Chapter 5 first day at work
"Bring him out" Xavier instructed Duong and Gary. They entered the room while Xavier waited in the hallway, raised his sleeve at the same time, tapping his feet impatiently on the floor.
The sound of inaudible struggles could be heard, but they eventually came out with Justin whose face was ravaged with bruises due to the torture he was given earlier. With the way he breathed hard, it was obvious he used up all his last strength to fight back. No matter what Duong and Gary did to him, it couldn't be compared to what Xavier could do.
They pushed him to the floor right before Xavier while he watched the poor fellow shiver in pain. His injury stung, giving him great discomfort, but Xavier wasn't satisfied. Out of anger and irritation, he jacked Justin from where he squirmed as he raised him angrily. The moment Justin stood up, he was struck by a blow on his face. He fell to the floor, groaned in agony, and coughed painfully while still on the floor.
One signal from Xavier made Duong raise Justin again. Xavier roughly grabbed him by the collar and hit him hard against the wall behind him.
"Please," said Justin immediately his shoulder made an impact with the hard concrete.
"Shut the fuck up!" Xavier punched him across the face. A whimper escaped from Justin's lips as he spat out blood.
"I didn't mean to"
"Didn't mean to do what!" Xavier wrapped his hand around Justin's neck as he tightly. At the same time, banging his head on the wall incessantly until he was satisfied.
"Ma....." He coughed as he tried to catch his breath. "Magnus said he was going to kill my family. I have two... Two daughters. I was just trying to protect them from him" Justin explained. His voice filled with fear.
Xavier walked a few paces back, his back turned against Justin. "And you didn't think of what I'll to you," he said with venom in every word he spat.
"I.."
"Shut up!"
"You broke the confraternity's code out of fear. That's very cowardly of you, Justin" he turned to look at him. "Do you know what this would have cost us?"
"Please" Justin begged when he realized Xavier was now walking stealthily towards him.
Xavier snickered, reached his hand inside the back of his trousers, and emerged with a handgun. Justin swallowed hard with their eyes wide open.
He looked at Duong and Gary. The stern look on their face held not an atom of compromise. At this point, Justin knew he was done for.
"Xavier" he called out. His voice was gone. There was so much fear could do.
Xavier without warning pulled the trigger as he shot Justin right in the arm. He fell to the floor, squeezing his eyes shut. Blood splashed to the wall and also flowed to the concrete where they stood. Justin tried to scream, but he couldn't. The pain he felt in his arm was excruciating.
"I would have taken your other arm, but you need it to take care of your two daughters," he said coldly, turning to look at Duong. "Clean this up," he said lastly and left.
"Your mother gets back and you still want to work for him" Chloe got up, feeling frustrated while Rachael brushed her brunette hair without consideration of what Chloe said.
"I have to Chloe. He is dangerous, and he assured me he was going to take her back if I don't comply"
"We could run. Fucking ditch San Diego!" Chloe yelled.
"It's not that easy. Do you think he won't find us? If we decide to make a run for it, he will find us and he might do the unthinkable. I can't risk it"
"And what about Magnus?" Chloe asked angrily. Rachael sighed.
"He doesn't know I took down the article"
" What happens when he finds out?"
"Can you be less negative for once Chloe!" Rachael grabbed her makeup box as she left the room. The last thing she wanted to do was have this conversation in the same room her mother was in. The woman needed rest. Adding to her troubles could worsen her case.
"Where are you going?" Chloe barked, while she trailed Rachael from behind.
"Chloe please, "Rachael said when she got to the sitting room. "I'm doing this for us"
"Well I don't like where this is going"
Rachael puffed out air from her mouth as she held her sister's shoulders, looking directly into her eyes. "Trust me"
"I do, I just" Chloe settled on one of the couches, rummaging her hands through her hair. I'm just scared"
"Don't be. I know exactly what I'm doing" Rachael consoled. At this point, Chloe knew she couldn't be convinced. Her mind was made up.
"I'm off," Rachael smiled at Chloe. "How do I look?
"Good" Chloe shrugged.
"Take care of mum then" after that was said, Rachael departed.
The moment Rachael got inside the firm, she saw Xavier accompanied by another brunette man approaching the main entrance, hastily. Xavier, dressed in a blue tuxedo suit, complemented with red shoes, appeared as breathtaking as always. His right hand was dipped into his pocket, while his legs carried him, exhibiting a lot of power and elegance. The people around appeared so small and less important due to his outstanding looks and aura.
"Leave that to Emmeline. Work on...."
"Sir" Rachael interrupted. The word sounded strange, flowing out of her mouth, but she had to get used to it because she was going to be working for him for quite a while.
Xavier who abruptly paused his conversation turned to look at her as he tilted his head. His eyes traveled from her eyes, down to her clothing. A red suit and a pair of matching trousers. After examining her, he bent his wristwatch to check the time. He looked back at her.
"You were supposed to be here by 7 am miss Anderson," he said to her. Rachael followed his statement also bending her wrist to have a look at the time. Was he being serious? She was just 5 minutes late.
"Just five minutes late"
"Still late"
"I was uh...." Rachael paused thinking of a perfect excuse. "I was caught up in traffic"
"Don't give such an excuse next time, Miss Anderson" he warned. Rachael nodded. He knew she was lying, but at least didn't make a big deal out of it. She was grateful for that. It was her first day and didn't want anything that could ruin it.
"Thank you" she hesitated. "Sir" she finally added. Xavier gave her a slight nod before turning to the guy beside him.
"Jerry, brief her on what I told you earlier" Jerry nodded when he said this.
"Alright, Stacey let's go" he beckoned to the woman behind Jerry who adjusted the length of her skirt at intervals. She rushed to where Xavier was, giving off a slight, nervous smile. They both left while Rachael followed Jerry.
"The blogger," he smirked at Rachael. She wasn't that dumb not to notice how judgemental his voice sounded. He knew about the article. Probably, everyone in the company knew about it.
"Yes I also don't know my use here," she said feigning ignorance at the same time, tilting her head to the side.
Jerry sighed as he dug his hands into his pocket. "Your job is to give reports to the public on anything the boss tells you about the office of course."
"You mean Xavier"
"Yes, but nobody calls me that around here. Be careful miss"
"It's Anderson" she added.
"Miss Anderson. Well, you are solely to accompany the boss to meetings, events, seminars, and so on. Mind you, you are only to write what the boss tells you. No matter how juicy the story might be" he spoke after her, adding more emphasis on the ‘juicy’ to prove a point. He must know of the undying hunger bloggers had for those types of stories.
"I'll show you to your office," he said to her. Rachael was slightly stunned. She had no idea she was going to get one, especially for a job like this. Blogging can be done anywhere, but Xavier made it a certainty she got an office? It wasn't clear why he was so particular about her working for him. He didn't need her. He was a public figure and had thousands of bloggers that write regularly about him.
They took the elevator to the fourth floor. Rachael trailed quietly behind him as they walked through the hallway. Other staff seemed hasty, occasionally, bumping into Rachael unintentionally. Even though they muttered inaudible apologies, Rachael still felt annoyed
"I didn't get a sample, Jerry," a lady said from behind. Her neck was bent to support her phone on her ear while both hands were filled up with papers.
"It'll be resolved as soon as possible," she spoke again. Rachael wasn't sure who the lady was talking to. If it was the person she was on the phone with or Jerry who stood by her side, waiting for the woman to get to where they where
"Exactly. I'll get back to you if there're any changes" the call was ended. Now she was stuck with her phone still in her ear and her hands filled. Rachael had to step in to help. Her little help made the lady sigh in relief.
"Thanks a lot. Work gets crazy sometimes" A smile appeared at the corner of her lips as she occasionally stole glances at Jerry to get an introduction.
"That's the new intern" he addressed her. Rachael paused turning to look at him. Of course, he made a mistake.
"He meant blogger" she corrected.
"Oh dear," he pinched the top of his nose. "I forgot to brief earlier on that. You are going to be doing both"
Rachael's mouth dropped. How could Xavier do this to her? He really should have taken a certificate of bringing people down to the level they didn't deserve as a means of punishment.
"An intern!" she half yelled with widened eyes.
"Yes," he partially shut his eyes. "You weren't told?"
"No, I wasn't!".
"Well you know now" he gave off a quick smile that faded in seconds. "Let's go" he snapped. Rachael had no choice other than to follow him still too stunned.
"Jerry please remember the samples" the lady shouted from behind while they both walked off.
Rachael's lips parted the moment they got into the office she was supposed to have. At that point, she wished she didn't have one at all. The places looked like a warehouse of documents and unnecessary paperwork. She didn't assume wrongly. It was indeed a warehouse!
She turned to Jerry with the look of dissatisfaction still evident on her face. He kept a neutral look on his face. Rachael got angrier at the fact that he acted like this was normal when it wasn't.
"You have a lot of cleaning up to do"
"Are you...." She almost lost it, but decided to keep her cool, breathing out sharply." Is this the only vacant office in this building?"
"No"
"Then why do I get this?"
"That was the boss's order. He also said you have to sort the paper accordingly. Then take them to the other warehouse on the 12th floor"
Her mouth dropped. "Do you realize how many papers are scattered here? When the hell am I going to be done?"
"You can use the whole of today." He shrugged. "I don't make the rules here. Oh! and" he bent his wrist to check the time. "You need to get coffee for him in 30 minutes," he said, giving off a slight smile. At this point, Rachael believed Jerry was doing this on purpose just to get her angrier than she already was.
"Well when is the boss getting back?" she folded her arm, peering her eyes into his.
"In 30 minutes"
"Good" she nodded slowly. He was going to get a piece of her mind because she couldn't do this!