A Home From Nothing

Chapter 9

“Don't tell me that means you think you’re the Belle of the ball.” The man shoots back. Seeming to have calmed down a bit by the way his hands relaxed, though still glowering at me. “Im Brant Langston, I own this office, and the building it's in. I have a right to know who’s coming and going.” His deep voice just a touch gravely from the irritation still shining through.

I'm not normally a confrontational person but this man running in here and practically yelling at me has me perturbed to say the least. Especially since I don’t even want to be here. I don’t want to go through his desk, I don’t want to pick up the papers or take down the photographs of him and my mother off the walls.

”I never said you didn’t. You just don’t have to be so rude about it.” I point out giving my own sour look right back at him. I shuffle around the papers on the desk in front of me, giving myself something to focus on other than the man in the doorway. I have never seen such an intimidatingly handsome man. His hair is sandy brown with streaks of red tossed in, a heavy brow line that casts shadows over his blue eyes, his nose is crooked in the middle like it has been broken a time or two. His lips are plump and perfectly encased in a mustache and beard with the same streaks of red as his hair.

“The man who used this office stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from me. You’ll have to forgive my irritation at that.” He deadpans.

“You’re forgiven. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to get the rest of my fathers things. Unless there’s something else you’d like to yell at me for?” I lift an eyebrow and smile at my witty remark. I don’t think he found it as funny though. His eyes darkened and his fists balled again.

“Your father? Troy didn’t have any kids. I would know, he’s worked for me since I started this business. He’s never once mentioned having more than a wife.”

“Welp, either my father intentionally hid me or you don’t pay as close of attention as you thought. Either way, I have stuff to do that doesn’t include being berated by a monkey in a suit.” I turned to Jenna who was still standing by the door watching the interaction, “Would you mind helping me get the photos off the wall? They look a bit heavy.” I say, effectively dismissing him. I walk purposefully away from the big irritating brute by the door and head to the biggest photograph on the wall of my parents. I don’t even remember this picture. It wasn’t one I was around for.

“Yeah, sure, I can do that.” Jenna says with a slight grin on her face. She walks over to the other side of the massive frame and before either of us could get our hands on it properly, Brant has it in his hands lifts it as if it weighs next to nothing.

“These have special anchors on the back that would rip out the wall if you don’t know what you’re doing taking them down. Let me get maintenance to do that for you.” Brant offers, setting the extra large frame on the ground.

“Sure, one less thing for me to fight with. I'll just go through the desk and cabinets.” I say walking back to the desk. I had hoped asking Jenna to help would have encouraged him to leave, I was already feeling overwhelmed by having to do this, I don’t need an irate man I don’t know hovering over me trying to interrogate me on top of it all.

“If you find anything that can help me find where the money he stole went, I expect you to do the right thing and hand it over. You’re welcome to any of his personal effects that are left but you leave anything work related where it is. Am I understood?” He inquired, though his tone left little for rebuttals.

“Yeah yeah, you’re the big scary beast, this is your castle and I must stay out of the west wing. Got it, now do you mind? I have someone’s left over temper tantrum to work through.”

”I’ll stay with her, to make sure Mr. Langston. I’ll have Kendra watch the lobby.” Jenna offers, trying to placate her boss and get him to leave at the same time. I think even she can feel the irritation rolling off of him.

He nods in her direction. “Danyell says to tell you she’s skipping lunch today. I tried to tell her not to but you know how she is.” Brant says with less of an attitude than he had just a moment ago.

“Yes I do, I'll bring her up something to eat later, once I’m done here.”

I don’t know who Danyell is but that just means what they’re saying is no longer my business. I get back to the papers on the desk, making them neat and straight before going through them page by page. Brant left with quick steps and while I hadn’t noticed it before, the pandemonium in the other side of the office had been quiet while Mr. Langston was on the floor and then it broke out again as the elevator doors closed behind him. Apparently no one wanted to upset the big boss.

“Danyell is my girlfriend, she’s also his personal secretary. She gets so busy she thinks she needs to skip lunch but really, he would rather her eat and let something wait til tomorrow. He’s not as bad as that made him seem. But thousands of dollars missing tends to make anyone frustrated. Please don’t take it personally. Plus, we were all pretty close here. At least those of us who have been here the longest. The interns tend to do their own thing.” Jenna says. Though the explanation did make sense, that's still no excuse for being rude to someone you just met.

“I think we are all entitled to common courtesy at the very least. Especially for first introductions.” I reply. Having already lost interest in the stack of papers I open up the top drawer in the desk. Just a few pens, pencils, rubber bands and paper clips. Moving on to the side drawers, I open the top one first. I see more papers and folders. The middle drawer is the same but the last drawer looks shallower than the others. It doesn’t look like as many folders fit in the space as the other drawers.