Chapter 5 Why Do They All Speak In One Voice

"Sh... should I take this one back to them?", the new secretarial assistant stuttered in confusion.

Leo said nothing; he simply turned to her with an "are you okay" look on his face. This was the office and the familiarity between them was for the house alone.

"Sorry. I'm sorry, sir," she apologized, gathering the papers with trembling hands and dropping them on the floor in the process. It was her first day on the job - her first job ever - and she was so nervous.

"Will you pack this stuff and take your clumsy ass out of here!", Marks roared, startling her and nearly making her trip. But Leo raised his hand immediately to quiet his friend.

One fuming and the other patient, they both watched as the trembling Mara struggled to gather the sheets of paper on the ground. When she was done, she held them to her chest and bolted from the office as fast as her legs could carry her.

Marks exhaled deeply as soon as she'd left the office. He had been holding onto his temper all the time she had been there and if she had stayed a few more minutes, he could have kicked her. Such a clumsy idiot!

"This won't do, you know," he said, shaking his head in disapproval. "This one has to be fired immediately! For crying out loud, how do you end up with such clumsy fools as assistants?"

"She's just a few days on the job. Give her time to adjust," Leo sighed.

"What time? There is no time! There's a reason why she was trained in the first place. It was to be efficient, not to mess things up in... in... and how are we so sure that she received any training at all? These low-class people are always criminal minded, you know. If you really want to succeed, you must make sure they have no room for freedom or they'll take it for granted."

"Hmm," Leo smiled and shook his head, staring at his friend with his head laid back on the headrest. "You seem to have forgotten that we were all 'low class' at some point."

"What do you mean?", Marks demanded angrily.

"I mean nobody was born rich. We were all born tiny, naked and penniless. There's no difference between her and me. All this was inherited from my grandfather. If she had a rich grandfather, she'd be sitting in this chair today. It's just chance and fate, my friend."

"Who cares? It's her loss that she doesn't have a rich grandfather. But you do, so you are ahead of her. Nothing anyone can do about it."

"Anything can happen tomorrow," Leo retorted. "I could lose everything and she could inherit billions from a previously unknown uncle."

"Look, what's your point exactly?", Marks asked in exasperation.

"My point is," Leo said, leaning forward, "she's a fellow human being and deserves to be treated as such. She deserves at least some level of respect like anyone else."

Marks suddenly burst out laughing. "Respect, eh?", he gasped between laughs. "I pity you, Leo. If you continue like this, you will destroy this company. The poor are meant to work for the rich. They deserve nothing, except their wages. Respect, my foot! How can a CEO respect a common messenger?!"

"Exactly. I am the CEO. And I have decided to go no further with this conversation. My decision stands. The girl deserves respect and there's an end of it."

Marks opened his mouth to respond, but Leo held up his hand to signify that there was to be no further discussion. He was forced to keep his mouth shut and after glaring at his friend for almost a minute, he stomped out of the office in anger.

Leo sighed as Marks shut the door with a deafening bang. He had not meant to offend his friend, but he just couldn't stand the way the new secretary was being treated. For crying out loud, she was new and therefore prone to make mistakes, so what was the crime in that? He wondered if Marks would like to be treated in the manner he had treated the girl if he had been in her shoes. He knew his friend wanted the best for him and the company, but there was no excuse for being harsh. None at all.

***

When Leo closed from work later that afternoon, he was driven home alone. He had asked the bodyguards to take the rest of the day off since it was Friday. He could have long since put an end to their services, but everyone around him had convinced him that they were very necessary. Necessary in what way exactly, he still didn't understand. Almost a year in charge of the business and he was yet to meet with any threat to his life, so why keep employing bodyguards when there was nothing to be guarded from? But his friend had assured him that the presence of the bodyguards was what kept trouble away. Well, well, so be it then.

As usual, the moment he stepped into the house, his wife was there to greet him.

"Welcome honey," she cooed, giving him a long kiss on both his cheeks and his lips before divesting him of his suit and his briefcase.

"So how was work today?", she asked as she helped him unbutton his shirt.

"Work was great... as usual," he shrugged.

"Hmm," she smiled.

Normally, she would take his things and go in. Few minutes later, she would return to remind him to shower and come down for the evening meal, but this time, she was lingering in the parlour as if she had something to say which she really didn't know how to explain.

"Something wrong?", Leo asked, detecting her hesitation.

"Yes... I mean, no... not really," she stammered in confusion. "It's just... Marks is not really happy with the way some of your staff are behaving."

"Really?", Leo's eyebrows shot up immediately. "So why didn't he come to me?"

"Well, he said you didn't understand and you are being a little too soft with them. It could affect productivity, you know."

"Is that what you think?", he asked, blinking in surprise. "That being harsh on people will make them more productive?"

"Well, I think the feelings of people are not really more important than the life of a huge company like yours, but then, you are the boss, so I guess you know best."

With a smile, she turned and walked away with his clothes before he could say anything in response.

Leo slumped down on the sofa and sighed deeply. It was as if the world all around him was going mad. Why were they all thinking in the exact same way? He was used to them speaking to him in one voice and usually, he took their advice, but this time, it was impossible! The staff were what kept the company running, so treating them like slaves was a total no-no. Such an action was actually what would surely destroy the company.

When Dalia reached their bedroom, she threw her husband's briefcase down on the bed and went to dump his clothes in the washer. After that, instead of running the bath and asking the cook to serve breakfast, she simply went to grab her phone and speed dialed a number.

As it rang, she paced up and down the room impatiently, wondering if he'd ever answer his fucking phone on the first ring for just once in his life!

Finally, he picked up.

"Yeah," he said gruffly.

"It's beyond salvage," she said shortly, her lips drawn in a tight line.

"I told you," he sighed at the other end of the line.

"Whatever. Just go ahead with it."

"Okay. Got it."

Then the call was disconnected.