Handled

Chapter Ten

"I'm sorry you have to drive me all the way back to the city, I'm going to kill Raina. Literally. Unthankful and unbelievable" I hissed, thinking of the ways I was going to throw her through a window. 

"It's fine" came Silos' steel reply. 

He didn't seemed bothered or even shocked. 

But when I got my hands on that spoiled fucking brat, she was going to wish she had never been born. 

"Don't even understand her sometimes, so fucking selfish. Kidnapped me to bring me all the way out there so she could steal some shit back, and run into him? What the hell was the point of that?" I hissed, glaring out of the window. 

"She wanted to tell him she got a job" Silos' calm reply came. 

I laughed, "the one I fucking got her? When I see her, someone better help her because I'm going to strangle her. All she ever does is think about herself and what she should get and how she should fucking get it" I growled. 

"Raina can be the kindest person, when she wants to be, she's difficult sometimes, its just comes from how she was brought up." Silos sighed, defending her. 

Fire was burning in my eyes, "brought up? Please, she was born this way. She and I grew up together, nearly the same, only difference is her father isn't a fucking-" I bit my tongue, trying desperately not to fucking scream in rage. 

I took a deep breath, "let it go, Zola. I know she's like this, just let it go, she thinks she deserves the right to act like this, just let it go," I coached myself trying to bring my blood pressure down.

And fuck if she didn't believe she was owed everything I could give. 

I knew why she acts this way, but I made a promise a long time ago. 

"She told me her Father left when she was young" Silos said, his eyes on me, as I tried to calm myself down. 

I tugged my braids away from my face, "yes, he did. There was a two for one special going on, and my Father dipped as well. You don't see me abandoning people, stealing cars, do you?" I finished, letting the anger finally go. "I'm sorry, I know she's ... important to you, I don't mean to talk shit, I'm just stressed is all." 

"About that phone call?" 

"Among other things, like the blackmail scheme I'm somehow involved in. I'm really just tired, I haven't slept is all. Something is always wrong, you would think that it would happen at a normal hour like noon, but no, everything goes to shit right after midnight. I'm sorry, seriously don't listen to me, I'm just tired." 

He didn't respond. 

I smirked, "so who actually hired you? You are too smart to have gone into business with those idiots" I watched his eyes only widen in small fraction. 

Then he smiled, actually smiled, full fledge, teeth and dimples and the fucking face of a god. He smiled, and I knew right then I was fucked. 

"The Cords hired me, I came to them when someone from your company made contact with mine, asking for a rep. They were all too eager to have me in the meeting, never even thought that I'd actually work for the Cords" he smiled. 

I clapped slowly, "I'm impressed, Kross, didn't take you for a double spy, but I like it" I laughed, watching those dimples that I just knew were going to ruin my whole life. 

"Their plan however, is a different story. If they can get Xavier's share then they would have the upper hand. Not to mention the Cords have disappeared, getting their affairs in order. They did give me one instruction, if I needed anything." He finished slowly as he pulled to a stop in front of my apartment. 

"Which was?" I asked, slowly unbuckling my seat belt. 

"To find you" he stated, making my heart freeze in my chest. 

They trusted me, I knew that, they had pretty much handed me the company after Val had disappeared off the face of the earth. 

There had been no questions asked, they let me take the reins, allowed me to look at the finances, decide clients, keep everything in line. 

But it had always been a job for two. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cords were giving it to Val and I, and now that it was just me, I didn't know if I could seriously do this. 

And the thought that Val would never come  back, never wanted to help me run this company, that we wouldn't do this together was terrifying. 

Because she was the one who was made for all this. She had the family and the money and face this company needed to see. 

I didn't think anyone would want to see mine. 

I just wanted to crawl under my sheets and never see daylight again. To not have to deal with these never ending problems, because they were never ending. 

I had no clue what to do. 

Shawn had painted me into a corner, with the threat of Vice. I honestly didn't want to deal with him right now. 

Then Xavier was popping back into the picture, as fucking demanding and controlling as ever. 

But now I needed Xavier not to sell his share. 

I needed Shawn not to buy that share. 

And I needed them not to press the Vice issue. 

It was a tornado of a cluster fuck, and I didn't know what to do. Valerie would know exactly what to do, how to handle it so discreetly and elegantly that it would seem that the whole problem just disappeared into thin air. 

I had never been good at that. 

I called people on their bullshit, immediately, let it be known and let everyone around us know. 

It leveled the playing field. 

I had some cards in my hand, but every option was kind of shitty and could very well lead me into an even more fucked situation. 

But maybe thats what they knew, they all knew I was trying to desperately hard to  be Valerie, to give everyone the feeling that nothing was changing. 

That I could  be her. 

Even if deep down they all knew I was not Val, she possessed a sweet charm that I never quite had. 

Mine was rough. 

The kind that made you tilt your head in suspicious respect. 

I blinked slowly, coming back as I found Silos' eyes already burned into my own. 

"Have they already contacted Xavier? To proposition him?" I asked, slowly, the plan fragile but forming in my mind. 

Silos blinked, "they are waiting until the gala, where Xavier is supposed to attend. Why?" he asked. 

"I might have a plan, so that when Xavier takes the deal, everything goes to shit." I whispered, my mind calculating how quickly I could get everything done. 

"You think Xavier would sell the share to his family's business?" Silos questioned. 

"I know he would. Simply to be a dick, we just have to stop him, then Shawn's whole plan goes to shit. Without that share they're standing there with their dicks in their hands." 

I smiled over at Silos' silence. "I've got work to do, thanks again for the ride!" I beamed before jumping out of his truck and racing into my apartment. 

I didn't even blink at the guilty sight of Raina sitting with tears in her eyes on my couch, or the way she had definitely left some kind of dent in my wall. 

I sped past her, until I made it to my room, locking my door behind me before grabbing my phone. 

I dialed the number slowly, my heart pounding as someone answered the phone. 

"It's me. I know what you need, I see that now. You help me, and I swear you'll get everything you deserve."