I Trust You

Listen To Me!

"Vincent?" Mouths Grace staring in confusion at Mr.Maxwell who only briefly glances at her before tearing his gaze to Mrs.Boards.

"I know we're late and I would like to apologise for that." Says Linda her nose almost touching the floor as she bows done to Vincent like he's some sort of deity. "But I would like you to meet the girl I was speaking about on the phone earlier." Linda continues her face cautious but her eyes shining bright in admiration.

What is going?!

"Okay." Vincent curtly nods before tossing the file onto his polished desk and striding over to them.

"Oh, Ms. Fontanel, I would like to introduce you to our CEO Mr.Maxwell." Linda says snapping Grace out of her confused daze. "Mr.Maxwell this is Grace Fontanel our newly employed Senior Brand Manager."

Grace furrows her brows as she glances at Mr.Maxwell's hand.

Oh, so you want to pretend we've never met. Ug, jerk!

Grace musters a wide smile and gingerly places her warm, slightly damp, hand into Mr.Maxwell's firm, calloused one.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Maxwell and I look forward to us working together." Grace confidently says staring deep into Mr.Maxwell's eyes, her chin up.

Mr.Maxwell simple nods and turns back to his desk before taking a seat at his expensive leather throne.

Flip that chair is huge, that's some legit Game Of Thrones shit.

Mr.Maxwell folds his strong arms on the table and motions, with the tip of his head ,towards the chair directly in-front of his desk.

Grace glances at Linda, heavily breathes out, and takes a seat in from of the 'king'. Linda follows suit and crosses her leg over the other one as she absorbs Mr.Maxwell in.

"So, Ms.Fontanel," Mr. Maxwell stops and his eyes dangerously flicker to Linda.

A heavy silence settles over the three as Mr.Maxwell continues his assault on poor Linda. As a few more seconds pass, Linda shoots our her seat grabbing her handbag with her.

"Thank you, Mr.Maxwell." Linda bows and begins to slowly leave the room but not before throwing Grace a harsh glare which could easily be interpreted as 'you better not mess this up, idiot'.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Grace tears her eyes of Linda as she disappears behind the door.

"You could have just asked her to leave." Murmurs Grace remembering the crude type of guy he is from their unplanned rendezvous in the park. "It would have been much easier than almost burning your eyeballs off."

Mr.Maxwell blinks once, twice than a third time before defeatedly shaking his head and reaching for the file he had in his hand earlier.

"I received a small brief from Mrs. Boards about what you plan on doing but I would prefer to hear it from you." Mr.Maxwell says flippantly opening the file in front of him.

I knew something like this would happen. We're adults now, why do we still have to do unprepared speeches?

"Um, well." Grace coughs feeling her palms sweat and her stomach churning with butterflies. "Well, you see, it's important that we, uh, address the, you know, growing concerns at the, um, company."

You're failing miserably.

Grace stops her fidgeting legs and stares at Mr.Maxwell, loose jawed, as he continues flipping through his file.

He isn't even listening.

A shot of anger passes through Grace as she crosses her arm and clenches her jaw.

"You stopped." Comments Mr.Maxwell briefly glancing at Grace then back to his file.

"Yes, I did." Answers Grace curtly feeling undermined.

"May I ask why?" He says folding his arms and throws Grace a chilly stare.

"Because you weren't paying attention and speaking to walls isn't as thrilling as it might sound." She fires back.

"Really." He jokes a ghost of a smile evident on his lips.

"Yes."

"I was listening though." He says tilting his head towards Grace.

"Maybe."Grace shrugs feeling as if she's talking to Vincent at the park again, not Mr.Maxwell. "But etiquette states that looking at somebody while they're speaking to you shows respect."

"You seemed a little nervous so I thought staring at you in that state might just send you over the edge." He argued his tongue darting over his lips briefly.

"I was not nervous." Asserts Grace her eyes fiercely glaring AK47 bullets at him.

"The stuttering?"

"A technique I use." Grace babbles her face grimacing.

"Oh, I see." Vincent nods. "Well, I'm looking at you now so, you may proceed."

Grace glances at her hands one last time before meeting Vincent's cold gaze and begins, forgetting about her nerves, who she's talking to and the room she's in but basking in the relief and excitement she gets whenever she speaks about what she's passionate about.

"So, what do you propose we do?" Asks Vincent leaning against one of his bookshelf, his brows furrowed but his attention focused on Grace.

"Simple, we brand you." Grace confidently answers.

"Brand me?" He answers his voice dropping to almost a whisper.

"Yes." Grace says standing up for her chair and slowly walking over to him. "You are the company, right. You made it what it is today and therefore everything in you is in this company. So, by branding you we're able to create a persona for your company as well, you know?"

"I don't know." Vincent answers pushing his brown curls back.

"Like..."Grace releases a huge sigh as she thinks of a better way of putting it. "Like, if Vincent is nice so must be his company, if Vincent is smart, he's company must be just as innovative and creative as him, if Vincent is charitable then his company is something we should all support, if Vincent-"

"Okay." He interrupts taking a seat on his throne.

"Okay?" Grace mutters, eyeing him. "So what do you say?"

"Is it going to help the company?"

"Yes."

"Let's do it then." Vincent answers his eyes blazing with a quiet and calculated determination.

This should be fun.