I glanced down at my phone, sighing in relief when it reflected seven-thirty, giving me thirty minutes to reach the building. I had planned on grabbing a taxi once I got deeper into the city, but luck had abandoned me today as everyone appears to be using them. With the snow beginning to blanket the ground, the sidewalks were more empty than I had first arrived. It makes traveling to work a bit easier, but it doesn't help with avoiding being accidentally shoved or needing to squeeze through people.
Narrowing my eyes, I noticed the large sign with the lawyer's office name in gold letters. The snow was beginning to stick to it as it shifted into a heavier pace. I groaned at the ache in my feet and the bitter cold that was seeping through my damp coat. My hands felt like blocks of ice, the pale skin turning red as I attempted to keep them warm with my pockets. I made a mental note to either find my gloves or buy a new pair, god only knows I don't need frostbite right now.
Stepping into the building, I sighed in relief as the wall of warm air hit me. My cheeks and nose felt as if they were melting, my skin finally warming back up. Organizing myself, I made my way to the front desk while I eyed the people standing around.
It's not what I imagined a lawyer's office to look like with its extravagant ground floor. The floors were all a white marble, with some sections having cream carpeting. There were two waiting areas with glass coffee tables and cream couches. The entire front of the building were windows, showing the winter chaos happening outside. On either side of the entrance were two, medium sized christmas trees with the stars and ornaments. People were making their way around quickly, greeting each other before making their way to whatever floor they're needed at.
Taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart, I smiled at the receptionist as she looked up at me. I swallowed down the ball of anxiety sitting in my throat when I finally reached her, attempting to appear calm and collected.
"Hi, my name is Evania Evans, I'm here for my first day as a secretary?"
The girl nodded before looking at her screen, her fingers gliding along the keyboard. Making a noise of approval, she quickly searched through a small pile of name tags.
"Ah, here you are," she grinned. "Miss. Evania Evans, you'll be reporting to the tenth floor where Mr. Alessandro Fiore is. There's a receptionist up there as soon as you exit the elevator who will show you to your office."
"Thank you," I grinned, grabbing the name tag.
I slipped it over my head, allowing it to hang around my neck before making my way to the silver elevator doors. My hands were shaking as I pressed the button, matching the extreme anxiety rushing through my veins. I kept my eyes forward, afraid to make any type of eye contact with the people waiting with me. The thought of needing to speak to a stranger or even say hello set off the warning bells in my head, my nerves telling me to abort the mission and forget about finding Raphael.
As if I have anywhere else to go.
The ride to the tenth floor felt as though it took years with me cramped inside like a sardine. As soon as I was able to escape from the moving death box, I almost collapsed against the receptionist desk. Recollecting myself for what feels like the hundredth time, I smiled towards the older woman.
"Good morning, I'm the new secretary for Mr. Alessandro Fiore."
She looked up from the screen, her eyes wide behind her glasses. Her lips immediately pulled into a smile as she stood up, "It's a pleasure to meet you! I've been wanting to have another female co-worker. Dealing with the Fiore brothers is like dealing with my own sons, it's exhausting. Besides Vittoria, there is no one else to chat with."
I smiled, adoring her chattiness while I followed her down the hallway. She motioned towards a large office at the end, the windows were opaque, making it impossible to see inside.
"This is Alessandro's office, you'll be mainly dealing with him. Mr. Salvatore is on the top floor, he prefers to keep to himself. He may give you some jobs to do on occasion," she briefly explained.
She then turned towards the left , bringing me to a smaller office with similar opaque windows. "And this is your office. Now, you're basically like an assistant to Alessandro. I was doing all of it, but he wants me to mainly stick to answering the phone, scheduling appointments and greeting anyone coming up. Also, needing to remind him and his brother about important meetings. Those two are a mess without anyone helping. Vittoria is Alessandro's fiancé, but she acts like an assistant as well and will likely be helping you."
"Thank you..." I trailed off, realizing I hadn't asked for her name.
As if reading my mind, she blushed, "Oh! I'm terribly sorry, my name is Antonella."
"Well, thank you Antonella. I look forward to working with you. My name is Evania."
"Evania..." she said, testing out the sound of my name before nodding. "Beautiful name. Are you Greek?"
"I'm not entirely sure, I was abandoned as a baby."
She frowned, "Oh, that's terrible. Well, you'll fit in just fine here. You can just call me Nonna."
"That's Italian for grandmother, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. Do you speak Italian?"
"Very little. My college had Italian courses and I was curious."
She chuckled, patting me on the shoulder, "Well, Alessandro and Salvatore speak Italian quite often. You'll pick up more of it."
Nodding, she quickly retreated to return to her desk as I began making myself comfortable. I don't have much with me, no pictures or little trinkets to decorate my work space with. However, I did bring the small snow globe Raphael had given me. Placing the beautiful gift onto my desk, I couldn't help but smile at it.
It isn't anything fancy, but to me it was everything. It's smaller than most snow globes, but inside of it is a beautiful snowy forest, with a family of deer in the middle. I have always been enamored by the idea of walking through a snow covered forest. The idea of seeing all the trees with branches covered by snow, their trunks speckled and the ground appearing as if a thick, white quilt was laid over it, causes a type of warmth to fall over me. I have never been able to walk through said forest, but I plan on eventually doing so one of these winters.
"Good Morning Nonna!"
I snapped my attention to my door as a woman's voice echoed down the hall, bouncing off the walls with joy. Antonella quickly greeted the woman as the two talked and laughed, their English falling into smooth Italian before footsteps quickly made their way towards my office. My muscles immediately became tense, almost painful as I sat frozen.
A woman with olive skin and beautiful brown hair poked her head in, her lips pulling into a grin. "You must be Evania! I'm Vittoria, Alessandro's fiancé. I'll be showing you the ropes."
Forcing a small smile, I shook her hand as she came over, "Hi, it's nice to meet you. Do you also work here?"
"Part-time, Alessandro is strict with how much I work. In our line of work, the wives aren't expected to work a whole lot. You know, rich lawyer husband and all. I grew up in a lower class family though, so working has become my normal. Besides, I hate being a domestic housewife. I prefer to be feral."
I couldn't help but laugh at her joke, "I too, dream of being a feral house wife."
"So, what's your story? Where did you come from?"
"There's not much. I was abandoned as a baby and grew up in an orphanage. I did go to college and lived in Philly for a few years."
She frowned, "So...no family? No one to celebrate with? Who did you tell about this new job?"
"No one. Well, I did tell my old professor when I was first moving. Other than that, no one. As soon as I left the orphanage I stopped contact with the caretaker. It wasn't exactly fun growing up there."
Plopping down in one of the chairs at my desk, she placed her hands on the oak wood. "No friends?"
"I had one, we grew up together, but he was adopted right before we left for college."
"Oh...did you ever find him?"
I leaned back against the chair, frowning, "No. That's why I moved to New York. I know his family was from here. I was hoping he would still be here. I know. Pathetic."
She immediately shook her head, her brows furrowing. "No, that's not pathetic. You want to know, pathetic? I stalked Alessandro until I made him run into me."
"Did you now?"
We both jumped, our attention shifting to the door, eyes wide with alert. A tall man leaned against the door frame, smirking with his eyes trained on Vittoria. The brunette struggled with words as she let out an awkward laugh, glancing at me.
"I did warn him I was a little crazy... just not that crazy."
The man laughed as he walked in, placing a loving kiss on her temple before his hazel eyes were on me. He tilted his head, his lips turning into a small frown as his expression morphed into one of confusion.
"Who are you?"
I bit the inside of my cheek, my heart pounding against my chest, "Um, the new secretary sir."
"Ah, my apologies. I forgot we had hired a new one. I was told we had hired Alessia," he replied, giving a stern glance at Vittoria.
Another awkward laugh escaped her lips, "She uh...isn't exactly...physically present anymore?"
"What?"
"She isn't breathing. Her heart isn't pumping."
"Vittoria, you could just say she's dead."
She frowned, motioning towards me with her head, "I wasn't trying to scare the new girl."
Something flashed in his eyes before it was gone, leaving a blank look on his face. He quickly shook my hand, his concern slipping through the cracks in his mask. Taking out his phone, he dialed a number and walked out, without saying another word. I looked towards Vittoria again, my gut swirling with uncertainty.
"Was I not supposed to be hired?"
Vittoria quickly shook her head, "Oh, no dear. I wouldn't have had your name tag created nor told Nonna about you. I just forgot to tell the more important guy."
Tapping her fingers nervously on my desk, she glanced back towards the door. I could see the trepidation practically dripping off of her. An uneasy feeling settled within me, making me want to sink into my chair. While I know lawyers can be intimidating, something about his reaction and now her's, wasn't sitting right.
"Should I leave?" I choked out.
Clapping her hands together, she blew out a breath, "No. Alessandro won't be a problem, but he isn't the one I'm concerned about."
"Who else did you not tell? HR?"
"Oh, no HR knows."
"Then who?"
She bit her lip, "Salvatore. Alessandro's older brother. I'll give you a few tips regarding them since I'm basically a part of the family now. Alessandro is the nice one, he loves talking, going out, having drinks and what not. His personality is why I love the bastard, though, his looks don't hurt either. However, Salvatore...it's like their genetics gave all the great personality traits to Alessandro and the bad ones to Sal."
"So, is Salvatore an asshole or something?" I asked, tilting my head a little. "I can deal with assholes."
Amusement lined her features as she worked to hold in her laughter, but the shine in her eyes gave it away. "At first he is, but he can be nice. Don't call him an asshole though."
"Why? Will his ego get bruised or something? He sounds like the guys I dealt with in college."
"No. I'll get rid of you."
I jumped, placing my hand on my chest as a man stepped in, his emerald eyes staring straight through me. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself, trying to figure out what is up with these men and just popping out of thin air?
"Oh..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say.
What should I say? I don't know how long the guy has been standing there for, which makes it hard for me to figure out what he heard. My face went hot, realizing who this man was.
"You must be Mr. Salvatore," I squeaked.
He glanced up at me as he fixed his sleeves, his stare matching the temperature outside. When he seemed satisfied with his sleeves, he folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall. His face was blank, giving no hints of what was going through this man's mind. I quietly sat in my chair, throwing a sideway glance towards Vittoria. She mirrored my own nervousness, her eyes wide and waiting.
"You're Evania Evans, correct?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Speak when I'm asking you a question. You obviously know how to talk, so do it."
Someone needs his coffee.
"Yes, sir."
"While you aren't who we were planning on hiring, I'll give you a chance. First, never call me an asshole again unless you want your name to be ruined. Second, my ego is perfectly fine, I just expect my employees to respect me. Third, I'll have Vittoria train you on what you need to do. Certain jobs will still be split between Vittoria and Antonella."
"Yes, sir."
He shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked out the windows behind me, he was quiet for a moment as if thinking over something. He then glanced down at my jacket, noticing the shine from melted snow on it.
"Did you walk here?"
I hesitated for a moment, unsure of why he was even asking. "Yes."
"You don't own a car? Couldn't get a taxi?"
"No, sir. I'm not exactly in the position to own a car and all the taxis were busy."
He made an irritated noise before turning towards Vittoria, "You start around the same time as she does, correct?"
"Yes," she quickly responded.
"You will pick her up and drop her off. You know the risks of her working with us. I need to ensure she actually makes it to and from work, alive."
This had me sitting up straight and my mind coming to a halt as his words played over like a broken record. "Excuse me, alive?"
They both stared at me, like they didn't know what I had asked or didn't know how to answer it. Salvatore sighed, "We're the top lawyers in the city. We handle...special clients. Some can be a bit vengeful if I can't win their case. I have had employees receive threats before. I'm not a fan of innocent people getting thrown into the middle of my issues. Which is why I normally hire those who have worked with me before."
"I see."
"I expect her to know how to handle simple tasks by the end of next week."
Vittoria nodded as he walked out, not sparing a glance in my direction nor dismissed himself. Vittoria released a breath, shaking her head before looking at me with a sympathetic expression.
"He can be a bit...tough to meet."
I nodded, "You're not kidding."
____________
I groaned as I collapsed onto my bed, my brain feeling practically broken from training today. I'm not sure how I'll survive the upcoming week or the week after, but I'm determined to figure it out. After meeting Salvatore today, my temper has been a case of highs and lows. He's a very demanding man, something I despise when it comes to people. The caretaker at the orphanage was also a demanding woman, always giving us tasks and punishing us if we couldn't finish in an hour. While I'm sure he can't do anything physically, I'm afraid he'll do something professionally. Such as ruining my name like he claimed he could.
Rolling onto my back, I forced myself to my feet to eat and run a shower. I'm relieved Vittoria was able to drop me off, despite feeling awkward on the drive home. While Vittoria is a great person to talk to and is always going out of her way to ensure someone's comfort, her driver was another story. I hadn't expected us to be picked up by a man in a black car to be driven through the city. Then again, she is the fiancé of one of the richest lawyers in the state, I shouldn't be surprised if he has someone drive her everywhere.
I stared at the water as it slowly began to boil in the pot, my eyes growing heavy. I was almost dozing off when my phone suddenly vibrated, jolting me awake. Snatching it off the counter, I frowned when I saw a text message from Vittoria.
Did she add herself into my phone?
Vittoria: Hey lady, as you can see, I added myself into your phone. No, I do not know boundaries. Anyways, I'll be at your place tomorrow by seven fifteen."
I blinked, staring at her text in tired confusion. This woman is seriously feral. I quickly texted her back and tossed my phone back onto the counter. Grabbing the bag of ramen, I tossed it in the pot, my thoughts becoming consumed about work tomorrow. While I don't mind working with Alessandro and Vittoria, I don't want to see Salvatore or even speak to him. I despise arrogant men like him and I need this job to work out.
You have to grow up and be civil with him, Eva. You can't just mouth off to your boss.
I wanted to flip off my inner thoughts, but I know I need to follow my own advice. I can't give him attitude nor be petty. I'm a grown woman now, I need to learn to control my temper and to be peaceful with my boss. Even if he is an asshole.
"At least my tasks are simple and boring at work," I grumbled to myself.
A/N: I hope you're enjoying it so far! This is a rough draft so far, I did edit it. However, if I have missed anything, let me know!