“Take a seat,” Zoe heard and slowly walked to the chair in front of her. She took a sit, but kept her gaze low, hoping that he would not recognize her.
“So, what is your name?”
“Zoey James sir,” Zoe replied, still keeping her gaze down.
“And how old are you?”
“I'm 19 years old, I'll be turning 20 in months.”
“You've only got a high school degree, I see, how did you manage to get this job?”
Zoe lifted her head a bit at the question.
“I'm an expert sir, I may not have the exact qualifications,” Zoe answered, keeping her voice neutral.
“Hmm,” Henry hummed.
“And how much do you want this job?” He asked yet another question.
“I need this job, I have loans to pay up and my brother's exam fee needs to be paid else he won't be joining them for the exam.”
“Your needs seem essential.”
“They are.”
“But why do you keep looking down?” Henry questioned.
“I find it to be respectful, I would rather not be disrespectful by looking into your eyes,” Zoe answered, she had already thought of what to say.
Really? Henry thought and chuckled, she fisted her hands at this.
“You seem very respectful, that is nice,” Henry said.
“Unlike a lady that I ran into a few days ago, I mean quite recently at a club. She almost killed me, once I find her, I'll surely make her sleep in prison for disrespecting me.” Henry stood up as he announced.
Zoe's gasped as her breathing became faster and shorter.
“I need you to sign those papers in front of you then, it's your first pay. Make sure you read the papers before signing them, you may leave now.” Henry announced.
“Of course, and thank you,” Zoe grabbed the papers and hastened out of Henry's office. Once she was inside the elevator, she placed her hand strongly against her chest, as if squeezing it.
That…that bastard almost killed me in there. Zoe thought as she sat down on the elevator floor.
She wasn't sure her legs could carry her for long, so she decided to sit.
She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself.
She got up when the elevator stopped and opened up, she got out to see her departmental chief waiting for her there.
“Good, I was waiting because I know you don't know your way around here. I didn't want you to miss your way, so what did he say?” Her department chief inquired.
“He… He asked me to sign this, I'll also be given my first pay after signing it.” Zoe's answered.
“That is weird,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“I mean, that is not how things work here, but maybe the rules have changed. You should sign those and return them then,” her department chief advised.
Zoe sat down in front of the desk allocated to her, she read the contract line by line and didn't find it difficult or troublesome.
She has to work there for at least three months after getting employed and paid the first salary. She has to be punctual and answer calls whenever she is needed.
Zoe didn't see this as a problem and signed them, she handed the contract over to her co-worker and begged her to take the contract to the vice president's office.
Zoe wasn't expecting the lady to agree, but the lady agreed before she could finish her sentence.
*
“So you signed the contract?”
“Yes, I didn't find it difficult, and I just got my first salary from them,” Zoe answered Emily.
“I guess you'll have to work harder to impress them, it's a nice job. I wish I were also a computer genius like you.” Emily grunted.
“Come on, your family is rich, you shouldn't ask for anything. You are lucky.” Zoe said.
“I don't think being born into a rich family is lucky, Zoe,” Emily tried correcting.
“Yeah, try being in my shoes for once then,” Zoe answered, walking away.
***
“Have you arranged the documents I asked you to arrange?”
“Yes, sir, I have arranged them, even the pen is ready,” Daniel replied.
“Good,” Henry bobbed his head, looking happy.
“But sir, do you need to do this? This will affect you as much as it will affect her.” Daniel asked.
“It won't affect me, Daniel, it will only save me some stress of going to an inn to search for a good girl to spend the night with. This is way better,” Henry happily said.
“And with the benefits, I added to them, she should be more than grateful. But I admit that she'll greatly suffer by my hand, I'll make it so that other men won't find her desirable. I'll turn her into my tool, which should serve as a lesson to others who think they can play smart with me.
Invite her to my office tomorrow morning, I shall proceed with the deal.” Henry concluded, walking away.
*
Zoe got a call that the vice president requested her presence.
“I'm just going to keep my head low,” she mumbled to herself as she went out of the elevator.
She got to his office and knocked on the door, it has been a week since she started working with them, so she knows her way around some places.
“Come in,” she heard and went in.
“Sit, miss Zoey James, I believe we have many things to discuss.” Zoe found his tone awkward, but she took a sit.
Henry brought out his document and placed it in front of her, he also handed her a pen.
“Read it and understand, then you sign it,” Henry instructed.
“What does it say?”
“It says a lot miss Zoey. For example, you becoming my mistress or going to prison for molesting me two weeks ago.” Hearing this, Zoe jumped up to her feet.
“What?” She shouted, not believing her ears.
“I'll rephrase miss Zoey James. You either agree to become my mistress and sign this or you return the money I paid for the month's salary, then go to prison and also have your lovely brother drop out of school.”
“How…you recognized me?” Zoe stared at him dumbfounded.
“Do you honestly think I was stupid? Do you think you could have qualified for the job, huh?” Henry growled.
Zoe shook her head repeatedly as she moved towards the door.
“This is not real.” She thought.
“It is real, miss Zoe, so what is your answer? Become my mistress or rot in jail?”
"This is genuinely unbelievable! If I become your mistress, then what? You don't even know me!" Zoe said."You should've thought about it twice before sexually harassing me at the club!""We both know that was a mistake," Zoe continued to argue."No one is going to believe that! Girl molests a young billionaire at the club! Billionaire arrests young girl for sexually harassing him at the club because she is owing to several debts and needs a job. There are several ways the headline could go, but none of these hungry journalists will pick your story of mistakenly touching my dick over mine!""And if I chose to release these documents as blackmail?""Blackmail?" Henry asked, sounding incredulous. "Zoe, don't kid yourself. The documents are legal, and I'm not breaking any law. People will praise me for doing it the right way. Besides, do you think you can turn the table around? Fine, take your salary and hire a lawyer but make sure he is damn good because I'll bring the older man you st
"Zoe, uh, I'm coming, five minutes please!" Leo said, checking under the bed. "Where is it? She's going to kill me.""Leo, hurry up! I'm going to be late for work if you don't drag your ass down here!" Zoe said, sipping her morning cup of espresso. It was still steamy, and she blew air into the cup, letting the steam dance in the opposite direction. Her patience was starting to wane because her brother had asked for some five minutes, five minutes ago.Emily was waiting in the car, and she began honking for them to come out. Zoe groaned and went up the stairs to fetch her brother. She barged into the room to see him in a frenzy, apparently frantically searching for something."Emily's waiting for us; what are you doing?" Zoe growled."The voltmeter is missing!" he said sharply, checking a drawer he had already checked."You have a voltmeter?" Zoe asked, sounding astonished."You didn't buy one for me, and I decided to borrow Davina's!"Zoe felt a jab in the heart. Great! She thought.
Henry dashed down to the lab. It was one of those rare times anyone could see him be in the company of more than ten percent of his staff. His brother throttled behind him: another rare sight for the brothers who did not ever appear together publicly. Daniel, however, was in front of Jack, keeping up with the same pace as his boss."Andre, what's the meaning of this?" Henry asked as he entered the lab."Mr. Vice President," said Andre, straightening. "The hacker just left us a message. He says you have only an hour to call him before he starts giving out our company's data for free.""Excuse me, did you say the hacker wants me to call him?" Henry said, looking around for Zoe, who he spotted at the far end of the lab."Yes, Mr. Vice President," replied Andre. "This doesn't strike me as typical ransomware. It seems the hacker isn't demanding money. Someone is trying to get your attention.""My attention? If someone just wanted my attention, there are several ways to get to me; why hack
Zoe used her queen and king to drive Whites king towards the edge squares, and with about two more seconds left, she checkmated. Everyone's hands shot up in a celebratory style, except for Henry's. However, his lips formed a thin smile. The hacker sent the words "gg," which was shortened form for: good game. Subsequently, he revealed in the chat that the first answer to his password was capital Z.Henry's phone gave a piercing ring, and everyone turned their attention away from Zoe. The hacker had called back. He asked that the phone should be put on speaker."Congratulations, Mr. Henry," said the hacker. "I want to discuss something with everyone.""What's that?" Henry said. "And for the records, address me by my proper title. It's Mr. Vice President."Zoe groaned silently, thinking about how funny it was that someone hacked into Henry's company, forced him into playing a five-minute chess game, and he was worried about his title?! She kept thinking how pathetic the moment was. To he
Henry was in his office alone. He had heard one Sunday while driving around town with his ex-girlfriend that the devil was the accuser of the brethren. And today, he felt the devil accusing him out there. He wondered what the hacker stood to gain by doing all this. He would have felt more prestige had the hacker's ransomware been about money. The money he had, lots of it! But he didn't have time to defend himself against his employees over his lack of interest in their personal lives.Besides, he wondered, wasn't it unethical to pry into the lives of your workers. The hacker called him clueless if he thought knowing about his worker's welfare was poking his nose where it didn't belong. He referred to the hacker as the accuser because his conscience continually reminded him that he had pried into Zoe's life. Wasn't it selfish? He knew all about her shortcomings. Why? Because he wanted to force her to be his mistress, or was it because he enjoyed the game of conquering women. He stubbor
There was tension in the air as the President of Maga Tech walked into the building with his tough-looking bodyguards in black suits and dark sun shades. His assistants and secretary followed rapidly, all with a heavy set of footfalls.The President was cladded in a black tuxedo with black Italian shoes that made clicking sounds as he walked majestically on the ceramic tiled floor.Some of the departmental directors were already hurrying out of their offices as the news of the President's presence spread around almost every department.Jack and Henry could be seen coming from the other side of the hallway, looking as composed as ever with charming smiles."Hey, Dad!" Jack greeted, giving his father a big embrace, then a kiss on the cheek."Henry!" Richard called, "come on, give me a hug!" He extended his right hand towards Henry to draw him close.Henry suddenly looked uneasy due to the situation at hand. His mind was not at rest at all. How on earth could this happen today? Jack was
Henry took a break to go and check on Jack and his father. He told Andre to keep him posted."How did it go, bro?" Jack said, announcing Henry's presence to Mr. Richard, who lifted his head expectantly."Well, the rats have been contained," Henry said smugly."All of them?" Mr. Richard asked."It's still a work in progress," Henry replied, sitting across from Jack. "So why are you here, dad?""I came to have a word with you," said the President."I'm here now." Henry gave his brother the "what the hell?" look. Jack smiled because he already knew what his father was about to say."Right, I'm disappointed! You thought I wouldn't hear?" Mr. Richard said. Henry's heart flew into his mouth."Hear what?" he asked."About your recent affairs, of course, with that cougar lady, Kathy!"Oh, that was much better, he thought than having his father hear about the hack. Everyone knew about his scandalous affairs with women. Once, he had almost gone to jail for dating an underage girl, but where the
The Highway GossipThe ride home was frustrating due to the heavy traffic. The road was congested with lots of cars. It was already rush hour with people closing from work and returning to their respective homes.Emily won't stop complaining about how much she hated being held up in traffic."You should get used to it by now," said Zoe.She was looking out the window, feeding her eyes with the numerous spectacles in sight."It's really annoying," Emily complained bitterly. "After a hectic day at work, you still have the stress of driving home to deal with."The traffic light had indicated red for some time now, causing a total standstill. To worsen things, some impatient drivers wouldn't stop honking, and this seemed to annoy Emily more."Crazy Americans!" she cussed to Zoe's surprise. She brought her gaze to rest it on Emily, whose face showed frustration."And you are?" Zoe teased."Stop it, Zoe, I know what you're trying to do!" she replied with a soft smile."Alright, fine.""By t