QUINN
"Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" I exasperated, hopping on one foot while I tried to fit my other foot into my black heeled pumps, "He's going to kill me dead!"
Venus gave me that look, the one that looked as if she were raising a condescending eyebrow at me and then barked, sitting down on her hind legs and watching me intently.
"Don't look at me like that," I chastised, finally getting the shoe on. Squaring my shoulders, I ran a hand down the maroon dress I wore and sighed, "I'm not being dramatic. This asswipe could kill me and bring me back to life if he wished. I have a feeling he and the devil are tight as—" I paused, looking at my corgi's perked ears, "well, they're tight, let's leave it at that."
She barked again, padding her way out of the room so she could get to her food bowl in the kitchen. I was exhausted. When I didn't want to sleep, it came easily but when I was in desperate need of sleep it decided to boycott me. Murphy's law I guess. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. And it did. My alarm failed to ring this morning. All four of them! And Venus got bored at night and ate one of the sketches I had been working on.
My freaking dog ate my homework! What the shit?
To top it off, I burnt my hair while setting it and had to not wear make-up because it was taking me too long to get the wing on each eye perfect. As I said, whatever could have gone wrong, went wrong. Murphy's law was in full effect today and I only expected things to get worse. That meant I would definitely be hearing an ear full from Gunnar every time I messed up. I was getting deaf just thinking about it. He had a nice voice, but all he used it for was to scream and chew everyone's heads off.
He was probably the clown from IT. Only, this one targeted adults and not children. It was all beginning to make sense. No wonder he scared the living daylights out of me. He was like Pennywise, Squidward, Eeyore, and freaking Johnny Bravo wrapped in one annoying ass package.
I pulled on my black blazer, grabbing my handbag and phone, "Venus, I'm leaving. Behave please, no peeing on the rugs and especially no number two, three, or four!" I ran awkwardly toward the door, blowing her a kiss and waving, "mummy loves you." With those words, I closed and locked the door behind me. Making extra certain that the door was locked because I honestly didn't trust my neighbors.
I ran down the five flights of stairs as fast as I could. It was already six and I was meant to be at the office at six. Why the hell did I agree to such an early time? Was I stupid? I was beginning to think so. It was already so late when Gunnar had phoned me last night and I wondered what time he got home. Frankly, I wondered if the man got any sleep at all considering he would have needed to get up extra early this morning.
By the time I made it to the last step I was huffing and puffing for air. My internal organs were all screaming at me, begging me to never put them through that again.
Sorry buddy, we need to exercise.
At least, those were the words I pictured my brain telling my other organs with a disapproving look. I exited the building and found a blacked-out Mercedes AMG C63 waiting at the entrance. A man dressed in a crisp white suit and black button-down stood with the door open, waiting expectantly for me.
I walked up to him, cocking a brow in question, "I'm sorry but do I know you?" I had to ask because one: this could have been one of dad's new drivers or two: Gunnar miraculously sent a car to pick me up instead of leaving me to the dogs to hail a cab.
"Miss Daniella Quinzel," the man said and I knew from the name he used that this was a ride sent by Gunnar, "sir thought you'd reach the office quicker in one of his cars so he sent me to pick you up."
I pressed my lips into a thin line, "How nice of him." I muttered under my breath as I got into the car.
It wasn't as if him sending a car made much of a difference. The traffic in New York was heinous and impossible to tolerate. I hated the continuous sound of honking horns, the stench of fumes tainting the air, the lack of stars in the night sky because of all the pollution created by the dumbasses living here. If it were up to me, I'd move to the country where the air would be cleaner and the skies were clearer.
It took us fifty-two minutes to reach the highrise that was owned by Gunnar. It was now close to seven and I was officially an hour late. I scurried in, showing the security my ID card and swiping in to start my day of work. The place was still empty. People would only come in from half-past seven onward and that was only if they started work at eight.
I waited for the elevator and when it finally dinged open, I stepped in and pressed the button leading to floor number seven. Lucky number seven gave you a stunning view of the city below. If you were like me though, that view quickly turned morbid because I had these strange thoughts that lingered in my head.
Like now for instance, what if the cable ties snapped and I went crashing to my doom?
I wasn't pessimistic. I just thought of the weirdest stuff. The elevator came to a stop and with a ding, the doors parted to my floor. I stepped out and looked around. It was eerily quiet that it had goosebumps raising on the surface of my skin. Clenching my molars to keep a strangled squeak in, I walked over to my desk. It was untouched from the day before, as usual.
Going up to the door that read 'Gunnar Astor' on it, I knocked gently and waited to be permitted to enter. After about a minute of no response, I knocked again to get the same outcome. Getting frustrated, I released a low growl. It was early in the morning, I hadn't had my morning coffee and toast — toast was God's greatest gift to mankind. No one appreciated it enough. I was hungry, moody, suffering from a lack of sleep, and this infuriating man wasn't doing the simplest thing of saying 'come in'.
Growing tired of standing there, I turned the knob of the door and opened it a crack to stick my head in. Confusion enveloped me when I found the room empty. My feet worked on their own accord, stepping into the room and silently closing the door behind me. I had never taken in Gunnar's office before. He had a corner office with two sides being windows overlooking the city. That allowed ample light to flood into the room. Oyster white walls gave the impression of the place being bigger than it was with black shelves lining the left adjacent wall. His furniture was simple; a single two-seater leather couch was placed under the black shelving, and the usual desk and chairs you would find in any office. The place lacked any emotional appeal — no family pictures, no personal taste that could give you an inkling of who or what Gunnar Astor was as a man.
The sound of a door unlocking resonated through the room and I stilled like the freaking statue I always turned to in his presence. A door creaking opened followed next and I watched as everything moved in slow motion. I fisted the hem of my blazer in my palms and gulped when Gunnar stepped out of a room adjoined to his office. The black button-down he wore was open, tanned skin and chiseled body left on display. His dress slacks hung low on his hips and my eyes traced the lines leading down bellow, completely drinking up this God-like man. I immediately snapped my eyes up and found Gunnar's brown locks looking darker than usual and damper — he had just taken a shower.
Letting out a shaky breath, I brought my eyes to his. They were green, flakes of golden brown swimming in their depths and a ring of brown surrounding the orbs. I rocked on the balls of my feet as I stammered out, "S-sorry."
"Miss. Quinzel," he cut me off with a commanding tone, not even fazed by the fact I had literally been ogling him, "you're late."
"Yes, well...I...uh," his God damn body was too distracting. My mouth ran dry and my brain just simply ran away.
Murphy's freaking law!
"You what, Miss Quinzel?" His voice was deep and I imagined it vibrated in his chest when he spoke.
"Traffic, it's because of traffic," I pointed my thumb at the door awkwardly, "I'll just...you know."
Zeus, strike me with your all-mighty thunderbolt!
"There's no need for that. There's still about forty five minutes left until you have to show your face out there," he said, finally doing up his shirt buttons.
I was still plenty flustered though, "No...uh...I shouldn't have come in."
"Yes, you shouldn't have. You lack decent manners but I guess that's expected from someone of your age," he growled, irritation quickly finding its way onto his face, "in the same manner you lack time management."
I scowled at him. Full-on glare that could have Hades shitting his briefs, "You're only ten years older than me," okay, but in my defense, that sounded a whole lot better in my head.
"And with that ten years comes maturity," he scoffed, "not that you'll find any by then."
Oh yeah, because Mr. Temper Tantrum was acting real mature right now!
I wanted to shove my middle finger in his face and scream 'here's a big fuck you from the universe you dick' and I was certain if I did do that, my brother would have been extra proud of me. But, I couldn't offend the boss, and again, being confrontational just wasn't my thing. I kept the snarky stuff to myself.
"I'm just going to be out there until you're done," I murmured to myself, turning on my heel to make a hasty exit.
"The blueprints are on my table. Have a look at them while I get ready. You have until half-past eight to make whatever changes you wish to make. You will be getting the credit you deserve if there are changes. At nine I have a meeting which you will also be attending," when he was done giving me his list of orders he finally breathed.
Panic set in. If he gave me credit — which I probably would deserve, that would mean my father would find out about my involvement. I just couldn't have that. Making my way to the desk, I rounded it and looked at the blueprints, "You don't need to give me credit."
"I don't plan to have you suing me in the near future for stealing your ideas just so you can make a quick buck, Miss. Quinzel. Anyway, you're the first person I know who wouldn't want to get credit for their work," he tucked his shirt into his pants and did up the belt buckle before situating himself behind me. Gunnar was too close, so close that the warmth of his body seeped into my back, "why is that?"
"I'm not the attention seeker you seem to think I am," I said through clenched teeth because I couldn't afford to embarrass myself further by making strange noises. Skimming over the design, I noticed that it was completely different from the first. It had hints of Victorian design elements with the many modern touches that Astor Architecture was known for. Then I turned my attention to the list of resources he would use to make the design a reality. I was appalled by the third item on the list, "Why are you using recycled concrete?"
"They want to keep the budget low, it's cheaper if we u—"
I cut him off, "Yeah cheaper but can you imagine how many lives you're endangering by using recycled concrete instead of the actual thing. Because it's recycled, it's weaker, it will crumble, and when it eventually does, not only will Asher and the construction company be blamed but so will you because apparently, it's your suggestion."
"There's no time to make self-righteous decisions when you're sitting in a position like this, Miss. Quinzel. I simply do what makes the clients happy."
See what I meant. Working on Wall Street meant your morals were easily bought!
"Yeah, well, they can lower their budget some other way or they can take their contract elsewhere. If you're truly looking out for your business you'll see I'm right," I challenged, making my voice strong and gathering all the courage I could because standing up to Gunnar was unheard of.
But I still had my respect and morals intact.
"I'll mention it to Asher when I approach him at the ball," Gunnar's jaw muscle ticked double time. He was that bomb again and the timer was running out. If I didn't run for cover soon, I'd be caught in the blast.
"No, if you really want to do this project you'll talk to him now and make sure he doesn't use this stuff otherwise I don't wish to be apart of this project. Good luck wowing the man!" I shoved past him, making a beeline for the exit without looking back.
GUNNARA woman who hadn't raised her voice or spoken out of line to me during her two months of working here somehow managed to tell me off and storm out of my office, leaving me flabbergasted. The day she came for her interview was the day I knew I would hate the stupid girl. Because she was exactly that, a girl. An eighteen-year-old girl, fresh out of high school who wanted to be my PA. And as luck would have it, no one else wanted the position so I had no choice but to hire her.Two months down the line and she was still here. Besides Katie, she was the only girl that lasted this long. Everyone else quit in a matter of days, maybe two weeks at most. I had a temper, that wasn't unknown to anyone. Taking out my anger on the first person I saw was generally the way I dealt with that temper. And the first person I usually saw was always my assistant who all happened to be girls that could not handle me.I thou
QUINN"No way!" I gagged to emphasize how disgusted I was by my mother's selection of dress and mask for the ball. The world would have to be ending for me to wear the nasty pink, girly frock she picked out and my brother was right, the mask was way too revealing, "Mom, how about I pick something to wear."She narrowed her blue eyes in on me. My mother's blue eyes were much different from mine. Her's held a green hue around the pupil before subtly fading into a murky blue, "You better not use this as an excuse to back out of the ball." She warned in her pixie voice which I couldn't take seriously.My mom was short and adorable in all sense of the words. Her strawberry blonde hair was cropped short and left in natural waves, and her button nose and pouty lips made her look like she belonged on a cast of Tinkerbell. She had laugh lines etched along with the corners of her lips which was expected since she was a
QUINNI wiggled my way into the skirt of the white two-piece I chose to wear. The top was a sleeveless turtle neck, embellished with silver lace appliqués. Only a sliver of my tummy showed before the skirt started with its flowy chiffon material that was set in layers. A short skirt lay under so no one could see the world down there. This was the perfect dress for me and I was glad that Delphine had already kept it aside for me, predicting that I would hate the dress my mom chose.Delphine had even chosen the perfect mask. It was pearl white with silver and gold designs and covered most of the top half of my face, only leaving my stunning blue eyes and pouty pink lips on display. That worked in my favor since word of me being at the ball got around very quickly. Everyone wanted to see the face of Theo Harper's daughter. They wanted to see how I looked to criticize me in the next freaking issue of PEOPLE magazine. I so desper
QUINNBeing crowded all evening was an introvert's worst nightmare. I was said introvert and currently, I was being asked so many questions by so many people that it had my head spinning. My brother tried making a run for it the moment mom and dad had their backs turned but that did him no good. He ran into Braxton — mom's sister's eldest son and our cousin. Braxton never left his side after that. I guess it was a good thing that Danny and Braxton were close or else Danny would have been really annoyed.I found my escape when the tent's lights dimmed and mom and dad took the floor to dance to the song they danced to on their wedding day — their first dance as husband and wife. Everyone's focus temporarily shifted to them which finally gave me the breather I needed. Using the distraction, I exited the tent and made my way down the stone-paved path in the garden.We had a beautiful garden because mom had hired
QUINN Squaring my shoulders, I waited for the elevator to ding open on my floor. I returned to my apartment Sunday morning, ignoring everyone at home since they refused to give me the answers I was looking for. That was a given though. They wouldn't be straight with me because I wasn't privy to their little secret. Or, by the looks of it, not so little secret. The elevator doors finally parted and I inhaled sharply. For this to work, I needed to pretend as if I knew nothing about the brawl that took place Saturday night. If I slipped up, the devil would figure out that there was something amiss with me. We didn't need that. Facing his wrath was something I wanted to postpone as long as possible — or until I got the answers I was looking for. I strode with my head held high, my handbag in one hand and a tray with two coffees in the other. My mind kept replaying the events of that night, wondering how I c
QUINNIt was Venus' howling and her jumping on top of me that eventually woke me up. I groaned, running my fingers over her soft fur, "Quiet down, Venus. If they hear you they're going to kick you out," my neighbor's were a pain in the ass and looked for every reason to complain about me so I gave them nothing to complain about.She whined, nudging my face with her snout and running her prickly tongue over my cheek. Venus was never this persistent to go out and she never needed to do her business at night. I trained her well, taking her out every night and then making sure to let her out every morning."Venus, stop, please. Let me sleep," I chastised, pulling the covers over my head and turning to the other side.That was when I heard it, the pounding on my door and my name being called in what sounded like an angry growl. Well, it wasn't my name. It was the name he knew me as. The thought of
GUNNARThere were many uncertainties in this world but there was one thing I knew I could bet my life on and that was coming here to protect myself. They wouldn't dare to do anything as long as she was involved. If I kept her close to me at all times, my life would be safe. I didn't care if that meant using her and I could put up with occasionally flirting with her just to elude her. However, I was tethering on a mighty thin line. Just one look into those innocent blue eyes nearly had me revealing everything. I almost said too much.It sickened me. She really thought that she could fool me with her less than brilliant accent. Her age matched, her distinct hair color and eye color did too. If that wasn't enough proof, the fact that Daniella Quinzel had no social presence whatsoever was a major telltale that something was up. I couldn't dig up any important information on her when I tried. The little information I did find loo
QUINN"Stupid Gunnar," I yelled, throwing a blouse into my suitcase, "asshole, dickhead, cactus of a man," I cursed, throwing a few more items of clothing into the bag, "he's such an ungrateful, pompous fool," I complained, facing Venus who had her ears perked in my direction, "I should have let him bled out. No loss to mankind.""Then why didn't you?" Ace quizzed, glaring at me with interest shining in his hazel eyes that had stunning flecks of green swimming in them. I had almost forgotten he was here. He sat so perfectly still and silent.My eyes caught the sight of his glock tucked into his waistband and I gulped. I couldn't reply to him, not when he was intimidating as Hell. It pissed me off that he took away my phones and other devices, daring me to fight him for them with a stupid smug grin."You grow awfully quiet when someone speaks to you," he murmured, voice too slick and charmi