“Hmm.”
“You’re surprisingly not being an asshole today.”
Edric glared at Cassie. “Excuse me?”
Ellie blushed again. This is exactly what I was afraid of.
“I take it back.”
“You’re insufferable.”
Ellie grabbed a nearby folder and put it in front of her face, hoping that it would make her invisible. It seemed to work for her last time; they left her alone then. This encounter between her boss and her sister was embarrassing.
The door creeped open and an older man walked in. He looked like he was in his mid-fifties. Ellie and Cassie could immediately tell from the dark circles under his eyes that he was stressed—something was wrong.
“We’re in the middle of a meeting.” Edric scolded. He turned his attention to Ellie, who was still trying to act invisible. “Eleonore, stop hiding behind that folder. Check to see if I have a meeting scheduled with anyone besides your sister.”
“Y-yes.”
“Hey, don’t speak to Ellie that way!”
“Cassie’s meeting is the only meeting that you have scheduled for this afternoon, Mr. Kensington.”
“El, you should have told him to shove the folder up his ass.”
Ellie let out a slight distressed whimper and rested her head on the desk. She was so mortified she was ready to roll over and die right there in the office.
Edric looked at the older man. “I take meetings by appointment only.”
“But it’s important.”
“Hear the man out.” Cassie instructed.
“You don’t even work here. All you are is a contracted game tester.”
“I found your baby brother. I think that entitles me to a favor and I’m calling in that in right now.”
“All right. State your purpose.”
The man with the dark circles under his eyes looked at Edric, the young and handsome CEO sitting behind the desk, and then he turned his attention to the woman with the bright-red hair sitting backwards in the leather chair. He looked utterly confused as to who he should make his pitch to. Even Ellie couldn’t tell who the real boss was at that moment.
“I don’t have all day.”
“I’m sorry for my associate’s assholery.” Cassie said.
“Associate?”
“You may continue.” The red-haired woman nodded her head and extended her hand, as if she was trying to bow from her position in sitting backwards in the seat.
“Mr. Kensington. Ma’am. My name is Kyle Smith and I’ve worked for this company for nine years now. My teenage daughter has fallen ill and I need to take a few months off to help her with her cancer treatment.”
“A couple of months?” Edric threw his hands up in the air. “We’re in the middle of making a product and it requires all hands on deck.”
“She’s sick and it’s not looking good. I need to spend what time with her I can. I can’t come in these next couple of months. I need to take a leave of absence.”
“Take all the time that you need because you’re fired.”
Ellie gasped. “B-b-but. He needs the insurance…” She muttered quietly. Too quiet for anyone else in the room to hear.
“I’m running a company, not a charity. It’s unfortunate about your daughter but not my concern. Leave, now.”
Cassie shot up from her chair and walked over to Edric’s desk. She slammed her open palm down in the middle of the desk to jostle him. He looked up at her, unmoved. “What the fuck is your problem, Scrooge?” She spat. “This guy comes in like Pip and asks ‘please sir, can I have some more’ asking for more porridge and shit and you act like a total jerk about it!”
“That doesn’t even make sense. You’re mixing up your Charlie Dickens novels.”
“I’m not. And you’re being an asshole.”
“Scrooge is from a Christmas Carol. ‘Can I have some more’ is from Oliver Twist, and Pip is the main character from Great Expectations. Read a book.”
“Fuck you. And you’re wrong.”
Ellie wished that she was anywhere else in the world besides that office with her boss and sister. This was mortifying.
“I know that I’m right. Eleonore, look it up.”
“Don’t fucking talk to Ellie like that!”
“Actually…I don’t have to look it up,” Ellie spoke up. “Mr. Kensington is right”
Edric smirked.
“Ellie!”
“But.” The blush crept up on the young woman’s face once more. “But Cassie is right about this man’s situation. He needs help and…and...he and his daughter should get help,” she said. Her voice grew quieter with every word that she spoke. After Ellie said the words ‘but Cassie’ no one in the room understood the point that she was trying to make. She just turned red and averted her eyes to the ground.
“Hah! Ellie said I was right.” Cassie slammed her hand on the desk again. “In your face, Scrooge!”
“That’s not what I heard. All I heard is ‘but Cassie.’”
“’But Cassie’ means that I’m right. The phrase ‘but Cassie’ was to say that I was right about everything else.”
“No, no it doesn’t.”
“Please, Mr. Kensington. The chemo treatment ends in a month and then she’s scheduled to have surgery…” The man pleaded.
“I still have a company to run.”
“I’m cashing in my favor for saving your brother’s life.”
“First of all, you didn’t ‘save Owen’s life’. He went to a party and you found him. Secondly, I paid you fifty thousand dollars for that. Lastly, you just cashed in that favor a minute ago.”
“Well, Scrooge. I’m cashing it in again.”
“No, you’re not.” The CEO said firmly. “You may leave. Both of you.”
The tired looking man left the room with his head downcast, defeated. Cassie slammed the door shut as hard as she could; the noise made Ellie jump in her seat.
Surprisingly, Edric didn’t say anything to Ellie about her sister’s behavior. He didn’t say anything at all. He just resumed his work as if the last ten minutes never occurred.
Ellie felt a twinge of guilt. Someone needed my help and I was too scared to say anything.
She tried to focus on her work but as hard as she tried, she just couldn’t. The guilt was overwhelming.
“Mr. Kensington?”
“What?” He snapped.
Her heart raced. She was going to be sick to her stomach. “Never mind.”
Edric looked at the computer once more.
Ellie’s heart sank. She continued to do her work silently for the next half hour, trying to work up the courage to say something once more. Every time she mustered up the courage, she felt afraid once more and slunk back in her seat, focusing on her work. The whole situation made her feel ill.
You only made him cookies once. It’s not like you two are actually friends or you could change his mind. Just stay quiet, it’s easier this way.
When Ellie resigned herself to keeping quiet, she felt a pang of guilt.
I need to try. This man’s daughter might depend on it.
“Mr. Kensington…” Ellie spoke up once more. She wrung her hands on her skirt. Her whole body trembled.
Edric looked over at his assistant. Her face was the reddest yet. She looked like she was going to pass out in the middle of his office.
“About the man and his daughter. Um. Could you help them? Please. Maybe he can telework for you part-time. You could take the difference from my paycheck. I don’t know much about running a company and I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job because I wouldn’t know the first thing about it but…but…that man needs help and I feel like I need to say something. I’m sorry.”
Edric pursed his lips together, drummed his fingers along the table, and heaved a heavy sigh. “I’ll give him the time off.”
“You can take the difference from my paycheck.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Ellie bre
athed a heavy sigh of relief. Her hands were still shaking from all the adrenaline in her system. “Thank you, Mr. Kensington.”
“Now go home, Eleonore. You look like you’re going to pass out.”
She let out a light, airy laugh and smiled, obviously relieved. Edric even smiled too.
“Thank you.”
“Now go home, Eleonore. It’s almost five.” Edric said. His voice sounded different than earlier. Before, he sounded demanding. This time, there was a certain softness in his voice.
“Goodnight, Mr. Kensington.”
***
Cassie Kent spent her entire drive back from the Kensington Corporation in a foul mood. She gripped the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles turned white. Edric Kensington’s attitude towards the poor man with cancer irked her.
Little does that asshole know that I’m going to take him down. And so is Ellie. I appreciate the poetic justice to that—the assistant he treats like shit is going to make him lose the business he founded. That’ll teach him to mess with Charlie Logan and Ellie Kent. My two favorite people in the entire fucking world.
When Cassie arrived at she and Ellie’s small, rented house, she didn’t even stop to scratch Spots behind the ear. She just pulled out her phone and started angrily texting Logan.
‘Edric’s an ass.’ Cassie typed. She waited a few seconds and then received a response from Charlie.
‘What did he do this time?’
‘He won’t keep someone on payroll with a sick kid. :(’
‘I can’t say I’m surprised. Was he rude to you?’
‘That asshat always is.’ The private detective angrily typed.
‘I’m sorry, babe. I feel like it’s my fault that you have to interact with him. I can hire another PI.’
She couldn’t help but to grin at Logan’s last text.
He’s worried about me.
‘Nah. It’s personal now. And we both know I’m the best PI. :)’
‘And the sexiest ;)’
Cassie heard the door open. She looked up from her phone and saw Ellie standing in the doorway, muttering kind words to Spots. Her younger sister picked up the dog and cradled him against her chest.
Cassie decided to type out one last text to Logan before turning her attention to her sister. ‘My sis is back early. I’m gonna chat with her. See you later. XXX’
‘;)’
She slid her phone in her pocket and she closely watched her sister pet her beloved dog.
“You’re home early.”
“Mr. Kensington gave me the rest of the day off.”
“Well, I hope that makes him have to stay late because he has more work to do.”
“But…”
“After the way he treated you and that poor guy with the cancer kid, I hope nothing but bad things happen to him.”
“But he unfired him.”
“Oh?”
“After you left I tried talking to him. I asked him to not fire him and he agreed.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I’m not. Everything worked out.” Ellie beamed.
“But he’s rude to you…”
“He’s not all bad. When my car broke down he gave me a ride home and when I was missing a lunch he gave me his and he stocked the office with peppermint tea.”
Cassie closed her eyes and shook her head. “But he’s still mean to you. And he bosses you around needlessly. We gotta take this guy out and you need some self-respect. You don’t deserve to be used like that.”
“I don’t want to take him out—I think he’s a decent person and the innocent party in this situation with Virttek. Mr. Kensington works very hard. I think his designs are his own.”
“My God. Listen to yourself, Ellie. He treats you like shit and you defend him! You always do this. You always side with the people who treat you like shit and defend them.”
Spots could sense his mistress’s discomfort and licked her face. Not even that caused Ellie to smile.
“You promised three months.” Ellie muttered. “We can’t do anything for three months.”
Cassie sighed. “I did.”
“We still have a couple of months to go.”
She sighed again. “We do.”
The two women paused. Ellie frowned again.
“But promise me you’ll grow a spine.”
“I already have.”
“No, you haven’t. You let yourself get steamrolled over by people with stronger personalities.”
“But I stood up for that man today—the one with the sick daughter.”
“That’s different than standing up for yourself and you know it.”
“You’re right.” Ellie said; her whole tone sounded defeated.
“I know I am. Next time he snaps at you, you snap back and get right in Scrooge’s face.”
“I’ll talk to him in my own way at my own time.”
Cassie groaned in frustration. She heard this before—that was her sister’s way of dismissing her concerns.
“Now that I have some free time, I’m going to go to the soup kitchen.”
“All right. Have fun.”
***
Edric and Owen sat down in their usual seats in the living room of the Kensington penthouse. Edric laid down on the couch and fiddled with his stress ball—a normal habit for him these days. Owen lazily reclined in his chair and fiddled around on his cell phone. Edric was in a worse mood than usual.
“If you squeeze that thing anymore it’s going to pop.” Owen finally commented.
“Hmm?” Edric snapped out of his daydream and glanced over at his brother.
“Your stress ball.”
“Oh.”
“What the hell, man? You’re the one that makes this big stink about brother bonding time and you’re off in your own little world.”
Edric sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. How was school today?”
“It was good. I talked the teacher out of giving me detention?”
“Oh God, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything! I just said that I talked the teacher out of giving me detention. See? You’re not even listening to me.”
“I was listening to you. Your teacher was going to give you detention for a reason. What happened?”
Owen sighed. “I allegedly stuck gum in a girl’s hair.”
“Why the hell did you do that?”
“Allegedly!”
“Why did you allegedly do that?”
“It was Margaret.”
“Why don’t you just ask her out. Being mean to her and sticking gum in her hair isn’t doing you any favors.”
“Just like making someone stay late to plan a luncheon?”
Edric scoffed and turned his head to the side. “I don’t like Eleonore.”
“Then why do we always talk about her?”
“Because you insist on bringing her up!”
“Sure, Rick, we’ll go with that.” Owen continued to play around on his cell phone. After about thirty seconds, he spoke up. “How is Ms. Kent doing anyways?”
“I don’t want to talk about Eleonore.”
“Did you finally make a move and she rejected you?”
“No, Owen, that’s not what happened.”
“Then don’t keep me in suspense, what did happen?”
He pursed his lips together and ran his fingers through his brown hair. “One of my employees came in asking for some time off because his kid’s sick. I said no because I have work to do and a company to run.”
“And you’re an asshole.”
“Language, Owen.” Edric said, wearily.
“You may continue.”
“At any rate, I fired the guy because he was going to take time off and I can’t have some moocher on my payroll.”
“That’s harsh. He has a sick kid.”
“I know, and that’s unfortunate. I don’t mind personally helping him out but not with my company’s funds.”
“Let’s put that aside for now
. What’s Eleonore got to do with any of this?”
“At the end of the day, Eleonore asked me not to lay the guy off and to keep him on the payroll. It’s the right thing to do and I just did it. No questions asked. Because she asked.”
“Because you like her.”
“Owen.” The cross tone in which Edric spoke made him realize that this might not be the time to belabor the point.
“Well, what do you want to do about it?”
Edric tossed his stress ball in the air and caught it again. “I don’t know. Perhaps I should fire Eleonore. If she interferes with my ability to make decisions and conduct my business this much then maybe I need a new assistant.”
“Let’s not be too hasty. Does Eleonore do her job?”
“Yes. That and more.”
“Do you like having her in the office?”
Edric thought about the question for a second. “I guess so.”
“Then keep her around.”
“I don’t like having my mind cluttered by personal feelings. I shouldn’t just do something because she asked.”
“You do that for Violet and I and your maids and butlers and drivers and security team.”
“Because you all are my family and I trust that you aren’t going to screw me over.”
Owen laughed. “Now you’re being paranoid. Do you honestly think your assistant is going to backstab you?”
“I suppose she’s not the type.”
“See? Now just ask her out on a date.”
“I don’t like her.”
“Clearly you do.”
“Owen.”
His brother raised his hands in surrender. “All right, all right.”
“Besides, I don’t date my employees. Ever. Why would I risk a sexual harassment lawsuit and an awkward situation, when I could date supermodels?”
“Is that what you call it? I never once saw you go on an actual date with them.”
Edric felt himself blushing. My God, I’m turning red. Just like Eleonore.
“Yeah, we’re not having this conversation.”
“Okay, okay. Now just promise me that you won’t fire your assistant.”
“Only, if you promise me not to torment Margaret.”
“All right, big bro, you got yourself a deal.”
Edric leaned over on the couch and outstroke his arm to Owen. The two bumped fists.
A Sibling's Dilemma Page 9
