Chapter 54
She blinked up at him. “Sir?”
“I said, have you been crying?” he repeated firmly. “Why?”
“No!” Kendall immediately denied in a high-pitched voice. “Why would I? Do I…?” She raised her phone, looking at her reflection on the screen. “Do I look like I’ve been crying? I haven’t.”
He was frowning at her. “Since when… did you become such a liar?”
She froze. Slowly lowering her phone, Kendall looked at him.
Lucien sighed. “Why were you crying?”
Her throat instantly thickened, and the outrageous urge to bawl choked her. She swallowed hard, holding back like her life depended on it. “I wasn’t. Why would I c—”
“If you can’t handle this,” he interrupted sharply. “If you can’t handle working for me anymore… quit.”
Her expression fell with exhaustion and voiceless indignation. How unfair. “Sir, I—”
“I’m not going to tolerate you walking around here, falling apart for no reason—”
“I’m not falling apart!” she choked. “You’re being so unfair.”
Lucien’s brows rose in surprise. “Kendall.”
“I’m so sorry I missed the call. I needed to go to the bathroom. I’ll have the documents on your table in a minute and will get Mrs Kempt back on the line.”
“Christina’s left the office,” he stated. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
She frowned, her disappointment in herself showing on her face. “But tomorrow… there’s the Ashcroft executive meeting and the board meeting at Gold Holdings—”
“Find a way to reschedule one of them,” he said, staring coldly at her.
“What? But…” She looked helplessly at the ground. “There are so many different people’s schedules to match. I can’t—”
“Find a way. Since you’re not falling apart and you’ve cost me valuable time, I guess it’s fair to let you take responsibility for your mistakes.”
With that, he turned on his heel and marched into his office.
Kendall collapsed into her chair and felt another piece of her soul break off.
Why was he being so mean to her?
The day was ruined, and when she could finally go home, it was to make endless calls to reschedule the meetings with the Ashcroft executives. When she’d finally finished comparing schedules to find the perfect day everyone could agree on, it was well past two in the morning.
She fell asleep in misery.
The next day wasn’t any better. She’d forgotten to bring an important document for the GH board meeting and had to make Nelson let her out of the car on the way so she could rush back and get it.
Lucien realized the mistake she’d made when she’d snuck in during the meeting and placed the document before him. Luckily, it was before the meeting had gotten to the point of discussing it, but he’d still given her an unamused look.
It was the only incident of the day, but it still ruined her mood.
She’d gotten the executives' meeting rescheduled for Friday and had promised herself redemption by perfectly preparing for it.
On Wednesday, he was busy studying Christina's issues so he could help her.
She’d brought several cups of coffee to him as he sat on the sofa, his tie loose and his sleeves rolled up.
Even when Kendall stood beside him, holding several papers he needed, all she could do was silently read the papers on the table.
She noticed the connection between the Al-Saddiq company and Christina’s late husband once she remembered another failed company they established in the late nineties, but couldn’t bring herself to point it out to Lucien.
They were pressuring Christina to sell her shares in the UAE branch her husband had established and were trying to demand a re-evaluation of the deal involving their U.S.-based partner company. A dead partner, a vulnerable lady left in charge of his assets. They were going in for the kill.
Unfortunately for them, Christina had people like Lucien in her corner.
“Ridiculous,” he muttered, reading an official letter they’d sent to Christina. “They think they can just bully her into agreeing. This is what we call bad business, Kendall. Silly business.”
He glanced up at her when he said that and paused.
She’d already started smiling, but then she saw the amusement melt out of his eyes. It was like he suddenly remembered they weren’t friends anymore. His poker face was back on, and he cleared his throat.
“I need to go over these contracts again. Bring me coffee.”
She frowned. “Again?”
He’d already had three cups.
He raised a brow, looking up at her.
She tensed. “It’s… not good for you.”
“Should I get a secretary who’ll follow my orders instead?”
She gulped. “I’ll get your coffee.”
He turned back to his work, and she left the room, her chest burning with humiliation. That’s what she got for acting like his mother.
The next day, he didn’t leave his office, gruelling over the Al-Siddiq deals again.
“If we find their weakness, we can keep the peace by making sure they leave Christina alone,” he said on the phone. “No, Justin, that’s not blackmail!”
She’d listened to them argue back and forth, keeping her opinions to herself even though she was burning to join and express her thoughts.
An hour before the executive meeting on Friday, she’d gone in to find him and Justin huddled around the table, papers spread over its surface.
“Sir, you need to get ready for the meeting,” Kendall said, placing the report file on his table. “The investigation reports.”
“Shit, I’ve gotta go.”
“How long will it take?” Justin asked, dropping into Lucien’s chair. “When you return, I’ll have the solution.”
With a scoff of mockery, Lucien grabbed his jacket and headed to the door. Kendall grabbed the file he’d forgotten and hurried out after him.
She should’ve checked what she’d taken. She should’ve made sure she’d taken the right thing because then things wouldn’t have totally exploded in her face.
Her mistakes had been mounting, little by little, pushing at his patience.
While seated in the meeting, Lucien was speaking and extended his hand for Kendall to pass him the internal investigation reports; she quickly placed the file in his hand.
Maybe he was already pissed at some of the executives who’d been lying to his face, unaware that he had all the reports, or maybe he was on edge because of the Al-Siddiq issue, but the papers in his hand were definitely the final straw.
He sat still for a second, staring at them, and then he cursed, turning away.
His arm flung to the side and slammed the file onto the floor. Papers sprayed out, fanning across the glossy floor. “Where’s the report?!” he spat. “Stop wasting my goddamn time.”
“Oh!” Flustered, she scrambled to pick the papers up, eyes widening when she saw that it was the wrong file. I’m s-so sorry, Sir—”
“Save it! This is an important meeting, now everyone has to wait for you to bring the file. Didn’t I tell you? If you can’t handle this, then…?”
Her hands were trembling, and everyone was staring at her. Kendall wanted to disappear.
Embarrassed, she lowered her head. “Then… then I should quit…”