A Wife for the Billionaire
Chapter 53: SOFIA

Chapter 53: SOFIA

"What was he doing here?" I thought to myself.

"Erm... good evening Sir." Harry stuttered, rising.

"And what is good about the evening?" Richard snapped.

"Erm... um... Sir, I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to abandon my work or anything, I was merely following orders_"

"Whose orders?" Richard cut in.

This was really getting old, why was he acting dumb? Wasn’t he the one who gave the orders in the first place? Or was it that he loved making a man shit himself out of fear?

"Sir_" Harry began.

"He was simply following your orders." I interrupted. "In your own words, ’a private and detailed tour’ or have you forgotten already?"

"Sofia, please" Harry begged, pulling me aside.

"No," I said, flinging Harry’s hand away as I walked to the figure whose presence scared the crap out of him. "He doesn’t get to do that. Why would he give you an assignment, one that he intended to spite you with and then forget about it?"

I stood in front of him now, his dark pools gleamed gold in the setting sun and they burned with hate so intense that they glazed like burnished gold.

His jaw was set firmly and his fingers curled and flexed as if he intended to punch me.

I should be scared. Hell, I should probably be shitting my pants already cause he was so scary at that moment, but I kept his gaze. Glaring at him with the same intensity.

"This doesn’t concern you, so if you’re done with your tour, just fucking leave already" he laced.

"Please Sofia, just listen to him. Today_"

"And why should I? Why should I listen to the man who treats people like they don’t matter? And why would he say that this doesn’t concern me, whereas it has everything to do with me. I asked for the tour, and to punish you, he granted it" I said, cutting Harry off.

As if I hadn’t even spoken, he walked past me to where Harry stood and said,

"I don’t care whose orders you were following, the truth remains that you spent more than three hours leading this girl around and we both know that’s against work ethics"

"I’m truly sorry Si_"

"Save your apologies, I want nothing more from you than your resignation letter on my desk before you leave"

And he stalked off, stopping to lean at the rail.

"Are you serious?!" I thundered. "You are going to fire him for simply following your own orders. What sort of a man are you?"

Harry was hauling me now, leading me to the stairs. But I refused to bulge, in spite of his strength as a man, he only managed to pull me a few strides.

"Sofia, just come on, you are making it worse, please!" Harry yelled, his voice

breaking.

That should’ve made me reconsider. To keep mute, but all it did was aggravate me the more.

"You are cruel, so inhumanly cruel"

He didn’t even stir from where he stood looking at the horizon. And that vexed me the most.

"So that’s it? Just like that, you’ve fired a man over something that trivial. What do you even think of yourself? God, that you can do as you please, that you can speak and it’s final?"

And yet, he kept mute.

"Sofia, you can stop now. I don’t hold it against you. Perhaps this was how it was meant to be, but know that what you did for me today, I won’t forget. Thank you." Harry whispered, kissing my hand.

"No!" I screamed, tightening my grip as he made to let go, "This is wrong. This can never be how it was supposed to be, I’m so sorry, Harry. I truly am."

It was my turn for my voice to break. For my heart to shatter. What had I done? Couldn’t this day get any worse? I just cost a man his job, in my blind rage for the cruel CEO, I had done something that at the moment was proving irrevocable.

"You know what you should do? You know what he wants you to do?" The words echoed through my mind, but I didn’t want to listen... because I knew.

I knew what I would do and he would be forced to look at me. I knew what someone as cruel as him craved for.

"What are you doing? No, Sofia stand" Harry was pulling me to my feet, but I couldn’t let him lose his job on my account. He had already lost his dignity to satisfy me, I just couldn’t allow him to lose more.

"Just let me be, Harry. I can’t let you lose this job on my account." Then to the silhouette in navy blue suit, standing by the rail, I called,

"Richard!"

He didn’t answer.

"Richard!"

He still didn’t answer.

"Mr Wellington, please"

He did turn then. Slowly, as if he had all the time in the world.

"Finally tired of screaming curses, I see" he mused.

"I don’t care about me, all I want is for you to please allow Harry to keep his job"

The sands on the marked concrete floor bit my knees, but I kept kneeling.

"Harry, why did you bring her here? And this time give me an honest and tangible answer. Have you fallen for her?" He asked, not looking at me.

"As much as it’s easy to fall for Ms. Sofia, but I haven’t Sir. I mean, I have a wife and I love her. I brought her here because she deserved it. Ms. Sofia is an exceptional woman and being with her could make one want to offer her the best, and Sir, I thought ’here’ was part of what you meant by ’detailed’."

"Let me guess, she read you didn’t she?" He asked.

Harry staggered back in shock, and I

found myself raising my eyebrows in

surprise too. How had he known?

"Yes Sir, she did." Harry replied after recovering from his shock.

"Pray tell, what did she tell you?"

"Does it really matter?" I quipped.

"Silence!" He barked.

"Sir, I don’t really recall all she said and I think the deets are too personal to share, no offense." Harry finished, his voice trembling.

A smile curled my lips. Saying no to Richard, no matter how shaky it sounded, was something worth rejoicing over. Had he been close to me, I would have squeezed his hand in silent admiration.

The question remains, what was the

Boss going to do now that his employee has told him no to his face?

"You may go now, Harry." Richard commanded.

"But_" Harry made to say.

"Don’t make me repeat myself"

I watched Harry, the same person who had said no to him a second ago, scurry away like a rat from the rain.

"Please tell me you are planning on letting him stay, because Harry is a wonderful employee and you would be losing a lot if you let him go" I declared even as my knees were practically screaming for me to stand.

"And what if I tell you that in letting him go, there is a chance for you to be employed?"

I didn’t know whether he was serious or not, it was hard to read his expression in the dark and the soft ambient glow of the gold lanterns weren’t helping.

But one thing was clear, I would never do Harry like that. In fact, I would never do anyone like that.

"Then I’ll have to respectfully decline, getting a job at the detriment of another isn’t my way of securing employment"

"And how many employments have you been able to secure?" He taunted.

"Just tell me if Harry is safe, so I can rise from here"

He had made to offer a retort, but then kept mute. He paced, his fingers to his lips like someone in thought, making me wonder what I said that was worth thinking about. Or maybe , he just wanted me to keep kneeling while he

stalled.

I was almost about to rise when he spoke,

"Will Harry stay or leave? That’s up to you, do as I’m about to dictate and you will not only save a man’s job, but secure one for yourself."

"This can’t be good" I found myself thinking, but a greater part of me was intrigued, what was the great CEO of the Wellington Fashion Empire going to require of me?

"What do I have to do?"

"It’s quite simple," he mused, "get Anna Wintour to write about our upcoming collection in their next publication, that’s all"

He knew it was impossible. I might be in Anna’s good graces, but I couldn’t persuade her to write what she doesn’t want to.

"You know what you are asking is impossible, right? Nobody, no matter how close, tells Anna what to write"

He walked to the desk, sat, crossed his leg and said,

"You have two days to get it done or Harry loses his job and you can kiss making your dreams come true goodbye. So, I suggest you better find a way to make the impossible - possible. You can show yourself out, I need my peace and quiet now."

"Bastard." I murmured.

" What was that?" He queried.

"Nothing to concern yourself with" I quickly replied, certain that he wouldn’t hesitate to fire Harry to punish me if he had heard what I said.

"I thought as much, now shoo"

The task may be impossible, but at least it was worth a try. For Harry, it was worth a thousand tries.

Resolved, I stood and left.