Empire of Vendetta

[D-34] Deal with the Devil

Pretending to be happy and sweet when you only had two hours of sleep the previous night was proving to be a chore. Having a grumpy boss on top of it, was t*****e. 

Lilith internally cursed at Summer for the nth time that morning as she tried to follow along to what Tara was saying about the Garcia murder case. Valerio had decided he did not want to see anyone that day so he locked himself in his office. Apparently the rest of the employees all knew better than to bother him. Some of them even made an effort to walk around the entire level just so they did not have to go past his office. To her it all seemed so ridiculous but according to Tara, it was best not to be seen by Valerio when he was in one of his moods.

But Lilith had a mission to accomplish so she couldn't let a hissy fit get in her way. She picked up her folders and walked towards Valerio's room. The rest of the employees all looked at her with looks of pity on their faces. She really didn't know what she was getting herself into and they couldn't help but worry for her. 

She knocked on his door, which he ignored, before she stepped in with a cheery, "Good morning."

Valerio ignored her once again as he continued to read through his case files. It was as if he hadn't even noticed her presence. That had to be good news, Lilith thought. But it didn't make sense to her that the rest of the employees were so scared of being ignored. 

"Get me a coffee," Valerio rudely ordered, letting Lilith know that he was well aware of her presence. He didn't even bother to look up at her as he muttered his order. 

She really wanted to stand up for herself and tell him to get it himself, but she reminded herself that she had a purpose and being rude to her target wasn't going to help her. So without a noise, she went and did as he wanted.

"What are you doing?" Tara asked when she saw Lilith wait for the elevator to go down to the cafeteria. 

"I'm getting Prosecutor Otero a coffee." 

"He doesn't like coffee," she reminded her.

"He asked for it himself." 

Tara froze for a second before she pulled out her phone and began to text rapidly on her phone. 

"Code red," she muttered as she typed. "The lion asked for coffee. Code red!" 

The elevator doors finally opened and Lilith made a move to step in, only for Tara to stop her.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Tara pulled her back. "Remember how I told you Prosecutor Otero doesn't like coffee?"

Lilith slowly nodded. 

"That was an understatement. He absolutely hates it! Usually he only orders a coffee when he wants an excuse to shout at someone."

Lilith couldn't do anything but blink. "That's ridiculous," she told the assistant. 

"You think I'm joking? Ask anyone in the office. Buy that coffee and you'll find yourself in a heap of trouble."

"So I shouldn't buy the coffee then?" 

"Are you crazy? Not buying it is even worse. If you don't oblige to his orders, you'll get it even worse!" 

Lilith's migraine was worsening as the seconds went by. It wasn't even the afternoon yet and she already wished she could have just disappeared from the face of the Earth, without a single trace left behind.

"So I have no choice but to get in trouble?" Lilith asked with a sigh. 

Tara nodded, a sympathetic look on her face. If only Lilith had listened to their warnings and stayed away.

"I'll get the b****y coffee then," she said before she entered the elevator. She assumed the load of his anger would be less serious that way. 

Fortunately for her, the cafeteria was quite empty considering it was not lunch time yet. It took her less than five minutes to return back to the office with his coffee in hand. Everyone in the office watched her with wide, curious and sympathetic eyes but none of them dared make a sound. They knew that it was only moments before Prosecutor Otero wreaked havoc on their office. 

Lilith entered the room and softly placed the coffee beside him. She saw Valerio clench his jaw but he didn't say a word. Everyone in the office quickly ran back to their seats and pretended to work, too scared of having themselves seen by the devil. Lilith rolled her eyes before she went back to stand across from his desk, unaware of what she should do now. 

"Have you read the email I sent to you last night?" Valerio suddenly asked her, taking her off guard. She didn't even know that he had sent her an email. 

"No," she truthfully said. Valerio's eyes twitched in annoyance as he picked up his coffee and took a sip. 

Valerio looked even more pissed after taking a sip. He roughly placed the cup down, and turned his unforgiving glare towards her.

"So you are unaware of the updates to the Garcia murder case," he stated, as he stood up from his seat and took long strides towards her. 

"Correct," Lilith responded even though he did not ask a question, feeling unbothered by his attitude. 

Valerio's eye twitched at her response, unsurprisingly angering him even further. He then sat on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms across his chest before he spoke. 

"Why do you bother to study all those years, apply and get accepted into a position that only one out of four hundred can get, only to slack off on your first day?" he spat out, looking disgusted. His voice was low but lethal. Yet somehow, it turned Lilith on more than anything else. She felt her heart skip a beat and her body temperature rise. She gulped down the lump in her throat before she responded to him. 

"I didn't know that you would send me an email," she told him softly, looking down apologetically. "I will be more responsible next time."

Valerio scoffed before he placed his hand underneath her chin and lifted it up so that her eyes had met his. Lilith felt electric bolts erupted across her body from the area his fingers touched. 

"There won't be a next time, Miss Winters. You're fired." 

Valerio gently removed his hand from underneath her chin and returned to his seat. Before he sat down, he picked up his coffee and threw it in the trash can beside his desk.

"Excuse me?" Lilith asked, feeling flabbergasted. There was no way she had heard correctly. Everyone in the office acted as if he screamed and shouted and said downgrading things to them, no one said anything about getting fired. Had she known, she would have stayed out of his sight like the rest of them. 

"You are fired," Valerio repeated, leaning back in his seat with a raised brow.

"On what grounds?" 

"You are too irresponsible. I do not think you are suitable for the position."

"I have been here for one day! I made one simple mistake! You can't fire me over that."

Valerio scoffed at that before he leaned forward in his seat with a sarcastic grin on his face.

"You are aware that you are working as an intern under my supervision at my firm, correct?" 

Sure she knew that, but she wasn't going to let him have it. She couldn't lose this job. If she lost it, she wouldn't be able to avenge her family. She would fail them and she would fail herself. She couldn't accept such an outcome! 

"I refuse to accept this outcome," she told him, a hardness to her voice that demanded his attention. "I can understand that you're having a bad day, but going around and firing people just because your mood isn't good is unacceptable and it's against the Fair Work Act."

Valerio looked slightly amused by her matter-of-fact attitude. The creases on his forehead had smoothed out and the hardness in his eyes disappeared. Even his sarcastic grin disappeared and instead was replaced by a natural, soft smile. It was barely visible, but it was definitely there. 

"If you fire me over something as insignificant as this, I can sue you for abusing your power," she further added on.  

"Hmm, can you?" Valerio chuckled, a new glint in his eyes. It only served to further add to her annoyance. She bit her tongue to stop the snarky comments from escaping. 

"I can. And it won't just be me that will testify but everyone who has been abused by you in this office."

She wished she didn't have to bring the other employees into it but she had to get her point across. She didn't think they would actually speak up against him - they for whatever reason seemed to like Valerio despite his unacceptable behaviour. However, his behaviour was still abusive so it wasn't as if she wasn't making up stuff out of thin air. 

Valerio stood up and chuckled once more before a lopsided grin grew on his face. 

"Fine, you win. I won't fire you," he said, standing behind his chair, his grin growing into a Cheshire-like grin. Lilith hated to admit it, but it did bring dirty thoughts to her mind. "Under one condition."

"What is it?"

"I need you to do something for me." 

She really wanted to say "anything" considering she literally was at a point where she was willing to do anything, but the look on his face told her that it wasn't something any normal person would have agreed to.

Despite her logical side speaking to her, she still found her foolish side making the final decision.

"Whatever you want," she told him, making his Cheshire grin grow even larger. 

It was then that she noticed that she had made a deal with the devil himself. But as much as she hated to admit it, she didn't mind it one bit. 

She was looking forward to dancing with the devil.