Chapter 9 9

The alarm rang the third time, and Shannon turned it off again. She yawned and grabbed the blanket to her body, "I still need to sleep more-" she pouted her lips and dozed off once again.

A hand came banging on her door, causing her to jolt from the bed. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the brightness of the day through the window, and then she glanced at the door, which had been making a hell of a noise.

"I'm coming..." She got off the bed and headed to the door, unlocked it to meet Mr Georgie standing before her. "Oh, jeez!!" she squeezed her nightie. "Uhmm, I'm almost done.."

"Or you were still asleep? Your CEO shouldn't be at work before you-you should be there even before the manager, talk more of a beginner like you," he uttered, gaze fixated on her.

She forced her lips to part. "Yes, boss. I will be there before you. Trust me!"

"Let's see-" he turned and left at that moment.

She slammed the door and leaned against it, staring at the ceiling. "What came over me? I should have known that my sleep schedule changed..." She ran her fingers in her hair and almost screeched. "I can't be late on my first day of work..."

Instantly, she rushed into the bathroom and began her morning routine. Within a few minutes, she was already done and was set to leave for work. She packed up her hair and grabbed her handbag-then vacated the room.

As she stepped out of the compound, one of the guards signaled her to come closer, and she did. "Is the car for me?"

The guard nodded. "Boss had ordered that you would be driven to work with the car."

She chuckled and dropped her bag in it, about to step in, when she felt a hand on her hair, followed by a tough yanking. A scream escaped her throat as she struggled to turn and see who that was.

Unable to free herself, she matched the foot she was able to see, which led to her release. Panting, she lifted her head to see Helen groaning and staring at her feet. "I don't think that's enough. Why would you do that to me?" Shannon yelled, holding back herself. "Well, stay clear from me. I'm almost late to work." she rushed into the car, and the guard shut the door.

She watched Helen through the car window as she mumbled, pointing fingers at her.

"Bitch! You want to pull out the hair I took time to care for all these years-" she cursed and hissed, relaxing on the seat.

The car took off, and as soon as they arrived in the company, she hopped out of the car and dashed into the building.

All eyes fell on her as she sneaked, her head bent low and sat on the empty seat. The least she did was to wave her hands to the other staff but didn't dare look at their faces.

"How dare you sit on my chair?" came a feminine bittered voice. She raised her head a bit to see the lady in a white suit glaring at her with her hands fixated on her waist. "Get out of here before I break your head into pieces...."

"Newcomer, get me some chilled drink. My body seems hot-" she heard another lady from the side say to her.

She halted, giving the lady a long side look.

"You heard me well..." the lady snapped at her and looked away.

Seeing that the other staff had their eyes on her to count any little mistake she made, she hurried out of the office, confused about where to find the freezer.

As she turned to her left, she saw Mr Georgie coming out of his office. At that moment, she turned her back, pretending to have a particular place to be heading to.

"Where are you headed to? Is that the way to the store?"

Shannon gulped harder. It was harder for her-just on her first day of work. She turned to see the Manager who had disqualified her gazing at her.

"Ma'am," she bowed to her. "Ehhm, I was just-"

"Take this file. Look into the incident and get me feedback within two hours." the manager stretched her hand, handing over to Shannon a file.

At first, she hesitated to take it, but she had no other choice since it was her job and she wouldn't deny it. She took the file from the manager and bowed to her. "I'll be back with info later..." she said to her and was about to leave when she recalled she hadn't gotten the chilled water, then she turned to face the manager who still had her eyes on her. "Please, where can I get the chilled water?"

"That way-" the manager gestured and she smiled at her, taking the direction she had instructed.

She reached the store and straight to the freezer where she took a chilled bottled water. The moment she turned, the file slipped off her hand-her CEO was before her with no atom of a smile on his face.

"Do you know the penalty of being late to work?" he broke the silence.

She shook her head slowly, even though she knew. "I overslept because I had been jobless for three years. Please, give me time to get used to it...." she mumbled, not sure if he heard her voice.

"When you're done with the file, I'd like to see you in my office."

She watched him walk away from her sight, and then she released a deep breath she didn't know she had been holding. "I'm never going to oversleep again-" she patted her chest before picking up the file again.

After handing over the water, she was shown her seat and then she began her job. 'I can't believe I'm still good at this work after three years of not doing anything...' she grinned, staring at the desktop screen before her.

"What's so funny about this work, newcomer?" one of her colleagues, one she knew by the name, Grace, said to her.

She glanced at Grace and shook her head. "Nothing-" she focused on what she was doing. 'Looks like I will use this opportunity to look into the accident that took my parents' life.' she thought, her eyes narrowed.

"I still don't understand how we were ordered to not look into that accident any longer. Those elderly couples that died need justice, yet we were denied the right to fight for them...." one of the other staff uttered, drawing the attention of every other person including Shannon.

"Truth be told, I hate the way we were stopped from investigating the matter."

"Maybe, it was an order given to the CEO."

"I heard that the footage of the accident was wiped off, and the forensic team couldn't do anything. I wonder how the driver will be found if there's no camera footage and finger or footprint."

Shannon raised her brows. 'They are talking about the death of my parents. So, this newsroom handled the case and was told to drop it since all evidence was cleared?' she licked her lips. 'I have to talk to Mr Georgie about this. We should look into that accident again, and I will pretend not to know the deceased couples.....because I must find that jerk driver that killed my parents.'

Her fist tightened as she recalled everything.