Dear Royalty

16. Little White Lies

Royalty's P.O.V
***
"Marcel?"

My eyes bout popped out of my head.

He flashed me with his smile. The way he did before.

"Royalty." He took a seat on the other side of my desk. "You movin' on up in the world I see." He smirks.

I chuckle awkwardly before clearing my throat.

"Um. How can I help you?" I forced a smile.

He picked at the few hairs on his chin, slouching down in his seat.

"I mean, you left me AND the company." He shrugs. "Now I need you again."

I roll my eyes.

"And why should I help you Marcel?" I cop an attitude.

He chuckles cunningly.

"Because you're a multimillion dollar company. And that's an understatement."

"Oh! You've been watching mee." I taunted.

"Please." He says. "Your institution provides finance management to approximately 335 thousand companies on the west side alone. And that's not including all the loans you give out, or these regular 9 to 5 working folks who just need a bank account." He pauses. "So it's clear that you help a lot of people." He added. "One more won't hurt."

My eyes wandered the room.

"Oh yeah, you been studying."

"Maybe."

I scoff.

"Look Marcel, I helped you. You built that brand on my back, remember?"

He didn't say a word.

"I'm sorry, but that's a chance I'm just not willing to take again."

I put his application in the discard pile.

My finger brushes against the framed letter from my father on the desk.

Baby Girl,

When you get to the top,
If you wanna stay at the top..
Don't look down on nobody.

Love,
Dad

Immediately I felt guilty.

I tapped my pen against the desk. Looking at Marcel, then the letter, and back at Marcel.

I check the time, noticing it was already after 5:00.

I let out a sigh hoping that what I was about to say wouldn't come back and bite me in the ass.

"Look, I don't have enough time to go over this today." I say. "Just, come back tomorrow."

I attempted to send him on his way.

I slide his documents into the "pending" files with my left hand.

I could feel him staring me down.

"That's a big ass ring you got on Royalty."

I stared at the oversized diamond ring.

"Um."

Growing uncomfortable, I pull my hand back.