Chapter 8

“Mr. Knight, you should put your employees in check so they won't be crossing lines, who the hell does she think she is?” the man said ignoring Leah.

“Yeah, Mr. Knight. You should put everyone in check.” Leah said mockingly with a chuckled while looking at him.

Benjamin, on the other hand, was not happy about being put in the middle, looking pale while raising his hands in submission, looking at her, and shaking his head softly.

“Do you have a problem with women, Mr. Stuart?” Leah asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Do you have a problem with women?” she repeated. “I ask because you seem to have a problem with the head of the finance department.” she made a motion toward the woman that was talking before who looked like she wanted to be far from the action. “And, it seems like you are not comfortable with me either. Ah, and let's not forget one of the female employees in charge of cleaning, to whom you decided was a good idea to slap, earlier.”

Stuart looked taken aback for a moment, which Leah took as an invitation to come even closer.

“I don't know how things work in your company, but every person working here is very important for its functioning.” the room was so quiet that her voice carried very clearly to the back of the room even when she was talking low. “I don't tend to care what people think about me, but when someone tries to mistreat one of my employees for no reason, it makes me very mad.

“Keep in mind, sir; you are the ones coming to MY company asking for help, not the other way around. So in here, every single one of MY employees is above you. Even the cleaners, who take the time to clean the restrooms you leave disgusting and clean the chairs where your asses are sitting now so your expensive suits don't get dirty, even they are above you.” she leaned her head to the side while throwing the papers she had torn before, to his face.

Mr. Stuart seemed to have noticed who he was dealing with now so he slowly sat down instead of keeping arguing.

“She–” he tried to excuse himself but Leah interrupted him.

“No need to explain, I already saw the camera footage. I find it so weird you come here with such airs and graces when your company is the one doing the worst in here.” she walked away from him. “I'm not in good humor, I had to spend the whole night investigating and putting documents together because,” she chuckled. “Precisely your company sent wrong information, trying to look better than they really are. As if I was not going to notice.” she turned to him. “Then, I come to know that someone slapped one of my employees because she bumped into him and didn't say sorry quick enough for his liking. Then, the same individual tries to look so knowledgeable belittling another of my employees. And now, he is still sitting there like an idiot, as if there's something that can make me even consider his company as an option.

“My patience has a limit and you crossed it when you sent wrong information and didn't answer our emails as fast as you were when you were pestering about being put on the list of companies for this meeting.”

A huge man entered the room.

“I– I ju–” Mr. Stuart mumbled but was quickly stopped.

“Just get the fuck out of my building. I have talked more than I would like to so I hope I don't have to repeat it. I hate repeating myself twice when I was very clear the first time.” she said the last through her teeth.

The huge man stood next to Mr. Stuart.

“Sir, please. Come with me.”

“Who are you?” Stuart said offended.

“Head of security. Please, let's not bother Ms. Monroe any further. Let's get out quickly, or I'll make you get out quickly.”

“Are you threatening me?”

The huge man sighed while frowning.

“I don't like to repeat myself, either.”

He grabbed Mr. Stuart by the arm and started to pull him out. It was not long after that the room was quiet again. Leah sat back at her previous sit as if nothing had happened.

“Should I continue?” asked the woman. Leah looked at her for a second.

“There is no need.”

“Then, what should...” she looked at her coworkers that were also looking at her without knowing what to do, “we do?”

“Continue your workday, leave if your shift is over, I don't know. Whatever you were supposed to do after this meeting was over.”

Her employees all seemed to let go of the breath they were holding, at the same time and started to gather their things together. One of the men of the other companies stood up.

“But, we are still here.” everyone looked at him. “There are two other companies in this meeting, we are still here.”

“You mean the ones that found Mr. Stuart's jokes so funny throughout the meeting, disrespecting Ms. Clare?” Leah raised her head and looked at the man. “Yeah, I'm not interested.”

Another man stood up.

“You cannot just reject the other companies, too. You will lose a lot of money.”

“I will not lose any money. I will just not gain the same amount of money I would if we fuse, but no money will be deducted from any of my bank accounts.” she passed some papers to another person, grabbed her phone, and started to walk to the exit. “I don't know what gave you the idea I was doing this for money, but you are wrong. I was an investor and trader; that's how I started my capital. And, apparently, I had too much leisure time and was bored or something, so I started to make body lotions and scrubs and sell them to my friends, but I never expected to get to where I am with it, that's why I don't care who you think runs the company. Now, let's not waste more time and leave, I'm hungry.”

She frowned as if the last thing she said was foreign to her. She got closer to the door and William stood up drawing her attention to him. She froze with her hand on the knob looking straight at him, and the shy woman seemed to be back for a few seconds.

*'Ah, right... I'm the distraction.'* William thought.

He got closer and she frowned and opened the door and left. He followed her, knowing the rest were following him.

“This got worse than I expected,” said Benjamin passing him and standing next to Leah.

“The motherfucker,” she said through her teeth. “I should have slapped him, too.”

“Well, at least we can go home now.” Leah looked at him and he raised his hands in surrender.

“How is Sarah?”

“She is fine. As you requested, she is going to take a rest until she feels better to come back. Although she said she's going to be back tomorrow, a slap doesn't incapacitate her to do her job.”

“As she pleases,” she muttered and entered the elevator to floor 10 where she continued talking with Benjamin about other plans, William deciding to not interrupt them.

After getting out, she went straight to her office; the rest just followed her in. Her secretary entered and reminded her of the schedule for next week.

“You can leave already, Ben.” she started to type in her computer.

“Don't you need help with anything else?”

“No.”

“Well...” Benjamin looked at the secretary leaving, with a seductive smile which she returned, and then looked at Max for a second. “If anything comes up you know where to find me.”

“Between Jean's legs?” Leah murmured distracted. Her secretary chuckled right before closing the door behind her.

“Hopefully,” he said with a smile.

The door opened again and the woman from the front desk of the company got in, giving a not-so-warming look at Theo. She walked up to Leah and whispered something in her ear.

“No. Not really. But you go ahead.”

The woman pouted and looked at the men still in the room.

“Are you going out with your boyfriend?” Leah stopped typing and frowned at her, confused. “That's how he introduced himself.”

Leah followed her hand pointing at William.

“He is not, though,” she said while looking at him.

“I didn't introduce myself like that, per se.” He sat in front of her across her desk.

“Whatever. See you on Monday, I guess.” the woman said while dragging Benjamin out.

“Where are you taking me? I had plans with Jean.”

“I bet you can spend 10 minutes of those with your lovely sister.” that was the last thing was heard from them.

Leah typed a few more times before rising her head to William and noticing there were three more people still in the room. She looked surprised looking at them and when her eyes fell on Max she frowned, unwelcoming.

“Chill.” he raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not here today to intimidate.”

“You don't even intimidate, you just annoy.”

Max looked surprised while the rest of the guys tried to hide their laughs. She clicked her mouse a few times and then stood up, taking her purse with her and walking to William. He stood up noticing she was leaving.

“What do I owe the pleasure to?”

He got closer and grabbed her face to look at her face properly. She widened her eyes and tried to take a step back but he didn't let her. She looked the same as the last time, but now she also looked tired as if she hadn't been sleeping well.

“Are you not sleeping?” a thought crossed his mind. "Still having nightmares?”

“How you-” she gapped at him for a second until she remembered he had witnessed it the last time he saw her. “Ah, don't worry about that, it's nothing. I'm going to sleep now as soon as I get home.”

He frowned worryingly. She had looked like a goddess the first time they met two months ago, but now he had seen her panicking in her aunt's hospital office, crying, not eating properly, and now even having nightmares. He knew pregnancies were not easy but it seems to be affecting her even more than it should. But he also remembered that she never mentioned anything about aborting in her letter, neither while being checked by the doctors, and her 'I'll survive' whenever he asked her if she was fine. William pulled her on a hug; she was frozen for a few seconds and then hugged him back, hesitantly.

“You know, even though you are the one carrying the baby, the pregnancy is mine too. I won't leave you alone,” he whispered in her ear and felt her body tense a little. “If you need something, whatever it is, you can let me know.”

He felt her hands closing into fists, grabbing some of his jacket and shirt. Then she looked up at him and he looked at her; her eyes looked shinier as if she was tearing up.

“Can you cook for me again?” she whispered shyly.

He chuckled and kissed her on her forehead.

“I sure can.”

He felt her stepping back, so he let her go this time. There was a little sound in the room so he looked to see his three friends looking at them with eyes full of surprise but also looking like they were holding smiles. He cleared his throat and introduced them.

“Leah, these are my best friends, my brothers. Theodore Barret, Leonard Pierce, and you already know Maximillian Miller.” he pointed at each one.

“It's a pleasure to meet such a beautiful woman.” Leo shook her hand a kissed it. William just looked at him and saw him trying to hide his smile when he noticed his eyes, then he looked away when he couldn't control his facial muscles. “You have a great view, here.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she said a little uncomfortable.

“Nice to meet you, too,” said Theo.

“Same.” she looked at Max for a second but then looked back again at William without saying anything to him.