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When I get to the wide oak desk sitting in front in the middle of the suite, I stand for a few seconds, waiting for the sophisticated woman sitting there to finish a phone call.
"Excuse me?" I say when she does.
She looks up and a little sneer appears on her lips like she clearly finds me lacking. Her eyes run down my body and she cocks her eyebrow. “Can I help you?”
Her tone implies she would rather chew on glass than help me but I paste a smile on my face anyway. “Hey. Is Mr. Reign in? I have something urgent to discuss with him?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, but trust me, he’ll want to see me.” I hope. “Tell him it’s Ava Peterson.”Shit, is he even going to remember my name?“I’m his sister Chloe's friend.”
“Uh-huh.” She sounds like she doesn't believe a single word I say but it isn't important. I just need her to let me in.
The woman leans back and gives me a scanning glance. “Look, we’re really busy over here and Mr. Reign is not in a good mood today. So, I'll give you a piece of advice—if you’re here just to screw with him, now's not the best time.”
Great. Figures that I would choose a time when Maddox isn't in a good mood to ask for a favor. But unfortunately, I can’t wait. “Please, just tell him I’m here.”
She rolls her eyes again and reluctantly gets off and walks to the smooth, ceiling-to-floor doors. She knocks twice before she enters.
A few minutes later, she’s out and back to me with a somewhat surprised look on her face.
“He says you should come in,” she says, and I note that her tone is slightly different, less dismissive, and more curious. “Follow me, please.”
I do, and take another deep breath before I enter the lion's den.
Chapter Six
Maddox
Shesurprisesmeagain.
Chloe's friend Ava visiting me at work today was not on my to-do list, but luckily, I don’t mind the change of pace. On the contrary, I welcome it.
I watch her as Natasha leaves. She stands by the door, a scared rabbit ready to escape at any moment. Yet, she stands anyway. I can't sense what she's here for or if she'll even be able to get it out, and I should find the fact that she's wasting my time irritating. But if I’m being honest, I’m enjoying the fact that I can’t quite predict this girl.
I thought I knew exactly how today would go. After I confirmed that Paulino did steal three major clients from us, I figured I was going to go to war against my agents today. Because apart from that embarrassment, our numbers aren't as good as they were last year. Sure, we aren't behind by much. We were still bringing in billions of dollars monthly, which is excellent by most standards. But that’s not good enough for me.
Reign and Associates is the best real estate agency in the city. It's damn near the best in the country and has been for years. I’ll be damned if I let someone like Paulino get the best of me.
Or anyone else, for that matter.
This means that for the next few weeks, my employees aren’t going to like me very much. An understatement. They're going to loathe me more than they probably already do because I'm about to become a fucking tyrant. A bunch of them are getting fired before that, though. Some might even quit on their own, but that's an important part of the process.
Those who quit don't have the drive and don't have what it takes to be the best. And I only hire the best at Reign and associates. I pay for the best, way above the rates anywhere else in the country. So, they damn well knew what they were getting into, and I’m not going to settle for less than that.
Today was supposed to be high conflict and nonstop grind.
I’m a very busy man on the regular, but I'm going to be even busier today.
Still, I’m oddly taking time out to listen to whatever this little girl has to say.
If she ever gets around to saying it.
“I’m not gonna bite," I tell her because it looks like she's expecting me to attack at any moment. "Not unless you ask real nice."
Her eyes widen as though I threatened her.
I smirk. “Take a seat.”
