Mr. CEO

PROLOGUE

P R O L O G U E

It had barely just gone lunch when I received the surprise of my life. The office inter-com buzzed and everyone stared at it, looking to hear who the Wicked Witch of the West was calling to her office.

"Anna Coleman, can you come to my office, please."

Swearing under my breath, I quickly drunk the rest of my tea. It was Luke warm, but not to the point where it tasted foul, it was barely decent.

I saved and minimised the document I was currently working on and locked my computer. Some of the guys who I worked with liked to play pranks and I definitely didn't want to be on their end stick today, not with everything that had been going on recently. Once the screen went black, I stood straight and made the U-turn towards the stairs.

My boss, Ms Callahan - still a Ms because she's so ruthless - was an arrogant, mean snob who only thought about herself and thought anybody with a job as rubbish as ours should be treated like scum, even though us employees were the ones that upheld her lifestyle. She's been known to do a few horrible things every now and again; spitting on people is one of those, then again, it can't be helped. She has a lisp, but it exaggerates when she's in a bad mood. She was also known to fire people on the spot just for being a few minutes late.

Which was the exact reason I didn't want to see her.

This morning I arrived ten minutes late because my car wouldn't start and then when I was about to give up on the piece of rubbish it was, the engine came alive. At least I made it to work.

I nervously knocked on the door. Whatever was coming, I'd have to put on my big girl pants and accept it for what it is.

"Come in."

I straightened out my black pencil skirt and opened the door. Ms Callahan was sat behind her desk, with her back straight and her eyes glaring at me while she settled her glasses mid way on her crooked nose. She shuffled some papers on her desk.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked.

"I did, yes. You arrived ten minutes late today, which is the eighth time this month. So, I checked up on you and from what I've read you've been barely hitting your daily targets."

She slammed down a file onto the desk and opened it up. "Here is your expected amount of customers to get on board each day, and here is how many you have been successful on. This is way too low, and I have no choice but to fire you."

"What?!" I exclaimed. I knew I was a little behind, but it was nothing that I couldn't improve on.

"Pack up your things and leave."

"I'm trying Ms Callahan, I really am. Do you know how hard it is to get the people to buy it? No, you don't. Because you've never had to do it and let me tell you, it's worse than working in a factory. Most callers get angry and think we are fakes, so they call us horrendous names. Now I understand that the aim of the company is to make a profit but please give me another chance. I can't lose this job, I need it." I said desperately.

My Fiancé of three years, Caleb lost his job as a car salesman five months back and our only income was from this job. The wage wasn't very good, but it paid out rent and bought us our essentials; toilet paper, milk, bread and things like that. At least my wage was enough for me to never get my secret savings out of the bank.

"I'm sorry, Miss Coleman, but I cannot be losing money like this every day. The company runs on the people who buy it off us, and it's not fair to make everyone else suffer on your own mistakes. And I know you're in a difficult situation but we are in a recession, people are getting laid off left, right and centre. I want you to pack up your things and leave by the end of your shift."

Ms Callahan stood up from behind her desk and opened the door.

As I made my way back to my desk I was stopped by the office gossip, Becky. I ignored her when she asked what had happened and continued on to my desk.

By the end of my shift I had everything packed up, luckily for me there was only two small boxes to carry to my car. I said my goodbyes to a few of the friends I had made there and made my way to the elevator.

I always had problems with elevators. All I could imagine was them breaking down when I'm using it and no one could rescue me. I came to my stop and released the breath I had been holding.

The drive home was slow and boring, I spent most of it coming up with ways of how I could tell Caleb that I lost my job. He wasn't going to be happy, I knew that, but we would just have to deal with it in a mature way. It wasn't exactly the end of the world, I'd start looking for a job and I should get an interview within no time. I had the qualifications and experience needed.

The lobby was empty when I entered the building, but a quick glance towards the back office told me that Jan was on the phone having a heavy conversation on the phone.

My apartment was only a short walk down the corridor. I placed my stuff on the floor and that's when I began to hear unusual noises. Clutching onto the door knob, I placed my ear on the door and listened carefully.

Fucks.

Moans.

Groans.

Harder.

Faster.

What the fuck?!

Not liking what I was hearing, I threw open the door and found Caleb dogging some young girl on the sofa. Caleb's head whipped around and his facial expression turned to shock. He pulled out of the girl, got up off the sofa, grabbing his boxer shorts off the floor and rushed to put them on.

"It's not what you think it is."

I didn't know what to do. My instincts were telling me to grab the girl by the arm and throw her out, but one glance at her changed my mind. She couldn't have been older than 16.

"You're sick!" I shouted.

"She's an innocent, young girl and you preyed on her. I can't look you in the eyes. In fact, I'll never be able to look at you the same way."

Tears began to prick at my eyes, I wiped them away with my hand.

"How could you? I've done everything for us, for our relationship. And here you were fucking anyone who would offer themselves up to you. I'm done. No. We're done."

I ran straight to the bedroom and locked myself in. Why would he do that? He meant everything to me. He was my first. My first boyfriend, he was the guy I lost my virgin - I picked up the nearest object and threw it at the wall. I heard smashing, the floor covered in shards of glass. I just couldn't take anymore. I raided all the drawers and packed my stuff into a suitcase. Everything that I didn't need I left behind.

When I entered the living room the girl had gone and Caleb was dressed with a beer in his hand.

"Baby," he tried to touch me as I walked by him, but I jerked away and looked him deep in the eyes, tears and all.

"Don't."

"I love you."

"Did you love me when you were fucking that girl?"

He remained silent.

"All I wanted was something who was loyal, truthful. Someone who loved me and I actually thought that it was you." I laughed sarcastically.

"I'm pathetic."

I dragged my suitcase to the door and turned around.

"Have a nice life, Caleb."