Clumsy

Marie looked up as Damon approached her and blinked, pausing in the eating of her cake as he explained the situation as much as he would. It seemed something important came up, she wasn't surprised with the way Lukas had spoken to him about it. Still, it was a little upsetting for such a lovely evening to end so eruptly. She nodded her head though in understanding, she wasn't going to stop her boss from doing his job.

"Of course...I understand." She said simply at first as she set down her fork and stood up. "I'm sure I can find someone to enjoy all these treats with me, don't you worry. I promise they won't go to waste."

She looked at him with an understanding smile. He was such a kind man, she hoped that at least what ever was going on could be solved quickly for his sake.
 
"Thank you for being so understanding. I know this is really a sudden stop to a lovely evening. I hope it won't keep you from saying yes in the future," Damon said, accepting the box from the baker and tucking it under his arm as he turned to smile at Marie and offer her his free arm.


"I shall walk you out to the car, of course. If you have anywhere else you'd like to stop before going home, feel free to tell Lukas and he will take you there. However, please don't dally anywhere. The streets are not particularly safe for anybody working for me tonight," he said, opening the door and stepping outside with her.
 
"Of course not, I mean, the evening was wonderful, even if we had to end to much sooner than intended. I'll gladly come along again if you ever need someone." Marie said kindly as she accepted his arm gently.

It was a real shame for the night to end, but she figured that he would not end it and have her personally escorted home by one of his bodyguards unless he had a very good reason for it all. Besides, with his mysterious background, she should not be surprised by this at all. As they stepped out of the bakery, Marie shook her head a bit at the mentions of going anywhere else.

"That's won't be necessary, I'll probably just go home and start working on my moving again. I have a lot of organizing to do and some shopping to plan. I never realized how little plates or pots and pans I had until I got into that massive kitchen in the pent house. So don't worry, I'll be heading straight home and locking the place down for the night."
 
Damon smiled and set the box in on the seat, then slid it over so that she'd have room to sit down as well. He turned back to her and nodded as she said she was going straight home. Good. That was one less thing that he had to worry about. She would be safe - even more so than she assumed from simply locking her door. He nodded and stepped closer to her, taking her hand gently and kissing the back of it.


"Thank you. I will see you at the office," he said with a smile, then placed a light kiss on her cheek and stepped away. The driver moved forward, ready to close the door once Marie was settled. Damon was already walking away, speaking with Lukas as they headed to the helicopter.
 
Marie blinked in surprise a bit as he kissed the back of her hand, and then blushed as he placed his lips upon her cheek. She gave a weak smile, still a little stunned by the action, and watched him part with his body guard. Blinking once or twice, it took her a bit to realize that the driver was waiting for her to step into the car, making her blush more with embarrassment before shuffling inside and letting him close the door for her. A stray hand went up to her cheek, where his lips had been and paused.

That was very...interesting. For some reason, Marie felt that there was far more to her new boss than he let on, including his intentions for her as an employee. She wouldn't question it for now, seeing as she only just got hired, but her guts was telling her something and her gut was never wrong...
 
There was a lot that needed taking care of before the night was over. By the time Damon made it home, it was well past one in the morning and he was as moody as he could be. None of his guards spoke a word to him, simply stepping aside as he slammed open his door and kicked it closed. There were few times when he lost his precious grip on control, but when he did, his temper was vicious. Everything was settled, but that did not mean things needed to be fixed further.


The next day, there was no outward appearance of the difficulties of the night before. Damon sat at his desk as usual, with a plate of breakfast and a large mug of coffee. He had gotten the food delivered rather than having it made at home like he usually did. The restaurant was one he trusted deeply, else he wouldn't have bothered. He had finished eating and was simply sipping his tea, occasionally nibbling a scrumptious cannoli.


Lukas, who had been standing off in the shadows like a good silent guard, stepped forward and frowned at Damon, waiting to be acknowledged.


"I know what you're thinking," Damon muttered, glancing at the other man.


"And?" Lukas asked, unsurprised.


"It will be taken care of. Today."
 
The next morning was rather quiet in the penthouse, save for the meowing of Marie's large cat. At the moment she was sitting in her giant walk in closet and organizing her clothing. Though as she finished up, she realized just how little she had these days. And it wasn't all that pretty either. She would get buy though until her first paycheck, it would be no issue at all to save up as soon as she started working.

At the thought of working, she thought about her boss. The evening had to end rather suddenly and she was a little worried about him. He was very concerned, or at least he was concerned enough to send her home with a bodyguard who did a lap around the penthouse before leaving her be. It seemed that whatever happened had Mr. Ricardo's men on high alert. Picking up the phone she wished she had the guts to call and ask if things were fine, it had her a little worried about leaving the building if things were still bad.

Sitting there on her closet floor, she set her cellphone to the side and stood up, walking out of the closet and heading into the kitchen for some breakfast..maybe a piece of that chocolate cake...
 
"Collect the Pazrien family and bring them here. I have time for a morning meeting before everything else," Damon instructed, waving Lukas away. The bodyguard nodded once and walked out of the office, shutting the door firmly on his way out. There would be another guard outside the door in Lukas' absence, so Damon had nothing to worry about. He rarely worried anyway.


Usually.


Today, however, he had to admit that one thing had him worried. Marie. He had a feeling that he had left her too quickly, and that something may have gone wrong. His men had reported nothing unusual, but he still had no idea what she was thinking. Perhaps the surprise of last night had her reconsidering her job. He frowned at the thought and picked up the phone, dialing the number to her penthouse.
 
Marie was sitting in front of her piece of chocolate cake in her kitchen, humming a bit as she kicked her legs lazily back and forth. As the phone rang, she blinked and glanced to the console on the wall for a moment. Who could that be? Certainly none of her family, she hadn't even contacted them yet about the additional phone number that she had received. Hopping up, she walked over to the wall and quickly swallowed the bite she had before answering.

"Hello?" She answered slowly, leaning on the wall was she waited for someone to respond.
 
"Good morning, Marie. Forgive me for using the penthouse number instead of your cell phone, but I wanted to ensure it was hooked up properly since we haven't tried calling it yet," Damon said with a smile, leaning back in his chair and holding his coffee in his free hand.


"I wanted to check in, see how you're doing after last night. I didn't get any bad reports, so I take it you were safe, but I do still feel rather guilty about leaving you in such a hurry.."
 
"Oh No! It was no issue at all. I got home fine. And don't worry about leaving so quickly, I understand that business is very important. Anyway, thanks for the call, I appreciate the concern. I was thinking of calling myself, but I figured that you probably had some meetings or other things happening and I would want to interrupt you. I hope whatever happened wasn't too bad for you." She said with a smile into the phone.
 
"Oh, not to worry. I do have a meeting shortly, but right now I have nothing more to do than sit at my desk and try to look intimidating. It's a lot harder than it looks, you know. Having Lukas standing around helps," Damon said, chuckling a bit and leaning back in his chair as he sipped at his coffee.


"Well, I'm glad to hear that your night passed uneventfully after we parted. What happened was really not as bad as I probably made it sound. It was a safety concern, but things have been taken care of and you should not worry. Feel free to go wherever you like now," he added, making sure she didn't feel like a prisoner.
 
Marie smiled into the phone as she gave a light laugh at his joke, nodding her head a bit as she stood there against the wall with the phone against her ear.

"I'm glad, I was starting to fear that I couldn't go to the grocery store and would be forced to live off of all those desserts, though I doubt those would have lasted the day, they are so good. Anyway, thank you for calling me, Its much appreciated to know that I can safely leave my house without the fear of being taken away and thrown into a black van."

Wandering away from the wall, she returned to her chair and cake, picking up her fork as she relaxed a bit. It was nice to know that nothing was wrong anymore, it made her glad since it would be terrible if anything happened to her new boss, she hadn't even gotten a chance to work and start paying him back.

"Anyway, I'll let you go now, I don't want to keep you from your meeting."
 
"I don't think living off of those desserts would be a bad thing, but all of that sugar may make you sick!" he said, chuckling again. "Alright. Have a good day, Marie. Take care. Goodbye," he said, hanging up just as Lukas walked in with his next appointment.


"Ahh, Mr. Pazrien, Mrs. Pazrien. So kind of you to join me for coffee on such short notice!" Damon exclaimed, taking another sip of his coffee as Lukas showed the clearly terrified couple to their seats. It was always amusing to watch how people trembled and cowered before him, yet he knew they had been scheming behind his back mere hours ago. The tables turned and the little mice were caught in the trap. There was no point feeling sympathy for them.


"Please, Mr. Ricardo-" Mr. Pazrien began, but Damon ignored the desperate man.


"It is really too bad that it has come to this, dear friends. I thought we were working out a great deal," he said smoothly, pulling out a file from a drawer and flicking through the pages. "A family-owned shoe shop. So quaint. The city folk adore it. A shame it's going out of business," he mused, and the woman gasped and started sobbing. Ugh. Women. They always thought they could change his mind with tears. Useless.


Although, one woman probably could..


"I see you have a daughter.." he said, pulling his mind away from that. Both of the Pazrien's started talking at once, sounding a lot like begging. Damon cocked an eyebrow at Lukas, who nodded. Oh, so the daughter was already in custody. Good. They'd need to find somewhere to put her at some point.


"Hm. I see. Well, have a good day," Damon said, smiling at the pair, who were suddenly silent and confused. They were lead out by Lukas, and Damon tossed their file aside. No point keeping that around since they wouldn't be coming back.
 
As the phone call ended, Marie hung up the phone and went back to eating her cake. Smiling a bit, she was glad to know that she would be able to go to the grocery store and not have to worry about anything. As she finished her cake, she let out a happy sigh, things could only get better from here...but that wouldn't start until the first day.

***
It was ironic how excited she was to start working, only to be standing here as nervous as heck in front of the office of Mr. Ricardo. She had been sent up as soon as she arrived that morning, her cheeks flushed at it was rather nippy that morning and stormy as well. What a way to start a job, nearly soaked and frozen. She was fine though, thanks to the wonderful heat of the office, her boss certainly didn't skip any expense. Though she knew she shouldn't be nervous, she couldn't help but be a little....worried about all the bodyguards that had been pointing her way.

She forgot that her boss really wasn't the more normal boss. Still, as he shuffled the large bad of file folders and wires and electronics, she hesitated before knocking upon the door, closing one of her eyes as she waited to be summoned inside. She hoped she wasn't interrupting anything.
 
Lukas opened the door about three seconds after Marie knocked, gesturing her inside before closing the door silently behind her and returning to his station in the shadows as a quiet observer. Damon was sitting behind his desk, leaning back in his chair and sipping coffee from a mug. To his left, next to the desk, a girl was sitting in a comfy looking chair. She had long blonde hair that hung in loose curls around her face, and big chocolate brown eyes that seemed tense. Her clothes were better suited for a high school than a lavishly decorated office, but she carried no bag and did not say anything. In fact, she barely glanced at Marie as the woman entered.


"Ah, Marie. Right on time. It is very nice to see you," Damon said smoothly, smiling as he leaned forward and set his mug on the desk. "I would like to introduce you to Nikita Pazrien. She is my niece. My sister recently passed and her care has been placed in my hands. She will eventually be working in a different branch of my business, but for today, I thought you could use her as an assistant. I promise she will be a diligent worker for you," he explained, nodding toward the girl.


"Hi," Nikita said quietly, looking at Marie just once before looking back down at her hands.
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Marie looked up at Lukas and gave him a small smile before looking towards her boss and in turn a young girl. She certainly was the last thing Marie expected to see, then again, Marie hardly belonged in that office herself. She looked very young as well, hardly someone that belonged in an office to begin with, she should have been in school instead! Looking to her boss as he spoke, she nodded her head slowly in understanding. The poor girl, now she was without a mother, hopefully Mr. Ricardo won't give her too hard of work.

She looked to the girl as he mentioned using her as an assistant, smiling at her a bit and she nodded her head quickly. She was more than happy to take the girls help, maybe even give her something to do so she didn't dwell on her mother's death. Setting down her bag near the door she walked over to the girl.

"It's nice to meet you, Nikita. I'll gladly take your help! Let's get started cause I have a feeling your uncle has a lot of papers I need to file. Also, I was wondering Mr. Ricardo, do you have any computer that you'd like to have all your files placed on? I was thinking of having a digital copy of all your files and a paper copy."
 
"Hm.. Digital copy.." Damon mused as Nikita remained silent, looking up at Lukas who was suddenly standing beside Marie instead of in the shadows. "Go get a set from the supply closet. Make sure it's connected," Damon said, watching Lukas nod and walk out before he looked back to Marie and smiled.


"A very wise idea. Two copies is better than one. Now, before you get started, I have a few forms here that I would like you to read over and sign. It's all very basic legalities. Agreements not to speak of any material you come across with anybody apart from myself, not to make unauthorized copies, things like that. I imagine you've seen the same type of thing before," he said, picking up a couple of papers and a clipboard with a pen and handing them to her. "Take your time, ask questions if there is anything unfamiliar," he added.


Lukas walked back in with a black laptop bag, which he set down on Damon's desk. A quick bow of his head later, and he was back in the shadows.


"Ah, yes. Here we go. A laptop for you to use. It's already connected to my network. The password is your name - feel free to change it to whatever you wish. There are a few spare USB drives in here, along with a wireless mouse, mousepad, and probably a few other things that we had spares of. Also, feel free to use this at home for your personal things, but please do not leave it unattended in the hands of friends," Damon said, nodding toward the bag.
 
"Of course, I figured something like this was gonna come up sooner or later." Marie said as she took the clip board.

She looked over the papers slowly, taking her time before signing her name down. She didn't plan on making copies of her bosses work outside of any requests that he had, that just wasn't something an employee did without good reason. Besides, she'd be spending most of her first days just scanning, she doubted she's need to pull up and files for him when he still had most of them himself. Once she was done signing her name on all the dotted lines, she set the clip board on top of his desk just as Lukas returned with the lap top bag.

Now she was getting a computer from this man? He just wanted her to owe him didn't he! Well, she would need it for her job anyway, and she had no intention of using her work computer for extra things, though maybe looking up one or two recipes on the internet, certainly nothing else though.

"Got it, Then I'll just get to work scanning and organizing...By the way, do you have any designated file cabinets that you were planning for your papers? I just don't see any around you office is all."
 
"The bottom two drawers of my desk are open to your use for filing. If you require more space, there is a large filing cabinet in the closet that is not locked. Most of my paperwork tends to be spoken instead of written down, so there aren't huge piles for you. However, what I do have is quite a mess, so you'll still have your work cut out for you," he said, picking up the forms that she had signed and setting them aside since she'd be filing them herself anyway.


"Now, Miss Marie, I must say.. If you find any paperwork that seems.." he started, then paused and glanced at Nikita before looking back at Marie. "Questionable.. Ahem. Please do not hesitate to call my phone directly. I will be out of the office for a few hours. Lunch will be provided for both of you around noontime. I should be back by two," he finished with a smile, standing up and gesturing to Lukas.


"Lukas will remain here. Put him to work if you'd like," he added, grinning as his bodyguard grimaced, likely thinking of being forced into a maid uniform.
 
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