Silas Hale, the youngest billionaire and CEO of Hale Inc., has transformed his bleak childhood memories into a global empire of innovative, welcoming hotels. Known for his ruthless perfectionism, Silas's life changes when he hires Vivienne Onaïs as...
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"That will be all for today." I told my executive team who handle different aspects of the business, responsible for specific divisions. I had selected them carefully and they were competent enough. They generally knew the visions and goals I had in mind for Hale inc, and thankfully that reduced my micromanaging tendencies by a thousand.
Vivienne definitely helped the most in ensuring only the critical issues reached me and I knew that was after sorting out a lot of information. She did it quickly too. I never admitted it out loud but the pressure on my shoulders suddenly eased a bit with her by my side.
Unfortunately for her and I, she was not going anywhere. Her salary made sure of that.
"And thank you! Good work guys!" I saw Vivienne's face in the corner of my laptop screen. She grinned at everyone, waving her slender hand, her fingers decorated with golden rings. As if they were all in a trance, the men and women of my board smiled back. I withheld the urge to roll my eyes at them. Even though the meeting just ended, Vivienne managed to ask them about their days and engage in quick small talk, it was a smooth near unnoticed transition. From a serious atmosphere to straight laughter. Everyone loved her. The worst part was that I could not blame them for it.
Yes, she had the power to do that as well.
I had a flit of deja vu when talking to Elara the other day, my third date. Her initial expressive nature reminded me of Vivienne and I was annoyed because it didn't feel the same. I did not know why and I did not want to figure out why.
Luckily, because of the event I was attending, the World Travel Market, there were no dates today. But that also meant I needed to talk with people the entire evening. Do not get me wrong, I could when I needed to but the fatigue was immense, the urge to tell everyone to shut up simultaneously increasing. Was the promotion talk worth it? Yes, but I could not do it for long. Julian's mouth will be running the majority of that event and boy, will he have the time of his life. It was worse with a few drinks in.
The call had finally ended and already the door slammed open. Before I even lifted my gaze, I could recognise the clicking of those heels anywhere. My eyes trailed upwards to her eyes, trying not to linger anywhere else.
"Vivienne."
The corners of her pink glossy lips curled upwards at me as a greeting before she looked down at her phone, her long nails tapping the screen as she scrolled. She cleared her throat. "So the guest list is online and the worst case scenario has come true. Michael will be there."
Audibly, I let out a loud groan, my head thrown back against my headrest. "For fucks sake."
"But hey, we knew he would be there– that guy has a whole cruise. We just wished he wasn't."
One of my regrets was staffing his cruise with my people. But it was because of him, that we even extended the business towards the vacation boat industry. I first stayed because I was fairly new to how everything worked in this field and I was grateful I was even given the chance. But then he started testing my patience, acting as if we were friends and withholding the shit he does on that ship of his. It was a miracle that on one of my visits on his cruise, the staff told me through Vivienne. He did not know that I knew nor did he know I was planning to stop working with him. I just had to get my image under my control (even though people kept pissing me off) and find somewhere nearby where my staff could possibly work. I was not just going to fire them because of the faults of one man. That was simply ridiculous.
