About a week later, Josh and Isabelle had grown a lot closer and they spent a lot of their free time with each other.
The love chain was edging closer to being fully restored between their souls which meant that God and the Devil needed to move fast with their plans to break the chain otherwise neither of them would be able to sever the bond.
*******
Jennifer sat in her seat with her elbow on her desk and her palm below her chin, staring longingly at her boss in his office through the transparent wall. Her other hand was twirling her hair into little curls as she imagined what it would be like to be with him.
She was completely focused on him and was unconsciously biting her lips as she stared at him.
She was in awe of him, of how dedicated he was to his business. He was the boss but he always showed up to work every single day. She was in awe of his hardworking nature, his grace and elegance, his kind eyes, and his handsome smile.
She was crushing hard and couldn't help herself. She was attracted to him and wanted to be with him. The only problem was that he was already with someone else.
"You know if you keep staring at him like that, he might take notice of it," A woman's voice said to Jennifer, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Karen! I didn't see you there. What, what are you... talking about?" She asked her colleague nervously.
"Don't even play with me, girl. It's obvious you have a thing for the boss," Karen said.
"Is it really that obvious?" Jennifer leaned in and whispered the question to Karen.
"Girl, it's written all over you and it seems the only person who hasn't noticed is the boss man himself," Karen said.
"Yeah, I don't know what to do," Jennifer said discouragingly.
"Look Jenny, I like you. I think you're a great girl which is why I'm telling you this," she leaned into Jennifer, "...forget about it."
"What?" Jennifer asked. That wasn't the advice she was hoping for.
"I've been here a few years and what I know for a fact is that Mr Clinton doesn't merge his private life and his work life. You and he will never happen so just bury whatever feelings you're feeling and focus on your job, okay girl?"
"Thanks, Karen," Jennifer said and the woman went back to her section.
"Jennifer, please report to my office," Josh's voice said from the phone.
Jennifer was taken by surprise. She wasn't sure why he wanted her in his office. Did he find out about her feelings for him and want to fire her? She wondered.
She took a deep breath and composed herself before walking into his office.
"Yes, sir!" She asked.
"Yes, Jennifer. Please, have a seat." Josh said calmly.
Jennifer sat in front of him and was nervously rubbing her hands together. Josh moved some files from one side of his desk to the other and then turned his attention to her.
"I called you into my office to talk about your future here in the company," he began, "When you first arrived here almost three weeks ago, I made it clear to you that your position here would be temporary unless you proved to me that you could handle it permanently."
He took a pause and got up from his chair. That one swift motion made Jennifer even more nervous.
"Oh no, he's about to fire me," she said in her mind.
He walked over to her side of the table and sat down on it, facing her.
"Ok, now listen..." He began to say but Jennifer interrupted him.
"Before you say anything, sir, I'd just like to mention how grateful I am that you gave me this chance, to begin with, and I'm sorry if I offended you or was below your standard. I..."
"Jennifer, relax. I'm giving you the job permanently," Josh said with a smile.
Jennifer couldn't believe her ears. She felt like she was in a dream.
"You are?"
"Yes, you've been an amazing assistant, probably the best I've ever had and I want you to remain my assistant. You have an amazing work ethic and you're very efficient and Elena's Redness would be lucky to have you as one of its employees," Josh said.
"Thank you, sir," Jennifer said and stood up.
"You're welcome," Josh replied.
"Wow, you have no idea what this means to me. I promise not to let you down." She said happily and got carried away.
Without thinking about it, Jennifer wrapped her arms around Josh and hugged him but he didn't return the hug. She immediately realized that her hug wasn't appropriate and came out of it.
"I'm...uh, sorry about that. I'm just...very, happy," she said nervously and rubbed her hands.
Josh could see that she was embarrassed and was blushing so he decided to cut her some slack and not make a big deal about the hug.
"Welcome to the company, Miss Cassidy," he said with his hand out for a shake.
Jennifer smiled in relief and took his hand in hers.
Now back at her desk, Jennifer was smiling uncontrollably. She was beyond excited that she was now officially an employee at the company and would start getting a paycheck. And, she would also be able to be around Josh a lot longer.
Her smile became a frown after her company phone rang and she picked it up to hear Isabelle's voice on the other end.
"I'll connect you to his office," Jennifer said unenthusiastically with some sassiness in her tone.
Through the wall, Jennifer could see Josh smile and laugh after he began speaking to his girlfriend and she got jealous.
She looked around to make sure no one was looking and then picked up her phone to eavesdrop on her boss's conversation with his girlfriend.
"Iz, I've told you to call me on my cell," he scolded gently.
"I like calling from the office phone. It makes you seem like some sort of big-shot billionaire in those tacky CEO novels." She joked.
"Am I seeing you tonight?" He asked.
"Of course, babe. I bought some new lingerie today and I'm going to need your opinion on whether or not they look good on me," Isabelle said seductively.
That was enough for Jennifer as she immediately hung up after that last statement. She became discouraged about trying to get with her boss, realizing that he was in a serious relationship with Isabelle. She didn't stand a chance with him so she decided to forget about her crush on him.
.
.
.
In heaven, Gabriel and God were watching her and could hear her thoughts about letting go of her feelings for Josh.
"This is a problem, Father!" Gabriel said.
"Indeed it is, my son," God replied.
"If she doesn't pursue him anymore, how will he fall in love with her?"
"We're going to have to make her change her mind about it, one way or another," God said.
"But, she's decided to let him go. It's her will and you gave all humans free will. How can we change her will?" Gabriel wondered.
"By making her believe that he has feelings for her as well," God said and looked at Gabriel who immediately understood what his Father meant.
*******
“Did you know that penguins mate for life?” Josh asked Isabelle.
They were on her couch lying next to each other watching a documentary on sea animals. They were on a date but instead of making hot passionate love, they decided to just be around themselves and enjoy each other’s company in the cutest way possible; snuggled up in a blanket.
“Oh really, Mr Discovery Channel?” Isabelle teased.
She was so attracted to his intelligence and how he always knew something about everything. It was one of the things she liked the most about him.
“So, how’s your project coming up?” He asked.
“Oh, it’s been fantastic, Josh. Things are moving according to schedule and if it all works out, I could get a serious raise and I’ll be a shoo-in for another promotion,” she said excitedly.
“Wow, that’s wonderful, Iz. I’m really proud of you,” he said and kissed her forehead.
Josh raised his hand and looked at his watch and when he saw the time, he sighed in disappointment. He remembered that he had made plans with Frank, Chris and Andrew earlier today.
“You have to go?” Isabelle asked already knowing the answer.
“Yeah, the guys and I made plans to go see a basketball game and it’s starting by nine.” He said.
Isabelle looked at his watch and saw that it was almost eight thirty. Although she was disappointed, she decided to let him go and spend time with his buddies.
Josh got up, wore his shoes and grabbed his jacket. He walked back over to the couch and gave Isabelle a long and passionate kiss.
“I promise I’ll make it up to you tomorrow,” he said.
“I’ll hold you to that,” she replied.
Josh walked over to the door and left Isabelle all by herself in her large flat. She was sad that he was gone but what could she do? She decided to take a shower and go to bed.
She got into the shower and turned the hot water on. Just outside her shower curtains was the demon Zarif. He was watching her bathe with a look in his eyes that couldn’t be decrypted.
He left the bathroom and went to the living room of Isabelle’s home. He walked to her phone and picked it up with a smile on his face. An idea suddenly flew into his head, a plan to break the love chain.
Isabelle was done with her shower and she stepped out of the bathroom. She came outside and moved through the hall to her bedroom and Zarif was right behind her. She suddenly felt like she was being watched so she turned around but there was no one there.
“I definitely need more friends,” she said to herself because of how she thought she was being watched.
She was too anxious and needed to have fun to relax a bit, she thought, unaware that her intuition was right. She got into her pyjamas and was about to get into bed when her house phone began to ring. She walked back to her living room and picked up the phone.
“Hello?” She said into the receiver.
“I have some information about the man you’re currently dating,” Zarif’s voice said from the other line.
“Who is this?” Isabelle asked with apprehension.
“Who I am isn’t important but you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.” He replied.
“Ok, then. What do you have to say?” she asked, now interested.
“Josh Clinton hasn’t been honest with you at all. Everything he’s done for you has been a scheme to get you into his bed,” he said.
“What are you talking about?” She asked, a little bit panicked.
“How’s your job, Miss Isabelle? How’s your project coming along?” He asked.
Isabelle now felt like this person had been spying on her and was probably outside watching her. She moved to her window and peeped outside to see if she would see anyone suspicious.
“How do you know about that?” She asked.
“It doesn’t matter how I know. What matters is the fact that Josh was the reason you got the project in the first place.”
“What?” She said.
“Your boss wasn’t impressed with your presentation and neither were the investors. He was even considering firing you but Josh made sure that didn’t happen. He spoke to Mr Hitchens and made him give you the project because he wanted to keep you happy and under his control.”
“What you’re saying makes no sense. How can Josh influence my boss’ decision? He doesn’t even work at Clinton Cor…” Isabelle couldn’t finish the sentence when she realised that Josh’s last name was the same as the name of her company and that Josh’s wine company was also the name of one of the owners of her company. How did she not notice this before?
“Now you’re piecing it together, aren’t you? The owners of the company you work for; George and Helena Clinton are Josh’s parents. He also owns the company and has significant influence in every decision the company makes,” Zarif said.
He could hear her breath shaking and he knew he had struck a nerve so, he continued.
“You didn’t get the project on your merit. You got it because you were fucking the boss.”
“Shut up, you idiot. You’re lying,” Isabelle said to the unknown caller.
“Oh please, Isabelle. You’re not stupid or naïve. You know I’m telling you the truth. But, if you want proof, check the foot of your door and you’ll see all the proof you need,” Zarif said and hung up the call.
Isabelle put down the phone and slowly walked to her door. She looked at the foot of it and saw an envelope on her floor. She bent down and cautiously picked it up and opened it.
She took out the pictures that were inside the envelope and covered her mouth in shock. IT WAS TRUE.
The pictures were of Josh and his parents. It also contained a newspaper column with him and his family together and the headline was: THE CLINTONS: A FAMILY EMPIRE.
Zarif was satisfied with himself and what he had done. He walked off into the night with a smirk on his face. He knew he had caused a rift in their relationship and was eager to watch the domino effect it would cause to the love chain.
******
The next day, Josh was in his office going through some documents when he suddenly heard some voices just outside his office.
“Miss, I’ll have to inform him of your visit first. You can’t just storm into his office…” Jennifer was saying but Isabelle didn’t listen to her and burst into Josh’s office.
“I’m sorry, sir but she didn’t…”
“It’s okay, Jennifer. Leave us alone,” Josh told his assistant and she left the office.
Josh could see the fury in Isabelle’s eyes and wondered what was wrong. He got up and walked over to her to inquire about why she looked so upset.
“Iz, what’s the matter?” He asked.
As soon as he got close enough, Isabelle slapped him across the face much to his surprise and Jennifer’s as well as he could see what was happening through the transparent walls.
“What did you do that for?” Josh asked in disbelief.
“This,” she said and threw the pictures at him, “You lied to me, you tricked me, and you mess with my job? What gives you the right? I never want to see you again so stay the hell away from me.”
Isabelle stormed out of the office without even giving Josh a chance to talk and he was dumbfounded and confused. Even if she found out that his family owned her company, her reaction was way too much for just that. He didn’t understand what was going on but he was going to get to the bottom of it.