Love & Business: Part II

You're Fired

I sat next to Hunter in his office, giving him a report on my half of the business while he gave me his.

He was in a good mood since our dinner last night but one of his workers messed up and now he was extremely pissed.

All the employees were walking on eggshells around him, even me, and I wasn't at risk of being fired.

There was a knock on the door before Salena walked in with two coffees.

"Here are your coffees," she said as she placed Hunter's own on the desk in front of us and spilled mine on me. My mouth opened involuntarily opened as I felt the hot liquid pour all over my chest area.

The pain was excruciating as it burned my skin. I quickly grabbed some napkins that were on the table to wipe myself off before cursing under my breath.

"Oopsies," she giggled. "do you want me to fetch you another one?"

I don't know why but tears started to fill my eyes since this was a new dress Moya had insisted on buying me. This dress cost half her paycheck. How much more of this can I take?

I heard a loud bang then turned my head to see that Hunter had slammed the thick folder he was reading onto the desk. Both Salena and I watched him with widened eyes. He stared at the floor with his jaw and fist clenched.

"Salena," he said firmly.

"Y-yes sir?" she asked. She looked like she was about to shit herself.

He kept his gaze on the floor. "How many times did I have to tell you today not to upset me?" he asked as he raised his voice.

"Four sir."

He closed his eyes. It looked like he was struggling to calm himself down. "And if that wasn't enough you went and did such a childish thing to Sophia, my wife?"

She looked down to the floor looking shameful.

"I've given you chance after chance and you still keep doing this shit! How many times do I have to remind you that we're just in a superior and subordinate relationship now? Nothing else."

He got up and poured some bourbon into his glass and chugged it down. "You're fired."

Both Salena and I looked up at him quickly.

"But sir-"

"I should've done this a long time ago. Nobody gets to disrespect my wife over and over like this."

"Sir, I've been your assistant ever since you came into the business."

Hunter ignored her as he picked back up the folder he had dropped earlier and continued what he was doing. He didn't even give her a second look.

I watched Salena's eyes fill with tears. As much as I wanted this I felt bad. It doesn't feel right for Hunter to just drop everyone because of me. Salena said herself that she has been his assistant ever since. I can't imagine myself without Jannette.

Hunter probably doesn't even want to fire her. He's probably just saying this because he was upset from before and felt obligated to stand up for me.

I opened my mouth to say something but Hunter stopped me.

"Don't even try to save her Sophia. She's my assistant, not yours."

I sighed before leaning back on the chair.

Hunter finally looked back up at Salena who had tears running down her face. "Oh, and before you leave, get me a new assistant and tell them everything they need to know."

She was fuming. "Yes, sir," she mumbled before storming out of the room.

I turned to Hunter who was now just blankly staring at his pen. "Hunter, you don't have to fire her if you don't to. I can fight my own battles."

He shook his head. "It's not that; Selena was to be fired a long time ago. I was just making sure I'm about to make the right decision."

I raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

He turned to me. "Fully opening up to you. I'm ready to talk about my mom."

I paused for a minute to digest what was happening. Hunter was finally willing to talk about something personal. He was finally going to let me in and not just say something then close off. I was patient with him because I knew it took a lot to open up to someone, love with them or not.

"Did I ever tell you how we met?" he asked and I shook my head. He chuckled a bit. "Well, when I was graduating from college she came."

I widened my eyes as I couldn't believe Margret would do such a thing. He nodded his head.

"Yeah, she did. She wasn't like that all the time," he said. "We use to have fun and go on trips together but all good things must come to an end. She ran out of money and guilted me into giving her. That's when I realized why my dad tried so hard to make her stay out of my life."

He leaned back as he looked upon the roof. He looked more relaxed. "The last thing I told her was to stay away from me. If she didn't have me, her life probably wouldn't have ended due to drugs."

That's where I had to stop him. "Hunter, will you stop staying that? She made her own decision to leave. It's not your fault and it'll never be your fault! Is there going to be a funeral or something for her?"

He shook his head before pushing back a strand of hair that had fallen in my face. "My dad already buried her off somewhere. He didn't even tell me she was dead. Yes, Margret wasn't the best mother but she didn't deserve this."

I nodded understanding him. "Well, we can have our own little ceremony."

"That would be nice," he said before intertwining his hand with mine. "Thanks for listening to me Soph."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you kidding me? It's all part of the job," I said and we both erupted into laughter.

We smiled at each other for while just enjoying each other's presence. The atmosphere between us was perfect. We weren't tensed, awkward, or anything, we were just there.

The door knocked and Mr. Ryan came in for a meeting. Hunter immediately got up and shook his hand before the two men sat around Hunter's desk to discuss a problem on Mr. Ross's end.

My phone rang and I saw the name 'Nathan McCall' come up. I was a bit surprised to see his name appear so I quickly swiped the button.

"Hello?" I asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt the ongoing meeting.

"Sophia, your father-in-law has added another charge to the case and he has evidence."

I rubbed my temple. Why does this man keep targeting Hunter?

"It's about..."

I stiffened in my seat. "What Nathan? What is it about?"

"...you."