QUINN
"He's in a meeting at the moment but he should be done soon," Priyanka informed me while we both shot Gunnar's secretary a glare that could kill.
She was getting on my last nerve. I had been trying to get into Gunnar's office for the past half an hour and she refused to let me in. Since she wasn't part of the meeting, I figured that it had little to do with Astor Architecture and a lot to do with another arms deal. Gunnar had told her not to let anyone in while he was busy but I was almost certain that didn't apply to me.
"He won't mind if I go in but I'll wait since I'm apparently not permitted entrance," I sarcastically muttered, propping my hands on the curve of my hips.
"Forget it. Talking to her is like telling a brick wall to move," Priyanka snarled but that quickly turned into a grin when she turned to me, "you've got to tell me everything. Did you finally get that Vitamin D t
QUINN"Quinn, Quinn, have you listened to a single word I've said?" My father's booming voice pulled me out of my thoughts.I looked at him dumbfounded. Theo Harper — short for Theophilus— was a man everyone knew. He made his money through architecture for the most part. My father had opened his architectural firm when he was no less than thirty years of age. It was a massive achievement on his part — coming from a family with no wealth and rising to someone who had money spewing out of his ears. He had completely forgotten his roots though, letting money go to his head.I blinked once, then twice before nodding my head, "I heard you but why do I have to do this, can you not get someone else?""There is no one I trust more than you," my father said pointedly, his gruff voice could send shivers of fear through anyone, it didn't matter who you were, "if he wants to play dirty then I can too. He'
QUINNEntering my apartment, I made sure that my double locks were on. When my father told me he would be getting me an apartment I had not expected said apartment to be in the Bronx. However, I had to play the part of a struggling teenager trying to get a job. Unlike other teens, I wasn't working in a coffee shop as a barista or a book store — a place I'd much rather be. No, I was the overachieving eighteen-year-old trying to pull off being the personal assistant to one of the biggest dickheads in the history of dickheads.My dad truly did have everything planned out for the day of my interview. He paid every person attending to leave, which left me as the only option to be chosen. Gunnar wasn't all too happy with that. My interview went to shit as well. It was one thing practicing in front of my father and a completely different thing when in front of Gunnar Astor. He wasn't only a brooding, arrogant, billionaire CEO but
QUINN"Miss Quinzel!" Came the booming voice of my wonderful boss, Gunnar Astor. He had just gotten off the phone with Asher which put him in a foul mood.I flinched, nearly spilling the hot coffee I was about to sip on. Everyone on the floor looked at me with sympathy glazing over their eyes. They all knew not to come within a mile radius of Gunnar when he was in this state. Unfortunately, I couldn't duck for cover like the rest. I had to face the raging storm head-on and hope it didn't eat me up and spit me out before I had the chance to say one word.With a sigh, I placed my coffee onto the table and covered it with a coaster. I wasn't paranoid but growing up with a brother like mine taught me not to leave things unattended, or at least not to leave them open. Rising to my feet, I ran a hand over the soft material of the blue dress I wore to smooth out the creases. One of Gunnar's many issues was people no
QUINNQ. That was what I requested everyone to call me. They attempted to call me Daniella but I was never responsive when they did. I still wasn't used to the name. They even tried calling me Danny which made me cringe. It reminded me too much of my brother. So, I told them to call me Q - since my last name was meant to be Quinzel. Father did one thing right. Q was something I actually responded to since my brother had called me that since birth."Q, you can't let him use you as his verbal punching bag or as a literal one. I swear, if he touches a single hair on your body he's a dead man," my brother made a sound at the back of his throat that sounded awfully similar to a growl. His protective instincts always controlled him, "what if that mug had hit you? What would you have done?"I looked at my twenty-eight-year-old brother on the screen of my laptop, thinking over his question. He looked a lot like our f
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
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