Chemical Poison . Howard Stark

Chapter 44

* PLEASE READ, COMPLETELY CHANGED THIS CHAPTER COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER 44 VERSION!

Anneliese's office was currently occupied by four unknown men. Standing in the doorway confused, she watched as they all huddled around her desk, pointing at a piece of parchment.

It was a peculiar sight. All four were dressed in black trousers and a light blue button-up with their voices steadily growing. If it was any other room, she wouldn't have questioned it. Yet, there was something undeniably fascinating about watching four men bicker in an office with random trinkets from her family home.

She remains still, standing silently as she feels Howard's presence behind her. Glancing up towards him, she catches sight of his lips curving into a grin and his eyes glowing gold.

"Mister Stark!", one of the men exclaimed.

All eight eyes were on them, or more particularly, Howard.

The man sitting in her chair was quickly shuffling the parchment together whilst the other three's posture had straightened. She couldn't help the edge of her lips from curving upwards, especially as she noticed the small beads of sweat appearing on all of their foreheads.

She felt Howard's hands rest on her shoulder as the room shivered in silence. No paper rustling, no bickering men, and not a single breath seemed to come out of anyone's mouth - given the exception of Howard. His mouth was right near her ear, hot against her skin.

"Whatever should I do to them, love"

Fear washed over the faces of the four men. She watched as they clenched their jaw, and she could only assume they anticipated the worst. Of course, they would.

They were in her office without permission. A common employee could assume confidential documents may rest in her filing cabinets due to her position as Howard's secretary. Of course, Anneliese was never foolish to leave such documents in her office, nor dense enough to leave confidential information in an office she hadn't used since the middle of June.

In fact, Alexander had informed her that many employees took to squatting in her office throughout her time in London. He hadn't seen the urgency to remove them from her office as he found the whole thing particularly funny.

At first, she found it invasive. She had reprimanded Alexander for not taking any sort of action to stop employees from using her office - then she saw an opportunity.

The office was in a terrible location and was awfully ugly. She wouldn't miss the room in the slightest.

But they didn't need to know that.

"Sorry," One of them sputtered, "We thought it was a vacant room-"

"- Did you happen to miss the sign that has Miss Lorenz engraved?", Howard snaps.

Her grin grew as the men's eyes dropped to the floor, obviously trying to avoid eye contact with their boss. It wasn't every day that Howard made himself known to the lower employees, and she assumed they were such. Their golden base of 'sales department' gave them away.

Taking a step to the side, she made room for Howard to stride past her and into the room. The sight of the now five men in her office was amusing to her. They barely had any room, and if she had to guess, Howard was only a few steps in front of the four men. Her office wasn't large, to begin with, and with five inside - it was certainly overcrowded.

She watched as their eyes filled with uncertainty, flickering between Howard and herself. They had probably heard the rumours of Howard's tendency to send Anneliese to judge whether an employee is to be fired. Perhaps they had heard one of the newer rumours, one that Miss Cotton had informed her of the second she heard it. Supposably Howard had a wicked temper, and Anneliese has no doubts his constant wrestling matches with Alexander, and loud arguments with Anneliese in the corridors didn't help.