A Secretary's Job (Story 1, 2.0)

Chapter 20: Sage

This chapter is all over the damn place, and I'm sorry. I don't know what else to do ._.

The picture is of nugget, Sage's baby boy ♡♡

▼o・ェ・o▼ WOOF

_________________________________________________

I could tell today was going to be along day just from the number of emails I had to get through. I scrolled up and down. I sighed. Kill me now. Skipping the first one, I opened the one from the caterer that I hired for the fundraiser. Hmm, they received the champagne and were waiting for the ingredients to be imported and that from there, they'll keep me posted as I had instructed.

Replying, I sent my thanks and opened the next email, still avoiding the first one from my father. I spent the next few hours doing that and scheduling meetings for James. The company was getting back on its feet and steadying itself. There was more work being presented; Kyle's department on the fifth floor was getting busier.

James had told me his decision to put Kyle on the team that would overlook one of next year's most significant projects. It made me happy that Kyle took the position. Maybe being in that environment would give him the push to display his art again.

He had picked up painting again, but I could tell that ever since his dinner date with Blake two weeks ago, that there was more enthusiasm behind it. I still didn't like Blake, but I could tell he genuinely cared for Kyle. And as long as Kyle came to me with his cute smiles, even if it was to chatter about their time together, I wasn't going to complain.

Besides, Blake kept Kyle's mind off Derrick, and the selfish part of me wanted that to continue. I knew Kyle didn't look at me any differently after what I did. It had worried me how he would take being associated with someone who could kill so effortlessly. If it'd weigh on his conscience to the point that he felt he had to go to the authorities or not.

Getting people like Derrick to talk through brute force and making them disappear had been a part of my life after my mother passed away. My father threw me into a world of money and violence without letting me mourn her death properly. In its own way, it was my excuse for what I did to escape from her being gone. Now what needed to be done came easy to me. And in the end, my father got what he wanted.

I trusted no one, and even though I didn't trust Caleb, it didn't mean I wasn't hurt by him. And after what Gavin did to me, I kept no one close. So, when I had lunch with Kyle for the first time, it was out of character. I had done it for work, but I could have suggested another way to help. It was this strange urge to just go along with him for a bit longer.

There wasn't any explanation for why I trusted Kyle so profoundly and so quickly after getting to know him. But I did. After what I did to Derrick, I realized how selfish I'd been when it came to him. Kyle didn't blink an eye at what I was capable of. Instead, he worried and cried for me. He thought of my wellbeing, and it made me realized that he had gone through a lot more then what he had let on. To be so desensitized that not even the fact that I killed someone he used to love fazed him.

That in itself worried me, but I understood that it was something that stemmed from his time with Derrick and his uncle. I could only imagine the horror he had to endure at that bastard's hands. The more his mind deteriorated and how money drove his uncle to treat him just the same. I smiled to myself, Blake and I were lucky to have someone like Kyle.

My phone rang. I hesitated when I saw who it was. Another problem. My father. He's been calling and sending messages at least once a week. After having to get rid of Derrick's body, he'd been trying to get in contact. It was the first time that I have ever ignored a call or message from him consistently. I couldn't talk to him. I wanted answers, yes, but I needed time to enjoy my time with James. Something told me my father planned on taking that from me once I spoke to him.