Surviving the King

Dissention

“Uh oh,” Jada said quietly as I breezed back out of the board room an hour later.

“Oh, don’t worry. It was a majority vote in my favor. But that asshole…” I spat through gritted teeth.

“Jack?” she asked precariously as we stepped into my office. “Mari, he’s jealous of you. He thought for sure that your Mom’s title would be his. But don’t worry about him–”

Jada’s pep talk was cut off by my office doors swinging open and my poor receptionist trailing the intruder helplessly.

“Miss Galindo, I’m SO sorry! He just rushed by,” Izzy said.

“Do you want me to call security?” Jada said holding her cell phone up calmly. I loved her so much for not even batting an eye at Jack. He sneered at Jada before turning his cold stare on me.

“So how many of the old buzzards did you sleep with to get them to flip on me?” Jack asked.

Izzy and Jada quickly moved into the space between me and Jack sensing my immediate shift in demeanor. Damnit, I shouldn’t have let him get to me! “You need to leave my office. Now,” I seethed.

It was simply enough to know that he insulted me, because he turned on his tastelessly expensive shoes and laughed as he walked happily back out the door.

“He’s a d**k!” Izzy said in shock before realizing she was still standing in front of me.

“Honey, he has to act like what he lacks,” Jada said as she walked Izzy back out to her desk. I hedged my way around to my chair as Jada came back with a bottle of sparkling mineral water. She didn’t say anything verbally as she set up the conference while I stared off over the city. Of the few people who truly knew me to my core, Jada knew to let me stew a minute before approaching the subject. She pulled the pins from my hair and brushed it back, letting my waves fall over my shoulders before expertly sweeping it all back into an elegant half updo. She turned my chair toward her to review her work then looked me in my eyes. I nodded at her wordless question before she aimed me at my video call just as the host started the meeting.

“Bonjour,” I said with a poised nod and welcomed the other participants.

The discovery call went well and I felt great about being able to pass the project over to my successor. I’d no longer have the responsibility of negotiating new contracts so intimately, which I would actually miss. No one on the board could argue that I’d directly contributed to the 60% growth since coming on, especially since the company suffered heavy losses during my mother’s illness and subsequent death. That time was under the interim command of Jack Milton.

Of course Jack seemed to do well as vice president, but that was clearly with the loving guidance of my mom. She was a natural lion tamer and some of the most ruthless men in the industry would become babies around Vivienne Gallindo. Most never questioned her ability to calm people around her, but Jack always hated it and felt held back.

My phone broke me from my train of thought. “Hi, Dad.”

“Don’t let one of my golf buddies tell me before you do…”

I rolled my eyes playfully. “Almost unanimous approval. I’m the new CEO of Centurion Security.”

“That’s my girl!” Dad cried out. His face went somber for a moment. “Viv would be so proud of you, mijita.” We shared a brief moment of loving silence before he recounted my statement. “What do you mean almost unanimous? I gave you everything needed to flip everyone.”

A heavy sigh escaped my mouth. “Dad, Jack Milton would never vote in favor of anyone else.”

“Jack,” Dad muttered. I laughed. No one liked that man. With the good looks of a model mother and a Greek god father, Jack still managed to be a weasley pain in everyone’s ass. Cold blue eyes, a fantastic set of lips, sandy brown hair, and a towering build–yet his character was hideous.

Jada poked her head into my office from her en suite and I waved at my father. “I’ll see you later, daddio,” I said with a smile which he returned. I looked up at my long time friend and confidant.

“We have a potential problem,” Jada said as she grabbed my control tablet from my desk and illuminated my multi-display wall. Security was arguing with a tall, dark haired man who clearly wanted by. Sensing my confusion on the issue, Jada immediately zoomed in on the man.

“Is that Corbin?” I leapt from my seat. Before she could stop me I breezed out past the executive receptionist toward the elevator. “Oh hell,” I heard Jada say from behind me as I selected the lobby floor.

As soon as the elevator doors opened Corbin’s head turned toward me and we locked eyes. The milling of people coming and going seemed to dissipate into nothing and he and I were the only people in the room for a moment. Before I reached the security desk his sense of familiarity suddenly dropped and he turned abruptly and left.

This was confusing to the three guards who had just been primed and ready to remove him. Onlookers began moving away slowly, perplexed by the scene.

What the f**k? I wondered as my heart ached slightly. I hadn’t seen him in years and suddenly he was gone without a word. I began backtracking toward the elevator when I heard screeching on the street in front of the building.

My heart sank to my feet in immediate understanding as a diesel converted Jeep plowed through the lobby and barely halted before two men in combat gear came running at me. I noticed a few people on the floor, clearly casualties and froze as the men snatched me from my feet and pulled me into the vehicle. I’d been trained to fight in these situations, but I froze. Tears began pouring as my head was covered with a foul smelling bag–I soon passed out.

[a couple hours later]

“They haven’t even had time to announce her new title!” I heard a gruff voice yell. My head was still bagged in burlap, but I could tell from the echos and the smell that we were in a basement or the lower level of a warehouse. “You idiots! All you had to do was wait until it was announced. What f*****g good it is to kidnap a junior VP?”

My senses kicked into overdrive as I tried to take in everything that my eyes couldn’t. The people who had taken me had to have been high level contractors just by gear and method alone. Their vehicle took out bollards outside the building like they were speed bumps. I screamed in my head about the common lobby. We had been scheduled to move to our own building two years ago, but Mom’s illness had delayed a few critical changes.

“What do you want with me?” I asked loudly, voice cracking. They’d used way too much chloroform on me. My throat was raw and I realized that my mouth felt chapped.

“Oh, look. Princess is awake!”

Definitely a Jersey accent, I noted. “Yeah, can you please get me off the hard ass floor? And a blindfold instead of this nasty smelling sack would be awesome. Do you have mineral water?”

Bingo. Multiple people let out roars of laughter; I counted about eight people, likely all men. The same person whose voice woke me up called out in amusement. “Sure, honey. You want a cashmere blanket and veal, too?”

“Oh, that’d be divine!” I said, feigning enthusiasm. My goal now was to figure out where these people were in proximity to me. None of the laughs seemed to place them within ten yards of me. I tried moving but while I was out my feet and hands had been secured with zip ties.

Someone else walked in and everyone else immediately went quiet. The first man definitely wasn’t the leader with that kind of reaction. This person was smart enough not to be audible and seemed to warn the others to shut up indefinitely.

“This is the last thing I’m allowed to say to you, Miss Galindo,” the same man said. “You’re going to lose your tongue if you speak without permission again.”

Damnit.