CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

"Amelia" The head of Lia's department called, more like screamed.
"Yes, mam" Lia quickly stood up from where she sat and mentally retraced her steps, for if she did anything that could possibly put her in trouble.
She didn't want to anger the woman, seeing as she already had severe anger issues, and she would never let Lia hear the end of it, if anything went wrong.
"Take this to the chairman's office," The leader said and carelessly threw a bunch of files on Lia's desk, causing it to scatter and fall all over the floor.
"I'm sorry mam, but I haven't finished what I'm doing"
"That's non of my concern. You know full well that you are the only one allowed on that floor, or you think that if you sleep with the boss then you can slack off" The director looked at Lia with her eyes filled with disgust.
"With all due respect mam, I clearly just said that I'm not done with what I'm doing. So I'm not slacking off"
"Whatever, get those papers arranged and hand it over to the chairman at once" The director left.
Lia sighed and began to pick up the papers that fell and arranged them accordingly.
On her way out she bumped into Ellie.
" Ellie, you don't look too good. Is something wrong?" Lia asked noticing the gloomy look Ellie portrayed.
" It's Mr. Black, I haven't seen him in days" Ellie confessed.
" Come to think of it, I haven't seen him either," Lia said.
" What if he has been kidnapped or worse killed," Ellie said with panic written all over her face.
" Ellie, you are overreacting. He probably just went on vacation and would be back soon"
" How can you be so sure of that? Please ask Mr. King about him for me"
" Ok, I will"
" Thank you, Lia"
After Lia's encounter with Ellie, she made her way to Leo's office. She knocked on the door several times but there was no reply.
She decided to just go in, drop the documents and leave.
She placed the documents neatly on his desk. She was about to retrieve her hands back when she mistakenly knocked something down.
The glass on the picture frame broke into little bids as the frame made contact with the floor.
Lia crotched down and began to pick up the little shards of glass. She was almost done when her eyes finally glanced at the picture.
It was a little girl and a boy. The girl looked a lot like herself and the boy looked like Leo.
'Strange' Lia thought. She didn't think she had ever met Leo before.
"What are you doing?" Leo's voice shook Lia and made her almost drop the broken frame that she held.
"I came here to drop off some files, but then I mistakenly knocked the frame over. I'm sorry"
"Are you hurt?" Leo asked with concern laced in his voice.
"No. I'm okay, but the frame isn't"
"Leave it on my desk," Leo said.
"Ok, I'll just finish up with the glass"
"Leave it"
"I have to clean it up, it's my mess"
"It's dangerous to pick glass with your bare hands"
"I will be careful"
"Leave it Lia, I will call someone to get it cleaned up"
"I thought no one else was allowed on this floor" Lia said.
"Mr. Black will clean it up. He is in charge of the cleaning of this whole floor" Lia's mouth went wide open.
"What? You must be paying him a huge sum of money"
" I am"
" But I haven't seen Mr. Black at all for the past nine days. Where is he?"
Leo looked as if he had just realized something.
" Forget it. I will clean it myself" Leo said.
" you still haven't answered my question though"
" I don't appreciate my wife asking about another man, but if you must know. I don't know where he is"
" Wait, are you serious?"
Leo raised an eyebrow at her.
" Aren't you worried that he might have gotten kidnapped?" Lia said.
" He is a grown man, he can take care of himself" Lia looked at Leo with disbelief.
" It doesn't matter if he is a grown man or not. He still needs help"
" I trust that Mr. Black would be able to defend himself against mere kidnappers"
" So you are just going to sit around and wait till he comes back"
" That is exactly what I will do. Now if my wife keeps insisting on talking about that man, I will make sure he doesn't come back for good" Leo threatened.
" You are so cruel"
Leo clenched his teeth, not liking the compliment.
" If that is all, you may take your leave"
" Goodbye," Lia said and turned around to leave but before she opened the door, Leo informed her that they would have lunch together later in the day.
On Lia's way back to her office she was met with two of her foes.
" Oh, look it's the company's slut" Bethany said and Stella giggled.
The situation was kind of funny, seeing as it was Bethany, who acted more sluttish than anyone else. Who knows how many male employees she had already slept with, plus she was the only one who dared to wear revealing clothes in the company.
Bethany would always find ways to pick on Lia and Lia will always try her best to avoid her, but sometimes she went too far and some things are not meant to be overlooked.
Lia didn't turn around to look at them and just continued walking.
" Don't ignore me bitch" Bethany said.
" What do you want from me?" Lia asked clearly annoyed.
" As if I would ever want anything from you. What did you do to my sister?" Bethany asked.
Although Bethany behaved like a brat, when it came to her sister Ellie, she was somewhat protective.
"What do you mean? I didn't do anything to her"
"After you two met she looked sad, no one has the right to make my little sister sad"
"She was already gloomy when I met her"
"It better be so, if I find out that you hurt her you wouldn't like the consequences. Let's go Stella" The duo finally left Lia alone.
And right on cue, her phone rang. It was her father calling.
"Hello, father," Lia said joyfully.
"You don't care about your old man anymore"
"Don't be silly father, of course I care. I've just been a bit busy"
"Let's have lunch together," Ben said.
"Sure, although Leo and I have plans, but you can join us. I am sure he won't mind"
"That would be lovely"
"Great, I'll text you the companies address"
"See you later," Ben said before hanging up on the phone.
Immediately after Lia stepped foot into her department, she heard her name being yelled out again, by the leader who was now angrily stumping her feet in Lia's direction.
"What took you so long? You had just one task and y..."
"Oh God," Lia faced palmed herself, as the leader gave her an ear full of pointless lectures.