MY SISTERS KEEPER
CHAPTER 1
This series follows "Slave Management 101". Katherine is finally brought in as a primary character. Much of the rest of the story will focus on Katherine and her transformation from bitch into her brother's slave. She will be an integral part throughout the rest of the story.
I've also changed my writing style to first person, I hope you enjoy it.
As always I enjoy and appreciate your polite feedback, good, bad, or indifferent. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story.
It was Thursday afternoon and I was ready to go home. I'd had about all the idiots I could stand for one week. But I was waiting for an email that usually came out earlier in the afternoon every Thursday. It was 4:30 already and it had yet to arrive.
The email in question was a morale boosting tactic used by the senior partners of the private equity firm where I was a probationary employee. The newsletter, as it was called, would tell everyone how great the company was doing, that it was making lots of money due the diligent efforts of the staff, and would call out a few analysts by name as worthy of praise. It was all bullshit.
Most of the sheep here ate it up. They'd probably take the named staff out for drinks and get drunk while telling each other how great they were, then come in tomorrow hungover and be even more useless than they already were.
So why was I waiting for the email? Because it also listed promotions and in today's message it was expected to list probationary staff who's probation period was ending early due to exemplary performance. I would be listed there. I wanted to see my name in it so I could watch the sheep faces as I left. I knew they'd be watching me to see the newest full time employee. Especially the men, they were always watching me with hungry eyes anyway.
You see, I am beautiful, with my emerald eyes, jet black hair, full pouting lips, and the hardest hardbody you've ever seen. Only gymnast were more toned than I was. But I didn't want to lose so much body fat that my firm perky c-cups would shrink, or my perfectly heart shaped ass started to resemble a man's.
Some guys liked that look, teenage girls built like pre-teen boys. That look wasn't for me. I made damn sure nobody forgot I was all woman, and a damn fine one at that. I loved the desire and lust on their faces as I sauntered by, knowing that none of them would ever touch this goddess.
I was standing in front of my office window, staring at, but not seeing the other nearby high rise buildings filling the Atlanta skyline when my computer alerted me to the arrival of a new email. It was about time. I turned away from the window and went to sit at my desk. The four inch heels I wore with my pencil skirt were sexy as hell, but after 8 hours they were hard on my feet.
I opened the email and skimmed past all the rainbows and unicorn crap to get to the only part I had any interest in. I found the paragraph I wanted and read it. I read it again. I read it a third time. Somebody had fucked up royally and hadn't included my name as being released from probationary employment early. They listed that fucking idiot, Carlos. The "yes" man who just agreed blindly with anything management said during staff meetings. He didn't have an original thought in his head, or any leadership capacity at all!
I was always making recommendations on how to improve efficiency, lure clients, grow the business, and how to make these fuckers more money than they could count! I was the one displaying leadership in those meetings, showing the senile old men who ran this place the correct way forward. How could I be left off the list? This had to be an error, I was going to confront Ron, my manager and get some answers right now.
I stormed out of my office feeling all those sheep eyes on me as I marched to Ron's office. His door was open so I walked right in like I owned the place, closing the door behind me. This might get ugly and I didn't want to embarrass my boss in front of the sheep.
Ron was sitting behind his desk, leaned back in his chair like he was waiting for something. I marched up to his desk and pressed my thighs hard against it so I could be as close to him as the desk would allow before I spoke.
"What the fuck, Ron?"
"Katherine, I've been expecting you. I actually thought you would be here a couple of minutes ago."
Ron appeared calm and relaxed, he obviously didn't know how serious this was. I guess I have to explain it to him, "Tell me leaving my name off the early release list was a clerical error."
"I'm not going to lie to you. There was no error. The partners decided you weren't ready to be released yet. They'll look at it again on your sixth month anniversary. Just so you know, I was going to recommend that you be kept on probation, but they didn't ask me. The decision was already made."
I was getting really angry now, Ron wasn't taking this seriously enough. He looked just as relaxed as he had when I came in, and that fact alone fueled my wrath. "After everything I've done for this company? I've lead the way forward! Showed all of you what you're doing wrong! Then I showed you how to fix it! Had any of you had the sense to listen, profits would be up at least 30%, and they could be tripled by this time next year! But all of you seem to turn a deaf ear to my proposals!" I was breathing hard, but I managed to keep my volume and tone under control despite my fury.
"Katherine sit down and listen closely to what I'm about to tell you. This little display just now is the primary reason you are still on probation. And quite frankly, you are lucky to be on probation. The partners had decided to let you go."
Ron stopped speaking for a moment and just looked into my eyes. I was stunned! Let go? Me? Were they crazy? I was so shocked I couldn't speak. I just sat there with my mouth open to try to respond, but nothing would come out.
"You do have some great ideas Katherine. You are probably the smartest person I've hired in many years. You have a lot of potential, and the capacity to accomplish great things. But you have absolutely no people skills, and if you can't learn to work with your peers, and more importantly, management, all that skill and potential is completely useless."
Nobody had spoken to me like this in years. Not my co-workers, or my professors, or my friends, or my boyfriends. Not even my parents spoke to me like this. And James? He wasn't capable of giving this kind of talk to anybody, especially not me. Despite everything in my head that I wanted to say, my mouth was still frozen. Ron continued.
"I was able to convince them to let you stay until your six month review. I had to personally vouch for you. If we can't get you integrated into this company in the next two months, you'll be gone and I'm going to have lost a lot of the trust I've built up with the partners. Both our asses are on the line."
Then it happened. I told my self I wasn't going to let it happen, but it did anyway. I felt my eyes go glassy and tears started to form in the corners. Ron must have seen them, for the first time since I entered his office his poker face slipped. It was only briefly, but I saw it. Fuck I hated to cry. People thought it was because I was scared, or sad, or overwhelmed. They attributed it to the fact that I'm a girl and just can't handle the rough and tumble world of men.
They were so wrong. I wasn't any of those things. I was furious! Violently furious! I wanted to scream out my rage, break a lamp, kick a chair, throw a bottle, punch somebody in the face, anything to relieve the unbearable tightness in my chest. But I would never do any of those things, at least not where anybody could see me. It didn't matter how angry I was, I absolutely refused to lose control. Ron might see it as a victory and I wasn't going to let that happen either.
The tears were running down my cheeks now, but I held my facial expressions under control. I kept the sobs in my chest from showing themselves. The only outward sign of my distress were the tears. I hated them. I needed to wipe my face, and my eyes, but that would just draw more attention to my shame so I let them drip off my face onto my shirt.
Ron fished a box of tissues out of one of his desk drawers and set them on the desk in front of me. I acted like I didn't see them. I would show no weakness. Unable to speak coherently, I straightened up and turned to leave his office as gracefully as I was able. Ron spoke again and I stopped walking but did not turn around to face him.