"Transferring me? That's… I…" I was totally lost of words to say.
"Now stand," he smiled.
In an instant, I rose to my feet, picked my bag from the floor. "You mean Hames Hendrix, CEO of 'HamIX International'?" My eyebrows furrowed unintentionally.
"Yes," he nodded, narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Yes!" I didn't mean to snap at him but I did. "He's been here a couple of times and I swear he doesn't seem like a nice person at all. He's always so arrogant, rude and—" I was cut off.
"It's okay. You'll have to adapt to him." He shrugged, opened the drawer of his table and took out a brown envelope from it and a piece of paper. "Here," he held the paper to me.
I raised an eyebrow at him, expecting him to be more descriptive about this.
"It's your Transfer letter." He grinned once more.
Reluctantly, I took the paper from him, slowly reading its heading. "REQUEST FOR TRANSFER. Hi, I'd love to request for Imogen Mark to be transferred—" he interrupted me once again, by holding the paper.
"Oh, that's the wrong one." He gently pulled it out of my grip, rummaged his drawer again, took out a new form or whatever it was I guessed was the original transfer letter. "Here, have it."
I took it from him, glanced through the words printed on it. "... I hereby transfer Imogen Mark, my secretary, to work in 'HamIX International', as Hames Hendrix's Secretary…" reading his name sent a block of ice to freeze my brain, reminding me of the fact that I was literally being transferred to a devil-looking man!
"Kade, please don't transfer me to him. Please, anywhere but there." I pleaded, dropping the letter on his table.
His smile disappeared. "Imogen, it's either this or you're fired." He didn't yell but his tone possessed authority and every bit of seriousness which caused me to gulp in fear.
My brain jerked back to reality. Who the hell was I to argue over this? It wasn't like I was being demoted. Hames was a well-known Multi Millionaire so of course, I was going to learn new things.
"I'm sorry." I sheepishly apologized.
He slid the piece of paper into the envelope, pinned it with a stapler then raised it to me.
I accepted the envelope with a forced smile. "Thank you," was all I could think of saying.
"It's okay." His heavenly smile returned. "You should resume tomorrow. Hames is surely a busy man so he wouldn't accept a day or two break."
"Okay." I nodded. "Thank you so much for everything you've done, I'll forever be grateful for your kindness." I appreciated him genuinely. "You're the best boss one can ever have, thank you."
"Aw, no problem. You've been a really good secretary. Hames will surely love working with you as much as I did."
We stared at each other in silence for a while, not saying a word. It was pretty awkward but it seemed normal at the moment. I was starting to feel weird. I had worked with Kade for over 2 years now so it felt like a really big part of me was changing.
There was a loud knock on the door which caused both of us to flinch and turn our heads to the door.
"Uh… come in?" Kade permitted unsurely.
The door knob twisted and it was pushed inwards, revealing Jovi's figure. She fixed her gaze on me irritatedly before strolling in. "Kade, we need to talk." She stood in akimbo, casting a dangerous glare at me once more.
"Talk?" Kade drew his eyebrows in confusion.
"Yes," she tapped her foot against the floor.
"I guess I'll pack my things and leave now." I felt the need to get out of Jovi's presence. She seemed like she could murder me if I stayed any longer. What was her problem with me? Did I pose a threat to her?
"There's no need for that. I'll ask someone to send all your things to 'HamIX International'. You can leave now." He said in the sweetest tone I had ever heard. It made Jovi roll her eyes.
"Okay," I bowed politely, grasped my bag's handles tighter then took my leave.
Jeez! Was this really going to be the last time I'd be here as Kade's secretary? Man, I wondered what was the next phase.
***
"I'm going to see a friend, okay?" Nikita said, putting her car to a stop in front of 'HamIX International'.
"Okay, no problem." I chuckled, opened the car door and stepped out of it. "How do I look now?" I twirled for her.
She went poker-faced. "You look like you're heading to a club to make out with 60 men."
"Nikita!" I snapped, laughing. Though she sounded so serious, it was funny to me.
"What? I'm not kidding. You always want the world to know that you're blessed with such nice curves, by showing way too much off?" She rolled her eyes playfully.
"Whatever! Get outta here now." I wiggled my eyebrows at her, slammed the door really loud.
"Catch up with you later." She said and I waved my hand in response.
I watched as she swerved the car, zoomed out of sight.
With a smile still on my lips, I walked into the company. Jeez! This was fucking bigger than 'RICARDO International'! How the heck was I going to find my way in here? The buildings seemed like they were way above the sky.
I gulped, opened my handbag to search for the transfer letter Kade had given me yesterday. It had the direction to my new office printed on it.
I found the envelope, tore it open and began to read through its content. "There," I pointed my index finger on the tabulated direction. I zipped my bag close then hung its handle over my shoulder.
I strode past the concrete floor which had neat elephant grasses beside it and served as a path to one of the buildings in this goddamn planet of a compound.
The automatic doors opened for me to walk in, showcasing the beautiful white-themed interior designs. "Wow!" I muttered. The tiles were so shiny, I could even see my reflection in them. The hall was damn quiet with only a few people walking around silently, unlike Kade's company where billions of people were always walking around like vagabonds.
"How may I help you?" I flinched as the sound of a deep feminine voice welcomed me.
I only noticed the presence of the petite brunette with beautiful hazel eyes behind the counter. She was obviously the receptionist.
"I'm Imogen Mark, the new secretary to Hames Hendrix." I introduced with a formal smile.
"Oh," she muttered, scanning me from head to toe. "You're the one? And you're just arriving?" She chuckled mockingly.
"Yes?" I frowned, slightly offended by her mocking comment though I didn't understand what she meant.
"Hang on." She arched her back to search for something behind the counter. She stood straight again then stretched her hand which now had an orange-colored card in it. "I'm Sarah Louis, the receptionist, patently. This is a direction card, you can use the first elevator by your right hand side."
"Thank you." I took the card from her and began to walk away whilst staring at it. "68th floor, got it. Door 68#f." I read it out. As directed by Sarah, I used the elevator by my right hand side, hit the 68th floor button.
It took a while before the elevator made a ding sound and the doors reopened. I walked out of it, stood straight then resumed walking in a sensible way. I found the door with label '68#f'. New office, here I come.
I gave a slight knock on the door, waited for a few seconds but there was no response. I went for another louder knock. Still, no response.
"Is no one in? Well… if that's so…" I twisted the door knob and pushed the door open, surprised that it wasn't locked.
"I didn't ask you to come in." I screamed in shock as Hames' thick voice barked at my entrance.
"Jesus!" I held my chest as it rose and fell rapidly. I felt my heart fall to my feet as an effect of his latration. I tried to walk further but lost my balance and almost fell. I was quick enough to grip onto a random stand to support myself from falling.
After panting for a while to catch my breath, with a frown on, I raised my head to stare at the Demon. He was seated on his mahogany table. His arms with strong biceps that hugged his white shirt firmly were folded across his chest and his legs were crossed in front of him. His black hair was neatly brushed to one side, his trimmed jawline was clenched really bad, his full lips were squeezed to emphasize his furious look, as well as the deep anger his dark brown eyes possessed.
I had to admit within myself that his look intimidated me like hell. He seemed like he was ready to pounce on me and suck my blood dry. Wait, he couldn't do that, he wasn't a vampire.
"I— I'm very sure I knocked on the door." I responded to his bark. He was inside the whole time but didn't respond to my knocking?
"So? Did I ask you to come in?" He didn't yell this time but the vibrating his husky voice possessed sent a snake of fear to flow through my spine.
"No, you didn't." I had fully regained myself and was able to advance towards him. I walked past the 5 black heavy sofas that formed a U-shape with a rectangular center table between them, in front of his office table and chair, and to him.
"I didn't, yet you walked in?" He said through gritted teeth.
"Well… yes. I knocked, there was no response so I opened the door because I thought you weren't in." I frowned harder, wondering what the hell his problem was.
"Don't ever walk into my— our office without me telling you to do so, okay?" His authoritative tone was starting to piss me off.
"But—"
He cut me off by slamming his hand on the table, causing me to flinch. "No 'buts'. Why are you late on your first day?" He questioned.
Oops, I was going to go with my escape from this question like I always did. "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?!" He yelled again. "You're not in your right senses. How the hell are you late on your first day at work?!"
I widened my eyes. Whoa, this man wasn't going with the usual 'I'm sorry'?
He peered into my eyes and I immediately lowered my head. It felt like the right thing to do at the moment.
"What the heck are you wearing?" He said through gritted teeth.
I furrowed my eyebrows, stared down at my dress and returned my eyes to his. "A dress." I replied, making it seem like he had just asked the most stupid question ever.
"This is not what you wear to an office." He shoved his hands into his front pocket, standing up straight. Jeez… he was way taller than I had ever noticed.
"I wear clothes like these everyday and come at times like this to the office." I stated clearly.
He stared at me in astonishment. He definitely didn't expect me to reply. Why wouldn't I?
"I'll call someone who would teach you some manners and also teach you how to dress to an office." He clicked his tongue.
"Okay," I tried my best to sound polite but to no avail.
"Your first impression shows how silly and dumb you are." He hissed.
"Hames!" I snapped at him. "Why do you have a problem with me?"
"H–Hames?" He stared in wonder. "You're very dumb and rude." He pointed his index finger at me. "Call me formally. Is that how you refer to your boss?! It's rude." He snapped his fingers at me.
"Yes. Kade doesn't have a problem with it when I call him by his name." My frown intensified.
"I'm not Kade and I don't permit nonsense. I am your boss and you have to follow my rules, get it?" He barked at me. His eyes mirrored every form of venom, aggravation, and fire which was endlessly being fueled! Damn, was this the demon I was going to work for now?
***
Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comment section.❤️☺️
Quick A/N: I made this chapter long, which means more words to read. I'll try to update it sooner. Don't forget to leave your comments, they're really motivating 😊***"Nikita, are you crazy?!" I snapped at her."What's your problem? I can't drive you to work everyday, I also have things to attend to with my personal life, now get out of my car." She unlocked the doors."Why'd you stop driving mid-way? HamIX International is still way far away from here." I grumbled."That isn't my problem, you know?" She smirked at me. "You can walk to the nearest bus stop which is twenty minutes away then go with a public bus."
~ HAMES HENDRIX ~"Can I leave now?" Miss Mark asked, obviously looking so stressed out from the day's work.I glanced at the wall clock. It was 2 hours past working hours. It wasn't my fault I had tons of things to do than close so early."Have you planned my schedule for next week?" I raised an eyebrow at her."Uh— I'm almost done with it. I'll submit it tomorrow." She said, scratching the back of her neck and avoiding my gaze. I was glad she adjusted to my style of working, else it was going to be a huge problem if she still continued arguing with me."Okay. You've postponed my appointments for tomorrow, right? It has to be a free day for me."
~ IMOGEN MARK ~I had woken up this morning as early as I could. I couldn't bear to get into trouble with that asshole of a boss.I had worn a knee-length grey pencil skirt with a black shirt tucked into it and a grey blazer, with a pair of matching white stiletto heels and a white handbag which had fake diamond designs around it. My shoulder-length blonde hair had been dyed into black last night with hair extension to make it fall all the way down to just above my butt. My thin lips were covered in thick wine lipstick, making my electric blue eyes seem like they were shining brighter than ever.I didn't bother to depend on Nikita for a ride to work but hired a taxi driver to pick me up every morning.With a grin on,
"You've been so busy with work since you started working for that asshole. Now it's Saturday, get your lazy ass up!" Nikita yelled into my ear, pulling me up by my shirt."Kita, I've got to sleep." I groaned, flipping over to bury my face in my fluffy pillow."Girl, you're crazy. You've done nothing but sleep all day long. It's 2pm!" She shouted and slugged me.My eyes popped open at that. I turned to her. "Seriously? How's that even possible?" Not believing her, I shifted to reach for my phone on the nightstand. I checked the time and it was indeed 2:14pm."I've missed you, bitch. Let's party or do something fun!" She squealed, hopping off the bed. "Be ready in half an hour. I already made b
"Miss Mark," Hames called. "The Manager of 'Friz and co.' will be here in a few minutes. I hope everything is ready?""Uh— yeah, sure." I scratched my arm, dropping the files on his table. "I'll send the remaining part of it to your email."He hummed a response. His fingers drummed on his laptop keys really fast, forming the beat of a song.Seriously? He hadn't said a thing about last Saturday. He was really going to ignore it? I felt his gaze on me so I raised my head to stare at him."What do you want?" He questioned crankily."Nothing." I shook my head."If it
"You can leave now, Miss Mark." Hames said with a dismissive wave of his hand.I glanced at my wristwatch and it was three hours past my closing hour, if I even had one. "Thank you so much, Mr Hendrix, for releasing me at such an early hour of the day." I said sarcastically with a fake smile.He raised his head from his laptop, leaned back in his chair and intertwined his fingers. "Oh, really?" He scoffed. "Why don't you wait till it's not so early and do some more work."My eyes widened at that. I wore a grin at him, shaking my head. "No, thank you. I'll be leaving now." I nodded then turned around and took my leave. A frown returned on my face as I shut the door. "Stupid man." I hissed.A young m
"Wow, you're leaving for work so early?" Lila teased. "Your new boss has done more good than bad to you."A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I was in no mood to argue with her. "Silly." I stood in front of the oval-shaped dressing mirror, adjusting the collar of my pink button down shirt."Gosh, you're also dressing like you're going to work and not a club." She looked truly dazzled, buttoning her shirt."Silly." I chortled, brushing my hair and tied it into a ponytail."Why did you change the color of your hair? I liked it blonde and shoulder-length." She walked to the nightstand and poured herself a glass of water, pulling its brim to her lips.
I blinked multiple times with my jaw gaped. "Your girlfriend?" A frown appeared on my face."Yes, Imogen." He said through a fake smile. "This is my Mom and she has been dying to meet you."I frowned at him. "But—""It's so nice to finally meet you. I never believed Hames already had a girlfriend. I didn't believe him a bit, not to mention believing she's a really beautiful one like you. I'm Trisha Hendrix." She smiled with the small of her teeth in view.When it was patent that his Mom wasn't looking, Hames glared at me; a glare that warned me to go along with the flow. That didn't stop me from feeling pissed off b
EPILOGUE~ 10 YEARS LATER ~~ IMOGEN ~"Mom, I feel like a really big boy now." Tristan said, flexing his biceps.I burst into laughter. "I guess you should.""When are we going to Aunt Lila's, I miss Indy so much.""Didn't you see Indy last week?""Yes, to give her a pre-birthday gift but today is her birthday, I can't wait to give her her original birthday gift. And did you know she's now in the first grade?""Yes, I know that, Tristan.""Can you believe that? She's such a child." He shook his head while I laughed again. "When are we leaving?""Very soon, after your father returns.""Okay, I'll start getting ready. I love you, Mom."
~ HAMES ~"My baby," Imogen dropped to the floor, breaking into tears. "Nothing must happen to my Tristan.""Don't worry, nothing will happen to our son." I crouched beside her."If anything terrible happens to him, I swear I'll kill myself." She cried."Stop saying nonsense! Nothing will happen to him and you're not going to kill yourself.""I will," she buried her head in her palm. "Do you know how hard it was to survive through those months to have him?""Daisy, please take her to her room. I'll try to find Tristan.""Don't you dare touc
~ IMOGEN ~"Isn't it weird that they are getting married so soon?" I asked Hames as he helped me with the zipper of my gown."So it wasn't weird to you that we got married a week after we announced our wedding?""Oh yeah, that's true. I almost forgot how my husband forced me to marry him when I didn't love him yet.""You know that's not true." He hugged me from behind, kissing my cheeks. "I didn't force you to, you could've backed out of it and paid the forty million dollars on your own.""You made it seem like I was helpless." I held his hands."You weren't helpless, you could've also gone to court
~ 5 MONTHS LATER ~~ HAMES ~My poor heart was beating really fast as Imogen was struggling to get Tristan's head out of her tiny hole, groaning and sweating. I felt helpless. I wanted to help her with the pain but all I could do was hold her hand really tight, muttering soothing words to her.Her fingernails were digging into my skin. It was hurting but I knew the pain was nothing compared to hers. It felt like I could feel her pain, my heart was aching, I was very sweaty."Don't worry, baby. Please stay calm." I continued to comfort her"Hames," she cried, breathing heavily.
~ HAMES ~Though we won against Sam and Dash in court today and they were all, including the head maid and everyone else involved in their criminal activities, going to receive their respective punishments, Imogen still didn't look happy.We had decided to head for my cabin which was romantically designed to brighten her mood. There were candles with amazing scents, roses, a nice view of outside the cabin, a nice bathtub in the bathroom with flowers for scents, a king-sized bed, snacks and food or anything that she could start craving for, and a large television to enjoy ourselves over movie time.She was still in the bathroom so I decided to join her.She still looked as sad as ever over Faith's death, and it was ma
I rushed beside Faith's stretcher as she was being pushed. She was coughing out blood and it was evident in her eyes that she was struggling to breathe, struggling for life. I was still able to run beside her stretcher till the door to the emergency room was opened and I wasn't permitted to go in."Faith, please God save her. She can't die." I prayed. My entire body was vibrating and my head was pounding.Who could've wanted to kill me? The crazy person in the balaclava, who the heck was it? Faith just saved me. I prayed she survived, she couldn't die this way. "She's also pregnant, two lives can't just go like that." I was very sweaty and more than scared right now.After a few minutes of me pacing around the door of her emergency room, Hames came running
~ NIKITA ~My phone started ringing from my purse.Like the depressed bitch I was, I frustratedly slipped it out of my purse and answered the incoming group video call from Imogen."Hey, Nik. Hey, Lil." Imogen's cherry voice made a smile finally appear on my face."Hi, babe." I waved, taking a seat on a chair."Hi. What's up?" Annoying Lila spoke, sipping from a juice box."I'm really cool. It's been a while since we've had a group video call so I decided to do it now." She was clearly walking as she spoke. "Faith is here too." She moved the camera to Faith's face.
"Hi, Faith. We should go on a walk together, don't you think?""Yes, please. I'm so bored of staying at home.""You're not as bored as I am." I sighed, sitting on one of the dining chairs. "Since I stopped working, I think I've become more lazy and I feel fatter. I'm more than bored whenever Hames is away.""You shouldn't be so bored, I'm here for you." She winked at me."You don't understand, you can't be my husband. Whenever he's around me, there's a different feeling, a different mood, more happiness, relief." I sighed again."Ouch, that hurts a little. If you miss him so much, why don't you pay him a surprise visit?" She asked, reachin
"Can we just get going already?" Hames groaned, adjusting his tie. "I'll be late for work.""I know, but I can't find my wedding ring." I said, raising a pillow from the bed."You can look for it later. Right now, we have to leave early so I don't miss my meeting.""If you're really so eager to go for your dumb meeting, you can leave. I'll find my ring then go with Faith.""It's just a ring, I'll buy you a new one." He rolled his eyes."Just a ring," I scoffed. "I can't believe you're giving such low importance to our wedding ring, the symbol of our wedding vows. I'll buy another one? That's insane, how will it be the same as the original weddin