Chapter 68
Chapter 68
The Thanksgiving dinner went better than Melina could had hoped for, so she felt fully energised to continue her days. Her routine remained almost the same, with the only difference that since Marco and Gio had reconcile, now Melina was training with Gio at home and not in secret.
Marco was working at his office when Alessio knocked on his door.
“I have news from Ricardo” Alessio said.
“Tell me” Marco replied.
“He found out who the Wolf is. His real name is Maxwell Richards. He is British and ex-MI5. He left MI5 pending multiple criminal investigations against him with allegations of affiliation with the Mexican cartels. Since he left MI5 he worked as a broker with multiple cartels, but these days he seems to be working exclusively with the Los Zetas”
“None of these tell us anything useful” Marco said in a frustrated tone.
“It’s a start”
“Ricardo is tailing this guy for months now and all we have managed to find out is his name”
“We know more than his name Marco” Alessio said. “I know you are frustrated, but we always knew that we have to play the long game. Whoever is behind all these had time to plan and we are playing catch up at this point. Every piece of information is important”
“I know, I know. I just hated that we don’t have the full picture, and I hate the fact that Melina is in danger because of this situation”
“Your girl is a fighter. I think you need to give her some credit”
“I know she is a fighter Alessio, but this doesn’t mean that I will ever be okay with her being in danger”
“Let’s give Ricardo some more time and see what else he can find out” Alessio said.
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Melina had a full day of interviews for the Web developer and Digital Marketing Manager position. After 5 long and excruciating hours of interviews, she wanted to cover her face with a pillow and scream from the top of her lungs.
Unfortunately, offering salaries above the market range instead of attracting the talent Melina was looking for, had pushed a lot of people to lie in their CVs, so they seem like they are suitable candidates and hopefully pass the interviews as well.
The doorbell rang once more. It was her next interview. She took a deep breath and opened the door. A woman with bright red hair was standing there in a white pant suit and red heels. Melina invited her in and together they walked to Melina’s office.
Her name was Cristina Lopez. She had olive skin, light green eyes and freckles and all in all she had an aura of confidence around her. Melina started with the interview questions and the conversation ran smoothly.
She definitely had the skills Melina was looking for, but what Melina could not understand was why this woman was interested in this role. Her CV was impressive and she had worked with big corporations.
“So Cristina, I must say I am impressed by your CV, but I do have a question for you. You have a proven track record of success, working with big corporations. Why are you interested working for a start up?” Melina asked.
“I am very good at what I am doing, but the corporate world is not exactly my scene” she vaguely replied.
“And why is that?” Melina asked.
“Look, I shouldn’t be saying that in an interview, but I prefer to be honest with you. I am gay. I am proud of my sexual orientation, and I am as men would call it, a player. I had huge success with some of my clients’ secretaries, but the corporate world is a man domineering world where strong women need to fit the description they have in their minds, otherwise they are being pictured as problematic”
“So you have been ostracised because you did something that if any man had done, he probably would have earned some disgusting high fives?” Melina asked.
“Pretty much” Cristina replied.
“Well, Cristina I don’t care about your skin colour or your sexual orientation. All I care about is your experience and as I have already said I am impressed. I do also appreciate the fact that you seem to suffer from the same disorder as me – the No-Filter-Disorder. I need someone to tell me their honest opinion. This project is something that I haven’t done before, and I want to have people around me that will care about it as much as I do. I am bringing people in for their expertise, which means that even though you will be reporting to me, I have no intention to micro-manage or to get into your area.”
“You actually don’t have a problem with what I told you?” Cristina asked incredulously/
“Why would I? I don’t have a secretary, but if I ever have one and she decides she wants to sleep with you, that will be between the 2 of you – as long as whatever you do, doesn’t happen within the company’s grounds” Melina replied.
Cristina smirked. “I suppose I can live with that”
“The job is yours if you want it” Melina said. “As I said, I am impressed by your work and you are by far the best interview I have had. Plus, I think it will be interesting working with you. Interesting and entertaining”.
“When do I start Lady Boss?” Cristina asked.
“I will have our lawyer draft your contract and I will contact you when it’s ready to meet up and sign it. How does that sound?” Melina asked.
“Great” Cristina said.
“I should call you by tomorrow afternoon about it, but in the meantime please keep an eye on your emails, as Harvey might need to contact you directly”
“Will do that” Cristina said and she stood up from her chair.
Melina extended her hand and Cristina shook it.
“I am looking forward to working with you Melina”
Melina walked her to the door and closed it behind her once she left. She sighed in relief. She was pleased with her choice, but she was still stressed about the web developer position. Without the right person there, the project would not be able to move forward.
She took a deep breath and reminded to herself that today was only the first day of doing interviews and she needed to be patient. She emailed Harvey with Cristina’s details and called it a day.