Finding Her Joy

You Work For Me

*A/N- I already know somebody's going to be mad. I'm ready for it. Happy reading! Enjoy!

(ROGER POV)
"So she trusts you, right? Enough to believe anything you say is true?"

"Yeah. Seems like it." Peter said. "I don't like this. She's going to figure it out at some point. You might want to quit while you're ahead."

I scoffed, "You really think I'm scared of little Miss Amelia Roberts? She's just as weak as all the other women in my life. Siobhan is the same way, too. She tried to stand up to me a few times, but I trained her quickly."

The trick with "strong" women is to make them feel like they can't live without you. Pretend to be doting and loving, lull them into a false sense of security. When they least expect it, you switch. Break them slowly. Intimacy and isolation. The best methods of control. By that point, they'll be too comfortable or scared to leave.

"She almost broke my arm without breaking a sweat. Do you really think you're stronger than her?" He had the nerve to ask.

"Men are stronger than women. That's how they're made, but I don't need to be stronger physically to beat her. Breaking her down emotionally will be much more fun." I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of watching her crumble.

"There's something not right about you... what's my role in all of this? You're paying me a hell of a lot of money for a job I know nothing about." He asked too many questions, but it was time for him to find out what he'd really been hired to do.

I threw a file across the table, "You see that woman in there?" He nodded. "Kill her."

"What?" He asked, shocked. "I can't do that! That's not a part of my job description. I don't care how much you pay me! This woman is innocent."

I slammed my fists on the table. "Fine. If you don't do it, then I will. You can just keep Amelia occupied until then."

He threw the file back towards me and said, "Fine."

"Good job getting her to Paris, by the way. You'd better get back to her now. Keep me updated with any new information."

He stood up to leave my hotel room. "Where do I tell her I was? She's going to ask."

"I don't care. Tell her you were washing your hair or screwing around with some whore and lost track of time." I rolled my eyes before looking down at some papers on my desk. "You're a big boy. Figure it out." I shooed him away and heard him leave moments later.

(MIA POV)
I was on the phone with Char, but had to cut our conversation short because Peter had finally decided to call me back.

"Where the hell were you tonight?" I answered Peter's call still angry that he'd left me to fend for myself.

"Something came up." He replied plainly.

"That's your excuse? Are you serious?"

"Yup." He said quick. "Your dad's left the country again. I think you should head home for a while."

I couldn't tell if I was mad at him or confused with the quick turnaround. "What do you mean? He was here this morning. That's the whole reason I'm here, and now you're telling me that he's gone again?"

"Pretty much, yeah. He must've seen we were coming and left." He was being very short with his responses again.

"And when did you know that? I told you to keep an eye on him until I got here, so you must've seen him leave." This whole thing is so frustrating and I just want to rip my hair out.

"I didn't actually. I stepped away for another meeting and I guess that's when he slipped out."

"You guess? Do you still work for me because right now it sure doesn't feel like it? I'm here all because this was supposed to be a sure thing! I could be home right now with my girlfriend, instead of out here on a wild goose chase with you!" Wait... did I really just say that out loud? Are we ready for that? Am I ready for that? It does have a nice ring to it...

He hesitated, "You should. Just go home. Take a few days and I'll call when I have news." And then he hung up.

"What the hell?" I said to myself. There's something going on and I don't know what it is. It's not my job to fix it. That's what I pay him for.

I sent Charlotte a message saying I was coming home in a week and wanted to take her to breakfast before I needed to head out again. She was excited, to say the least.

I would stay longer to be with her, but Roger was going to be furious if I pushed off any more meetings. There's no excuse right now to keep me from business, so I might as well get some other things done for a while.

Speak of the devil. Even after our conversation, he wasn't done talking to me. He sent me an email that could've been 4 pages long with things I had to do. All the meetings that he had rescheduled, paperwork to do, blah blah blah. Truthfully, I stopped reading after the first paragraph. He was just repeating everything, and I didn't want to deal with him anymore. It could wait till morning.

Back to the real world, I guess. It's not all bad. I get to see my girl, and I can't wait.

Everyone is just blowing up my phone tonight. I went to put my phone on the charger and call Char back, and Reece was calling.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, half yelling at me.

I let out a long sigh, "I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about. It's been a long day, Reecey. If you're going to yell at me, you could at least tell me why first."

He grunted, "I just got an email from my dad about the nurseries. There's a whole bunch of changes, repairs, and fee increase information. At the end, he said I could thank you for it. So what did you do?"

"Ha!" I laughed. "Of course he's blaming me for all that. I didn't do anything."

"What? Then what's going on? This is so random for him." I was just as confused as him, but Roger did have a special way of stressing us all out.

"I could be wrong, but it might have something to do with Daddy Dearest knowing about my hunt for his ex-wife."

"He knows?!" He exclaimed. I think the volume of his own voice scared him because he went back to being quiet. "How did he find out? I thought you were being careful?"

Why so many questions today? And why did everyone just assume that I was at fault? "He says he has eyes everywhere, but I'm not sure what he meant by that. There might be a leak, a double agent if you will."

"Great." It was not great. He was not happy. "I'll try and figure out if it's coming from my end. You might want to check that guy of yours. We can't be too careful."

"Righty-roo, Reecey baby." I could feel him glaring at me through the phone. Even I hated me for that one. "By the way..."

"Yeah?" He asked.

"You're taking away my facetime with Char. Do you want me to kick your ass now, or would you prefer later?"

"I know. I got your texts. I'm sorry about that, but it's just a phone call. Don't you guys talk all the time anyway? I don't think this is important enough to get violent."

"You must not know me very well if that was your response."

"What do you guys do during those FaceTime calls for you to be that upset about it?" He asked, trying not to be offended. "You literally threatened my life in your texts."

"Ask Char when you see her. It'll distract her and keep you from talking about your feelings." The sarcasm came very heavy with that.

"Not funny." He said.

"I wonder if Char would find that cruise we took funny. I know I did."

"Mia, don't." He was angry now. Exactly how I felt when Charlotte told me we couldn't talk.

I teased him, "Maybe I should tell Marjorie. That would be hilarious."

He yelled at me not to and got embarrassed. His face had to be bright red. I gave an evil laugh, and we talked for a bit about Roger until I had to hang up and call Char. She would be going to sleep soon, and I had to hear her voice one more time before I went to sleep.

I loved this new routine I'd gotten into with her. Perfect.