Behind Blue Eyes

Chapter 5 Jace

"Amina Longe. Twenty-five. Project manager. Has been working there for about five years."

"Thank you, Cade." I say to my brother while walking into the building.

"Yeah, no problem," he says. "Do you plan on firing her? Why did you need her file information?"

That's a good question. I don't need them, I don't plan on firing her, it was out of pure curiosity. "I can't decide yet." I lie.

"Okay, well. Let me know as soon as you find out. I advise against it though," he lets out a long breath. "Looks like she is one of the hardest workers LeBlanc has."

I highly doubt that. She spills coffee, listens to classical music, stays past company hours. Okay, maybe she is one of the hardest workers, but I need to find out for myself.

"Same time tomorrow but meet me here." I say as I end the call.

This is the second building I have been to, and it looks much better than the first one. I had to shut that one down. Cyrus had money out of his ass, so keeping all six buildings open wasn't a problem. But with him passing, and my stepmother trying to control the assets, I have to make sure the business is standing on at least one leg. If both are gone, she gets all the money.

Walking into the conference room, eight pairs of eyes stare at me. Jason better hold his end of the bargain.

"Jace- everyone, this is our," He stutters. I swear to fucking- "new co-worker."

That's what I thought. I bumped Jason's salary up ten grand to keep my work private. This building is where all of the company's money comes from. My intention is to double it. I have no idea how I am going to manage that as of right now but working here will help me get the idea. My brother, Cade, is doing the same thing with the second money maker. I'm at the upper east side and he's downtown Manhattan.

I find a seat in the front of the table. Everyone is watching Jason give a presentation, but his skills could use some work. He needs to be more direct with his proposals. Amina is here, focusing on me when she should be listening. I tilt my head at her, and she quickly looks away. Her cheeks are flushed. I suppress a laugh.

"Lange, did you already get in contact with the clients?" Jason asks.

"I did." She stutters. "I need to make a couple more calls."

Which clients? "The triad?" I ask. I probably shouldn't have. It's technically my first day, so I shouldn't even know about the clients he is talking about.

"Yes, sir."

My jaw clenches. I am going to have to take away his raise a lot sooner than I anticipated. "Yeah, no. I'll be taking that." I state.

Amina nearly falls out of her chair. "No. It's mine, I got it covered." She says with an uneasy breath.

The room goes silent as I stare at her. She will not be 'covering it.'

Jason clears his throat. "May I suggest that you two collaborate?"

"No. You may not." Nice one, Jace. At this point, it's on me for blowing my own cover story.

"With that being said, the first building has already been shut down. Mia or Jace, I am relying on you too to get this going." Jason nearly begs us. He needs to calm down, I'm not shutting this one down.

I stare at him hoping he will catch onto the idea that I want him to dismiss the room.

"So, that's all." He says.

Everyone gathers their things and I watch as they do. I know that Amina might be this company's best worker, but I might need to let her go. I know I said that I wouldn't, but I don't need her dealing with everything. That's my job.

Once the room is clear, I turn slowly to Jason with a pen in my mouth. "This isn't going to work you know?" Jason admits.

I roll my eyes. He's right. "I know you don't want your step-mother knowing what you're up to, but in order to take control of how things work around here, you need to tell everyone."

"Not an option." I mumble. It's not. The moment Victoria knows what I'm up to, she will somehow find a way to ruin it.

"Look man. Can you take over the meeting then? I don't have a degree in lying."

"Nah. You still cover meetings." He throws his hands in the air. I don't know what to tell him. It's not realistic if new employee randomly starts to take over everything.

"I'll figure everything out. Just give me a day." I tell him as I walk out of the room, leaving him in his own pool of frustration.

Turning around the corner, I run into Amina again. "Please," I say while looking down at her. "Watch where you're walking from here on out."

I look down at her shirt and widen my eyes. She is seriously wearing a note clipped to her shirt that reads: Donut Worry.

I move her dark brown hair away from her shoulder and rip the stupid saying off her chest. She is the second person I leave with their hands in the air.

If I fire her, I don't have to deal with seeing the stupid sayings, and I get control of the big projects. There is more than one good thing that could come out of going through with that decision.