A Devil Boss

Chapter 5.1

The rest of the week was very similar. Sera worked in the office, sometimes accompanying her boss, and waited patiently for the weekend.

In fact, Astarot helped her pick up her personal belongings from Phoenix. As she had predicted, there wasn't much she was taking. Therefore, the few boxes she packed in her old apartment were quickly assembled. She had been fortunate to take over the apartment already furnished. That benefited her now because it didn't take long to hand over the keys after the apartment had been clean anyway. 

Grateful that Astarot had helped her so much, she agreed to accompany him to an important event without a murmur.

It was a very noble event, and Sera knew that the woman who had almost become a victim of her husband frequented it a lot. Astarot wanted to check out her contacts.

Sera's real problem was that she needed a classy dress that would cover her wiring. She had arranged with Astarot to take a small listening device with her to write something down from the information, and he could listen to the recordings several times.

He had offered her to take one from the office's fund, but she didn't feel entirely comfortable with it. Therefore, she first went through her own clothes.

To her displeasure, she didn't own anything that would be suitable for the event. So she made a quick call to her boss and announced that she would return to the office early in the afternoon before the event so that she could pick something out.

He didn't object to that. He even offered to quickly buy her something suitable in case of an emergency. He didn't seem to mind anything that had to be paid for.

Which was no wonder when he had so much money. 

In the afternoon, Sera returned early from lunch and retreated to the building's eighth floor to pick out something suitable. It was hard to find anything on her own. Therefore, she asked Astarot by phone to come to her if he didn't have a client at the moment.

Until now, he rarely had anyone in his office, which surprised her. Therefore, he was also relatively quick today and helped her to find something.

Finally, she held an elegantly cut silver dress that accentuated her figure very well. The fabric shone and glittered and closed at the neck but left the shoulders bare. "How do you want me to wire myself?" she asked more to herself since the tightness of the fabric would probably make every little bump visible.

Astarot eyed her. "We can manage that," he said, gesturing for her to try it on.

With the dress, Sera retreated to the dressing room, cursing after a few minutes. "Bad choice. I can't zipper it up by myself," she remarked dryly, struggling to at least halfway close the dress.

"Want me to help?" asked Astarot, amused.

Snorting, Sera stepped out of the dressing room and turned to Astarot. "Unless you want to take me half-naked, that would be the only choice," she sighed, moving her hair aside so it wouldn't get caught in the zipper.

Astarot carefully zipped her up and eyed her. "You can attach the wiring to your legs," he suggested.

The young woman looked down at herself and nodded. "I guess there's no other way," she muttered, not sure how that would really work without interfering with her walking.

"We use small microphones," he informed her, "You can attach them with tape or a bandage."

Sera looked down at herself and lifted her skirt a bit to pick a suitable spot. "Well, hopefully, you won't just hear my stomach grumbling or my footsteps," she remarked with a wry smile. 

"We'll have to test it," he said and squatted down to place the mini-micro.

However, before he could lay a hand on it, Sera snatched it from his hand and looked at him warningly. "I'll do it myself," she said firmly, simultaneously placing the mic in various places where it would interfere the least.

Astarot merely smirked and let her do it.

It took her a while to finally find a suitable spot. Just below the back of her knees, it fits best. There it would not disturb, she could move freely, and no one would notice it. Especially since the dress was long enough. "I need tape or something like that to attach it. Then we'll do a test to see if you can hear everything well when I walk," Sera decided thoughtfully.

Astarot handed her the tape, which looked more like a giant Band-Aid. "This one holds the best."

Sera settled down on a chair to apply it to herself and pulled the dress up far enough. "Hold on," she instructed Astarot, pointing to the microphone. Then she would attach the tape.

He held it gently, his thumb running over her skin as he did so. Whether it was intentional or not, Sera couldn't tell.

But apparently, she didn't like it. "Don't do that. I'm here to work, not to be petted," she murmured, pressing the tape firmly. She hoped it wouldn't come off.

Astarot rose and took out a bandage. It was thin and hopefully wouldn't be noticeable. "This one should help hold it in place."

Gratefully, Sera took the bandage from him and carefully wrapped it around her leg so that the microphone stuck out a bit. Finally, Sera lowered her dress again and stood up. "Now we should test if it works," she said, already taking a few steps. "Can you see anything?"

Astarot eyed her and looked at the spot. "No. You can't see anything," he said, taking out from his pocket a small black device. "Let's see if you can hear anything." With that, he turned it on, and light static could be heard when Sera moved.

"Do you have music or anything like that? Then I would move around to see if the static is too loud and you can't hear anything," she suggested. She wasn't really familiar with such things. She had never worn a listening device before but wished she had done so earlier. 

"Wait a minute," he said and went to the computer that was also here in the department. Shortly after that, the music sounded, as it probably would at one of the celebrations.

Satisfied, Sera nodded and then started pacing back and forth. Then she approached Astarot and engaged him in a trivial conversation. Only to find that the words were also good to hear.

Her boss went along with it as if he wasn't used to anything else. 

After their test, they played the recording. It was a bit noisy, but not bad.

"I hope it's good enough for you. I can't put it in any other place without making it uncomfortable," Sera remarked thoughtfully. Of course, she could still remember the words she had said, which was why it was easy to understand. But would it also be at the event, where it was just teeming with other people?

"We'll leave it like this. It'll be fine," Astarot said, waving it off.

"All right," Sera said with a grin, wanting to know when he was leaving. She didn't like such a posh event, but she was curious to see what it would be like there.

Astarot glanced at his watch. "In thirty minutes," he announced.

Horrified, Sera gasped. "That early? Damn, I'll have to do my hair in a hurry then!" she cursed in haste. If she had known, she would have taken everything she needed.

"You should find everything in the bathroom," Astarot informed her, amused.

Questioningly, Sera looked at her boss. "Bathroom? What kind of bath?" she wanted to know, not quite following him. Had she missed something?

Astarot tilted his head slightly as he eyed her. "Floor five. That's where the bathrooms are."

"Is there anything that isn't here?" asked Sera with a nervous laugh, making her way to the elevator. She'd better hurry because not only did she have to do her hair, but she also had to put on makeup. That would take a bit of time, and she hoped she had it.

"No," Astarot called after her, laughing.

Relieved to have made it, after all, Sera came out of the building and looked around. She and Astarot hadn't made a deal, but she assumed he would drive up in the car. Solange picked up her smartphone and frowned when she received a text message that didn't please her at all.

She sighed softly. What did he want from her again? Couldn't he leave her alone?

Sera pushed the message away and pocketed the phone again.

She shouldn't let him ruin her evening. It was better to concentrate on the event. 

She kept an eye out for her boss and used the time to also observe the people milling about on the streets.

It was quite interesting to see how they moved across the streets. Almost everyone was glued to their cell phones or seemed to be otherwise occupied.

Sera thought that was a shame because Los Angeles actually offered much more than that. Beautiful sunsets, beaches, and palm trees. But also the beautiful houses of the rich. Perhaps it was merely nothing new for the locals, which is why they confidently ignored all that.