Page 18 of Insufferable Boss

“What?” he asked, and I looked at the phone. Anytime he did something that made me want to consider him as a decent human, it was ruined immediately after.

“This is Lena,” I said.

“Go ahead,” he replied and scoffed.

“What is this joke of an agreement? 60-40?”

“Yes,” he replied. “This is what we are proposing.”

“And you think this is fair?”

“Why would it be fair?” he asked. “You're asking for a significant amount of our resources to be invested in this, so it's only right that we have a say in the way things are run. You'll get your rewards, but we should be able to control our investment.”

I scoffed.

“You're all about control, aren't you?”

“Shouldn't I be?” he asked, and I had no response to this, but I didn’t however have a response about our agreement, and it was a complete no.

“I’m rejecting this,” I said. “It's unacceptable, so tell me if you are ready to revise it or if I should walk out of here right now and call it a day.”

At my words, he went silent for a moment and then he gave me instructions.

“Come to my office,” he said and hung up.

I was so exasperated that for the first few minutes of the call, I could only stare ahead. I didn't know if it was because I was so shocked that I was annoyed or because I was so annoyed that I was shocked. Eventually, I got up, straightened my jacket, and headed to his office.

His secretary was at her desk when I arrived, and she immediately got up with a smile for me, but I didn’t care about any of that.

“Miss Mercer, Mr. Lazarus is in a mee-” I ignored her and pushed the door to his office open.

“Don’t ever summon me to your office again like I’m some-“ I stopped mid-sentence as I noticed that truly he wasn't alone. There was a man standing before his desk while Kane's gaze was buried in the open file before him. Both men looked up as I walked in, and at their arresting gazes, my annoyance went down a notch. However, when I noticed how Mr. Lazarus in the distance didn't even bother acknowledging my presence, my annoyance came back with a vengeance. But before I could speak, his visitor did.

“Miss Mercer,” he had a smile on his face and started to head over to me. My eyes, however, remained on Kane, and not until the man had arrived before me did I turn my attention to him. I accepted his handshake, wondering who he was, but he soon introduced himself.

“I’m Matthias Wilson,” he said, and I nodded.

“Lawyer,” I said, and he nodded too, a smile on his face.

“Yes,” he replied. “It's great to finally meet you.”

One glance behind him, and I could see that the man I had come to see was still working on his desk and ignoring me. Matthias immediately and thankfully got out of my way.

“I’ll leave you both to it,” he said. “Kane, let me know what you decide on,” he said but didn’t bother waiting for a response. He left the office without any further word, and then it was just the two of us.

I headed over to his desk, and when I arrived, he finally lifted his head. He stared directly at me, and I could tell that he was in an even worse mood than earlier.

“Is there a reason why you barged into my office?” he asked, and I had my response ready for him.

“Is there a reason why you hung up the phone so abruptly?”

He watched me, and then he straightened.

“I thought we were done conversing.”

I scoffed. “Well, I thought you were expecting me, so what was the need for knocking?”

He rose to his feet then, and I watched as he rounded the desk. I faced him when he arrived, and then he stopped right in front of me.

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