The drive to work was tense, to say the least; her mind was still preoccupied with last night's incidents.
Rebel's room had been far more severely burned than she'd made it sound over the phone, with clear traces of gasoline all around her bedframes and cupboard.
The man hadn't even bothered disabling the security cameras. He stayed out of their field of view, as if he knew every blind spot by heart.
Which meant only someone familiar with the villa's layout could have done it.
Someone like Lynx.
It made sense, in a way. Lynx had undoubtedly visited the villa several times, giving him ample opportunity to memorize the camera placements. Rebel's room's surveillance setup was no different.
But he'd never had a reason to enter the servants' quarters. He wouldn't know which room belonged to whom.
Her car drifted slightly to the right on the damp road, her thoughts settling on a certain pair of golden-brown eyes.
She had debated telling Lucas about her suspicions of Lynx. It wouldn't be an easy telling, and the latter was almost an indispensable asset for the underworld.
There was no way in hell he would just take her word for it.
Not that the asshole had been serious about his job, anyway. The motherfucker had spent the entire night teasing her about being worried for him.
Thankfully, both Lucas's and Mairi's rooms had been relocated to a completely different place, which hadn't been disclosed to many people yet.
Which was probably a good measure, considering the circumstances.
Most of the guests didn't think it was a big deal. Yet the same people had demanded extra security the moment they'd heard about the fire.
Since it had been "just" the servants' quarters, apparently there was no reason to worry.
Selfish assholes.
Needless to say, Shayna wasn't in the best mood that morning.
As she entered the main lobby, a sudden silence spread over the group of tiny interns at the corner table. Knowing them, they had probably just been gossiping about her right before she'd entered.
She silently rolled her eyes before moving on.
"One large black coffee, Mei," she muttered, resigned to her fate.
Mei did not move, just gave a rather apologetic glance.
"Mei, I'm not in a very good mood right now. You should probably not test my patience," Shayna warned.
"The office attendant actually did not come today," Mei informed politely.
Shayna cursed under her breath. The team's office attendant was a nineteen-year-old with a serious drug problem. He had a habit of showing up late, disappearing halfway through the day, and occasionally not showing up at all. Shayna had kept him around out of pity more than anything else.
She took a fifty-dollar bill out of the drawer.
"Get me a large one from across the road and get yourself something too," Shayna asked, handing her the money.
"Thank you, ma'am," Mei smiled before immediately hurrying out of the cubicle.
Might as well get started on this.
Shayna quietly got to her paperwork, her eyes slightly misty from missing sleep the last night.
There were three knocks on the door. Before Shayna could answer, a pair of black eyes appeared through the glass.
At least the eye candy's here.
"Come in," Shayna called.
Theodore nudged the door open with his shoulder, balancing an oversized takeaway coffee in one hand and a paper bag in the other. For a brief second, Shayna wondered how he intended to open the door without spilling either.
And then—
Wham.
Shayna barely had time to react before Theodore tripped over something near the doorway. The oversized takeaway coffee flew from his hands, splashing straight across her pristine white coat and laptop, while Theodore slammed himself shoulder-first into the edge of her desk before collapsing onto the floor like a spread-eagled bat.
The fuck?!
I should have believed the fucking horrorscope in the newspaper when it said I was in danger of burns....owwww.
The door opened again with a louder, more pronounced creak and a man stepped into the room. He looked to be in his mid-forties, with short brown hair, a clean-shaven face and an authoritative aura to him. His gaze swept across the room before settling on the soaked laptop, the coffee-stained coat, and Theodore sprawled on the floor.
Craig Reed, Shayna's senior director and a rather no-nonsense man.
Out of all the times on Earth he could have walked into the room- last week when she had been killing herself till 11 pm for that one folder or last to last week when she had taken care of...
"What is all of this, Miss Alonso?"
Craig stared at the unconscious—or at least very dazed—new employee on the floor for a long second before turning to Shayna.
Shayna started looking around her to see who he was talking to.
Oh, right. I'm Miss Alonso.
"My assistant here," Shayna replied, trying to hold back her tears, "slipped accidentally and got knocked out cold."
Theodore groaned, lying flat on his back for several seconds as though his soul had briefly left his body.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came here to collect the Atlas integration project file," Craig replied. "Thank goodness Graham reminded me, or I would have completely forgotten."
Of course it was Graham.
"Yeah, about that," Shayna rolled her eyes. The project was due two weeks before, so she could not even make an overnight excuse.
"It's..."Shayna grumbled, trying to think of something.
"It's?" Craig questioned, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"It's all this idiot's fault," Shayna muttered, pointing straight at Theodore, who was finally starting to get up. "The file wasn't backed up yet. Coffee went straight onto my laptop. I can't access it anymore."
She could practically hear the sound in his head.
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
"That's not responsible at all," Craig muttered, turning to Theodore. "Perhaps this isn't the right job for him after all?"
"No, no," Shayna replied hastily. "We shouldn't just fire a poor guy because of one little slip."
Theodore threw a dirty glance at Shayna while getting on his knees.
"Well, you're much kinder than I am, Miss Alonso," the man said, passing Theodore a nasty glance. "But make sure to remind him that it's a last warning. So, unless he wants to be breaking plates in a diner next, he should probably watch his steps."
"Sure."
"And get that laptop recovered. I need the project file by tomorrow."
"Yes, sir."
Craig left, closing the door behind him.
"You're a shameless fucking liar," Theodore muttered, wiping the coffee off his pants.
Shayna was taken aback by the sudden change in Theodore's demeanor.
"Language, Mr James. Just because you're new doesn't mean that I will be lenient towards you."
"Don't pull on that boss shit on me after what you just did. The laptop is still well and functioning."
"You should be thanking me. I just saved your ass from getting fired," Shayna fired back.
"Yeah, because of you," Theodore yelled back.
"So, who's going around like the fucking heroine in movies and stumbling over air?" Shayna yelled.
As she said it, her eyes suddenly saw a white translucent rope near the door where Theodore was standing.
Almost as if designed to trip someone over.
Those little bastards.
That's what they were laughing at when I was about to enter. They planned this deliberately.
Those little shits just volunteered for a month of overtime.
"Nice language," Theodore muttered sarcastically.
Well, it was too late to tell him now.
"So you're gonna apologise to me so that we can move forward with all this."
"Yeah, I'm gonna apologise," Theodore breathed, "for not throwing the whole damn thing on your stupid face."
That's it.
"Mr James, you seem to have forgotten where you are standing. I'm your fucking boss, and I have your fate in my hands."
Theodore stepped back, cursing under his breath.
"Your punishment is that you will stay after close with me tonight and help me prepare the project file, and you will stay here until it finishes," Shayna declared. "Unless you want to get fired, of course."
"Sure, madam," Theodore replied, a malicious glint appearing in his eyes. "I'd love to."