Ego {Completed}

Chapter 6

Monday morning, bright and early, Beyoncé strutted into her office with a new aura about her. Her honey blonde waves bounced softly, and her black six inch heels clicked sharply with each step she took. She was almost unrecognizable to her employees. Her makeup was flawless and not overdone, her black pencil skirt and tight, white blouse hugged every curve of her body, and not a single strand of hair was out of place. What's more is, she actually smiled. She glowed from within, and for the first time in a long time, she actually seemed to be happy.

"Good morning." She smiled and spoke to everyone who made eye contact with her. Many were shocked to see her, and few were able to respond.
When she got to Kelly and Nicki's adjacent desks, she stopped and spoke.
"Good morning, ladies."
"Oh, look at you," Nicki smiled. "I assume you made it home safely?"
Beyoncé smiled. "I did make it home, and I was safe." She said simply.
Kelly smirked too. "Yeah, it shows. But good for you. As long as you're happy."
Beyoncé didn't say anything else about her weekend before heading to her office. Solange looked to be busy at her desk outside of Beyoncé's office, but when she saw her sister approaching, she looked up.

"What?" Beyoncé asked when Solange gave her a look.
"Well, I know you can't be pregnant, since you don't have a man, so that glow must be from that man you went home with the other night."
Beyoncé rolled her eyes, but still smiled. "Shut up." She said before walking into her office. Solange followed.
"By the way, where were you for brunch yesterday morning? No one could get in touch with you, and Mamma was worried about you."
Beyoncé sighed. She'd forgotten about her family brunch, but it's not the first family meal she's skipped. "I was busy, and I forgot."
Solange raised her eyebrow. "Busy?"
Beyoncé vaguely shrugged.
Solange knew she wouldn't get anymore out of her than that, so she continued with the important things. "Well, Ms. Stella, while you were getting your groove back this weekend, I was working."
"On what?"
Now, Solange smiled. "Finding your author."
"Did you get in touch with him?"
"Not yet. I found his file, but I wasn't able to contact him over the weekend. But I'll try today."
"Good. Set up an interview for tomorrow, please. I want to work with him personally."
"I bet you do." Solange said under her breath. Luckily, Beyoncé didn't hear her.

Since it was Monday, the company had a new batch of manuscripts come in. Many of them were repeats from the same people, and not particularly books that Beyoncé wanted to publish. She called up her second in command assistant editor and asked her to go through the new manuscripts and pick out her favorites. Beyoncé couldn't be bothered with that today, since she wanted to spend the day looking over Ego. The book was almost perfect to her, but of course everything could use a little more details and corrections. She spent most of her morning going through the book for the third time, and this time she paid attention to the things that needed to be worked on.
In the afternoon, she had a meeting with another author and the editorial board. She wasn't personally working with this author, and she doesn't usually work personally with authors, but she still goes to all the meetings. This book was published in eight months, and it came in with a lot of flaws, so Beyoncé knew she could get Ego published in much less time.

Finally, after lunch, Solange entered Beyoncé's office once more.
"I called him." She announced. "He'll be here first thing tomorrow morning."
"Great." Beyoncé said shortly as she continued to go through his book.
"Do you want to see his profile?" Solange asked.
Beyoncé looked up. "No. I'd rather be surprised."
Solange raised her brows and smiled. "Okay..." She didn't ask anything else before leaving her sister's office.

That evening, when Beyoncé went home, she went through the book once more. She was starting to become so familiar with it that she could quote several passages perfectly. She suddenly remembered that she promised Shawn that she would let him know when the book was to be published. She got out her phone and sent a quick text.
"I'm meeting with the author tomorrow morning. I'll ask if I can share the book with you. No promises though :)"
He replied back later, but only with a smiley face. Beyoncé didn't think much of it before finally finally putting the book away for the day. She'd have plenty of time to spend with it, as well as with the author, in the next few months.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday night before bed, I typed up an outline for a contract for the author. I didn't want to know anything about him, because I found it kind of nice to read from someone anonymous. That may very well have been one of the things that attracted me to his story.
The contract will state that I will be working with this author on publishing his book, and that we are striving to have it published in three to five months. I didn't include any specific dates in the contract, because I want the author to have as much control over this process as possible. I know a lot of publishing companies almost completely exclude the author when it comes to publishing, by my company strives to be different. And especially since I will be working personally with this author, I'll serve as the editor and publisher. Since there will be less people involved in the process, most of the control will be in the author's hands.
I went to bed that night feeling a bit excited. I remembered the first time I published a book, back when my company was a small, no name, hole-in-the-wall outlet for indie writers. I was so excited to publish my first book, I felt like a kid at Christmas. I don't tend to feel that way anymore, especially since I don't usually work so closely with the authors. But this time, I'm willing to make an exception.

Tuesday morning, I adorned myself in a sleeveless, nude dress with a black belt, and black heels again. I thought about doing an up do, but then I thought about what Nicki said about my bun, and I laughingly decided not to. Instead, I let my wavy tresses stay free, but still neat. I decided to stay very minimum with my makeup today to 1) go along with the nude look, and 2) not come off too strong for a new author. I have a certain image that I want to uphold.
As I was driving to work, I got stuck in traffic for longer than I would have liked. I checked the clock and knew I would be late, which made me extremely irritated, since I have a meeting this morning. I called my sister and told her to simply lead the author to the conference room whenever he arrives and to let him know that I would be late.
I was almost ten minutes late when I finally arrived, so I made my haste to the conference room. Our initial meeting will just be between the two of us, so I know that he'll be in there by himself.

"How long has he been waiting?" I asked Solange as I hurried to the room.
"About fifteen minutes. But he did show up five minutes early."
I groaned. "That's what he's supposed to do, but it still makes me look bad. I'm supposed to show up ten minutes early."
"I'm sure he won't mind. And before you go in, here's his profile. I really think you should look it over-"
"And I really don't have time right now," I said to her once we reached the conference room door. I didn't hesitate before walking in. "Sorry I'm late, Mr-"
"Shawn Carter." He stood up and held out his hand to me. I knew his voice only all too well, and when I looked up at his face, my heart almost stopped.