Personal assistant

Dealbreaker

For heavens sake.

I internally wished for the woman to stop tap-tap-tapping with her pen on the desk like that. Her inquisitive stare pierced the air to land on nothing, she was inside her own mind.

Her father had called again, of course. She still wouldn't inform me his reasoning... of course. So I sat next to her, staring at the door to her office with my legs crossed tight. It appeared her nerves had danced on over to me, I had a habit of picking up on other people's anxiety.

Finally, on the other side of the door was movement. The steps were leadened and harsh, the bearer of bad news had reached the floor. Sofia stood up, hands behind her back, suddenly appearing calm and professional. The door swung open, and in flounced the blonde 'fiancé' followed by Miss Bardot's sorry excuse for a father.

"Why did you bring her, that wasn't part of the deal."

Sofia tightened her jaw and Kiera sneered at me before planting herself in the chair opposite us. Her father loosely carried a lit cigar between his lips and my nose wrinkled the closer he got. I stifled a cough and his eyes flicked towards me briefly before seating himself next to Kiera.

"I changed my mind," the man stated cooly, tapping the burnt edges of his cigar on the desk between us.

"Of course you did," Sofia muttered, folding her arms and rolling her eyes.

"Please, sit and I will explain." 

He gestured to the chair behind her inviting the businesswoman to be seated, as if it wasn't her office and her space he'd invaded. He took another long drag, eyes burning into the same boiling shade as the end of his cigar.

"You will be married by the end of this week," He stated, flicking his head towards Kiera, not waiting for a protest, but Sofia didn't bother giving one anyway - she just raised an eyebrow and calculated her next move.

"The deal I made with the Carson's wasn't negotiable, and I will not have you stand in the way of my profit."

Sofia spluttered out a forced laugh at his statement. 

"Your profits..." the woman mused, tapping her pen on the desk slower and slower. 

"It's not my fault you gambled away every penny you ever made, I will not be forced to marry someone I despise because of the mistakes you have made."

He smacked his hand down on the desk, glaring straight through her, I half expected him to pull out a gun and shoot.

"But babe, we loved each other we can make it work," Kiera cooed, an annoying sound amidst the silence I preferred from her. Sofia regarded the blonde in disbelief, shaking her head.

"You are both insane, pick on someone else to use father, we're done here. Find your own way out."

Miss Bardot stood up from her chair so abruptly, I found myself doing the same automatically.

Kiera reluctantly rose, but Sofia's father, did not. He puffed heavily, billows of smoke catching in my throat as he did so. Hat tipped low over his face, the man refused to acknowledge Sofia's request for him to leave.

"I never thought someone so pathetic would be related to me," he spat venomously, but Sofia wasn't phased in the slightest, I suppose she had grown up hearing him say that her entire life.

"Marry the Carson for fucks sake, it's not like you'll ever be given a real proposal."

Sofia shrugged, simply insisting she could not.

"Maybe I never want to marry. Maybe, it should be my decision."

Her head tilted to the side, and Miss Bardot slipped into an easy smile, taunting the pair stood in front.

"Or maybe, I love another."

My cheeks heated up and I struggled to stay standing as all the attention shifted towards me. 

"You want to give up our legacy... for this?"

His head swivelled towards me, the look on his face a picture of absolute fury. I was petrified, the things this man did to his own daughter, what would he do to me?

"The legacy was never ours," she answered quietly, taking a protective step closer to me.

"As long as you live, nothing will ever truly be mine."

"I gave the Beaumont to you!" He bellowed, composure flying out the window.

Miss Bardot simply rolled up her sleeves, a splitting silence from the awful duo followed. Her tattoos and what they covered exposed beneath them spoke boundlessly.

"At what cost, father." 

The man said nothing in retort for once, only flicked ashes onto her table once more and the quietude sprinkled down next to them.

"The Beaumont was gifted out of guilt, and obligation. The money, too. I don't want or need anything from you."

He cruelly smiled, a glint flashing off the singular golden canine he had. He finally stood up, carelessly but purposefully dropping his lit cigar atop her paperwork.

The small flame that attempted to dance was extinguished in a split second, Miss Bardot's hand slammed on top of the table in the same way her fathers had earlier. She crushed the cigar to smithereens of dust, ribbons of smoke swirling their escape between her splayed fingers.

Sofia didn't even flinch, or take her eyes off her father.

"Get out of my building. If you contact me again, I will involve Armstrong corp."

His hand tipped his hat back upwards, a sinister look of intrigue crossing his face before he stepped away slowly. Kiera reluctantly followed, looking defeated and small.

"That's more like it,"

he mused, opening the door for himself.

"That's the daughter I raised, one who is spiteful and loves a challenge."

She clenched her fists behind the desk and kept her expression stone cold. I honestly thought she was going to kill him.

"Brava, stellina."

Something switched, the room instantly felt dangerous and her expression was one of sheer fury. My gut screamed at me to run from this altercation as fast as I could. The portly man shook out his trench over his shoulders, sending a glare so purely hostile at me, it could have sent me to the mortuary.

"You stupid, stupid man," Sofia stated, and Kiera grabbed onto his arm horrified, trying to drag him out the room. If I had touched the businesswoman in that moment, my hand would have disintegrated. She was seething, and I took a step back nervously. One of her hands reached under the desk and the sound of wood splintering mixed with alarm bells ringing in my ears forced me to smash myself against her back wall. 

"Vaffanculo maiale."

She gripped the hell-bound carbon steel in a vice, pointing it directly at her father's chest. I felt so sick, my hand flew to my own as I struggled to breathe and hold myself together.

"I asked you nicely, you don't listen. Now I instead I will tell you."

I screwed my eyes shut, I didn't even realise I had shed tears until they ran down from my cheeks onto my neck.

"Get the fuck out of my office."

Her tone was almost more petrifying than what she held in her hands. He flew out the room followed by a hysterical Kiera, the door slowly closing behind them, leaving me alone with the furious Beaumont owner - and a pistol.