Leonard Spencer had met a lot of people in his thirty three years, and in his line of business, nothing really surprised him or intrigued him that much anymore. People respected him…Actually, they were mostly afraid of him, and he had no issues with that.
They knew what he was capable of when he actually put his mind to it, and so they tried not to upset him, but clearly this woman standing before him didn't know enough about him, and for some reason he didn't quite understand, it intrigued him. She had long blonde hair… It was the first thing he'd noticed the first time he saw her. It reminded him of those Barbie dolls his cousins used to play with when they were kids, hence the reason why he couldn't stop calling her Barbie. She had it in a ponytail just like the last time too, and it emphasized her facial features and pretty neck, although Leo had a feeling that wasn't what she intended whenever she put her hair up like that.
Her skin looked soft and her make up was light. Just some powder, eyeshadow and lipgloss, but he noticed her lips anyways. Who wouldn't? They were full and juicy, especially as she had them in that stubborn pout, trying to look as intimidating as she could. He almost laughed again. She was scared, he could tell, but she was also keeping it together and a part of him was impressed.
"Your brother?" he questioned, feigning ignorance. So she was here to negotiate with him on her brothers behalf? Funny. "I don't see why you'd ask me to leave him alone when I clearly don't have him,"
"You hurt him!" Her voice cracked with emotion for a second, but he heard it, "You had him beaten up and you hurt him badly. What kind of a person does something like that?"
"Your brother owes me a lot of money," he said simply.
Susan concluded that she hated the way this man gave replies. He seemed to always reply to questions with a vague, simple sentence, as if that should be enough. It infuriated her.
"And you thought beating him up was going to get your money back? How exactly did you think that was going to help,"
He smirked, "Well, it would certainly help… Motivate him to get my money faster," he replied without remorse.
"He never said he wasn't going to pay back. He just doesn't have it yet. How do you justify doing this to people? How does it seem right to you?"
His eyes flashed and he took a step forward. The movement was so sudden that it startled Susan. Enough to make her take two steps backwards. Bad move, because all it did was bring her back against the wall, and now she looked like a frightened little mouse as Leo towered over her.
"If you think I give a shit about your morals or ideologies on what's right or wrong, then you are very mistaken, Barbie," he looked pissed now, as he added, "You brother has one week,"
"And if he doesn't have the money in a week?" she asked, knowing she didn't really want an answer to that question.
"Then we'll all find out what happens then, won't we?"
With that he turned around and headed back for the couch and sipped his drink, "I will send for you to be escorted back down," he said and reached for his phone.
"Wait!" Susan almost screamed without thinking,
He waited, and lifted his head to watch her through hooded eyes, "What?"
"What if I could help?" she asked, and then continued when he said nothing, "What if I...What if I did something for you…Something you needed …Something I could use to pay what my brother owes you… Or something to make up for it?"
Leo scoffed, but he had to give it to this woman. She was a rare breed. Relentless… Courageous and well, Thoughtless. "What could you possibly have to offer me?" he asked her, "What do you think I would need from you that I couldn't get for myself?"
His eyes roamed her body as he said the last words, and Susan's eyes widened as she realized that she'd not worded her questions properly. He couldn't possibly think that she was offering him herself, or was he?
"I could work for you. Run errands or something," she added desperately, "I worked in advertising at some point before I started Real Estate. So if you needed to sell something or buy a property or anything at all, I could help with it. I could offer my services for free,"
She was rambling, and she wasn't making any sense. Susan knew that, but she was desperate and could barely think straight.
"I don't need any of that, and you couldn't work for me even if I needed someone," Leo said, "You don't have the guts,"
"Excuse me?"
Did she sound offended? Was she offended?
Leo smiled at the disbelief in her voice, "You came up here, saw me and then you ran. We are only having this conversation right now because I sent Connor to get you. So like I said, you wouldn't have the guts to do anything I needed done,"
Even Susan didn't believe her next words. They came out of her mouth, but she felt like they were coming from another person because this certainly wasn't her. "What if I could?"
Leo angled his head to one side, "Could do what?"
"What if I could do it? What if I had the guts?" Her eyes never left his. She wanted to look away, but she wanted to look tough. She had a bad record in that area already and she knew that averting her eyes wouldn't do her any favors, so she kept her gaze locked with his.
Leo knew what he was about to do was crazy, but he was intrigued by this woman. He was honest enough with himself to admit it. She was nothing like the women he usually met. She was beautiful. Very beautiful, yes. But was just a regular girl, with a normal life. Normal office work. Normal family…
And maybe that was the reason why her offer to work for him intrigued him. He was curious. What would she do for him? How far would she go? It was a terrible thought, but he wasn't a good person, was he?
"4pm tomorrow," he heard himself saying, "Rotry Park,"
It took Susan a while to realize what he meant. He wanted her to meet him tomorrow. The door opened just as she was about to speak and the man who'd brought her into the room came in again.
"Escort her to her car…. Or down to the club if she wishes to stay," said Leo.
It was obvious by his countenance that she'd been dismissed, so she turned and headed out. She had a meeting with him tomorrow, although now she wondered if she'd made the situation even worse than it already was.
As she got to the door, Leo called out to her,
"And Oh. Don't show up here again like this, Barbie,"