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Valentina rolled her eyes and emitted a very unladylike snort. He was there every day at 6:45 a.m. sharp, although business hours didn’t start until nine. She despised the brash, arrogant, thoroughly detestable ‘boy wonder’ of the company. At thirty-one years old, he had become the youngest senior partner the firm had ever hired. The three aging founders of the company, the Simson brothers, had snatched him from Yale and paraded him around the agency like a prodigal son. She’d heard rumors they wanted to retire to do philanthropy and were hoping Daniels could take the reins alone.
Valentina couldn’t bear the sight of him. People around work worshipped him, mostly because he apparently knew the Kennedys personally. But Valentina wasn’t impressed by his high-society connections or his fake charm. She knew what he was really like. In her first week at Simson Enterprises she’d gotten lost in the building and found herself on his floor. She’d witnessed him berating his personal assistant; the poor woman had looked devastated, but he had been relentless as he yelled at her.
Ordinarily, Valentina’s sense of justice would have forced her to storm in and defend the woman’s honor, but just as she’d been about to enter Ethan’s glass-walled office, he’d turned and noticed her. They’d locked eyes for just a moment, but it had been enough for her to lose all of her resolve. She’d turned tail and escaped to the elevator, feeling disgusted at him and at herself; never before had a mere commanding gaze intimidated her or made her feel so inexplicably excited. Ever since then, she’d made every effort to ensure that she encountered him as infrequently as possible. If she never laid eyes on him again, it would be too soon.
“Quit buzzing around here like a busy bee and get going,” said Serena, making a shoo-fly motion with her manicured hand. “You’re annoying me.”
Grabbing her designer hat and matching Louis Vuitton handbag, Valentina gave Serena a sisterly kiss on the cheek and headed out the door.
“Don’t forget your briefcase,” Serena said helpfully, but Valentina beat her to it. She had already retrieved the attaché case from next to the front door, along with an umbrella, although the forecast called for one hundred percent sunshine all day. Valentina Sanderson was never caught unprepared.
Yet.
“Have a wonderful day, Val.”
“I will.”
* * *
Downstairs, Valentina stepped out of her building and onto Michigan Avenue. She flew rapidly down the crowded streets on her new heels, merging with the thousands of other intelligent, educated, ambitious people that made up the heart of the downtown workforce. When she graduated, she’d been offered positions at firms all over the world, but she had no intention of leaving Chicago. This had always been her home, and it was where she belonged. There were more than three hundred world-class architecture firms in the distinguished city, and that was just within the boundaries of Chicago proper. There were hundreds more in the sprawling metropolitan area. She was proud to live and work among the leaders of science, banking, politics and technology of the future.
Besides, Valentina simply loved the vibrant pulse that was this city. It was called the ‘beating heart of the Midwest.’ She smiled at the appellative as she hurried down the Magnificent Mile, dodging craned-necked tourists who were comparing the upscale shopping district to Fifth Avenue and Rodeo Drive.
Valentina swooped confidently into the sixty-nine-story, Neo-Gothic skyscraper that was now her official workplace. She’d been in the century-old building at least a hundred times during the last three months, but somehow today felt unique. Today was special.
Bald businessmen wearing Armani suits and older women boasting Christian Dior dresses bustled in and out of the über-modern entryway. Despite the landmark status of the edifice, the Simson brothers completely remodeled the grandiose lobby every year in the fall. A design contest was held among the hundreds of summer interns each year, and the winner got to see their dream realized just before Thanksgiving. Valentina couldn’t wait to view her prize-winning Gothic-restoration design in living color. There would be a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a black-tie reception and coverage in all the major interior design and architecture magazines.
Valentina already knew where the new employee orientation would be. She whizzed into the first-floor conference room, switched on the light and plugged in her laptop. No use wasting time. Even the human-resources representatives and adult-education trainers hadn’t turned up yet, but Valentina had a million things to do.
It was no surprise that she was the first person to arrive for the orientation; she was always the earliest person to every meeting, just as she had always been the first student to class and had always sat in the front row, center desk. Usually, she took the head place at the conference table even if she wasn’t the highest-ranking person in the room because somehow, she always ended up being the leader of every meeting and project. Some called her obsessive. Pfft…what did they know, anyway.
She hummed a positive mantra to herself under her breath and took out a cold, bottled green-tea beverage from her purse. Today was the beginning of the rest of her life. She just hoped Ethan Daniels wouldn’t show up and ruin it.
* * *
The morning orientation session was pleasant enough and informative. Valentina made a new work friend, a sweet lady who sat next to her and never stopped smiling, named Sylvia Mason. It was difficult to tell her age; she looked like she’d had a hard-knock life, but Valentina was warmed by her happy personality.
The two women learned about their 401k benefits and healthcare plans together, along with the dozen or so new hires in the room; some were other summer interns who, like Valentina, had left an impression on the partners, but most were entry-level staffers like administrative assistants and accounting clerks. This was Sylvia Mason’s dream job, that was obvious, for the woman was beaming with pride the whole morning. It was Valentina’s dream job, as well, but something about Mrs. Mason’s heartfelt enthusiasm was touching.
“I’ve never had a retirement plan,” Sylvia whispered excitedly to Valentina.
“Neither have I,” she replied with a smile.
So far, there had been no sight of Ethan Daniels. Valentina was relieved.Cocky Daniels couldn’t be bothered with the likes of them,she thought with derision. He was too busy to hobnob with the little people.
“Oh my, here they are,” the peppy HR rep, Susan, announced mid-way through the morning session. “Let’s all give a big hand to our senior partners!”
Everyone clapped when the three septuagenarian brothers came into the room. Sylvia Mason looked overjoyed as she applauded, like a little kid at Disney World.
“Peter Simson, Richard Simson and Jonas Simson,” Susan introduced them. “Let’s all thank them for taking time out of their busy schedules this morning to meet us!”
The trio of dapper, older gentlemen bowed and waved as they shuffled into the room. It was easy to see why they’d been so successful in business. Their earnestness was infectious. It was clear they respected and valued their employees, for they shook hands personally and introduced themselves singly to every last individual in the room. Valentina had already met them, and they’d done the very same thing on the first day of her summer internship.
After the commotion died down and the founders excused themselves, talks resumed about dental care, vision insurance and vacation days. Valentina dove into learning the new information and helping Mrs. Mason understand it, but disdainful thoughts of Daniels’s absence circled like vultures in her mind. People like Sylvia were just as essential to the advancement of a business as the bigwigs at the top rungs of the ladder. She already knew that Cocky Daniels had no respect for his employees, but she still fumed inside that he couldn’t lower himself to at least drop in for them.
By the time he finally made an entrance an hour later, Valentina was seething.
“Here he is, last but not least.” Susan flushed noticeably as Ethan Daniels strode into the room. She actually began to stammer, “Ethan Daniels, our newest and youngest senior partner.”
