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# 2.) Work starts at 8:00. You will have your butt in your chair by that time or else it will get spanked.
I already knew this one, but now it was actually in writing, although not exactly the kind of writing you’d find in the HR guidebook.
# 3.) No belittling yourself. No: “I’m not good enough.” “I’m not pretty enough.” “I’m not talented enough.” Nothing of this nature. Saying things like this will not be tolerated. If Daddy catches others belittling you they will be dealt with, swiftly and definitively.
I shrug my shoulders. This ‘rule’ is kind of…nice.
#4.) Do not go in the Art Basel Prep room. All other rooms you are welcome to enter and work in.
Art Basel is amazing, but those artists are out of my league, so I wouldn’t be intruding on their space anytime soon. Easy.
#5.) Daddy can add new rules whenever he wants.
Rule #5 erased any kind thoughts I was starting to have about him right out of my mind. It was that standard catch-all rule that anyone in a position of power always loved to include in any kind of Terms and Conditions.
A part of me is furious that he dropped this off at my desk so nonchalantly. He may be the owner of the company, but I’m sure a judge somewhere wouldn’t find this very up-to-date with current workplace policies and procedures.
But that furious part is suppressed by the curious part. The part that wants to know how he’ll hold his ground if he’s tested.
Will three spanks become more spanks, or will they become…something else?
And more importantly…will I like it?
5
Silas
That evening
I throw the car in park and toss the keys to the valet, who drops his cigarette like it’s a ticking time bomb and runs to the driver’s side like he’s been training for the Olympics.
Scarlett waits patiently in the passenger side until I make my way to her, unbuckle her seat belt and help her out of the bucket seat in a way so the photographers outside the restaurant can’t sneak any unsavory photos up her skirt.
Offering her my arm, I lead us to the entrance, where two members of the staff are holding the doors open for us like we’re royalty. It’s exactly the kind of entrance my little one deserves.
“How was your day?” I ask, as soon we are seated at a special table no more than a minute later.
“Extremely productive. I can’t believe I worked straight through lunch until seven p.m. I was…in a different headspace after this morning and I have to admit that today I produced some of my best work in years. Maybe ever.”
I know. I was watching her, not in a stalker kind of way but to make sure my list of rules didn’t throw her off kilter. Does she need guidance and discipline? Absolutely. But if my hand is too heavy it could push her into a shell that she might not want to crawl out of for quite some time. Finding the right balance so my princess can grow and become the queen of the Miami art scene that she’s destined to be is everything to me. I need to be there to guide her and make sure her needs always come first, even if she doesn’t always understand my techniques.
Thankfully, I was getting a better grip on hers.
After I dropped off the rules I had one of our senior project managers show her around a little more, letting her know all areas of the floor were open for her to create in. Of course I picked a female to give her the tour. No way was another man coming close to what’s mine.
After the tour I noticed she didn’t settle in at her desk and I went off looking for her, finding her in the kids playroom that our employees use when they can’t find a sitter for the day.
Part of me was surprised, yet that surprise quickly turned to admiration as I watched her there on her hands and knees, bent over underneath a slide that couldn’t have been more than three feet high as she worked on a design with rapt attention, her tongue out as she did her thing all day long, in her own quirky way.
And as I was about to see, apparently that wasn’t limited to just the office.
“Do you know if they have any…coloring books here?”
“Let me check, angel.”
I motion for our waiter, and he quickly makes his way to
my side, where I discreetly make my request. Not a minute later he’s unwrapping a brand new sixty-four pack of crayons and a coloring book.
