I sat at my desk and quickly flipped through all three resumes while waiting for the first candidate to come in. I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it was strange to me that I was interviewing for a personal assistant when I'd just been one of the many drones on the analytics floor of Marduke just a few days ago. I wondered if Gerald had any idea what was going on, or that I'd even bought the company. I was sure the rumor mill was running at full speed, and he was probably getting his fair share of questions since we'd been neighbors for most of my time working here. The thought of him getting hammered with inquiries was amusing, since he spent most of his time clueless about the goings on around him. He was a good guy. Maybe I'd arrange to give him a bonus just for the hell of it.
Under the resumes was a memo from someone named Michelle with some notes on the changes that had been implemented since I'd fired Gina yesterday. It was a neat, bulleted list of items that addressed the power vacuum from Gina's expulsion, upper management concerns, and several other things I hadn't considered in my hasty desire to acquire a company just to piss a couple of people off.
My phone interrupted that train of thought, vibrating an inch across the dark wood surface of the desk as it lit up. Another text from my mother. I caught enough of the preview to get the gist of the message. She wanted me to call her.
Before I could even answer the text or look back at Michelle's report, the door opened, and in strode Vikram. He'd been with Helen and me when we arrived at the Dunbar building yesterday. YPV had loaned him to me for the next few days to help with the acquisition and restructuring. According to Michelle's report, he had already met with the higher-ups at Marduke. He addressed any of their concerns and coordinated with them and middle management until Natalie could take on her new role. In only a handful of business hours, he'd managed to assuage the concerns of the executives, set up a temporary command structure to fill the gap left by Gina, and find a replacement for Natalie's old position. Having spent most of my time in the lower levels of large corporations, I'd seen the amount of work a typical person could get done in the same amount of time, and was astounded by what Vikram had been able to accomplish. It truly was impressive what a person could do when properly compensated and given enough resources.
The young man had a coffee with him as he entered and sat it on my desk. "I hear you're looking for a personal assistant? I'm here for the interview."
"Um..."
Helen had primed me to interview the hot women right outside my door, so I was completely thrown off by what Vikram said. I hesitated in grabbing the cup of coffee as I tried to formulate some sort of response.
He grinned, "I'm just messing with you, man. I'm pretty happy where I am."
I snickered and took a sip of coffee, relieved that he hadn't been serious. "Good one."
"I'd never in a million years think you would hire me when you have candidates like those out there." He glanced through the open door and looked back at me, "Can I give you a bit of advice? Even if you're caught flat-footed, try not to look like you are. You've got to be a bit more assertive if you're going to survive in this world. A bit more dominant. Otherwise, people are going to walk all over you. If you thought I was actually serious, you should have told me to fuck off and pointed out the ladies sitting out there. At the very least, just blow me off by telling me to submit my resume then have me leave."
He was right. My friends weren't all going to be people like Dillon or some of the other guys. I wasn't going to be solely working with people like Gerald and Natalie and the people in my circle weren't going to be just like sweet Mrs. Lucas from across the hall. I was going to be rubbing elbows with savvy people who had infinite resources and the desire to fleece me the moment opportunity struck. I was going to be fighting off absolute snakes for the rest of my life. Helen had more-or-less told me the same thing, but it was different hearing it from someone who wasn't trying to seduce me at the same time. Coming from Vikram, it rang a bit more sincere.
Vikram's advice got me thinking... why had I felt so powerful and confident with Bobbi last night, yet so awkward with everyone else? What was it about Bobbi specifically that gave me the gumption to literally kick her out of bed when she didn't follow my exact directions? Was it the amount of anger and resentment over the way she had treated me and other decent people she worked with? Was it that simple? And even if it was, how the hell was I supposed to harness and weaponize it?
"I know," I admitted, looking down into my coffee cup. "I had a couple of moments yesterday where I knew exactly what I wanted and I wasn't letting anyone have an inch of slack, but those were special circumstances. I've never really been all that assertive. This is a new muscle I'm flexing.
"I get it," Vikram said. "Before, you didn't want to rock the boat. You didn't want to risk pissing someone off because it could come back to bite you in the ass. You wanted everyone to like you and think that you were a nice guy because on the off-chance that you needed something, it was more likely everyone would have your back. But that's not the case now, Marcus. You have everything, and you don't
need
anything or anyone."
He turned toward the door then looked back at me and said, "Everyone here is replaceable when you have these kinds of resources, man. Everyone here needs you now. Remember that."
I chewed on those words as he opened the door to leave. "Hey Vikram?"
He paused halfway through the door and back. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for everything you've done so far." I held up Michelle's memo and said, "This is impressive as hell."
"Any time," he said, then he disappeared through the door, leaving me alone to sip my coffee and consider his words.
A few minutes later, the door opened again and my first interviewee walked into the room. She gave me a wonderful view of the way her pants molded around her substantial ass as she turned to shut the door then made her way over to my desk. Once there, she extended her hand across the wooden surface and gave me a brilliant smile. Her V-neck blouse fell forward to give me a generous view of the slopes of her breasts held in place by a lacy black bra. It was all I could do to not reach down and adjust the hard-on in my pants.
"Mr. Upton, my name is Bella Romano. I wanted to thank you for this opportunity." She had a very slight accent - Italian maybe? It indicated that English wasn't her first language, but despite that, she spoke it incredibly well.
I stood and grasped her soft hand in mine, raising my gaze to meet her eyes; I saw one corner of her mouth twitch. I'd been caught staring down her blouse, but judging by her smile and the feel of her thumb caressing the back of my hand as we shook, it was clear she didn't mind if I looked.
I cleared my throat and tried to gain a measure of composure, "The pleasure is all mine, Bella. Please have a seat."
We both sat down, and her eyes flickered to her resume on top of my desk. "I'm told you're looking for an administrator to help you run your day-to-day efforts. As you can see, I'm extremely well-qualified for the position."
