4. FIRED
PS: The rest of the book will be written in Nicole's POV with a few Dominic's POVs. Enjoy it.
CHAPTER FOUR
Nicole's POV
I blasted the volume of Beyoncé's song If I were a boy through my earphones as I increased my jogging pace. It was only six ten in the morning and until now my mind was as blank as the day I had been born. I had spent the entire week brainstorming but it was evident my career was on the line. All I had come up with were the cheesy romance spins that Mrs. Forbes was quick to dismiss. I was deep in my thoughts, trying to figure out if there was an actual way I'd be able to save my career, when I ran into someone. I raised my eyes to stare into the dark brown of the one person who has got people in the whole of New York City or perhaps even beyond, talking in whispers: Dominic Valiente.
"I'm so sorry," I apologized jogging past him feeling like I just escaped a death trap.
He hadn't spoken a word though I thought I saw the edge of his lips twitch almost forming a smirk. When I was some safe distant away I whirled around to see him jogging off into the distance. I shook my head before resuming my daily routine of jogging before work.
"So have you come up with any idea yet?" Mrs. Forbes questioned her eyes boring into mine the second I graced her office.
"I'm working on it. If you could just give me some more time," I knew it was fruitless but it was better to try.
She regarded me for a moment before sighing loudly. I was so going to get fired.
"Time huh? Time is what I have been giving you for the last, I don't know, eight months? Miss Wilde I'm going to have to let you go. But if you do come up with new ideas then you are more than welcome to join us again," she said with no inkling of remorse in her eyes.
"Fine. I will just pack up my stuff and leave, "My career was definitely over.
"Trust me, it's just as difficult for me to let you go," I nodded feeling like someone dropped a bomb on me, shattering my hearts into tiny fragments that could never be mended.
"So there was this manuscript I was reviewing. Can I at least finish it up today before I hand over?" I don't think I was ready to leave the office yet. This place had been like home to me in the past few years and it had actually felt like I belonged here.
"Sure, you can spend the rest of the day here," At least she was kind enough to let me stay for the rest of the day.
I walked to my office refusing to cry. I woudl have argued that I should at least keep my job as a junior editor but that damn contract I'd signed had tied me tio my writing. As a matter of fact, she had tolerated me for a few extra months than stipulated in the contract. My gaze flickering around the office, I sat down drawing down the blinds that my secretary had already put up. I was going to miss all of this without a doubt. The rest of day was spent going over my unfinished projects while passing over my duties of a junior editor to my successor, Irene.
"So I guess now it's time for me to leave," I mumbled sadly when the clock hit five.
"We are all going to miss you," Irene commented hugging me.
"I'll miss you too,"
We were disrupted by the sudden eruption of murmurs outside the office. Drawing back from her we looked at each other as she shrugged clearly confused. Sure this place usually has some form of noise but it was mostly of the printers. These murmurs sounded different...almost as if someone special, almost authoritative, had just entered the company.
"Don't look at me like that. I have no idea of what is going on," I walked to the door, yanking it open but the sight I met seemed like some horror movie in slow motion.
"What is Dominic Valiente doing here?" Irene questioned clearly just as surprised as I was.
"I have no idea," I muttered taken back just like everybody else.
He was accompanied by his bodyguard and I'm pretty sure he was aware of the fearful glances everybody was throwing him. Was he here to buy off this company too? Rumors had it that he was going around buying off companies around New York but those had been mainly clubs and Hotel companies. Unless of course he had decided to spread his wings. Finally he stopped just before me and I don't think there were other people who could pull off that intimidating expression as perfectly as he did. Deep down a sudden fear rent my entire being, my toes curling up. His gaze was unwaveringly set on me and every fiber screamed danger.
"Let's go," he commanded in a cold tone, its ruthless vibration running through me like the coldest tip of an ice cube.
"W-what?" I managed to whisper in a small tone.
"I said lets go and don't make me repeat myself," the impatience in his voice caught me off guard.
Not wanting to cause much of a big scene than it already was, I picked my handbag together with my phone and followed Dominic out of the company, feeling all the questioning glances digging into my back. A limousine was parked just outside the company with two bodyguards standing by it. I watched one of them open the door as Dominic got in while I stood not knowing what exactly I was supposed to do.
"Get in," he ordered.
"I'm sorry sir but I'm supposed to be on my way somewhere right now," His very presence was making me wish there was a way Harry Porter could lend me his invisibility cloak. No man was capable of making someone scared like he did.
"I said get in," I scurried inside sitting across him while trying to look everywhere else but him.
He might have the looks of an Italian Greek God but his personality was a whole different thing. He was the kind of person you would stay away from unless you are possessed or maybe sleep walking. With infinite rumors of Dominic being involved with the mafia swirling around his very name, it shook me to the deepest parts of my core.
"I'm sorry for running into you this morning. My thoughts were kind of straying away and if this is really about that, then you have to know that it was ever my intention. Some work crisis had deeply affected me and so I really didn't watch where I was running to," I apologized remembering the incident from morning. That has to be the reason why I was sitting in his limo right now. Fuck! I was definitely toasted.
"Oh no worries. I didn't even mind you running into me. None of us was actually watching out our step. Back to the matters at hand, I have a perfect solution to your problem Miss Wilde," His dark gaze settled on me once again. And how the hell does he even know my name?
"What problem?" I asked baffled.
"Say hello to your perfect date to your parent's visit tomorrow," he gestured at himself a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. Wait, what?