The sharp clicking sound of Christian Louboutin heels hitting the marble floor was a single that Melissa Carson, The Queen, had arrived. She strode through the office like it was a runway, men and women alike turned their attention from their boring workloads to steal a glance of the striking woman as she strode by. They saw her quite often, but it didn't make a difference, everything about her demanded attention. She was, after all, The Queen.
A legend amongst the one percent, a woman that owned her power, her sexuality, and built an empire on it. At thirty-six years old, Melissa had accumulated more money than some of the men who tried to buy her away from Jack. She didn't spend all her time around business executives and not pick up some investing skills. It was finally time for her to retire, find her replacement, and make her own mark on the world. She was thinking of a real estate empire, maybe adopting a kid or two. But first, she was going to travel the world for a year. Eat, pray, and love her way across the globe. If that was, she could find someone to fulfill her duties.
Being Jack's head caretaker was a well respected and coveted position, not only did Melissa manage Jack's needs, she was a bit of a den mother to all of his current caretakers. She made sure the women showed up on time, looked the part, and performed their duties to Jack's standards. Without Melissa, the whole system would crumble.
Jack wasn't your ordinary CEO of a Fortune 500 company. He was THE CEO of the biggest empire in North America. He had his fingers in everything, but he absolutely dominated the real estate and tech markets. In this day and age, chances are that if you owned a computer, drove a car, had a smart phone, you'd help add to Jack's extraordinarily fat bank account. He was a power-hungry, motivated, god-like force of a human. Money was power, and Jack was about to knock Bill Gates down a peg.
He wasn't an altruistic man. Sure, he donated to charities, or, his accountant did. For the tax breaks and the publicity. But to him, people were replaceable gears in his well oiled money-making machine. He cared about efficiency and profit. Numbers. And those numbers better be going up. He'd often buy out companies, not batting an eye when the hundreds of employees of said company lost their jobs. It wasn't his problem.
Jack was a complex, yet jarringly simple person to understand. It just took the right kind of person to see that. Melissa had been that kind of person. Jack's wants and needs were simple, guttural, basic. He needed a small army of women to satisfy those needs, and of course, if they performed to his standards, the reward would be great. He wasn't cruel, but women often complained he was cold or rough. Too distant, more interested in just getting off than anything else. Selfish. That was all true.
Melissa understood this need and helped him create a way to satisfy it. She curated everything, the women, the schedule, their living situation, their annoying drama. She handled all of it, and then some. She wasn't just good at that, she was the best at taking care of Jack, too.
The rumors about Jack's caretakers grew into something of a legend, the women often accompanying him to parties in pairs, or even as a whole group. No one else was allowed to touch, and it drove the competitive, ambitious CEO's crazy. They'd tried to mimic, to copy, but they never managed to get such a flawless system in place. That's because they were all missing the key. Melissa. This made her replacement a very, very big deal.
Melissa had a lot of difficult tasks in the last twelve years she spent working for Jack... Finding her replacement was by far the hardest. She went back through her catalog of girls, scouring through years of different women who'd held positions for Jack before. It took her months of narrowing the piles down, doing interviews. Some were married with children by now, some were junkies who'd squandered the opportunities Jack had given them. Eventually, Melissa had five very eager, very excited women. She was cautiously optimistic about the five girls she'd chose to fill her shoes.
The women were brought in three weeks ago, for a trial run, a reintroduction to Jack and this lifestyle. It was opulent, yes, but it was also demanding. The standards of taking care of yourself were extreme, the presentation, the way they acted in front of influential people. Integrity. Most importantly, loyalty. Melissa herself had been approached countless times by other men, trying to bribe and steal her from Jack, use her for his secrets. The business world was cutthroat, and if Melissa doubted their loyalty for even a second, they were fucking out of here.
Today marked the start of the final week, and the women were getting more and more desperate to win Jack over. Which meant that they were up Melissa's ass. They all wanted more time with Jack, more moments to convince him that they were the ones who deserved the position, who could handle the work. They were all so eager, so desperate. Demanding. Jack was a busy man, so Melissa had given the girls a speech about stealing moments when they could. Between meetings, while he was doing something else, making those little moments of downtime count. She hoped they'd take it to heart.
She knew they didn't, however, when she heard the harsh clatter of heels approaching her from behind. Melissa's stride was long, sensual like she was walking for an audience. The woman chasing after her sounded rushed and clumsy. It only made Melissa walk that much faster.
"Hey, Melissa, can I get a second?" The perky voice behind her calls out.
Melissa let out a long sigh, her green eyes locked on the double doors that lead into Jack's office. She was so close. So so close. She wanted to make sure Jack was taken care of before she went out to get him his dinner. The poor man had a conference call with the team in Japan, and that meant a late night for him. Once she fed Jack, then she could eat and go home, too.
She pivoted on her heels, turning around to find herself staring down at the bubbly blonde, Layla. Layla was strikingly beautiful. The definition of American beauty standards. Suntanned skin, blonde hair, real double Ds. The only thing Layla didn't have working for her was... Well, she was a pretty blonde stereotype down to her ditzy personality.
"You have one second, what do you need, Layla?" Melissa said, pursing her perfectly painted red lips.
Layla blinked her big blue eyes up at the intimidating woman. The Queen was beautiful, from the flowing red hair, porcelain skin, and the curves that the button up white shirt and pencil skirt covered, yet highlighted. She was immaculate.
"I, um," Layla stammered, taking a second to get the words out. "I want to see Jack tonight! I know he's working late, but I can get his dinner and bring it to him!" She finally managed to say, jutting out her chest and looking at The Queen with as much confidence as she could muster.
"If you give her time with Jack, I get time with him, too. It's only fair," Amanda said, stepping forward and shouldering Layla a little out of the way so that they were both standing there in front of Melissa.
