The COO’s revenge.

Chapter 3

Maeve

Monday had finally arrived, and I couldn’t wait to dive into the week ahead. Today promised to be unforgettable.

Surprisingly, I didn’t have to pull out Josh from the sewers or a gambling house and I even arrived thirty minutes earlier.

It was my first day as an Hallmark employee and I felt confident that I deserved this job.

When I asked Aiden why he was giving me the job, he simply shrugged and said that it was because I merited it- My rational side warned me, but I trusted him nonetheless.

Although trust might have been an overly optimistic expectation, I still believed him.

A small frown played on my lips as I adjusted my pink blouse while staring at the mirror in the restroom reserved for Hallmark’s junior staff.

I contemplated calling Hilda but her stance on the matter was very clear. She had repeated many times that she didn't think it was a good idea to take the job.

So what if Aiden and I didn't start on the right foot? It wasn't like I’d be reporting directly to him.

And if I got lucky, I might even avoid seeing him altogether but she was adamant, I also might have said things that we wouldn’t recover from anytime soon.

My hands trembled, my lips quivering as I stared back at my reflection, I was on the verge of losing my cool.

‘Maeve, breathe’, I repeated as I turned the knob and made it out of the restroom.

“Good morning Catty”, I greeted, a wide smile on my face, the long corridor swallowing my voice as she turned to face me, “Did you have a lovely…”

“Katherine”, she drawled, her fingers toying away with the golden bracelet around her wrist, as her gaze drifted toward the restroom door, a deep frown on her face.

“Oh my name is Maeve”, I said quickly, understanding the confusion as I didn't have a name tag yet.

“Silly. I wasn't asking for your name”, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips as she turned her gaze to me. “You will address me as Katherine, I outrank you”, she ended with a flip of her ponytail.

“Good morning Katherine”, I corrected, trying my hardest not to show my annoyance. In my defense, I didn't know her name was Katherine, Aiden had asked me to tell Catty to check her email on my way out the other day.

The air was thick with tension as her gaze pierced into me. Despite the unnecessary hostility, I knew she had misinterpreted me and this was just the beginning, could I charm her into liking me?

“Mr. Stewart hates lateness more than he hates the color pink”, she stated, my eyes staring at her blankly. “Meeting is down the hall in two minutes”, she huffed, rolling her eyes and walking into the restroom.

A meeting with Aiden wasn't what I had envisioned for the morning, hearing Katherine call him Mr Stewart did nothing less than aggregating my already heightened nerves.

I had assumed everyone called him Aiden, seeing as he had requested that I addressed him as that.

I needed to stop playing our conversations over and over in my head. One minute, he was the most infuriating man in Seattle and then, he was the sweetest.

“You’ve got this”, I reassured myself, my voice barely audible over the pounding of my heart as I hesitated outside the conference room.

I spun around, mortified, as a voice asked, “Miss Casey , are you good?” how had I not heard his footsteps?

“Yes, I'm good”, I said quickly, pissed that my gaze had lingered a little bit longer than necessary. “Good morning, Mr. Stewart”, I greeted, shifting my weight onto my left leg, my eyes focused on anywhere but his face.

“Aiden”, he reminded me, his tone gentle yet firm, his eyebrows arching slightly at my insistence on calling him”Mr. Stewart”.

“Come on in, we do have a meeting to get to”, he motioned, holding the door open.

A warm chorus of “good mornings” filled the room, as a dozen pairs of eyes swung towards us, their gazes dividing between me and him, but mainly focused on me.

“Hey, team”, a small smile tucked at his lips as he turned to face me “Let’s welcome our new member, Maeve Ryan”.

Warm smiles and a chorused welcome filled the room as I made my way towards the end of the conference room and occupied an empty seat close to red haired lady, who looked a little younger than I was.

I tucked a stray thread on my skirt in place, my mind drifting despite my efforts to stay focused on his words.

I lifted my head up until my eyes were on him, I couldn't help but notice how commanding his presence was. His tan suit flattering the contour of his body, his hair laid back to perfection, the mere fact that I was noticing all of these was more unsettling than captivating.

“Miss Maeve? ”, my eyes moved in the direction of the voice and they landed on Catty or Katherine. I hadn't even realized when she got in.

“Yes ma'am”, I replied, sitting up straight, as the others looked on, his gaze stood out, piercing from across the room.

“As you know Hallmark’s raw material is plantain, she paused, doing that weird flip yet again, “You do know that right?”, she asked, continuing immediately, like my reply didn’t matter to her.

“Reports reaching us are that our suppliers have little or no supplies and the plantains are rotting away in the warehouse”, She breathed out, her eyes fixated on mine, like this was some sort of challenge. “What do you suggest we do?”.

I cleared my throat, trying to disguise the croak. Why me? What did she want to hear? Was this some test of some sort? My mind raced, as I saw a hint of possibility- maybe this was my chance to impress her, to make her see me in a new light.

“Extra hours”, I said, as the room erupted in a sigh, “Extra hours for the production and distribution, if the plantain all rot, it will be a huge loss”, I finished, glancing at Catty’s face, catching a small smile before it disappeared.

“You do…,” she said and I found myself glancing over at the red haired, who was giving me the stink eyes for some reason.

“I will take it from here”, his voice severed through the background whispers, my thoughts abandoning their wandering as I returned my gaze back to his face, “Maeve, prepare a presentation for the optimization of plaintain storage for tomorrow”.

Before I could utter a word of objection, he was gone, vanished through the doorway with a swiftness that left me speechless, his cologne the only solid evidence. The finality of his departure was spot on, this wasn’t up for discussion.

My hands clenched under the table, my lips slightly parted as I kept staring at the wall while everyone existed the room.

“Day one and she is already asking for extra hours. Must be the queen of the workplace”.

“Why was she even on our team?”, someone else said but I couldn’t dare look.

The room fell silent, except for the pounding of my heart, echoing through my chest like a drumbeat.

The clock had barely struck ten in the morning and the day’s promise of calm had been utterly scattered, I had managed to make an entire team hate me and I had a presentation that I knew nothing about.

When I had applied to Hallmark, it was for a marketing role focused on product promotion. How was I supposed to give a presentation when I knew almost nothing about it?

Marketing was all I knew how to do. In my previous job, I had sold thousands of products that the owner thought wouldn’t sell, only to be laid off because I was rude to a high paying customer.

I had to inform him immediately; it’s impossible on such short notice. My steps quickened as I turned twice to the left, reaching his office.

I rolled my eyes as I stood face to face with Catty, her frown deepened as she let out an irritated sigh before returning back to her iPad.

“Good morning once again, Miss Katherine”, I spat, my eyebrows raised.

“Can I help you?”, she said with a scowl, her hands crossed.

“I will like to see Mr Stewart, I need to discuss something with him”, my eyes drifted to her iPad, revealing a shopping website open on the screen.

I wasn’t one to judge, if she just stopped being a b***h.

“Is he expecting you, Miss Maeve?”, she asked, her hands moving to the power button and turning it off.

“No but…”,

“You really think you could waltz in here and request to see Mr Stewart anytime you wanted, if everyone walked in here and requested to see Mr Stewart, do you think he will ever have time to attend to his duties. Look here, I’m letting this slide because you are new here”, she lashed out, her eyes fixated on me.

“I’m sorry, I just needed to see Mr Stewart. I wanted to discuss…”, I muttered, my eyes shifting to the green door that had just opened.

“Come in, Casey”, he said as he turned and walked back into his office.

“but sir, she cannot…”, Catty starts to say but the scowl on his face is enough to stop her.

“Yes, talk to me”, he said, monitoring for me to sit down from across him.

Facing a tight deadline, I knew I had to be honest about my capabilities and that was what I did, I told him everything.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you Casey”, he shrugged, “Have you considered asking your colleagues for some help?”, a smirk playing out on his face.

My colleagues , who made no secret of their disdain for me, I had simply given a plausible solution to the problem and they hated me for it.

“I’m afraid, I haven’t made their acquaintance yet”, I responded, my voice laced with shame.

“No exceptions Miss Maeve, if you can’t keep up then quit”.