Chapter 246 The Decree

Chapter 246 The Decree
Vella stammered, “I… don’t know. How would I know? She never tells me anything. Whenever I call, she says that she is in a meeting, she is working, and she even called us to make the client understand that what he wants is stupid. He really is stupid. He got the publishing house as property because he was the heir.

“Now he wants us to design a programme that can overtake the work of an editor. He wants to fire everyone and then make AI do their job for him. he wants the programme to be a line editor, plagiarism detector, copywriter, marketing expert, and god knows what else. And when Maeve says that is not possible and that will cost him more, he throws his money at her and makes her do the things he wants.

“We have already made two million from his publishing house, yet he is never satisfied. I tried to make him understand, he tried to make him understand, he too,” Vella kept pointing at her team members, “but it’s like he is deaf. He never listens to anyone. Even if he is listening, he choses to not understand or maybe simply ignores us. We have no idea what to do.”

“Woah! Woah! Hurricane! Calm down! You and I are going to Maeve’s house. She needs to attend the party, or every one of us can say goodbye to our jobs,” said Thessia, making everyone gasp in shock.

“What? What? What do you mean?” asked everyone, shouting over one another.

“Mr Blackridge is angry with Maeve for not coming to the office. So he decreed that if she does not attend the party, he will fire everyone and shut this office down,” announced Thessia.

“What? What? No! No! That cannot happen!” everyone screamed again.

“Vella! No matter what, we have to make Maeve come to the party. Okay?” asked Thessia.

“Yes, yes, let’s go! I am bringing her here at all costs. We can make the client come here to the office instead of Maeve going to his place. I will make her mother, her grandmother, even her daughter kick her out. They will drag her out for me. They love me more. Maeve is coming here one way or the other. Even if I have to hogtie her and carry her here by myself, I am bringing her here. She cannot keep hiding. She comes, punches in and walks out as if her pants are on fire. Who does that?” Vella kept on going and going as usual.

“Okay, okay, tell everything to her, not us! Let’s go!” said Thessia.

“We will have to stop in the way,” said Vella.

“Stop? Where? Why?” asked Thessia.

“We will have to get some bribe,” replied Vella.

“Bribe?” asked Thessia, confused.

“She listens to only one person. And if we want that person on our side, we need a bribe,” said Vella.

“Oh! Got it! So, we need Chocolava cake?” asked Thessia. Vella nodded, grabbed her bags and was ready to walk out of the office with Thessia. They had a mission to finish.

Since the day Maeve had seen Thorin inside the office, she had not been able to breathe properly. That day she ran away and sat in her car till her faint spell vanished. She was not going back to the office under any circumstances. She just knew she had to run. She had to protect her daughter.

Thinking of Valeska, she urgently called her mother, Eleanor. Her voice was shaky, but she calmed herself down and asked where Valeska was and what she was doing. Eleanor replied that they were in the mall because Valeska needed some new clothes and a gift for Eirik because he had sent chocolates for her.

“Wait there, Mom, I will come pick you up. Don’t take a cab,” said Maeve and raced the car there. She was so sad to see that her daughter was drenched in coffee from head to toe. Valeska kept saying things about a tall man who dumped his yuck liquid on her. But Valeska was happy that the mountain man said sorry and offered to buy a dress for her.

“But I didn’t let me buy anything, Mom. We must not take anything from strangers; you taught me that,” said Valeska, sweetly.

“My good girl! Don’t worry, I will buy 100 dresses for you. Okay?” smiled Maeve.

“That’s what I told him. You are the richest woman on the planet,” giggled Valeska.

“Ohh, really?” laughed Maeve. They reached home, and Maeve immediately ran to the bathroom with Valeska. She gave her a warm bath, washed her hair and wrapped her in a cosy, fluffy towel. Maeve didn’t let Valeska wander around in the home that night. She made sure that Valeska was always near her. She didn’t want anyone to take her away.

From the next day, she started going to the office early to punch in and then run to the client. Even the client was happy that he didn’t have to go to the office anymore. Maeve would sit in his office or a neutral meeting place like a coffee shop or a quiet library, and they would discuss everything about the programme he wanted.

But now Maeve was getting irritated with him. The client was more interested in talking to her, asking about her days, her life, than being interested in the programme he had commissioned. To navigate the conversation towards the main topic, she even asked a few members of her team to join the meeting. But nothing was helping Maeve. The client was a stubborn one.

Hiding from Thorin, trying to talk to the client about the job when he only wanted to talk to Maeve about her life, getting stressed about Valeska’s safety, everything together was making her tired and stressed. She hung her bag near the door and let her body fall on the couch with a bounce. Taking a deep sigh, she melted into the couch and closed her eyes.

“You look tired, sweetie!” Harriet came next to her and caressed her hair.

“Yeah, I just want to run away, Grandma!”

“What? Why?” asked Harriet, a little worried, a little amused.

Maeve realised she had said something she was not supposed to. She bit her lips and replied, “Um… I told you about the big haul, right? We are getting new projects, but I already have a stupid client; no matter what I say, he never approves anything. So, I am just tensed. That’s why I want to run away. I just want to go on a vacation. What about going to a beach, you, Mom, Valeska and me?”

“Ohh! That would be fun!” replied Harriet. “Vale! Mom is here!”

“Yay!” a loud voice echoed in the house, and like a train whistle, the voice kept coming closer, accompanied by a little girl’s excited body. Valeska jumped and threw herself on Maeve and sat on her lap. She wrapped her arms around Maeve and started kissing her on her face. “Mommy! Mommy! I love you! this will take away your tir… tireenes,” stammered Valeska.