Her Untamed CEO

Chapter 4

Alicia steps into the office early in the morning, feeling the stiffness in her body. She took every possible medication she could find in her little apartment, and except for her body feeling like it’s been run over by a truck, she is feeling better than she did when she woke up.

Quickly getting everything ready to start her morning, she waits for the Bartlett’s to arrive, but to her surprise, only Mr. Bartlett arrives this morning.

“My wife will be late.” He announces when he steps out of the lift and walks straight to his office.

Alicia feeling slightly confused follows him with coffee in hand. He puts his things down behind his desk and takes the mug of coffee from her.

“Are the letters ready?”

“Yes, Sir.” She nods.

“Good, we will meet with the department at nine.” He nods, and she takes it as him dismissing her.

Turning on her heel to leave, she is surprised when he speaks up again.

“I will need you to come with me to take minutes. Mrs. Bartlett won’t be available.”

She quickly turns around looking wide-eyed.

“Of course, Sir.” She smiles and waits.

“That will be all.” He waves and she leaves his office, closing his door behind her.

She takes a deep breath, then hears a message come through on her phone. Checking it, she sees an email from Mrs. Bartlett and checks it on her computer. She might be late for the office, but she is clearly working. Alicia sighs, getting to work on the instructions she just received.

Before long it’s nine and Mr. Bartlett steps out of his office. He looks at her and then, without saying a word, walks over to the lift. She grabs the box of envelopes and runs to catch up with him.

Feeling her heart race while they wait for it to open, she can feel that the tension around him is thick, and it’s clear that he isn’t happy with what he is about to do. They climb into the lift when it arrives, and he presses the button for the second floor.

The ride downstairs is silent, and when the doors open, she can hear people talking, quickly falling silent when he steps out of the lift. She follows behind him, and when the staff’s faces come into view, she feels her heart going out to all of them.

Seeing the big boss on their floor isn’t a usual thing, and having been called together for a meeting with him could only mean bad news. The department head silences them and leans against one of the desks in front of Mr. Bartlett.

He clears his throat and looks at Alicia for a second before looking at the staff.

“Morning. I won’t take too much of your time.” He looks at the department head who seems to be just as confused as the rest of the department.

“Unfortunately, the board has decided to close your department due to financial restraints.”

As expected, the group of people started talking to each other, looking very unhappy, and he quickly silences them.

“This is not a decision they took lightly.” He clears his throat again.

“Each person will receive a generous severance package and human resources will help you with anything you need to apply for new jobs. I’m sorry.”

He takes the box of letters from Alicia and hands it to the department head.

“These letters include your severance packages as set out by the board. Please read them carefully.”

The director opens his mouth as if to say something, then must have decided to keep quiet, closing it again.

Mr. Bartlett gives everyone one last look and then steps back to the lift. Alicia is following him while she tries to avoid listening to the staff who have just been retrenched. Most of them are furious and intend on taking the company to court for letting them go illegally.

The lift doors open and she climbs into the lift with Mr. Bartlett. Pulling at her nails, she can’t stand the silence and takes a deep breath. He looks at her and then back at the numbers as the lift climbs up the building.

“I’m sorry.” He says, and she can see the sadness in his eyes for a split second before the ding of the lift lets them know they were back on their floor.

He walks ahead of her and doesn’t even greet Mrs. Bartlett or Noah that have arrived in the meantime, closing his office door behind him.

***

Noah sees the young miss Moonvalor step out of the lift with his father, looking as if she had just been reprimanded by the principal, and he stifles a giggle that wants to escape through his lips.

“Noah!” His mom reprimands him, and he rolls his eyes.

“Mom, really.”

“Look, I need to talk to your father. If you are going to hang around here all day, find something to do.”

He hasn’t seen his mom this upset in a long time, and she walks into his dad’s office, softly closing the door behind her. Surely, the company can’t be that deeply in financial trouble… His dad would never let that happen.

He huffs, walking to the kitchen where he finds Alicia, quickly hiding her face.

“Hi, coffee, please.” He leans against the door frame, watching the girl move around the kitchen.

“Milk and sugar?” She asks, and he can hear her voice wavering.

“No thanks.” He pushes himself away from the door and walks up to the girl who hasn’t looked at him once.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She turned around with the mug of coffee in her hand, and it smashes right into his chest.

“Oh, f**k! I’m so sorry!” A single tear rolls down her cheek as he stands with his hands in the air and coffee dripping from his shirt.

“It’s fine… I guess. Luckily, I shave my chest hair.” He sighs, taking off his jacket and then starting to unbutton his coffee-soaked shirt.

“I’ll get you a new shirt.” She stutters and rushes out of the kitchen.

Noah follows her to the office where she presses against a hidden panel and pulls out a shirt. How could she possibly know his size? She looks at his crotch and her face turns bright red, making him burst out laughing.

“Crap! I’m sorry. You will need a clean suit. I will pay for the dry cleaning.” She quickly turns around, pressing on another cupboard and pulling out a dark blue suit.

Handing it to him, she keeps her eyes on the floor as she walks back to her desk. Mrs. Bartlett steps out of the office behind her, and Alicia looks like she’s about to disappear behind her desk.

“What happened?!”

“I dropped my coffee mug.” A smile is starting to form in the corners of his mouth.

***

Alicia can’t look him in the eyes after what just happened! She can’t believe that her eyes went where they went! All she meant to do was check if there were any other stains!

Feeling her face burn bright red, she tries to concentrate on the screen in front of her the moment Mrs. Bartlett asks what happened.

Breathing a sigh of relief when he doesn’t tell his mom that it was she who threw a mug of coffee at him.

“Alicia was kind enough to give me some clothes from your spare cupboards. When did you get these?” He grins at her while talking to his mom.

“Oh, your father has had them forever. When we were younger, we spent nights working, and we kept clothes here for both of us. Go on, change. Quickly.” She smacks his arm, and he walks off to the bathroom to change.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Bartlett.” Alicia apologizes.

“Why?"

“I didn’t know your son didn’t know about the cupboards.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about that.” She waves it off and walks to her desk before folding her arms and looking at Alicia.

“Great! Here it comes! I’m going to get fired now!”

“My husband says that you were a great help this morning. Thank you. I just couldn’t face our staff even though I know it’s what he wanted.” She sighs, then moves to take a seat behind her desk.

“It’s a pleasure… Well, it wasn’t a pleasure. I mean…” She looks wide-eyed, feeling her cheeks turn bright red again.

“It’s fine, I understand what you mean.” Mrs. Bartlett sadly smiles.

“I still shouldn’t have left it for you to do.” She sighs and Noah comes walking out of the bathroom.

Wow!

The dark blue suit really looks amazing on his fit figure, and the shirt hugs his six-pack perfectly.

“Hey! I think I need to speak to my stylist. This looks much better on me than that cream color she is always choosing for me.” He grins.

“Maybe I can steal Alicia from you and appoint her as my new stylist.” He winks, and Alicia feels her cheeks turn bright red.

What is going on with her today? You would think she was a teenager in love with the way her body is reacting!

“You do look good, but these kinds of suits are for businessmen, Noah.” Mr. Bartlett’s voice suddenly appears from his office and all of them go silent, looking at the man who just joined their conversation.

Mrs. Bartlett was fidgeting with Noah’s shirt collar and her hands were falling by her sides as she looked at her husband with a look of defeat on her face.

“Today? You have to start a fight today?”

“What did I say?”

Alicia wishes the earth would open up and swallow her whole! Having the three Bartletts ready to declare war in one room is something she hates witnessing… It completely drains her when she tries to keep her ears closed to what they are saying, thinking that a lot of it isn’t meant for her ears.

“Alicia, I have something for you to do.” He announced out of the blue, and she looked up, seeing him look at her.

“Of course.” She grabs her notebook, feeling her hands shake as she follows him into his office.

He closes the door behind them, and she can swear that Noah was staring a hole into the back of her head.

***

“Okay… He gets to have a sexy young secretary, but my allowance is cut in half? That’s not fair, mother!”

Mrs. Bartlett rolls her eyes at her son. She specifically chose Alicia for her qualifications and capability to help her husband with more complicated tasks than just that of a normal secretary, and she does not feel up to explaining herself to her son.

“What do you take me for? Do you honestly think I would let just any girl work with your father? Besides, is the thing that you think of him? That he would disrespect me in such a way?” Her fury at her son flashed in her eyes before she turned to walk to her desk.

“I’m sorry, mom. I didn’t mean…”

“It’s fine, just go… Go do whatever it is that you do and stop worrying about the business. It’s not as if you ever cared or wanted to be part of it in any case!”

What? When did he become the villain? He turns on his heel and leaves through the stairs door as he always does when he’s angry. He knows his father would never do something like that to his mom, and he knows his mom wouldn’t be that dumb, but why did he have to open his big mouth and say it anyway!

He notices the looks coming his way as he walks out of the reception area and to his car waiting outside the building. He is used to women looking, but this time, it’s as if they are taking notice. It can’t be, it must be his imagination.

Maybe what his mom said is stuck somewhere in his unconscious brain and is now infecting his thoughts. It’s all that miss Moonvalor’s fault! Ever since she arrived on the scene, his father has been more difficult than usual to give him money and his mother… He can’t even begin to explain what is going on with her!

He slams the car into gear and pulls away from the building entrance with the wheels screeching in protest.