The Devil Lives In New York

Chapter 4: "Vengeance"

One week after that incident in the infirmary, everything continued as normal. Lately, Leonardo had been absent from the company, which was a relief for me because it gave me a little break and I could eat my food peacefully. I had skipped so many meals during my time working for this company that I had even lost five pounds, which was not good for my health given my already slim figure and if I kept on like this, I could even get sick.

Now that my boss was not here, I could work calmly without stress.

Leonardo asked me to gather information from the last six months. I was so focused on my work with my headphones on while listening to music, that I had already covered five months' work of data, only had one month left, and I would finish all the work. I was determined to do a good job.

"Miss Baldinelli," Miss Smith approached me. I immediately took off my headphones to listen to her.

"Hello, Miss Smith," I said, smiling.

"I think we never had the opportunity to properly introduce ourselves. My name is Carolina, but you can call me Caro," she said, smiling at me.

"Hello Caro, you can call me Olivia," I responded with a big smile.

Finally, I could freely talk with Carolina, the only coworker on this floor.

"Do you want to have lunch with me and other coworkers?" she asked, smiling widely.

I had been so focused on the documents that I hadn't even realized it was already lunchtime.

"Of course," I said, getting up from my seat. I grabbed my bag, and together, we went down to the main floor to meet the other.

"It's about time you came down, I'm starving," said a redheaded woman who seemed to be around our age.

Carolina replied, "Sorry, I hadn't finished organizing some things."

"I made the reservations you requested, but why did you ask me to reserve an extra spot?" said a man. He stopped when he saw me.

"I want to introduce you to Olivia Baldinelli, she's also with me at the top…" Carolina was interrupted.

"Of course, we know who this flower is, my name is Gabriel Mendes" he said with a charming smile. "I'm in the marketing department, in case you need anything someday, you can count on me" He took my hand and kissed it. "Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything" he winked at me.

"Apologize on his behalf, he's always like that with women he meets," said the other woman, laughing charmingly. "But don't worry, he's gay" she winked at me "I'm Abigail Sanders and you can find me in the accounting department" she smiled broadly.

We walked to the restaurant that Gabriel had reserved, their conversation was lively, and they always included me, which made me feel good as I was not excluded from the group.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the restaurant. We chose a table at the back that had a large window facing the street for a good view of the scenarios.

The menus were brought to us, and we all looked for something to order. I felt relieved when I saw the prices. They weren't so expensive, and I wouldn't have a problem as I wouldn't spend too much money on lunch.

"I have to admit, I have seen you many times getting in and out of the elevator, but I never had the courage to approach you," Gabriel said with a genuine smile. "Tell me, what does it feel like to be the company's celebrity?"

"Celebrity?" I asked incredulously.

"There's no one in the company who doesn't know you, everyone knows you, even if you don't know us," Abigail said.

"Why?" I asked, laughing.

"You're the personal assistant to the CEO of Spinter Enterprises, you're always with one of the most important and influential men in New York" Abigail explains, sighing.

"Tell us, does he look more attractive when he reads his documents at his desk?" Gabriel asked, resting the weight of his chin on both of his hands. "I imagine being Leonardo's assistant, you're walking down the hallway with many documents in your hands, and you accidentally trip, dropping all the documents then Leonardo comes quickly to help you, making eye contact while picking up all those papers together" he bit his lower lip seductively.

We all burst out laughing at Gabriel's great imagination.

As we were all laughing, I started remembering and trying to imagine a scenario with him just as Gabriel had described, but nothing. Instead, I had fallen, but he didn't even get up to help me... In the end, he took me to the infirmary, but it wasn't as nice as Gabriel had imagined it. The few times I had stopped to watch him when he was reading documents at his desk and most times, he had seen me looking at him and just frowned.

In summary, I don't think anything like what Gabriel just imagined will happen.

"I wouldn't say that" I grimaced. "He's actually scary, and very intimidating," I said, making Carolina burst into laughter.

"See! I told you! He's scary!" Carolina couldn't stop laughing.

"I guess they will never be able to get rid of the nickname ‘devil’ off him," Gabriel said, laughing.

"Why the devil?" I asked curiously.

"When we say he's the devil, it's not a joke" Abigail said, looking at me seriously. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Every time another company becomes a threat to Spinter Enterprises, we don't know how, but all those companies end up badly. The only company that has been able to escape Leonardo Spinter is Strike Enterprises."

"But I heard both companies have good relations," I said with a raised brow, and everyone nodded.

"Yes, but I don't think that the good relationship is because of Leonardo's choice or liking." Abigail shook her head as she continued "Before Leonardo Spinter became the CEO, his father was the previous CEO, and his father was best friend with the CEO of Strike Enterprises. Although, Leonardo doesn't like that CEO" she shrugged.

"And don't even get me started on how he treats us," Gabriel said. "Once I rode the elevator with him because his personal elevator was under maintenance, it was the worst moment of my life, I swear! I felt like I was running out of air just from being so close to him. Everyone in the company was afraid of him. They say his previous assistant disappeared after resigning, and no one heard from her again. And guess what?" he looked directly into my eyes.

"They found her dead in her apartment a week ago" he added, and I widened my eyes in fear.

"Stop saying nonsense, Gabriel, you're scaring her," Carolina said and gave him a little tap on the shoulder.

"Don't believe him, they didn't find her dead, she resigned as she was getting old and was going to retire," Abigail said, laughing.

Leonardo Spinter's presence was so eerie and intimidating that for a moment I thought it was all true.

"Although everything else is true."

Gabriel admitted.

"Yes, that's true" Carolina affirmed.

"Why did you apply to be his assistant? Do you want to die?" Abigail asked with a half-smile.

"Well, to be honest, I didn't even know that I would be the CEO's assistant," I said, stuttering. "I was so desperate looking for a job that I don't even remember sending my resume to be an assistant to the CEO," I laughed.

"You didn't," Carolina clarified "His other assistants would always resign quickly, and he hadn't found a new one for a long time. He told the administrative department to announce that they were looking for an assistant for a lower position and if your resume convinced him, he would hire you," she said, making me look at her in fear.

"Are you saying he chose me personally?" I asked, clearing my throat.

"Yes," Carolina nodded.

"I swear, a shiver just went through my whole body," Abigail said, rubbing her hands on her arms.

"How powerfully? Where did you study, girl? Are you from Harvard?" Gabriel asked as he looked at me in surprise.

"No" I replied.

"Did you know him before?" Abigail asked.

"No, I'm not even from New York," I bit my lower lip nervously.

"I think I already know who I'll ask to make my next resume," Abigail said jokingly.

"I'll do it without any problem," I continued the joke with a smile on my face.

"Anyway, now that you're here, here's a toast to Spinter Enterprises" Gabriel said, raising his glass of orange juice to make a toast.

We all raised our glasses and joined him to toast.

Gabriel was very funny, he always made us all laugh. After our lunch, I liked them even more. We plan to have lunch together again tomorrow if we have free time.

"I hope Gabriel didn't bother you?" Carolina asked, laughing and shaking her head.

"Not at all. I really liked him," I smiled.

"He calls himself a free spirit, you should see him dancing in a nightclub - he's a real beast, or at least that's what he says" she smiled.

The moment, we stepped out of the elevator while laughing loudly. Our laughter disappeared when we saw Leonardo in the hallway, in front of my desk.

"We'll talk later" she whispered before heading to her desk.

I sighed and walked towards my boss who seemed to be looking for something on my desk.

"I didn't receive any call that you would arrive earlier than usual. If I had known, I would have come back earlier to help you" I said, watching him search for something on my desk.

"Don't worry, I was just looking for this" he took some documents that I had prepared for him. "Please, come with me."

He walked towards his office, I left my bag on the desk and took the iPad to take notes of what he would say to me. A few seconds later, I entered the office, and he was already sitting at his desk, waiting for me.

"I need you to cancel your plans for tonight. You'll accompany me to some meetings I have scheduled at my house," he said, his attention on his computer monitor.

"That's strange, I don't remember having any meetings scheduled,” I said quietly, almost to myself.

"I scheduled it myself" he looked at me and replied. "If you need to go home for clothes, do so, my driver will pick you up from your apartment."

***

The rest of the day passed by normally, and my boss let me leave work early so I could go to my apartment for my things. When it was 5:00 pm, I returned to my house to grab the clothes I would need. They weren't really much, just pajamas and an outfit for tomorrow. I assumed I could take a shower at his house.

Leonardo sent me a message saying he would be at my apartment in less than a minute. I ran to grab the bag with my clothes and left the building.

When I was outside the building, I didn't see any of the black cars Leonardo usually used, so I waited in the street. At that moment, I noticed a few meters away from me was the red Audi that had splashed water on me earlier. I approached the car a little just to check, and they had the same license plates, L666.

I started laughing like a maniac while looking for my apartment keys in my bag. There was no one on the street, so no one would notice what I was about to do. I discreetly walked to the back of the car. I looked around one more time to make sure no one was nearby, when I was sure, I started forcefully dragging the key on the car's paint from the back to the passenger door.

"Who's laughing now, you damn crazy person?" I said, laughing. As I was about to walk away from the car, the car engine started. At that moment, the passenger window opened, and I almost fainted right then and there.

"What do you think you just did, Miss Baldinelli?" my boss's voice said from inside the red Audi I had just scratched.