Alex

Man, what the fuck.

What the fuck.

Tell me why I was here on the fifth floor, well past my fucking clock out time, waiting on Christian fucking Ivanov to show up for a meeting he had apparently schedule.

I felt my stomach churn with uncertainty. Not so much the uncertainty of what this meeting was about (although I was pretty concerned), but more so the uncertainty of whether I was about to throw up all over Christian fucking Ivanov's floor or not.

"You don't look to good." The man besides me commented. He was the same man that had brought me up here the first time. Still didn't know his name, but right now, I couldn't care less.

"I'm hungover." I all but grunted at the guy.

Something flashed across his eyes. The look of pity. It did nothing to soothe my thoughts about what was to come. Was I getting fired?

I mean, I'd barely made any progress with the laptop today... But he was at least going to give me a few days... Right?

"Alexander." Christian greeted me as he finally walked through the office doors and took a seat at his desk.

He was in a freshly ironed dress shirt this evening. He was a little more casually dressed than when I had first seen him. His hair, however, looked as if it had fallen victim to his hands. It was tossed around messily... If you could even call it that. Somehow, he managed to still look insanely handsome and well put together.

I, on the other end, was a goddamn mess.

I gave him a nod. "You're probably wondering why I called you up here." He continued.

"Sure." I sighed. He eyebrows raised slightly at my response. I was doing my best to act cordial but annoyance and sleep deprivation were starting to seep through the cracks of my resolve.

"Well, it's been brought to my attention that I should probably call you in to speak about your views on how I run things here. Brad explained how a good working environment makes for a good business. I'm interested on hearing your thoughts."

Christian fucking Ivanov really didn't want to hear my thoughts right now. I was very sure of that.

But he just sat there across from me...

Waiting.

"Uh-" I started. My voice came out horse. It sounded foreign, even to myself. "I mean- The work load is sometimes unstable for the reps. We end up on the shitty end with sales whenever a deal goes south. Overtime is also an issue. I think it should be double for mandatory overtime and time and a half for voluntary-" I stopped myself short.

I couldn't tell whether Mr. Ivanov was about to explode or not. He looked like a mix of emotions. A big pot of emotions on the verge of over-boiling. The expressions of his face were blatant enough for me to assume that no one had really ever criticized him like this.

"Continue." He struggled to say.

"Dave on the second floor has been with this company for 25 years, yet when he put in a request for a few more vacation days, he was denied. This happened around the time that Ivanov Corp. lost the deal with Winchester. I think employees should be in the loop of why deals are continuously going south. All we see are added OT to our schedule without a good explanation as to why. It's not a great image to see our C.E.O. without at least an assistant. This company isn't just you. You rely on us to do damage control, we rely on you to build relationships and deliver successful closings. It's a two way street."

I basically shot out that entire paragraph in one breath. I felt my metaphorical balls being held in Christian Ivanov's hands as his insane eyes tore through me. I was looking everywhere but at him.

There was a brief pause where I had to brace myself for the backlash that was sure to come.

Christian leaned back in his chair. His muscles flexed in such an intimidating way, I forgot how breathing worked for a second there.

"So you're telling me I mistreat my employees, and I'm a failure as the head of this company." He finally spoke.

"I'm sure that's not what the kids saying." The man besides me tried to butt in, but Christian just held up his hand.

I wasn't sure what wave of no fucks given had washed over me, but I nodded.

"I'm saying you can do more to build this company."

So... If I wasn't getting fired before, I was definitely getting fired now.

It took Christian another pause before he spoke again.

"You make what... $49... $50,000 a year right now, right?"

I nodded.

I was so getting fired. I took a swig from the water bottle that hadn't left my side since the beginning of the day due to this fucking hangover. I wasn't sure if it was Mr. Ivanov's presence, but my headache felt worse.

There was a pause before the man spoke again.

"How would you like to bump that up to $68,000 a year?"

Water came exploding out of my mouth and straight onto Mr. Ivanov's desk. I could feel his gaze intensify on me.

"I-I'm sorry, what now?"

"A raise." He replied. I almost couldn't hear him over the sound of me choking.

"I-I don't understand."

"You would be doing the same tasks as you do for your current job, but I would also be hiring you on as a temporary assistant until further notice... Or until Brad here can find me a suitable replacement. I've been reviewing your work over the last few hours, and you have a very decorated resume. You've dabbled in management and sales before I.T. I think this would be a good fit for the both of us."

"Once again, Christian, I'm your lawyer. Not apart of you HR department." Brad shot back. I was taken back a bit by how he spoke with Mr. Ivanov. In my three years of working here, I'd never seen a single soul address this man like that over the phone... I couldn't fathom them doing this in person... and staying employed.

It seemed like these two were closer than I thought. I had also learnt from this conversation, that his name was Brad.

"I'm not really cut out to be an assistant." I spoke honestly. And I wasn't. I couldn't give a rats ass about what Christian Ivanov's personal life entailed. It probably involved kicking puppies or something.

"This offer will only be available for right now, tonight. You can either take this offer, which is almost double the starting pay for someone in your position and well over ten grand more than the average salary for a I.T. Specialist... or you can walk out of this room right now still getting paid the $49, 482.68 average pay. With this job, you will not only be assisting me with multi-million dollar contracts, but you'll have the chance to reform the way we run things around here."

I think I was beginning to understand how Christian Ivanov had managed to build this company. When it came to a deal, he really knew how to present it. I wasn't sure why my heart was beating so quickly from seeing him in action.

I looked at Mr. Ivanov like he had grown a second, third, fourth, AND fifth head.

Was he really serious about this?

He couldn't have been.

I glanced at Brad.

"He's totally serious." Brad replied.

I thought about all the hell I had been put through these past few days... but then I also thought about the money.

My family needed it. I needed it.

I finally gave Mr. Ivanov my answer...

And this is how I ended up sealing a deal with the devil himself. Was I to regret this in a couple of months- scratch that, a couple of hours?

Probably.

Was this a risk worth taking?

Probably not.

Was I going to do it anyways?

Unfortunately, yes.

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