that wasn’t hers.

"Excuse me..." the woman cleared her throat just as Gianna turned the knob to walk into her office. "I haven’t introduced myself."

Gianna turned with such grace and indifference that it caused the latter to bristle.

Who does she think she is? the woman seemed to sputter internally, hands clasped rigidly by her side as she tried to stare Gianna down.

"Oh, I think you have." Gianna muttered, looking contemplative. "You have shown me that you are a bitch, and I haven’t the strength to deal with one. I have a long day ahead of me."

"Gianna Aldo!" the woman bit out, stepping closer to Gianna.

Gianna cocked a brow. What? Did she want to slap her?

But the woman exhaled after a beat, shoulders relaxing as if she hadn’t been burning with fury seconds ago.

"Then I am sorry." Her face wasn’t as fast to relax into neutrality though, her teeth were clenched, the words barely scraping through.

Gianna only gave a curt nod.

"I should have made a proper introduction. I am Esme Harris. Head designer in the firm. I’m supposed to show you the ropes?"

Show me the ropes?

Gianna held in a scoff, remembering the Esme that Arthur had mentioned when he agreed to her offer, the Esme that he had said would understand the changes.

Well, it seemed the Esme didn’t, wouldn’t. It seemed the Esme would be a problem.

Gianna wasn’t concerned however; she had dealt with flimsy women such as this—women who competed instead of collaborating, the latter which made things easier, friendship possible.

Plastering a smile on her lips, she shook hands with Esme, a stiff handshake. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Esme Harris. I am Gianna Aldo."

"Of course. The one and only."

Gianna said nothing. She rather turned to her secretary, asked for a cup of coffee, and opened the door to her office—pausing at the threshold when she realized that Esme had meant to walk in with her.

"Where are you going?"

It came out harsher than she had expected, but she didn’t apologize for it. It was her office, no?

Esme opened her mouth, shut it, a flicker of anger and resentment flashing across her deep brown eyes. Then she seemed to finally pick on a thought.

"To show you the ropes."

Gianna inhaled for control, and bit back the urge to say there are no ropes at all to be shown.

"Thank you Esme, but can we do that later? I need to settle in now, have some alone time, and familiarize myself with things."

Esme nodded like a lizard with a bone in its throat, licked her lower lip, and walked off without saying goodbyes.

Gianna watched as the latter exchanged a perceptible glance with her secretary before walking out, and let out a tired sigh. It seemed she would be changing the secretary after all.

When she sat down on her seat finally, Gianna twirled, feeling light, forgetting the misunderstanding of moments ago.

Cheers to more daring moves. She toasted to herself, fingers in the air, wrapped around air.

She laughed next, got to her feet with her phone, itching to reach Athena via video call. But she calculated the time difference between here and the vacation location, and snorted.

Her friend would probably be doing some acrobatics with her husband. Maybe later. Maybe when they returned. She resolved, not wanting to be treated with the sound of moans and whatnots.

"Gianna Aldo, you did this." She smiled, looking down at the bustling street from her window, feeling sated.

A knock on the door, however, disrupted the moment.

"Come in." she said, without turning away from the window.

"Your coffee ma’am."

So fast? Gianna’s brows furrowed as she turned to meet Grace’s blank gaze.

"You already got it?"

Grace nodded. "We have a vending machine on this floor. I didn’t know which to get, so I got black, with a little milk."

Not what she drank on a regular, but she could manage. Gianna concluded, not wanting to scare off the secretary any more than was necessary.

"Thank you." she said, accepting the cup.

But she didn’t drink. She rather peered at the secretary, whose eyes became shifty under her intense gaze.

"I wasn’t joking earlier, Grace. I don’t take well to disloyal acquaintances. I would rather root the fellow out."

A pause, oddly enjoying the secretary squirming.

"Do you understand what I am saying?"

Gianna herself wasn’t sure what she was saying. Root out? Those were Athena’s words. But it seemed to have done the trick.

"Yes ma’am. My loyalty is yours."

"Good. Now, tell me about the company, and its hierarchy."