Chaotic Order // Rio fic

Chapter 21

Beth and Rio went into his office in order to discuss her new role in the business more in-depth while I searched my draw for some type of paperwork to be getting onto but found it empty of responsibilities. That left me with my most dreaded task of the day, making calls to potential or existing clients. Most of them were pleasant to discuss business with but in my current state of stress and frustration with my sister-in-law, I was in no mood to be dealing with them. I considered palming the task off to someone else in the office, perhaps Candace or Rio but settled on simply doing it myself, knowing just how picky these clients could be with who they spoke to.

With that I dialled the first number, waiting for the call to be answered as I opened my emails, finding the schedule Candace had sent me. I scanned through it, recognizing some of the names that I was going to be meeting with later on but it wasn't until my eyes wandered toward bold writing that read 12:45 pm: Lunch with Rio, completely unavoidable! I almost rolled my eyes at his stupidity, looking out to Candace's office to find the two of them laughing like school children. Before I could say anything to him the call was answered, rendering me into business mode.

I greeted the woman with professional kindness and began to address her reasons for contacting. One after the other I crossed the names from my list, typing notes and sending them to Candace to handle. Most of the calls were merely pleasantries and confirming signatures from our distributors but there were a couple that struck me as threatening. It would seem that Rio and I's little power struggle and abrupt merge of businesses had created quite a few rumours in the criminal underworld. Some of our clients seeming to think they can get away with running their exploits without my knowledge.

That needs to stop.

I run a hand through my hand in frustration, glancing down to my laptop to browse through my evergrowing inbox. My eyes drift to the clock to see that it was already midday, thank god I've still got time to handle this mess. I begin drafting ideas and plans for the impending threats against the company, my fingers scattering across the keyboard and my mind completely lost in the task at hand. It was no wonder why Rio's voice scared the living shit out of me.

"We had plans darlin'." I whipped my head around to find him with his hands on either side of my chair and his head leaning over my shoulder.

"What the fuck is wrong with you." I gasped, my heart racing. "I'm way too busy for your shit right now." I went back to typing, praying that he would just leave me be.

"Don't be mad baby, let's go get some lunch." I could feel my frustration pounding through my skull like a migraine.

"Rio I don't have time," I reply, my hands massaging my temple, scanning over another draft of ideas. I feel his hands mover slowly from my hips to my shoulders where he begins to massage them. I sigh and lean back slightly.

"You need to get out of this office." He states, his hands playing with my hair, sending goosebumps down my spine.

"I barely have enough time to pee right now! Stop distracting me!" I snap at him and he takes his hands from my skin as if to surrender.

"What's got you all stressed about?" I groaned, spinning my chair to face him with a solemn pout.

"Well because of this whole power share thing a bunch of my clients think its okay to start asking for stakes in the empire or to start their own distributions entirely! They think just because I showed weakness one time that it's okay for them to just start running their own shit and disregarding all that I've built like it means nothing and now I have to stop them and I-" My mind was going a mile a minute and my lips couldn't stop moving as I rambled to him but he didn't seem to mind. He cut me off, pulling me from my chair and into his arms where we stood still, his arms around me and my head resting on his chest. I felt tears well in my eyes but blinked them away, everyone has seen my cry far too many times in the past couple of weeks.