Chapter Three: Big Bad CEO

Chapter 3: Big Bad CEO

“Miss Elise, it has come to my attention that even now at the age of nineteen you can still not hold your responsibilities and tasks at a higher standard enough for you to even make it to a simple job on time.” I watched him closely as I bit down harder on my lip, running through reasonable responses to say. When nothing came to mind that was nice enough or “proper” to say I held his gaze and gave a slight smile as I shrugged. Irritation shot through his expression as he gripped at the top of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and shut his eyes tightly. He let out a heavy sigh before speaking slowly.

“Elise, this is serious. I don’t see how anyone in your predicament can afford to stand here and be so nonchalant and not have anything to say for herself.” I grinned as I opened my mouth to talk, almost mimicking his faint English accent that had faded with years of being in America. “Well see Mister CEO sir, most people aren’t in a predicament such as the one I am in.” He looked up at me curiously and almost skeptically for a moment then straightened up and placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. He cleared his throat again trying to regain his stature and asked plainly.

“And how do you figure that Miss Elise? Are there no other people that live alongside you in the slum of a neighborhood you call your ‘home’?”

“Oh, there are. Don’t get me wrong sir, I wasn’t aware of you referring to the condition under which I live. I thought you were referring to the matter of working under one’s own father. You know, that’s not the best position to be in. Too much publicity if you ask me.” I propped an elbow on my hand for support and looked at my nails casually as I could see the slight touch of anger come across his face.

“You know, having one’s daughter run away from you at only the age of thirteen isn’t very good publicity either! Matter of fact, families refused to stay here for almost a year before they let up the thought that the CEO of The Éclair was a no good man that didn’t care much for children. In fact, I still have families to this day that would rather stay in an inconvenient motel rather than an exquisite hotel fit for them.”  I yawned as he gritted his teeth and looked over his prescription glasses to glare at me. I looked at him almost half casual half tired as I let out a long sigh of words.

“Well, ‘Father’ you know that you never really paid much attention to me, I was actually surprised that you even noticed when I was gone, or that you even remember how old I was when that happened. Listen, it’s not my fault you couldn’t just spend some family time with your oldest daughter much less if you cared for her. So really, you’re the reason that your fancy business isn’t doing as well as it could.” I looked away and closed my eyes as I shrugged again. As I finished my sentence I heard something hit against wood, hard. I opened my eyes to see my father’s fist pressed against the wood of the desk he sat behind. He was now standing, and breathing heavily with frustration I could only guess. After a few minutes of standing there, both our bodies motionless besides the rise and fall of our chests he straightened up yet again and looked at me trying to keep his composure.

“Miss Elise, although you are my daughter you are given no special treatment especially seeing as how you want nothing to do with me to begin with. So as for that information you have been tardy to your job almost every day for the past three weeks. We have not taken any action yet, in hopes that you may straighten up your act, but now I can see that will be nearly impossible.” I watched him carefully as he put his hands behind his back and walked over to a window the length of the wall and the width of a door. Oh, how original. I wonder what other stereotypes he plays out. I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes. He paused for a moment just as you would expect any big shot to do in a situation like this. I mean really, how else would suspense build up? After his unnecessary pause he spoke slowly.

“Elise, I am sorry but your lack of effort for this job cannot go overlooked any longer. There has to be action taken in order to keep the order of this business running smoothly and efficiently.” I eyed him as I couldn’t keep the next sentence from bursting through my mouth.

“So what are you going to do? Ground me?” There was a slight hint of a laugh as I finished my sentence and I could see that his position remained still. I only wish I could see what expression was running across his face. He turned slowly to face me and his lips were pressed together in a tight line.

“I am sorry Elise Claire, but I have no choice but to let you go.” This shocked me. This was something I never thought would happen. Anger built up inside me, filling every inch of my body with rage so hot that it felt as though my body was being filled with boiling water fresh off the fire. My fingers curled in and I held fists so tight I could feel my hand starting to go cold from the loss blood to my fingers. I could see my father watch me from across the room, the expression on his face very controlled. I could just imagine what satisfaction he was getting from watching his run-away disappointment of a daughter lose her temper and composure. He knew this job was the only thing holding me up in the world right now, this job was the only thing keeping me off the streets and some-what fed. I could only think of this as I watched him, I could only think of how a father would be so happy and so willing to cut off his daughter so low in the economy already and just be able to handle the idea of her being left out on the streets to die. This is why I hated my father and thinking about it I should have expected my father to do something like this. I held back the urge to let out a few words that I’m sure would have gotten me escorted out and thrown out on the streets by two overly-dressed security guards. Instead I looked him straight in the eye and took short sharp breaths as I gathered what I was going to say in my head. Finally I let out a deep breath and spoke slowly and as calmly as I could.

“Mr. Claire, I understand your reasoning behind firing me, and I am sorry that I was not more responsible with my duties to help this company grow and I will leave slowly and calmly.” I bit the side of my cheek as I spoke the last few words. “I thank you for the great opportunity that you have given me by letting me be a part of this team and I will use the skills I learned here later on in life.” I bowed out of the room as I looked up to see his reaction to my response I could see that his mouth was wide open and his eyes were wider than I had ever seen them. As I stepped outside the threshold I could hear him start to stutter something as he moved around his desk quickly with an arm stretched out toward me. I had no idea what he wanted to tell me so I hurried onto the elevator and the doors were shutting just as he opened his door to his suite. I could hear him call out my name as the last inch of the space between the metal doors was closed and the elevator bobbed and then started to descend.

Reviews

[Shep]

Much better in regards of the white space i was talking about. Excellent in detail and character interaction let me know when you have more i would be more then interested in reading it.