Gangsters Girl

Chapter 6 - Trouble

***Elle’s POV***

He kissed my cheek and then excused himself quickly to meet his guests, the Italians. I assumed they were from a rival gang and he wanted to keep me safe. I went back to my work, and wrote my plan down for him in detail so that if his meeting ran over, he could read it tonight and I could still go home, well, back to my hotel. With the money I made for balancing his ledgers today I could start looking for a respectable furnished house, with a maid. How things had changed for me in such a short time.

Five more ledgers would be 25 more pounds, not to mention whatever he decided my cut would be. Some of these men had stolen a lot of money from him, and my percentage would be huge. Money like that might gain attention, and that’s not always good. After about twenty minutes into the meeting, I heard raised voices, and a little screaming in Italian. Then, gunshots. Three of them, and I jumped in my chair. I swiped all of the ledgers into the large desk drawer and locked it. Then I lifted the edge of the large carpet and slid the key under as far as I could before I hid under my desk. A few minutes later, Oliver came in, “Elle?” He called, but I was too scared to move. He came over and looked under the desk, and I froze. He sat beside me and took my hand. “Are you alright?”

“Are you?” I asked.

“Were you worried for me?” He asked.

“Of course I was. Italians are ruthless.” I said.

He smiled at me sweetly, “I see you swept the table.”

“I didn’t know what was happening and I didn’t want any of your business being compromised.” I said honestly. He smiled wider, and this time he took my chin and slowly leaned in to kiss me. He was so gentle, and his lips were so soft.

“Let me take you out tonight.” He said, and my eyes must have been huge with shock.

“Um, but you’re my boss sir.” I said. I was embarrassed.

“Then you’re fired?” He asked more than said.

“I would prefer not to do that either.” I laughed a little. “People talk, sir. I don’t wish to be in the center of that gossip.”

“Alright, not tonight, but soon. Now let’s get you off the floor.” He smiled as he lifted me up. “Things didn't go as planned this evening, as I’m sure you guessed.” He laughed a little and rubbed the sides of my arms a little to comfort me. “They all decided to threaten me with guns and for obvious reasons, Jacob had to kill them. So, you and I are going to sit here for a little while and have tea, while they clean up that mess, and then I’ll take you home.” He said. Jacob came in carrying a tray with a full tea service, and set it on the table. He had blood across his shirt and a little on the side of his face.

“Terribly sorry about this Miss Fox. Well get it cleaned up in a jiffy, don’t you worry.” He said with a smile.

“Ta..take your time.” I stuttered, sitting and taking a cup in my hands as it rattled on the saucer.

“Little jumbled are you dear? Would ya’ rather a drink to take the edge off?” Jacob asked me. He was trying to be nice and not make me feel stupid. This was my first time hearing gunshots so close, and I couldn’t help how bad it made me shake.

“Perhaps I would.” I said, to Oliver’s surprise as I set the tea cup down.

“Well, what would you like?” He asked, “Whisky? Gin? Rum? Whisky?” He repeated with a laugh.

“Have you ever drank before Elle?” Oliver asked me, side eyeing me curiously. I shook my head in response, “She’ll have a glass of champagne, bring the bottle up from the back of the ice box.” He said.

“Bout time we get to open that bloody bottle.” Jacob laughed gently while he looked at me. “What are we celebrating Oli?” His grin was unmistakable now that it fell on his friend. He was a mischievous one I could tell, and he made me laugh.

“Miss Fox here has single handedly weeded out our rats. Get a year's ledgers from Paddington, Clarke, and Giles, by the way.” He said to Jacob, who laughed at him, “And when she heard the gunshots, her first instinct reaction was to sweep all of my business into a locked drawer. I think celebration is certainly in order.” He looked at me and stuck his hand out to shake mine, “Welcome to the company Miss Fox.” he said when I took his hand.

“Celebration it is then.” Jacob said as he slyly looked at his friend and left the room.

“Eat something, please.” Oliver said to me, “The uh, herring I’m told is quite good on toast.” He looked like he’d be sick.

“You don’t like herring, do you?” I asked him, and he shook his head quickly before laughing a little. “It’s god-awful.” I laughed.

He let out a laugh and swept it off the tray to the other side of the room and threw it in the trash. “Oh thank god.” He said. “In that case, the devilled egg and ham sandwiches actually are quite good.” He sat on the lounge chair across from me, and took a cup of tea. He put one cube of sugar and a splash of cream in before stirring it calmly.

Everything rational within me told me to stay as far away from this man as I could, and yet, this well mannered and gentle devil intrigued me. I was starting to guess why I was really here and it was more than he liked having a pretty secretary around. “So, these ideas that you have.” He snapped me out of my delusions.

“Yes, I started to write them down.” I said pointing to the desk, but then my voice hitched in my throat and I was embarrassed again.

“Well, I’d like to see it.” He smiled.

“I don’t have the key.” I laughed at the hilarity of it all now.

His eyebrows raised, “And where is the key Elle?” He smiled.

I could barely contain my laughter, ‘Um, you’re probably standing on it.” I laughed into my hands, “I’m so stupid, I’m sorry.”

He was laughing at me now. “Elle, what did you do?”

“I locked the cabinet and slid the key under the rug as far as it would go so they wouldn’t find it.” I told him, laughing at myself. “I’m sorry, we’ll have to move the furniture to retrieve it.”

His smile couldn’t be hidden like he always tried, “I’ll have that taken care of, but for now, come and tell me what you had written.”

Jacob came in just then, breaking the tension with the bottle of champagne. He popped it and poured us all a glass. It was awful but I didn’t want to be impolite. “So what do you think there, Miss Fox? Do you like the champagne?” he asked me.

“It’s quite awful.” I said honestly and they both laughed at me. "Maybe I should try some whisky."

Jacob smiled and poured me a small drink and handed it to me. "Don't worry Miss Fox, the mess is almost taken care of."

"She was just going to tell me some of her ideas." Oliver smiled at me. "Perhaps you'd like to stay and hear them." He said to Jacob.

Jacob sat down and they both looked at me expectantly. “Other than the obvious skimming, you’re losing money in purchasing. You have an empty warehouse at the dock, I think it would be better served as a sort of ordering hub. If you purchased things on a larger scale, you’d get them cheaper, and then you could store the rest in your warehouse. Right now, you have your managers handling purchasing for each of the businesses when both of your bars require the same inventory, as do all three of your boxing gyms. You need a single purchasing manager, and each of your business managers place requisition requests to him. He then prepares the order and delivers it to your establishment, making the possibility of theft on one man instead of six. As long as you put a man you trust in that position, they’ll be no more fake invoices to steal money with, and you’ll be saving about 20 percent by buying in bulk.”

“And what about rat problems? The dock warehouse and every warehouse on the dock have rat problems. Our profits will be eaten up by the nasty bastards. “ Jacob questioned.

“And you’ve never heard of cats?” I grinned.

“You have to feed a cat.” He argued.

“Not if they’re eating your rats.” I quipped, and he stopped before he said another word.

“Hmph.” He huffed, looking at me hard, “And then once the rats are gone, now we have cat’s to feed.”

“I think once they’ve done their job a meal or two a day isn’t bad upkeep.” Oliver was ginning devilishly from the side as I argued with Jacob. I couldn’t get a read on if he was pleased with my idea or more amused by it. “You’ll have to have at least one man there for security anyway, make them a cat person and you’ll never have another bother of it.” I said. “They’ll take care of the cats, and be very proud of every vermin they kill.” I laughed, and he suddenly did too.

“What other ideas do you have?” Jacob asked, and Oliver smiled at that.

“Several, actually.” I told them. They listened to each one and only argued points they thought I might not have thought about, but I always had a solution to whatever problem they posed, and before I realized the time, Leo came into the office to let us know it was all cleaned up enough for me to go home.

“Leo will take you home, Miss Fox.” Oliver smiled at me, and I nodded and collected my things.