Let Me Call You Madame

Meet the Mad Queen PRIM AND IMMACULATELY-DRESSED men and women lined the entrance to the headquarters of Lvcien Corporation. No one wore a distinct scent other than what the company co-produced with a perfume company. Brooches gleamed in uniformly-cut medium-grade Zultanites. In a sharp, graceful snap, they all bowed upon the entrance of their new CEO. Jane did not care. The effort is too time-consuming and when the deliberate strict observations went on while she made her way to her new office, she calls for an immediate meeting. “Cancel all the makeup and perfume rules. Uniforms will only be worn upon official orders. Draft a resolution on the approval for paid vacation leaves and then look for contractors to renovate one empty room on the ground floor into a day-care facility for working parents.” Her assistant immediately took notes and rushed outside, spreading the news around the building like a wildfire of celebration. Never have the employees of the prestigious Lvcien Corp. ever have something that is close to freedom and Jane is doing what the other Lacenoirs refused to address for years in just the first hour of her seat. But after the news has reached the corners, a furious man charged his way straight to the executive suite and slammed his fists on the desk while Jane studied a pink feldspar-encrusted luxury nail design. “What did I just hear that you did?” “Relax, father. I am just starting.” “How could you change policies that fast even without consulting the board?” “I am not changing policies. I had the HR Department evaluate and assess what the needs of the employees are through a needs assessment inventory and we found out what they need. This is a motion solely presented into solving future problems that the company might face in case the workforce keeps getting unhappy and troubled.” “But Lvcien will appear easily penetrable by other people! We have always upheld this legacy of being uniform, Jane. You cannot do this.” “I believe, Father, that the one who sits behind the desk, can. Besides, there is no other important legacy in a company such as this one but the continuous surge of success. A legacy brought by the pride of implementing traditions of behaviour will limit the potentials of my people. So if you have nothing more to say, you can go to the pantry and just have someone make you your coffee the way you like it. Have them make one for me as well while you are on it.” “You really think you got this that easy, huh?” the man challenged her. “Why don’t you come for dinner tonight so you could talk to your mother while you still can?” Jane abruptly shot from the chair and demanded, “What happened?” “She is sick,” the man simplified. “It is not like we can avoid her getting weak sometimes. She is looking for you. I expect you to be there at sharp seven and on your best behaviour.” HE GAZED AT THE FINE line that separated the sky from the sea while he set his foot on the port. A man waved at him through the crowd waiting for passengers to come their ways in different manners of welcoming greetings but Damari meant business and business alone. As soon as he got into the back of the car, he powered his phone and instructed his driver to take him to the clan house. “Hello, Dex. I just arrived. Send me the coordinates as soon as you confirm the traces and prepare the things I need.” “Affirmative.” A massive block of modern-classic fusion of a mansion stood before him but Damari never really felt warm in the house. He stepped into the fancy marble tiles with a determined stride to negotiate and there, at the living room, was his father and two other brothers already talking by themselves. “I hope I was not too late to miss anything.” “I thought you were not interested,” said Diether who is the eldest of the Callan siblings. “What made you change your mind?” With a straight face, he said, “I realized that nothing is ever more important than expanding my business so I am here to prove why I was born into the family as well just like the two of you.” “Very well, take a seat, Son.” His father, Roman, stretched a hand-drawn map of a small island and then a sketch of a supposedly-existing Kashmir Sapphire, the rarest in the world. “This is the exclusively-obtained data we extracted from the mole we have over the French jewellers and they said that they were close to finding the lode containing a lot of these top-grade sapphires. I have realized that my time has come to test the three of you on whom I will trust the company with by sending all of you to hunt for the lode before any other competitor does.” All brothers looked at the papers in scrutiny before Daniel asked, “What are your terms, Father?” The man regarded each of them before removing his glasses. “Bring me what I need whatever you have to do.” Damari walked out of the manor as soon as they signed the agreement that no one of them will rise to revolt after the result of the test and as soon as he got into his own house, he accessed the concealed door behind his display case and went straight to where his assistant, Drew, worked. “I made sure to set a timed self-destruct sequence on both of their boats as soon as they cross the border. You will have nothing to worry about as soon as you cross over it. I will take care of the rest.” “How about other jewel hunters, have you already taken precautions over them?” “It might take me about a few hours more,” Drew said while not taking his eyes off the computer screen. “While I work on it, I have to remind you that the Lvcien Corporation’s former CEO contacted your mother. You might want to go to her in case she acted behind your back.” JANE RAN A NUMBER of possibilities about her mother in her head while she drove into her father’s house. As soon as she stepped in, her sister met her by the stairs and let out a snobbish sound before heading to the dining room. She went upstairs and checked her mother’s room but found no one in there but the myriad of apparatus and charts that look after Julie’s health.  Walking into the dining hall by impulse, she finds her family already waiting for her. “Have a seat, Jane.” Jane landed her eyes on her mother and asked, “How have you been, Ma?” The woman, despite being frail and lithe, forced a tender smile and said, “I am well now that you are here with us.” “Save your talk for later. Let us have a decent dinner first.” “MOTHER, I DON’T think I am ready for that anytime soon,” Damari coaxed the sulking woman over the tea table. “You know how often I travel. This is not for me.” “But you are not getting any younger, Damari, even more so I. I just want you to start thinking about it for now. She is a great catch…” “Mother, I know her. Who does not know her? But it is not something I look for in a woman, let alone for a wife.” “You still have not met and known her yet.” “I could find out everything about her if I want to, Mother.” “Aren’t you giving it a chance? Even just for a bit?” Damari sighed in self-frustration and said, “I will think about it, Mother.” Actually, he already has. And his decision stays firm. “Drew,” he called over the phone as he walked back to his car. “Make sure you prepare everything by tomorrow night.” JANE rose from her seat at the other end of the enormous table and made everyone look up to her even without saying a single word. Her mother, Julie’s voice still drilled down her skull as she roamed her eyes around the dining hall, the woman expectedly averting her gaze from her daughter. Jane’s fists clenched and gritted her jaws before lifting her chin. “Who among you told my mother to convince me into this?” Her icy gaze swept across the room but everyone apart from Julie held her scrutinizing eyes.