Chapter 10 No. 10

Rosalind's heels clacked loudly against the spotless tiles as she strolled leisurely into her office with a blank face. She wore a thick black coat over a provocatively short red dress which revealed sensitive spots on her body, her straight black hair was styled expertly, and her lips were painted red, giving off a luxurious feel.

"Well, well, well," a sultry voice chuckled from the dark as she entered into the dimly lit office. "If it isn't my whoreful niece."

"You were given your office. Fancy seeing you here." Rosalind said calmly, hanging her coat in the office's closet and turning on the floodlights to reveal the red and black themed office. The huge black oak desk had a red velvet chair behind it, which was occupied by a slim, young white lady who looked to be in her early twenties. She had a distasteful smile on her round puffy face, looking like she hadn't slept for days.

Rosalind stood akimbo, glaring at her young aunt. "What's up with your face?"

"Oh, thanks for caring," the lady retorted sarcastically, as she stood up and stomped over to the taller Rosalind, glaring at her. "I never knew you'd notice. I thought your eyes would be filled with cum from your stupid pleasure with the man who kil.."

Crack!

Rosalind's face was impassive as she glared down at her aunt, who had her head whipped to the side from the slap she had received. "I would advise you to watch your mouth, Carolyn. We might share the same goal, but even though you're my aunt, you should still serve me the respect I deserve." She said and folded her hands behind her back, her heels clicking loudly against the tiles as she circled her shocked aunt slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.

Rosalind's voice held an icy edge to it, chilling Carolyn to the bone, she knew what her deranged niece was capable of. She knew what lengths she would go to achieve her goals, but that doesn't mean she could raise her hand against her.

"You know the lengths I had to go to rebuild this company," she continued, her voice gathering momentum as it soared higher, ready to explode. "And what did you do?"

Carolyn knew better than to answer the obvious question as tears trickled down her face slowly. Rosalind might have rebuilt the company through her ideas and means, but she had been the one who had to do most of the dirty job. She thought but didn't dare to voice it out loud, knowing how naughty her niece could turn if challenged.

"Nothing!" Rosalind shouted, startling the silent office. "You bitch around and feed off my money, you ungrateful brat!" She yelled hysterically, as Carolyn's words opened up fresh wounds in her heart, images of the horrors she had gone through surfacing as her face flushed red, and her breathing became uneven.

Carolyn sheepishly looked up, mortified. It had always been like this, her actions unappreciated. She shook her head, a rueful smile playing on her quivering lips. "You will pay for raising your hands against me." she snarled and stomped out of the tragic office, no longer scared of her little niece. After all, she was the one with the manpower and dirty resources; two can play a game.

Rosalind's eyes flashed as her eyes roamed the office, which was silent save for her ragged breathing, which quickened as she recalled what had just happened.

She screamed, pulling down the giant shelf behind her, which clattered to the ground, raising a cloud of dust. After a while of silently glaring at the mess she had created, she ran a hand through her hair and gingerly stepped over the books to her desk, inhaling deeply to calm her anger.

"Get yourself up here with the cleaners," she said in a monotonous voice into the phone.

....

"These figures look good," Rosalind complimented, flipping through a file in her hand as the nervous Mr. Cheng smiled gratefully, relieved that she was pleased with the report. "But..." his smile faded. "...why are there so many errors? Are you trying to conceal something from me?"

Mr. Cheng was shocked as he stood rooted to the spot. The cleaners sensed trouble and hurried cleaned out the last of the dust and bowed, hurrying out to save their heads. God knows how scary the boss is.

"This..." Mr. Cheng stuttered, craning his neck to get a view of the file. He had made sure to go through it countless times and there hadn't been a single error, how come she was seeing lots of it now, he wondered worriedly.

Rosalind raised an eyebrow at him coldly. "Yes, this," no one had ever stolen from her and escaped scot-free, she had made sure to deal with them and if Cheng here was trying to play games with her fiance, she wouldn't hesitate to deal with him.

"I went through it numerous times Miss, and I didn't spot any form of discrepancy in both files." he stammered apologetically. His eyes pleading with her to believe him.

When she kept staring at him quietly, not replying for a while, he began to get fidgety. He thought back to his missing daughter, the only one he was living for, and didn't wish to die soon.

"Get me the auditor."

"On it, boss," he replied and walked out hurriedly.

With her eyes twinkling, she stared after his retreating figure. The room was silent for some time as she pondered over the files in her hands, slowly walking around her desk. The figures had been cleverly rigged. It would take a smart mind like hers to see the hidden figures, explaining Mr. Cheng's innocence.

Barely two minutes later, a scrawny, sharp-eyed man hurried in, his neckties askew as though he had been running to get there.

"Miss," he nodded, his breathing ragged. "You sent for me?"

Rosalind threw the file in front of him and leaned back into her chair, a questioning look on her face. The file landed in front of him with a soft plop, its figures glaring at him in the face.

He swallowed. "This...this didn't pass through my desk..." she raised an eyebrow at Mr. Cheng, who stood fidgeting behind him.

"Did you get this from Harrison Gallagher?" she questioned, her voice low and dangerous.

He nodded and swallowed hard. "It came in today along with the other files from his team."

Rosalind's eyes narrowed dangerously as she leaned forward on her desk. 'Harrison, you son-of-that stinky whore.' she growled in her thoughts. If that rat was trying to play another of his tricks on her finance again, she would have no choice but to go against his bitch of a mother and end him.

The men in front of her watched the angry look on their boss's face morph into a murderous one and prayed profusely for the daring Harrison, who had decided to once again dip his hand into the pit of lava. They were all aware of what she had done to him the first few times he had tried taking her goods, it had taken the grace of his mother to help him out alive. Now the stupid guy, who should have learned his lesson, had decided to play his tricky games once again, and this time they had a feeling that Harrison wouldn't go scot-free.

Rosalind rose from her seat, her face deep in thought as she suddenly checked the diamond-studded wristwatch glittering around her wrist.

"Discover the source of those discrepancies and report them to me by Friday night latest," she ordered grabbing her coat from the closet as she catwalked out the door, leaving the two men who hurriedly evacuated her office shutting the door for her.

***

"Do you trust her?" Carlos asked Edgar, who looked up from his paperwork with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, why?" he replied without thinking.

Carlos stared at him, the distaste evident on his face. He couldn't help but consider Edgar to be a fool now, his mind flashed back to when Edgar had been smart, if he looked in a mirror, he would have to confirm it in ten other mirrors to see if he had been tricked. It was saddening to see him love the woman like a fool. "Why, why do you trust her?"

Edgar stared at Carlos for some time, wondering what he was playing at. "What do you mean why?" he asked guardedly, making sure to take note of any, even a slight change from his ever-blank expression.

"Nothing, just curious about the love between you two." he lied, although it wasn't a complete one, it was still a lie nonetheless.

Edgar sighed and leaned back into his chair, his mind wandering back to the memory of the passionate sex they had shared before he left for work. "Well," he sighed again, smiling like a fool in love, which he was. He was deeply in love with Rosalind, and he knew it, he could feel it even if she weren't with him. "...I love her passion and her big heart." he stopped and turned to Carlos. "She is a perfect woman, you know, begged me to embarrass Vivienne less."

Carlos saw the foolish smile on his face and knew that his partner was long gone as he nodded at the thought of Rosalind being a good woman. "Huh, so where is she now?"

"Oh, she went job hunting. Being alone makes her fall into deep thinking..." The door opened, admitting Rosalind. "Ah, speak of the angel."

Carlos watched them hug, trying not to scoff at his intimation of her as an angel. He stood and headed out of the door, not sparing Rosalind a glance.

Edgar smiled at her as he pulled her to sit on his lap. "How was the job hunting?" he asked, fondly caressing her hair, which was pulled back to match her simple white dress.

She smiled joyously as she pulled him in for a kiss. "I got a job, as a waitress at a new restaurant uptown." she squealed happily, dropping the shopping bag in her hand.

"Is that red on your lips?" he asked curiously, seeing the faint outline of red lipstick on her pouty lips.

"Eh," she jumped, hastily trying to wipe it off with her hands. "...a marketer had tried to put it on me while advertising it at the mall."

"I'd love to see these favorite lips of mine in red," he muttered, sexily dragging his thumb across her lips.

She slapped his hands away, turning red in embarrassment. "Red is too slutty and bold."

Edgar pouted and pulled away from her. "I still wonder why you won't work for me, though."

Rosalind smirked and pulled his face close to hers. "So you can concentrate on your work because I know we'd be fucking at every opportunity we get."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Ooh, are you challenging me?" he asked, his hand slipping under her white dress, his fingers skimming against her cotton panties, making her squeal and shyly jump off his lap.

Edgar laughed as he pulled her back. She wiggled around until she was comfortable, a document caught her fancy as she showed it to him curiously, tilting her head.

"Want to know about this?" he asked her, with laughter in his voice.

She nodded eagerly like a little child who was promised candy.

"Come on, I will teach you all about Montgomery'Co's finance."