Chapter 1 - Dee

BAM!

The training room door bursts open and my assistant, Becky, rushes into the room.  “Prin…”

As I coil my arm back, I stop in mid-air and growl, “Don’t you dare finish that word.  You know that I don’t like being called that by that name.”  I tear my eyes off the punching bag and slowly look over my shoulder at her, as she instantly stops in the middle of the room. 

I don’t know how many times that I’ve told her to not use my title.  However, she always seems to forget. 

If this keeps up, I’m going to have to let her go. 

This is exactly why I never tell any of my staff my true title and never let my parents pick my assistants.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice this time. 

I’m still not sure of the exact reason why my last assistant left.  All I know is that I left for a business trip and when I get back, my father has hired me a new assistant.  I still don’t understand why though.

However, later today, I’m definitely going to start working on what really happened. 

As I continue to glare at Becky, she stands frozen in the middle of the room.  I slowly raise an eyebrow and growl, “What seems to be the problem?  You know that I’m not to be interrupted when I’m working out.”

She blinks a few times before she slowly lowers her head slightly and tentatively replies, “I’m not sure.  Something is going on at the company, Madam President.”

Ugh….  Her and those freaking titles.  I’m definitely going to get to the bottom of what my father did while I was gone.  Plus, he has no say in how I run my company. 

He may be our biggest client, but he isn’t my only customer. 

I let my arm drop to my side as I take a deep breath.  I turn and walk towards the bench to the right of the punching bag.  As I grab the towel from my bag, I dab my sweaty face and turn back towards Becky.  “I need a little more information than something has happened.  If you want to keep your job with me, you will learn to do it properly.  I can’t waste time trying to hunt down the information that you should be providing me.” 

I pause for a moment and look at Becky. 

Mentally, I shake my head.  Why did my father hire her?  She can’t even do the job. 

Her high heals click against the floor as she nervously swifts back and forth.  With her head still lowered slightly, she looks at me through her eyelashes while she bites her lower lip. 

I sigh and wrap the towel around my neck before I lean down and grab a water bottle from my bag.  While I unscrew the lid, I huff, “Well.  I don’t have all day.”

 Becky swallows and hesitates for a moment, before she timidly replies, “M.Max sa.said something a.a.about the c.c.c.crown..”

What!  Oh, I definitely going to fire her.  This is unacceptable. 

My hand tightens around the water bottle as my blood boils.  However, asking Becky another question, is a losing cause.  If this is something about the crown, I can’t waste any more time. 

I quickly chug some water before tossing the bottle back into my bag and grabbing my phone.  I hit Max’s number and turn my back to Becky. 

Lesson number one in the security business is to never turn your back on anyone.  However, I’m going to ignore that this time.  If I have to look at Becky any longer, I might just strangle her. 

Ring… ring… ring…

Max’s deep voice instantly spills from the phone.  “Hey, Dee.  Did you get my message?”

I shake my head.  “Not really.  All I got besides her trying to call me that awful title again was that you said something about the crown.  Did something happen?”

Max sighs, “Well…  yes and no.”

I place my phone between my head and shoulder as I gather my things and put them in my bag.

I glance at Becky and huff, “What do you mean yes and no?  Is it something important or highly sensitive?”

I grab my bag off the bench and fling it over my shoulder as I turn around and stare at Becky again.  She hasn’t moved, but her heals aren’t clicking as loud as they were before.  I roll my eyes and walk past her as if she isn’t even there. 

I hate behaving like this, but she has a way of really pissing me off.  Is it too hard to ask someone to do his/her job well?  My clients expect us to do our job well, and I, in turn, expect my staff to their job well too.

As I walk across the room, Max hums, “Well, I’ll let you decide since it involves your family.  Oh, by the way, how is Becky working out for you?”

I can’t control myself as I practically snort.  “It isn’t working at all.”

Max suddenly gets really quiet and softly asks, “Do you need to let her go?”

As I reach the door, I glance back over my shoulder and coldly huff, “Yeah.  I will let you handle it.  You know what to do.”

Max confidently announces, “Consider it done.”

Good.  At least someone can do what is needed. 

I march down the hallway towards the elevator, while I continue to fume.  “Meet me in my room and you better fill me in on everything that I need to know about the crown.”

I hold my bag in front of the security pad to the right of the elevator and press the up arrow, while I ignore the clicking of high heels on the tile floor that echoes through the hall.

Why can’t she understand even the most simple things?  She didn’t do her job, and I’m now steaming mad.  I think anyone should be able to figure that out by now. 

Ding.

I don’t even look back as I step into the elevator and immediately press the door close button.  However, I don’t look down the hall.  I don’t dare even look at her right now. 

If this had been something urgent, the royal family could be in danger or worse, could have been killed while Becky fumbles around trying to piece meal the information to me. 

As the elevator doors close, Max chimes, “Okay.  I’ll meet you there.”

I sigh, “Bye.”

The call ends and I take a deep breath. 

I wonder what has happened this time.  I know that the IT department has picked up on some stuff recently, but I haven’t considered it too much.

I take a step back and lean against the back of wall of the elevator, as my mind goes back to my former assistant, Page.  She has been my assistant for almost 2 years, which is the longest of all my prior assistants.  Unfortunately, I had a bad streak and I had picked several people that just aren’t cut out for my line of business or my company. 

Not that I need my assistant to be just like me, but I do need my assistant to learn and understand the unique facets of my business.  Plus, there aren’t too many company presidents that are as hands-on as I am. 

Ding. 

I push myself off the back wall and step towards the elevator door. 

As the door opens, Max is standing there waiting for me. 

Out of habit, I quickly do a once over of him and make sure that everything is fine and that nothing is out of place.  But I should know better with Max.  He never leaves his house without himself looking perfect.  The all black suit with black shirt doesn’t even have a wrinkle on it.  Not to mention, that I don’t even think that a single black hair of his is out of place.

Max nods and pulls his earpiece out of his ear. 

As I continue down the hall towards my private room, he quickly falls into step beside me. 

While I dig through my bag for the security card, I mumble, “So, what kind of situation am I dealing with?  Is it a threat from outside or is someone within the castle causing problems?  Or could it be an enemy has come back looking to topple the royal family again?”

In a calm voice, Max replies, “We aren’t really sure.  We have detected what could be something, but some on the team thinks that it is just garbage.”

As I pull out my security card, I shake my head and glance beside me.  “You know better than that.  There is never anything that is truly garbage.  It just means that they haven’t organized or planned enough to actually make it happen yet.  Let me see what you got.”

I pause for a moment to wave my security card over the security pad next to my door.

Click.

As I push the door open, I add, “Oh and don’t forget to give Becky a recommendation.  I don’t know whether it was my father or someone else who hired her, but they clearly didn’t understand what type of assistant that I need.  In addition, I need to know where Page is at and what really happened.  The few times that I’ve talked with my father, he won’t tell me.”

Max follows me into my private room, which is more like a private apartment.  With a calm voice, he replies, “Since Page left, I have been trying to get the information about what truly went on, but I can’t seem to find much.  However, I have found out where Page is at.”

My feet falter a bit.  He knows where she is at. 

Yes.  Max is the best. 

A faint smile dances across my face as I head through the apartment towards the kitchen with Max following right behind me.  I drop my bag by the couch, and as I enter the kitchen, I hesitantly ask, “Where is she?  I can’t deal with people like Becky who don’t have the first clue about what security is or how to properly be a bodyguard.  Don’t even get me started with IT and securing data and networks.  It just makes my job even harder trying to do her work too.  I need Page back here to help me.”

With steam still rolling off of me, I march through the kitchen towards the refrigerator.  I stop momentarily to open the refrigerator and grab a water bottle. 

As I turn around and face Max, who is standing in the doorway, I take a drink and just stare at him. 

Max takes a deep breath and just stares back at me for a moment. 

Oh, I don’t like it when he is like this.  It is never a good sign. 

I take another drink and continue to wait patiently. 

Dang it.  He is taking too long.  I’m getting a really bad feeling about this. 

After what feels like hours, Max finally shifts on his feet and sighs as he runs his hand through his hair.  “The king took her for the time being.  I haven’t been able to find out exactly what the king’s intentions are, but maybe if you ask nicely, he will release her from whatever he has her doing.”

I instantly stand up straight.  My grip tightens around the water bottle, as my blood boils.  “WHAT!  MY FATHER TOOK MY ASSISTANT!!  HE ISN’T ALLOWED TO DO THAT!!  WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT!!”

Max slowly shakes his head.  “I don’t know the specific details.  You know that you are the only one that can know that, but clearly the king still hasn’t talked to you about this.  It has only been a couple days since you got back, maybe you should follow up with him on this again and this time demand to get the exact details.”

As I grit my teeth, I slam the water bottle and my hand on the nearby countertop.

BAM!

I narrow my eyes and glare at Max as he continues to stand motionless in the doorway.  “Is there something else besides this that I need to know about?”

Max slowly nods his head.  “Yes, but it isn’t extremely urgent.  So, go take a shower and get ready for the day.  I’ll have all the files ready for you when you get back.”

Ugh…  I’m definitely not liking this one bit. 

This is exactly why I need Page back.  Not only did she double as a bodyguard from time to time, but she also has a really good mind.  She can often see the little things that Max and I miss. 

Her only drawback is that she doesn’t know who I truly am. 

I have a feeling that this is going to be a long day and it is just starting.  Ugh….