Moments: A BWWM Short Story Collection

XVII. Escalation (Pt. 1 of 4)

As requested by shabzshortie.

"You... uh.... w-wanted to see me, Mrs. White?"

I looked over my desk at the trembling man who'd stuck his head through the carved ivory doors to my office, watching his sweaty hands wringing together as I hesitantly beckoned him in with diamond-tipped nail.

"It's Miss White to you." I said with a note of warning. "But report."

"Well, um... Miss White." the bent man stammered as his eyes traced the patterns in my impeccably polished marble floors. "As per your orders, we have completed our assessment of the main office of White Enterprises, and, uh..."

A sigh escaped my platinum-painted lips as I got out of my high-backed zebra-hide chair. I smoothed out the wrinkles in my bone-white pantsuit (which perfectly contrasted my dark sepia skin and combed with my short shock of white hair) before descending the steps from my desk on my matching open-toed pumps.

"Just spit it out already, I'm a busy, busy woman, and I don't have time for games. How tall is the main office, and does it beat our competitor?"

I titled my head as I reached the inspector, and he trembled in his dingy overalls.

"Nine... nine-hundred, seventy-six feet and... and three inches, ma'am."

I breathed out as I turned my back to the inspector, clenching a fist in triumph as I savored the sweet rush of victory. It was good to be the queen!

"Excellent work." I said, returning to my usual bored tone. "I'll see to it that your men get paid triple for this. In the meantime, I've got-"

"There's just... one small problem, Mrs... er... Miss White." the man squeaked.

I spun on my heels as my delicately plucked eyebrows met in anger.

"What sort of problem?!" I said as rage bled into my voice.

"It's... just that... your competitor, Mr. Black... quite unfairly, might I add... constructed a new penthouse atop his main office, bringing the total height of his building to Nine hundred, seventy-six feet and four inches, ma'am."

The inspector flinched upon delivering this soul-crushing news, and while I had fired employees for lesser offenses in the past, I had bigger problems today.

Still, someone's head was going to roll for this.

"I see..." I said as I fiddled with my diamond broach. "Get construction on the line, tell them I want an updated penthouse design on my desk by tomorrow morning. Now get your dusty shoes out of my office before I lose my sense of generosity."

The inspector bowed and power-walked out as fast as he could, leaving a trail of dirt on my otherwise impeccable floors. I watched the monolithic doors slam shut and waited ten whole seconds before ripping the broach off and hurling it to the ground.

"Eric!" I screamed, diamonds scattering at my feet as I began to pace. "You just had to upstage me again, didn't you?! You couldn't take that my company's sign is a half-watt brighter than yours, could you?! Well, I'll show you!"

I whipped out my pearl-sheen phone and put it to my ear as I stalked over to the full-length mirrors lining my wall, and I felt my rage subside at my reflection.

It had been fourteen years since the name Tabitha White had taken the soft drink industry by storm, and over the nearly decade and a half since I'd started, I'd amassed an empire of wealth and notoriety the likes of which no one had ever seen...