MAXIM
He blinked in shock after Ava hung up on him.
For a moment, he simply stood in his office, staring at Havari City through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the room, stunned beyond measure.
Maxim had never had anyone hang up on him before. What Ava had just done was definitely a first for him, and he found that he really disliked such a thing happening to him.
In fact, Maxim was very pissed, feeling disrespected for the first time in a long time. If anyone else besides Ava had done what she did, Maxim would have definitely taught that brave individual a painful and unforgettable lesson.
But since it was Ava, Maxim did little more than take a deep breath and let out his frustration.
She's just angry, Maxim told himself. She didn't mean it.
But when would she come around?
As the doubts started trickling into his mind, Maxim acknowledged that this wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He knew from the six months of dating Ava that she had a mind of her own and could be very stubborn when she wanted to be.
And it probably didn't help his case that he kept forcing his will on her, Maxim knew.
He sighed in resignation as he thought about the issue.
In the end, he concluded that this was ultimately the right move. Sure, his behavior was definitely antagonizing Ava, but it was also the quickest way to allow her to get used to the idea of having him in her life.
He had to make her accept him, and quickly.
But until such a time, Maxim guessed that he'd probably be getting hung up on a lot or subjected to other types of antagonistic treatment.
Maxim sighed wearily.
The things he had to endure for love.
Speaking of which, he wished Ava hadn't hung up on him this morning, and this wasn't just because he'd wanted to keep hearing her lovely voice.
Maxim had also wanted to inform her about the guy he'd sent to install a new security system at her place later that day.
But she'd find out soon enough, he thought logically.
And when she did, he would doubtless hear about it from her.
Maxim couldn't wait for that to happen, for Ava to talk to him.
Anything she had to say to him was welcome, even if it was an angry tirade, he thought with a smile.
At that moment, he heard the door to his office opening.
Maxim turned in that direction, slipping his phone into his suit jacket before stuffing his hands into his trouser pockets.
He only had a moment to compose himself before a young woman stepped inside his office, carrying a thin folder and several documents.
It was Maxim's secretary, Genevieve Bieber.
She was tall and dressed in a black pencil skirt, a blouse, and high heels. Her dark hair was pulled into a neat bun. As usual, a smile rested on her lips that didn't reach her eyes.
"Hey, Max," she said to her boss while closing the door. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Genevieve was always informal when she talked with Maxim, despite him repeatedly telling her not to behave like this and to act in a professional manner.
Maxim would normally have fired another person who acted like Genevieve, but he couldn't do that to her. That's because she wasn't just an ordinary employee to him.
Maxim had met her three years ago while he was tracking down a man who had stolen his wallet.
That man turned out to be Genevieve's stepfather.
And he'd found the guy at his home, dead by Genevieve's hand.
The twenty-one-year-old girl had tortured her stepfather past the point of recognition before stabbing him in the heart. When Maxim arrived, Genevieve had been about to swallow some pills in an attempt to commit suicide, but Maxim stopped her.
The only explanation he ever gave for that was that he'd wanted to hear from her what had happened.
Genevieve had no problem quietly explained to him that months earlier, her stepfather had killed her mother and younger sister in a drunken rage.
Then he'd gone on the run.
The police hadn't been able to find him, so a determined Genevieve had decided to go hunting for him by herself.
She'd meant to report him to the police, she told Maxim, but when she found him, she couldn't help herself.
She'd knocked him out in an alley with a log she'd found, stuffed him into her car, and brought him to his home, where she tortured him for three straight days before killing him.
The plan had been to kill herself afterward, but Maxim had botched her plans with his arrival.
She'd then begged Maxim to give her back her pills or kill her himself, if he preferred it.
Maxim hadn't been able to bring himself to do either of those things because Genevieve had reminded him a bit of Clara, both in looks and age.
So he'd cleaned up her crime scene and taken the woman to a mental health facility complete with a team of doctors, medicine and therapists whom he thought could take care of her and make her normal again.
This had worked in some ways, but not in others.
After a few months, Genevieve no longer wanted to kill herself, but the doctors detected some psychopathic tendencies in her.
They were also concerned about her ability to integrate into normal society without putting others in danger.
Unlike her doctors, Maxim didn't give up on her.
He knew there was still good in her despite what she had done. After all, he had also done some nasty things but liked to think that a little bit of his soul had survived all that.
That said, he also knew that Genevieve needed an outlet for her murderous impulses so she wouldn't create problems for herself.
And so he had brought her into his life, unleashing her on his enemies whenever he saw the need while keeping her as a secretary so he could regularly keep an eye on her.
Maxim occasionally regretted his decision to do this, as he had to deal with the girl's sassiness and disrespect, like in this moment right now.
He glared at her as she came inside the room.
"That's not how this works, Genevieve," Maxim told her sternly. "You're supposed to knock, check if I'm free, and if I say I am, that's when you enter."
"Next time," she said innocently.
"You always say that," Maxim said, frowning.
Genevieve just gave him one of her not-quite-smiles.
"I need you to sign these documents," she said, depositing them on Maxim's desk. "They're acquisition and financial authorization documents."
In response, Maxim just looked at the papers and the woman wearily.
He wished she and the papers could disappear from his office at that moment.
That's because he wasn't in the mood to work.
One might wonder why he bothered to come to the office if that was the case.
Well, the reason was that he'd been hoping to take his mind off Ava by keeping busy, but that plan had failed dismally.
So much so that he'd even ended up calling her.
That hadn't helped things, since thoughts of her ran around his mind in a way that threatened to leave him disoriented.
Only slightly concerned, he wondered if this was how it felt to be addicted.
"Maxim," Genevieve called in a sharp voice, pulling him from his thoughts. "Are you going to sign the papers or just stare at them all day?"
Once Maxim snapped back to reality, he cursed himself internally for his lack of focus.
"Of course I'm going to sign the documents. I was just reading them," he said while reaching into his pocket for a pen.
Genevieve crossed her arms and squinted at him suspiciously.
"You're able to read documents which are upside down on the table?" she commented sarcastically. "Of course, I should have realized."
Maxim didn't respond to her, not wanting to encourage her. He continued trying to retrieve his pen from his pocket but it turned out to be empty. His face showed a hint of surprise as he wondered where his pen was because he'd felt sure that it had been there.
"If you're looking for your pen, it's in your other hand," Genevieve reminded him calmly.
Maxim froze at her words.
He looked down at his fingers, which were tightly clutching the pen, and realized she was right.
With a frustrated sigh, he reached for the documents and began scanning them, the pen still in his hand.
"You seem very distracted today, boss," Genevieve said, making him pause. "Is there a particular reason or maybe a particular person that is causing this."
Maxim looked at her, his blue eyes meeting her brown ones, which held no hint of her thoughts.
"No. And I'm not distracted. Everything is perfectly fine," he informed her.
As he was lying, it took effort to maintain eye contact with Genevieve's eyes, which gave away little and saw too much.
Maxim used the documents as a way to avoid her inquisitive look.
Genevieve was totally right about him being distracted, but that didn't mean Maxim was about to tell her this or about his love life.
That part was completely off-limits to her and everyone else, including his own family.
"There's no use denying it, Max. Especially since you've been staring at the same page for about two minutes."
With an annoyed expression, Maxim looked down at the page and realized that she was right about this too.
He cursed under his breath, more annoyed with himself for his lack of focus than with Genevieve and her observations.
"Do you have a point?" he asked through gritted teeth.
The woman's lips curled into a knowing smile.
"I just want to know what's going on, that's all."
"There's nothing going on," Maxim insisted again. "But even if there was, it is none of your business, all right?"
"But—"
"Look, Genevieve. I know that you and I have always had an unusual relationship, but this is still an office, and I'm still your boss. You cannot be asking me such invasive questions."
"Invasive questions? I just asked why you were distracted," she said in her defense.
"Genevieve!" Maxim warned in an annoyed voice.
At this, the girl looked at him with a disbelieving before pursing her lips. She then reluctantly nodded at him, shifting her gaze to the floor as if properly chastised.
Satisfied, Maxim was about to return to the folder when Genevieve said,
"So who's Ava? She's the one who's got you fucked up, right?"
At the mention of Ava's name, Maxim slowly lifted his head in Genevieve's direction, anger blazing in his eyes.