I couldn’t help but cringe and force myself as far into the corner of the elevator as possible.
Warren tilted his head to the side, his eyes catching mine. A small, teasing smile pulled at his lips.
Fuck. My face heated, but luckily, he looked away too fast to notice.
When the elevator doors opened, he showed us to the main floor where most of the workers were. The receptionist smiled at us warmly, coffee in her hands. Warren didn’t bother to stop for her, but I returned her smile and grabbed both our coffees.
“Thank you so much,” I whispered and then scurried back after Warren. I shot her another smile before turning around, but she merely stood there, watching us leave, hers never leaving her face.
I turned to look at Warren. His face was cold, calculating. He might seem bored or even angry to others, but I knew the look well. It was his thinking face. The one that told me just how serious he was taking this.
There was an air about him when he was in work mode. Everything else was pushed away, and he was solely focused on the company in front of him.
From experience, I knew he was cataloging everything, looking for cracks. But as we kept waking, it was obvious that this company had its shit together.
It was an open-space office. Many of the employees had multiple monitors and had their heads down, working. The ones who weren’t were huddled together at one of the common areas for snacks and drinks.
They paused when we passed through, sending us a smile.
Is there really something wrong with this place? I mean, they seem awfully happy. Almost too happy.
I highly doubted it. And seeing it in person only reminded me how much Warren liked to destroy people’s lives for the fun of it.
He might have been right about my dad, but something told me there was much more that he wasn’t telling me. After all the years stewing over how he could fuck someone’s life up, I wasn’t fully ready to believe he was the good guy.
Should I warn someone? I looked at the employees. What would happen to them if Warren decided he wanted to tear this down?
Some would be fine; the CEO would take the brunt of Warren’s wrath… But what if he decided the whole company should be thrown out? That it was unfixable?
They’d be thrown out on the street, just like I’d been. Forced to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
I tried to push the thoughts away, but it was almost impossible. The guilt was constant. I was the only one that had an inkling of what was going to happen.
They didn’t know Warren like I did.
My heart sank even further when I saw a woman with a picture of her two young children on her desk. What would happen to them? Would Warren be so heartless as to throw her out too?
Without a doubt… is what my mind told me, but my chest was tight with unease. Because that’s the type of monster Warren is… right?
Nick showed us to a conference room and motioned for us to come in, but Warren stopped me and pointed to the open desk to the side.
“You haven’t finished the emails,” he reminded me before grabbing his coffee from my hand. “Do that first.”
I tried to keep the distaste from my face and nodded.
Keeping me out of everything even remotely exciting, huh?
As annoying as it all was, I wanted desperately to see how Warren was going to do this. He was a professional. This was something he did every other month; at times, he was in the news nonstop for this very thing.
I guess he thought it wasn’t necessary for me to be there.
Inside, I pouted at how unfair it was.
“Just tell Francis, my assistant, if you need anything,” Nick said with a smile. “Monitors. Keyboards. Headphones. We have everything to make you comfortable.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll manage,” I said. “I’m used to Mr. King’s requirements,” I added without looking at Warren and sat down.
I felt his smirk nonetheless.