Chapter 7

David

It was hard to open my eyes, but I got up and grabbed my carry-on bag. I take two painkillers, swallowing them dry.

Then I look around, trying to remember how the hell I got home last night. How did I put on my pajamas and go to bed?

My memory ended with the 7 or 8 whiskey I had drunk.

I undress and go into the shower. Closing my eyes and letting the hot water clean away a bad night's sleep, I say:

- Fuck, my head. How the hell did I get home?

As if by magic, Sarah's eyes materialize in front of me.

- Had it happened or did I dreamed it? Did Sarah go to get my drunk ass at the club, and did we almost kiss?

I finish my business in the bathroom, get some clothes, and go downstairs.

In the dining room, my father was sitting at the head of the table, reading The Wall Street Journal and having coffee. The Los Angeles Times was also on the table, clearly evidence of being read.

"Shit, he's been waiting for me for a long time" - I thought, sitting down immediately.

- Good Morning Master David. What do you want for breakfast?

- Good morning, Anthony. Just some toast, coffee, and orange juice.

- Hurry up and bring David's breakfast. We will leave in 5 minutes, whether he has eaten or not. – Simon says, without taking his eyes off the newspaper.

I looked at Anthony with an apologetic look.

A minute later, the coffee, toast and orange juice were in front of me, and I was relieved that the pills had hidden the headache. I was hungry, so I eat as fast as I can.

When Simon puts down the newspaper and looks at me, his displeasure is visible.

- Are you going to the office dressed like that? Have you no shame?

I look at myself and back at my father.

- This outfit is branded. I don't understand what displeases you.

- What bothers me is that you look more like a low-level gangster than my son.

- Isn’t that 90% of the people that work for you, father?

- Don't provoke me, boy. You have nothing to gain from that, and you can lose a lot.

- Hey! Hey! – I say, raising my hands as if telling his father to stop. – I won’t work as a gangster for you, so who cares how I look?

Simon fixes his eyes on me, and if looks could kill, I would fall dead.

He gets up, puts on the coat Anthony was holding, picks up his briefcase, and speaks for the last time before walking towards the door.

- Move. Don't make me wait for you.

Sarah

I knock on Simon's office door.

- Come in. – I hear from inside.

Simon was sitting at the office desk with some documents in his hand. When I entered, he set down the papers and smiled at me.

- My dear. How are you?

- I’m very well, Simon.

A slight movement made me look to my left, and my heart almost dropped.

David was sitting on the couch, looking bored as hell. Simon followed my gaze and looked at David sideways.

- I called you here to help me solve “that” problem. - He said, pointing at David - David will be your assistant starting tomorrow. This way, he will learn the business, and you divide the work between you two. It's time for your company to have a Campbell inside. Michael had too much in his hands to bother with that. Furthermore, you will be a housewife after our marriage, so it’s time to arrange to put Campbell's name where Scott's name was before.

“Wonderful” – I think displeased.

- What? – David shouts. - I’m not going to help you swipe her company. Let her have her company. Don’t you have enough?

Samuel gets up irritated.

- Shut up the fuck up, punk. Respect me and respect your future stepmother. You will work under her orders, learn everything correctly, or suffer the consequences. It's my company, and you are a Campbell. It's time for Sarah's Company to be under our protection. If you disobey me, David, there will be consequences.

- What consequences, father? Are you going to punish me? Are you going to send me abroad again? Do you kill me?

- Challenge me, boy, and you'll see.

- I will not work under her orders. Put me to work under your orders. I studied management. I have skills.

- Enough is enough – Samuel shouts, slamming his hand on the desk. – You do what I say for better or for worse. I should have taught you a good lesson a long time ago. You have no skills, boy. You are as incompetent as your mother was.

David looks angrily at his father.

- Do not talk about my mom.

- Fuck your mother. Are we clear? Answer me, boy.

- Yes, father. – he says, getting up and walking out the door.

- Simon, I think David needs some time off. He just came back, he's not…

- Don't worry, my dear. He will do a good job. Or are you denying a Campbell in your company?

- No, Simon. It's your business. It's fair to be under Campbell's protection, even before I marry you.

- Good! Good!

- But David is not used to work. He needs some time off before starting to work.

Simon doesn’t even give a fuck about what I said.

- Now go after your new employee before he disappears in some whore house.

I leave Simon’s office looking for David and find him smoking and in a terrible mood on the internal fire escape.

- I don't know if you care, but smoking is prohibited in closed spaces. Furthermore, the company has a very strict policy regarding tobacco inside the building.

- Fuck the company. How can you be so calm when that man tells you how to manage your business?

- You don’t know me. We just met. Not even 24 hours.

- Fuck that. I know women like you. What is it? Is your business falling? Do you need my daddy's money?

- Do not insult me. Yes, I was with Simon not for love but had nothing to do with his money. At least not in that way.

- Them tell me way? How are you his wife-to-be, and act like his pat?

- David, life isn't black and white. There is a vast palette of grays. I can't go against your father's order because he owns "my" company. My father lost it to him, and I am the CEO because he chose me to be it.

- So, are you OK with me working alongside you just because I'm his son?

- Why shouldn’t I be? You are a Campbell, not someone out of the family.

David throws the cigarette to the floor and pushes and pins me against the wall between both arms.

The eyes of the two meet, and once again, the sexual tension between us goes sky-high.

- You know, David, your father is two doors away. If I scream, do you think he will be pleased that you are so dangerously close to me?