PERMITTED (#2)

Chapter 1

"What are you doing? Does that look anything like what I showed you in the meeting?" I pointed to the document one of my employees was currently drafting up. He pressed his lips together, not looking up at me as he shook his head.

            "No, ma'am."

            "Then start over, Tim. I expect better from you." I shook my head as I walked past his desk, stopping when I reached an elevator. I've been working here at Lore Co. for a year and snagged the position of COO by fabricating most of my resume except for my position at that other company I don't even want to talk about. Okay, well, that was mostly fabricated as well. I put down that I was in a higher position than what was true, but they didn't even verify with that man to make sure. I think because they were true rivals with actual hatred for everyone at that company.

Drakos Conglomerate.

Ugh.

I didn't even want to think about his company, but it was hard not to when in almost every meeting, we strategized on how to become even better than they were.

            At the moment, we were better in every way. I made sure that happened. My goal after I quit working for Drakos, as I currently referred to him like everyone else, was to work for the rival company and make sure he suffered in every way, starting with his company. It took some time, but I finally have his company in a position of weakness. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know it's me pulling the strings, steering this giant ship. But he will soon.

            His wedding which was supposed to happen hasn't yet. I wasn't sure what the delay was, but that works out even better for me because now it's scheduled for a few months from now, at the end of the summer. My original goal of absolutely destroying Drakos and his relationship so that it doesn't happen at all was now back in play. I had time now that I had my claws in this company. It made me wonder how much "love" Lisa would have for him if he wasn't worth a penny. I don't care what this makes me look like. This is what a woman who had her heart broken looks like.

Me.

Vengeance.

            That might be a little overdramatic, but honestly, that was how I was really feeling inside. Getting out of my thoughts, I took the elevator to my spacious office and breathed in the lavender scent. Today has been a great day so far. All of my meetings have been successful and now it was time to relax and plan for the next day. I sat down in my comfortable chair and sighed, slowly turning around to look outside of the large window that gave me a beautiful view of the city. Tomorrow, I had only two meetings because it was Friday, and I would rather have a longer weekend than normal if I could help it. My staff was always happy about that. I did have to come in earlier than usual because my assistant needed the day off, which was totally fine with me, I would just need to check her calendar and notes to see what next week was looking like and make sure everything was correct before being finalized.

            Closing my eyes, I thought about how much my life had changed in only a year. All of it was for the better. Even me cutting off my brother Mason after the whole hostile takeover he tried to do with Colton and Lisa, which would've ruined me in the process. He didn't seem to care anyway, which did hurt more than I cared to admit, but that was life, I guess.  Speaking of Colton, the last time I checked, he was still working at Drakos Conglomerate, which shocked me. He was deep into the plan to kick Ro- Drakos, from his position as CEO, yet he faced no consequences. It didn't make sense to me. Mason quit after Lisa chose Drakos over him and I don't think Colton even cared about her in the first place, because he didn't care that she didn't choose him either. I think he just wanted power. Who knows.

            What I do know is that it was only a matter of time before Drakos Conglomerate came knocking on our doors to figure out where the hell we came from, and what we wanted. Chipping away at anyone's profits would definitely have them questioning the state of things and looking for answers. I would be right here with them. I smiled to myself as I turned back around to my desk and began writing up my end of day notes on my computer. Time flew by and soon, it was time for me to go home.

            "Don't forget to write up your end of day notes and email them to me before you all leave. Have a great day everyone!" I yelled out so all of my employees could hear me. They all yelled back that they wouldn't forget and to have a great day at different times and in different pitches, so it was loud chaos, but I loved it. I had a great team and we all worked so well together. Waving one last time, I left the building and was in traffic for about two hours before I finally made it to my apartment building. I lived on the fifth floor, so the elevator ride wasn't long at all. My apartment was lovely and spacious for a one-bedroom, more luxurious than where I lived before with Davis. I still kept in touch with him from time to time, but not as much as I did before.

            We decided for the sake of both of our mental health, it would be better to live apart. There was so much drama that came from my side with Roman, especially involved with the press and the publicity, and Davis didn't want to have to deal with that. Which I respected. I also decided on the way home that I would just call him Drakos to his face, it was too much of a task to force myself to think of him as Drakos.

            Anyway, I was living by myself now, and honestly, it was so much better. I didn't have to explain to anyone why I was gone for however long, didn't have to update anyone on drama, and I could have peace of mind. No more randoms coming over without me knowing who they were, worried they might be crazy. I only had peace, just how I liked it. I lit a vanilla-scented candle that sat on top of fake books which sat on a little cute glass table before entering my room and going straight to my walk-in closet.

            I hung my purse up on the rack with my other purses and undressed as I looked for some comfy clothes to wear. Sweatpants and a random t-shirt always worked for me, so that's what I went with. The shower I took relaxed my body, but not my mind. All I could think about was what I had to do tomorrow. It wasn't the meetings I was worried about, it was the blind date. Yes, after a year, I was finally ready to move on with my love life. That didn't mean I still wasn't out to destroy Roman and Lisa because trust me, that was all the revenge I wanted in this world. But I was lonely. I didn't need to be in a relationship to thrive, but I loved having a partner, someone to love and cherish. Your person. I wanted my person.

            My assistant, Tina, had a friend that knew a guy who was also single and was finally starting to casually date again. I didn't expect the date to be perfect, but it did make me nervous because it had been a while. For relationships and sex. The latter being the reason why I had at least two vibrators waiting for me in the small drawer next to my bed. Sue me.

            The date had been set up a few days ago and I didn't even know his name. Tina told me that was the point of the date, to go in blindly and that she knew that I just wanted to look him up to make sure he had a clean background and a job. She assured me that he was attractive and employed so I agreed to the date. We were both given instructions on where to me exactly, so when we both arrived, we would know that we were each other's dates. It was a lunch date, so it was going to be right after my two meetings. I tried to stop thinking about it before I psyched myself out and canceled. I was the queen of canceling if I didn't feel comfortable. But I needed to step out of my little bubble now.

It was time.