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Jace
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I growl loudly, slamming my fingers on the laptop keyboard.
“You break that one and the company won’t pay for the repairs,” a dry voice comments.
I glare over at the woman sitting on the two-seater, her feet resting on the glass table, an iPad in her hands as she studies something on it.
Her dark brown eyes and the shape of them are the only indication that we’re related. Her hair, which is ashen in color, completely contrasts my own, which is dark and slicked back.
“Shut up, Kendall,” I grumble, and she raises a brow.
“You shut up,” my half-sister responds, middle finger in the air. “And I’m only repeating what Lana said. She told the same thing to Caleb. He didn’t tell her to shut up.”
I look up from the email my client just sent me and frown. “That’s because your husband owns the whole damn company. I think Lana is the only one aside from Lucas and Oliver who has the balls to go toe to toe with that psycho you married.”
“I’ll be sure to tell Caleb that.” Kendall sneers. “The psycho part, that is.”
When I glare at her, she gives me an innocent smile, and then adds, “Lana’s the head of HR. Locking horns with Caleb comes with the job description.” She let out a sigh. “I wonder when she’ll go on maternity leave, though. It’ll be so weird without her barging in to yell at Caleb about something once a day.”
Lana’s pregnancy has had her husband, Oliver, frantic with excitement. Having never seen the latter look so worked up over something, I often find myself baffled when I see the former Crisis CEO fussing over his wife, who has started locking the door anytime he’s in the building.
I resume typing and scowl. “Why are you even in my office? Where’s Caleb?”
“He kicked me out; said I was too distracting.”
The pleased smirk on her lips makes me think that I’m better off not pursuing this topic.
The ding from my laptop has me squinting to see the screen as I grope on the desk for my glasses. Finding them, I put them on and read the email that’s arrived from my own HOD and I feel my blood pressure rising, as I hiss, darkly. “I’m going to murder that son of a bitch.”
This time when Kendall looks up at me, there is no teasing in her expression, her lips are pursed. “Hashem?”
I have the urge to smash my laptop as fury ignites my blood. Breathing to ten, I calm myself down before daring to speak, “He’s rejected all the applicants for the programming position again. This is the third goddamn batch.” My voice is carefully controlled and tight. I’ve been looking for a technician to provide added support on some of the projects I’ve been working on. Starr Industries is a major player in the consulting market. Caleb Starr, Kendall’s husband, and my brother-in-law, has his eggs in numerous baskets and Starr Industries is one of the latest companies he’s acquired and rebranded.
Before him, the company was run by a management that had been intent on sinking the firm by paying themselves excessive perks. The CEO had been complicit in most of this, and while he had been removed, a lot of his associates remained. When Oliver had been appointed as the Crisis CEO, he had been tasked with fixing the company up. While the Britisher had done a stellar job of removing most of the filth from the company, there were quite a few individuals that hadn’t been removed and that included my Head of Department.
Hashem has been at the receiving end of many of the favors doled out by the previous CEO and he had pushed back my long overdue promotion as a punishment for when I had refused to window dress the numbers to clients.
My mother had raised me to be honest in my dealings. She had been a harsh woman who had taught me never to compromise on my integrity. That had been important to her, maybe because she had compromised her own by getting involved with a married man, Kendall’s father.
So, when Hashem had tried to convince me to smudge numbers and falsify information, and I had refused, he had refused to let me get promoted. It was only when Oliver had stepped in and seen my work, that he had promoted me. Now, while I was amongst the top senior management in my department, I was still under Hashem’s thumb. He had constantly denied my request for a technician, a programming expert and when Caleb had gotten involved when I had threatened to quit, then Hashem had rejected any and every applicant on the stupidest of reasons.
I hear Kendall pad over and look over my shoulder to read the email and she swears under her breath before looking to me, a fierce expression in her eyes. “Want me to get him fired?”
The offer is so sincere, her body language protective, and it warms me from the inside for a few moments.
When I had discovered Kendall’s existence and I had tracked her down, I had been hesitant, not knowing how she would react to finding out that we were half-siblings.
Her delight in the fact that she had family, made me feel welcomed.
Caleb had offered me a higher-level position in the company at some point but I had refused. I had understood maybe he had done it for Kendall or Kendall had asked him to. It was common knowledge the icy hearted CEO couldn’t deny his childhood love anything.
I’ve never had anything like a childhood sweetheart or any woman I could claim to have loved. I’ve always been very career oriented, my whole life focused on graduating from school, working one job after another.
I’ve garnered a name for myself as a financial advisor, something else which irks my supervisor since potential clients ask for me. I’ve been given offers from other companies, at better salaries and more perks. I would have said yes to all of them and I had been on the brink of saying yes, till I had found Kendall here. Now, the prospect of working elsewhere isn’t that appealing to me.
Over here, I get to see my sister every day. She comes, she nags me and while I complain loudly, I secretly enjoy it. After my mother’s death, the loneliness had been suffocating. Kendall stepped in and her brand of love is something new but it makes me happy. Even on the worst of days, she manages to make it better.
We both seem to know that we’ve found a rare and precious gift in each other and we’re determined to protect it at all costs.
Besides, this job isn’t all bad.
I get to do what I love and I’m very good at it. I have solid relationships with clients and aside from that, I usually avoid Hashem unless it’s for things like these. I’ve honestly never met a stupider fool than my Head. Despite knowing that the CEO is my brother-in-law, the man still lets his petty vendetta influence him.
“I’ll figure something out,” I say, gruffly, nudging Kendall’s elbow off my shoulde
r. “Get off me.”
