Page 13 of Empowered
Chapter 4
“Where the hell is the damned technician?” Damon Monroe’s voice boomed through the office. “How the hell does AV equipment up and die over the weekend?” He sped past Sarah’s desk. “Get it fixed, please. Meeting with Blackbourne at nine!”
Sarah allowed herself one deep breath before picking up the landline phone and starting another hectic week.
The office was nothing but the worst bouts ofwhinging,as her mother would have called it. When Mr. Monroe wasn’t convinced that his pivotal meeting would go to hell without audio and visual working in the main conference room, his wife held her head in her hands and bemoaned a monstrous headache that had been killing her since the night before. Alisha spared Sarah further thanks for her help before launching into a tirade about her mother. Even one of the bodyguards that silently lurked around the office muttered about faulty technology and unruly charges. Mrs. Monroe’s female bodyguard continuously asked her to please settle down. Her doctor had asked her to stay off her feet for a few days, hadn’t she?
To be fair, it was a big day in Monroe Tower. Mr. Monroe was launching a new tech subsidiary that was projected to make the company billions – if he could take on the staunch competition. To help him, he was bringing in an old friend from the Blackbourne family, who would become a temporary “partner” for the sole purpose of taking on the likes of Lane Technological Solutions and Cole Communications. The Blackbournes had a solid background of marketing against tech giants, if certain Finnish companies had anything to say about it.
Still, Sarah was used to commanding big days around the office. That was one of the areas Alisha still apprenticed beneath her for, since the only other person to compare to Sarah was her own brother. Nigel hadn’t worked for the Monroes for a few months now. His resignation was one of many turning points around there.
If only people would stop complaining for two seconds!
Ms. Clayborn do this. Sarah do that. Who the hell are you? Oh, the help.She better be more than the help for as much as she was paid to run the Monroes’ lives for them. She had hoped her boss’s marriage and baby would settle him down a little? Ha! Fat. Fucking. Chance.
“Where the hell is Blackbourne! He’s late!”
Alisha stood up from her desk, phone cord wrapping around her arm as she searched for Mr. Monroe’s face in the crowd of black suits swelling in the room. “His driver says he’s about five minutes away, sir! Traffic from the airport!”
“The fuck is he doing getting into townnow?” Damon approached the shared working space with a grumble in his throat. “He was supposed to be in his hotel by last night.”
“Sorry, sir, I have no idea.”
Damon glared in Sarah’s direction. “Ms. Clayborn, run down to the marketing office and get me that backup USB John promised me. Looks like our AV is going to stay on the fritz.”
“Yes, sir.” Sarah turned off her computer monitor. “Be back in a few.”
“You better be. As soon as Blackbourne gets here, we’re starting the meeting. Assuming my wife hasn’t gone missing, too.”
“Last I saw she was in the employee bathroom, sir.”
Sarah glanced at Alisha before showing herself out of the office. Sure enough, Alice Monroe emerged from the women’s restroom with a sick look on her face.
I remember those days.While she didn’t envy the pregnant missus for her ongoing ailments, the reminder was absolutely unnecessary on a Monday morning. Sarah didn’t have any time to hole herself up in the bathroom to cry over things she couldn’t control.
She darted down to the in-house marketing department four floors below. John Creech, head of the talented team, intercepted her on her way through the waiting room and placed a black USB stick into her hand. “Let Mr. Monroe know that we’re having AV problems down here too.”
Sarah would get right on that.
She detoured through the nearest security depot, since the Monroes demanded a fresh copy of the previous weeks reports every Monday. The supervisor on duty pushed forward a small stack of folders he had signed off on five minutes before she walked through the door. He never once looked away from a monitor when she came in and picked the folders up. Nor did they ever say a word to each other.
USB tucked into her front pocket and folders secured beneath her arm, Sarah hopped into the elevator and rode the final two floors up.
She shouldn’t have emerged so quickly.
“Shit!” Her hurried body smacked right into the man standing in front of the elevator doors. Before she could chastise him for standingright in her way,however, a bodyguard she didn’t recognize swept in and pried Sarah off the man.
Effectively knocking her over and making her drop the folders, of course.
A small commotion erupted because of this unfortunate event. The suited men standing around the man she bumped into flanked their charge and oversaw Sarah scrambling to pick up the folders and disarrayed papers within. The man responsible, however, turned around and quickly bent down to help her as soon as he realized what had happened.
“My apologies,” he said, large hands deftly picking up the Friday afternoon security reports. “I shouldn’t have been standing right there.”
“It’s not a problem.” Sarah snatched the papers without looking the man in the eye. She would have to tilt her head back to see past her bangs, and she didn’t have time for that now.
The hand remained before her. “Let me help you up, Miss…”
Whatever. She clasped onto his hand and instantly felt the lurch upward.
