NAILEA LAURENT: Nailea, the owner of Laurent Enterprise, is thirty-six years old. Without any assistance from anyone other than herself, she started this business from the ground up. She is distant and cold. She doesn't accept bullshit from anyone...
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POV: NAILEA
"Why are you just now telling me about this?" I say leaning back in my office chair. Aspen walked in to my office five minutes ago saying that an emergency meeting has been scheduled. And guess what? It starts in fucking fifteen minutes.
"Well, if you fucking recall me walking in here five minutes ago, you would've heard that it is an "emergency meeting" which means that something has to be discussed urgently. You're the boss, not me." She says rolling her eyes.
I narrow my eyes at her before saying, "Don't get smart with me. I might be in love with you, but that doesn't mean you can't get fired."
She gasps dramatically while putting her hand over her heart. "If you fire me that won't change anything. You'll still be in love with me and spoil me. You're like my sugar mommy."
"Get out. I have an "emergency meeting" to attend." I say standing up and placing my glasses on my head.
"Am I not tagging along?"
"I don't know, are you?" I say grabbing my belongings.
"I don't need sarcasm, do you need me there?"
"Yes, you can take notes for me on whatever bullshit that has to be discussed." I say sighing and walking over to the door. Aspen follows behind me swiftly. We enter the elevator along with other employees. Once we reach the floor, we exit and head into the meeting room.
"Nailea! How nice of you to join us today." I freeze the moment I hear that voice say my name. What the fuck is he doing here?
"How did you get past my security?" I say turning to face him.
"Now, that's no way to speak to your ex-husband." He says with the smile I once loved. I feel Aspen turn her head to me. She gives me a look silently asking if I'm okay. I nod my head at her while giving her a small smile.
"Whatever, I don't care. Why are you here?" I say walking over to my chair at the head of the table. "Who called this meeting?"
"I did." I turn my head to see my mother walking through the doors. I haven't seen her in years.
"Mother? Why are you here? What is this about?" At that moment I realized it was Aspen, my mom, my ex-husband, and I at the table. No one else was here. They called a fucking personalized meeting.
"I'm here to discuss business." She says taking a seat at the other end of the table.
"That's funny because this is MY business. What is there to be discussed?" I say resting my chin on my fist.
"I heard you got divorced. You know what the deal was."
"Oh please. I'm a grown ass woman. If I want to divorce my shitty ass husband, I will do so. Fuck whatever the deal was."
"Watch your damn tone! I am still your mother." She yells to me.
"Yeah? Well you're a shitty fucking mother! Where is dad? Does he know that you're here harassing me?" My dad has always been the better parent. I don't know how he settled for my mom.
"Your father is home."
"Somewhere where you need to be." I mumble under my breath.
"What was that?" She says taking off her shades.
"Helene what do you want? Seriously. Between you and your minion over here, I'm getting a headache. All I smell is failure and knockoff cologne." Aspen giggles as this causing everyone to snap their head in her direction.
"And who are you?" My mom says while looking Aspen up and down.
"Aspen Sorrentino ma'am. Pleasure to meet you." Aspen says holding her hand out for her to shake. My mom looks at it before reverting her attention back to me. "Fucking bitch." Aspen mumbles under her breath making me smile.
"You need to get back together with Karter."
"Why would I do that?" I say looking at her confused.
"Why wouldn't you?" Karter says while smirking at me. I give him the middle finger while not even sparing him a glance.
"It looks bad on our family. Do you know what everyone has been saying about us?" She says slamming her hand down on the table.
"Don't know, don't care. And neither should you. You're grown worrying about other people's opinions. Nine times out of ten they don't even like you, so why does it matter?" I say leaning back into my chair.
"It matters because Karter was going to get half of the shares." She says confidently. I stare at her with an amused expression before laughing obnoxiously. Everyone is staring at me wondering what is making me laugh so hard.
"What the hell is so funny?" Karter says angrily.
"What's funny is the fact that you two gremlins thought that you were going to soak up my money." I point back and forth between the two of them making sure they read my expression clearly. "Money that I earn every single fucking day while working my ass off day and night. And you think I'm gonna let this low life who don't got a pot to piss in just get half because we're married? Yeah, no. Get the fuck out of my office. Meeting adjourned." I say standing up from my seat and making my way to the door.
"You can't do this you bitch!" Karter exclaims shooting up from his seat.
"Hey! Watch who you're talking to!" Aspen says while stepping in front of me. I step to the side of her so Karter could see me. "But I can. And I will. If you have any further information or concerns to discuss with me, I recommend getting yourself a lawyer." And with that I turn on my heels making my way through the doors. I hear my mom's heels clicking against the floors behind me.
"You're making a huge mistake." I ignore her and make my way over to security.
"Josh, if I see these two people in here unannounced again without me knowing they're here, you're fired. Escort them out of my building. Now."
"Yes, ma'am. Please follow me." Josh says to my mom and Karter.
"This isn't over!" They both shout as they're exiting the building. I roll my eyes not paying them any attention.
"Was I supposed to take notes on that?" Aspen says looking at me with a cheeky smile.
I laugh at her before saying, "no sweetheart, I didn't even know that was going to happen. They must've used the company email to send that emergency meeting email to you. Visit the tech office later today so they can set up restrictions on who can contact you." I say pulling her in for a hug.
"Okay, I will. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"No, just stand here and let me hold you." And that's what she did. We stood in the middle of the hallway holding one another and no one dared to question it.
