Page 11 of Fifth Avenue Devil

Gellar Industries, despite being on the top floor of the building and apparently doing ten million dollars a year of income, looks outdated by several decades. The bright, fluorescent lighting shines harshly down on a single, nonplussed-seeming secretary. She is sitting at a peeling laminate desk that was probably new in the late 1980s. The secretary clicks a mouse on an aged desktop, looking quite bored.

Shooting my suit cuffs, I step up to her desk.

"Can I help you?" She doesn't even bother to look away from her computer. Click. Click. Click. She jiggles the mouse.

I peer around the tan box of her screen and see that she is playing a poorly animated game.

"Nate Fordham. Here for Miss Gellar."

The secretary looks at me and takes a second before answering. "Do you have an appointment?"

"I don't need one." I spread my hands wide. "Our companies are merging. I'm the new boss."

The secretary sits up straighter. Her eyes widen. "One moment..." She picks up a telephone and mumbles something into it. She glances up at me and continues her muttered conversation for a few more seconds. Then she hangs up the phone. "Miss Gellar will be here shortly."

I smirk at the secretary, walk to the shabby, laminate oak door, and yank it open. Inside, I find quite a few cubicles filled with listless employees. They’re either talking to their neighbor or playing computer games on outdated machines similar to the front-desk secretary’s. They ignore me as I head down the side of the building toward where I predict the CEO's office to be.

As I pass office doors on my right side, I attract the attention of one person. "Mr. Fordham!" A woman comes rushing out. She's probably in her late 50s, and is dressed as boringly as possible in ash gray slacks and a matching sweater. She thrusts her hand out to me, a first since I've entered this building. "Lori Parker. General counsel for Gellar Industries. It's nice to meet you."

I shake her hand, surprised at the strength of her grip. "Nate Fordham. I assume you know why I'm here."

Lori nods. "I assume that you've decided to take Archer up on his offer of a merger."

"That's right." I offer her a small smile and then look around the open room. "Is it usually like this?"

Her cheeks stain with color. "Just since Mr. Gellar fell ill. He used to rule this office with an iron fist."

I nod, digesting that bit of information. But before I can respond to it, Annalise comes storming over.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Fordham?" She doesn't look pleased to see me. Her hair is gathered in that same bun as she wore last night, and there are faint circles under each of her eyes. She wears a Chanel dress suit that makes her look twenty years older than her actual age.

"I'm here to check out exactly what I'm supposed to be merging with." I jerk my thumb over my shoulder. "Your employees seem to need something to do."

Annalise flushes and snaps at me. "They are doing fine. Why don't you come into my office? I thought I made my position on merging very clear last night. But I will explain it again if you need me to."

"Annalise!" Lori whispers. "You should hear him out at least."

Annalise gestures to the corner office. "This is just a chat between myself and Mr. Fordham. I'll let you know if I need any other points of view."

Lori nods her head and steps back to let us pass. It's too bad that Lori isn't the person that I'm dealing with. At least she seems willing to accept the inevitable.

Annalise waves me in her office. I walk in and I'm struck by how masculine the energy is in here. Very little décor other than a big oak desk and navy curtains. There are a few photos on the wall, each of Archer with his arm around a president or dignitary of some kind.

Annalise Gellar is nowhere to be found in this room. It's still a shrine to Archer.

Walking over to her rather threadbare looking couch, I sit down, making myself comfortable. Annalise sits primly in the desk chair, looking like there are a million conversations she would rather be having than this one.

I cast a gaze over her. She's pretty, after a fashion. Her face is youthful, though she wears too much foundation and the muted colors she chose do nothing for her. If she wore a little color instead of the same damn pink nude color of her skirt and top, it would help.

"Are you going to explain what you're doing here, Mr. Fordham?"

The name brings a faint smile to my lips. "So formal, Annalise. Call me Nate."

Her green eyes study me for a second. "Fine. Nate, then. Why are you here? I told you last night that I am not interested in a merger."

"I'm here because I am interested. And I was promised a merger by your father. It's your right as CEO not to agree with it, but my team of lawyers will destroy you in court."

Her lips thin. "Yes, so you've said."

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