ELEVATOR WAYS

CHAPTER FOUR

The driver gulped loudly as if swallowing his fears. He horned loudly at nothing in particular. One of his peculiarities was that he didn't like violence or anger talk. Luke enjoyed that because it saved him from a lot of small talks where, in such instances, he would find a way to evade it for himself or his boss.

Violet seemed to get angrier at the unnecessary horning.

Drive! Dave, just drive!" He nodded.

Then she loosened her seat belt and turned around to face her boss.

"I'd hit you if you weren't my employer."

"Why?"

He asked calmly. He seemed to have lost the anger he had been coming at earlier. Besides, he could never match Violet's energy, so he thought it wise to give up earlier without draining his energy. One would think her his boss if they walked in to meet such a situation.

Violet's features softened. She was a few out of the hundreds of business people who knew that her boss wasn't arrogant as he was described in the tabloids or by people he had done business with. Although they didn't have a choice, he was easily the best out there. So, rumor or not, anyone who was in this line of business and called it off because of some silly news would probably risk a big loss in the end. He was good at what he did, and he didn't care much about what was said about him. However, she cared. For the sake of the company. And he wasn't helping the narrative if he continued behaving the way he had just behaved at the entrance of the elevator with the lady, affirming the belief of the public even greater.

"You're easily the smartest guy out there. The smartest one I know, and I have met a lot of smart people in life. Yet sometimes, I wonder if I'm not mistaken in asserting the quality of being the smart all-rounder. Did you realize the effect of what you just did? Or who was that person?"

"And I ask again, what has that got to do with anything?" He asked, still maintaining his calm voice as if not trying to undermine his PA's authority while still trying to show nonchalance. What did it matter? It was just some lady anyway. Why was she still interested in picking a fight with him? He didn't hit her intentionally, did he?

Because she is Elizabeth Halle!" Violet gnashed her teeth together so furiously that he was scared she would hurt herself.

"And should I care because?" He asked, his tone becoming lighter and lighter by the second. It looked as if Dave was holding his breath. As if afraid that the sound of his breath would increase the tension in the air.

Violet shook her head and handed him the iPad once again. He looked at her lost. She used her pinky finger to guide him to a name.

"She is on the list of the board we have a meeting with?"

If he was surprised, he tried his best to hide it perfectly. But Violet wasn't fooled. She knew his way past the covers, the walls, and the facade he built around himself.

"You should worry," she said in a calm voice, taking away the phone from him in a manner as one would to someone in a pitiable situation. He heaved a sigh. One could barely tell whether it was that of distress or relief. However, judging from the context and the situation around, it had to be the former.

He laced his fingers together and pulled himself to sit in an upright position as he had been slouching all along, hoping to relax before the meeting.

"Who is she, anyway?"

"Oh! She is you. Only in a bigger and better way with a better platform. And to your disadvantage, she's a woman."

Violet just had a way around her that seemed to get to Luke. He didn't care much about what people thought about him. But he didn't like hearing those words from his PA either. She knew it very well, and she used it to her advantage. Also, she had indirectly implied that he was a twit, and there was nothing he could do about that.

"I don't think so though. Why haven't I heard about her before?" He asked, trying to gather points for himself about something he thought was probably an argument in which his PA would be declared the winner either way.

"Because you're so high in your insteps. She's been abroad, and she recently moved back into the country. She brought a lot of business moguls in too. So if you had read the memo I sent you last night properly, you would have noticed that you have a new competition, and she's the one who taught all of them. She's the boss lady."

For everything he thought to say, Violet had a comeback twice painful and backed up with proper facts. Who knew it would be a pain in the ass if your PA knew and did her job just too well to fault? He resigned. He couldn't win anyway.

"Why do you know so much about her anyway? You're stalking people now?" He asked. This time genuinely, not looking for a comeback but a challenge to ride up to.

"You seem to forget the rudiments of my job, which includes studying competition, healthy ones, and leverage. She happens to be both. I'd speak to your father about her. You'd have to work with her as leverage."

Luke stared at her open-mouthed. She eyed him with some kind of expression that could pass for disdain.

"Well, let's hope she agrees to that with the stunt you pulled today."