Chapter 5 Xander’s POV
Xander’s POV
Anna’s voice trails off in the original silence of my office. My eyes scan the numbers in a document in front of me, while I try to tune her out.
“…Screened five candidates for the interview,” she continues in a sweet tone. “But I assumed you’d prefer…”
I look up at her. “I prefer results, Anna, and you know that. Not assumptions. Who did you give the job to?”
“No one yet,” she says, the screen of her tablet dying. “I was going to offer the position to the Oxford graduate. The mail goes out tonight.”
“Send me the list and their qualifications.”
A sneer appears on her face as she double-taps the screen of her tablet. My laptop chimes, and I open the mail.
“You will be surprised to find out who one of the applicants was,” she starts, dropping into the seat at the other end of the desk. My eyes find her name even before it falls out of Anna’s lips.
“Your ex-wife, Bella. Can you imagine the audacity? I’ll never understand what goes on in that woman’s head. Just when you were trying to open up to her, she just hands you divorce papers and walks out.”
“And then, not only did she dare return to the city, she did that with your cousin’s son on her arms and an application slammed on our desk.”
“Stop talking, Anna.”
“I can imagine how livid you are right now, Xander,” she purrs, flicking her hair away from her face. “She deserves nothing but hell. If you ask me, nature has been too kind to her.”
“Stop talking!” My voice echoes through the walls, and Anna sucks in a sharp breath. Her eyes are wide with surprise as she scans my face.
“Xander…”
“What role did she apply for?”
“Admin.”
“Have HR send her an email. She has to resume tomorrow as my new executive assistant. It is high time I got one.”
Confusion creases the skin on her forehead as she shakes her head, as if struggling to get the picture. “Xander, you hate her. How can you employ someone like her?”
I shrug. “It is like they say. Keep your enemies closer than your friends.”
“But you have never worked with an executive assistant,” she continues. “I have been doing all of that for you. You said no one knows you better than I do.”
“And I was right,” I reply. “But things need to change around here. Roles need to be properly delineated. I don’t expect you to do all of the work.”
“I am not complaining.”
“Anna…”
“Do you still love her, Xander?”
Anna says the one question I have never asked myself for so long. The one word I stopped tolerating. Love.
“No,” I answer in a clipped tone. “I told you, Anna. I am done with Bella. But I want her here. I want to show her what it means to go against me. To think she can sleep with my cousin and get away with it.”
“Must you do it when she’s here?” Anna asks, getting on her feet. “For years, I have covered and guarded you. You even made me pose as your mistress when you had absolutely no sexual relationship with me. I’ve been here when she wasn’t; when you weren’t enough for her.”
“And now, you want to hand my work to the woman who has a son for your cousin?”
When I think of that, it makes me so mad that I want to throw something across the room. But I remain calm, taking deep breaths and remembering that the person I am mad at is Bella, not Anne.
“My decision is final, Anne,” I say without looking up. “Send the mail.”
“And I don’t repeat myself.”
Silence stretches in the room as she glares at me. “Xander…”
“Shut the door on your way out.”
She does, and the quiet that follows is pristine.
Bella strides into my office at exactly nine. She is in a black dress, her hair pulled out of her face, and a cheap bag on her shoulder. She has a ridiculous red dinosaur sticker on her wrist, and it punches a hole straight into my chest.
It reminds me of the young lad I saw clinging to her. The boy Daniel calls his son.
“Mr. Knight,” she murmurs. I can see her lips trembling as she stops at the opposite end of my desk.
“Sit.”
“I thought…”
“Sit, Ms. Reyes.”
She swallows whatever words are threatening to climb up her throat and sits. Even though she stares straight at me, I can see her nerves racking around the edges. I know her like the back of my palm, so I can tell that she is only putting up a front.
To be so fierce in front of me.
I want to hate her.
I should hate her.
“Ground rules,” I start, tossing a document her way. “You report to me alone. You don’t reschedule what I put on your calendar. You will have access to my life, and that means utter discretion, obedience, and confidentiality. Most importantly, nothing comes before your job. Absolutely nothing.”
“Why am I here, Xander?” she whispers, her tiny voice lingering on every surface.
“You applied for a job.”
“I know,” she breathes, then leans forward. “I applied for the role of admin. I can’t handle being your Executive Assistant.”
“It is either that or you walk out these doors, Ms. Reyes.” I clutch my hands on the desk. “And I am hoping you take the latter. I will be much better without you parading your cheating self in my walls.”
She blinks. Fast. I see the hurt in her eyes, and I almost wish I could take the words back.
Almost.
I throw a second file her way. “Today’s schedule. We have a board meeting by ten, another meeting with vendors by noon, and a dinner with an investor by eight. You are at all three.”
“I can’t tonight,” she says way too fast. She looks up from the table into my eyes, and I sigh.
“I already told you, Ms. Reyes, you either pick your little date with your boyfriend or take this job seriously. You will be in the car at seven-thirty. Wear something that won’t embarrass my company.”