The CEO's Assistant

Three days had passed since Arianna woke up in Liam's arms and while she tried not to think about it, she often found herself daydreaming about how safe she felt in his arms. She still wasn't sure what their relationship was exactly, all she knew was that they couldn't have one and whenever she came to that realisation a sharp pain spread through her heart.

"Miss Richard? Excuse me Miss Richard?" Sarah's soft voice echoed in the hall, as she quickly ran to catch up to Arianna, but her short legs and new heels made it difficult. "Arianna!" Her soft usual voice was replaced with a stern harsher voice, that she used on her 3-year-old. This caused Arianna to snap out of her fantasy and realise she'd been ignoring her colleague.

"Sorry Sarah, what's up?" Arianna stopped to see the small secretary huffed. She let out a small giggle as she looked at the woman.

"S...since..." Sarah stood there trying to catch her breath. Arianna grabbed some water from the cooler nearby handing it to the secretary, to swallowed it in one gulp. "Thank you. Anyhow since Ms Richard and Mr. Thomas being away on a business trip, CEO Harris is demanding a meeting with whomever is incharge, which happens to be you." Sarah was nervous, every time they'd left Arianna in charge they'd managed to move meets or proposals to another day, but CEO Harris was being extremely difficult and demanding.

"Great," Arianna let out a sarcastic sigh, "And what time will CEO Harris be here?"

"She's waiting in the reception area on floor 30th floor." Both women knew how arrogant CEO Harris could be, she would have forced her way up the building until security became tighter on the 30th floor.

"Send her to my office." Arianna strutted back down the hall towards her office, sensing her fl.u.s.tered and annoyed aura, the other employees pushed themselves against the walls to get out her way.

Sarah stood for a moment, watching Arianna, and she wasn't the only one. While both women were the same age, Sarah couldn't help but feel inferior to her colleague, however she harboured no hatred or jealousy towards the assistant, infact Sarah idolised her, 'she's who I want to be when I grow up,' she thought to herself.

Meanwhile down on the 30th floor a woman in her late 30's, in a black pencil skirt, navy blue suit jacket and new limited edition Gucci heels, was arrogantly demanding to see the person in charge. The impatient CEO was yelling at the security team, behaving like spoilt brat, it was clear to everyone on the floor that she obviously inherited the company and didn't actual do anything.

DING!

The elevator doors opened to reveal a small beautiful grey-eyed woman, her shoulders pushed back and her head held high as she elegantly glided towards the enraged woman. Everyone on the floor were thrilled to see her, perhaps they could finally get some work done.

"CEO Harris," her sweet soft voice spoke calmly and confidently. 'If Arianna can do it, so can I' Sarah thought to herself as she approached the intimidating woman.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" A harsh rude tone came from the tall woman towering over Sarah like skyscr.a.p.er, arrogantly stared down at her. Momentarily Sarah was immobilised, then she thought about what Arianna would do, taking a deep breath, she politely smiled.

"CEO Harris I am here to escort to see Miss Richard, however if you would rather stand there speaking to RF employees in such a manner I can always have these men escort from the building." Confidence oozed out of her, she knew she didn't have the authority to do that, however CEO Harris did not know that. It was like a rush of adrenaline flowed through her, it was invigorating.

"Finally, a sensible person. Let's go!" The woman's attitude did a complete 180, as she arrogantly strutted towards the VIP elevator, Sarah had just come from. The small secretary rolled her eyes as she quickly followed behind the woman, swiping her access pass at the elevator.

When they arrived the 40th floor, Sarah stepped out quickly walking towards Arianna's office. The woman behind her looked around to see the amazing view of Paris from this high up, despite her age, CEO Harris hadn't been in her position very long, in fact her father almost refused to give her the position if she didn't complete a business degree.

"Hurry up, Miss Richard isn't known for her patience." One of the employees that walked passed as she spoke, had to do a double take to make sure it was really Sarah he saw. He'd never seen her with so much confidence.

"Yes." She hurriedly caught up to the small secretary, as she was looking around she noticed a large with a sign that read 'Joan Richard' however Sarah was leading her in the opposite direction. This caused a surge of suspicion to spread through her, but she decided to push the thought to the back of her mind and follow the secretary.

Sarah stopped in front of a large frosted glass door and knocked.

"Come in."

Sarah pushed the door open to reveal a beautiful slender woman elegantly sitting behind a large glass desk, staring at her desk top computer.

"Miss Richard, CEO Harris is here to see you." Sarah stepped to the side to allow the woman behind her enter. With a perplexed mein, the CEO walked into the office and looked around, she'd wasn't sure who this woman was, but it certainly wasn't Joan Richard, just who is she and why was she brought here?

"Thank you Sarah, you may go."

"Yes." Sarah left quicker than she came, shutting the door behind her and breathing a sigh of relief. 'Thank god that's over' she thought to herself.

Meanwhile inside the office.

"Good Morning CEO Harris, please take a seat." Arianna raise her hand to gesture towards the seats opposite her desk, without looking away from her computer.

The confused CEO studied the woman in front of her. Her long c.h.e.s.tnut hair tied into a simply but stylish high ponytail with a slight curl, showing off her naturally beautiful face, her business suit was from RF recent business line and her heels were limited edition Chanel. Whoever this woman was she definitely came from money.

"Who are you?" Despite her analysis, she knew this woman wasn't CEO Richard, so why was she here and why did that secretary refer to her as Miss Richard? "Do you take me for a fool, I know you're not Joan Richard, did you think you could fool me by getting your secretary to call you 'Miss Richard', I am Eleanor Harris, I am not that easy to manipulate." Starting to sound more like a toddler throwing a tantrum, Eleanor acted completely irrationally. She'd only been a CEO for about two years, and her company was too small to have dealt with RF frequently enough for her to be familiar with Arianna.

"ANSWER ME!" She demanded. Afterall she was a CEO she deserved respect.

Suddenly the room got cold, and quiet she noticed the woman had stopped typing.

Arianna brought her hand up, gracefully pulling her glasses off her face and carefully placing them on her keyboard. Without so much as a sound, Arianna's eyes became cold and emotionless, becoming like two dark endless abysses, her powerful aura sent shivers down Eleanor's spine, however the CEO was too proud to back down.

"Mrs. Harris, I suggest you take a seat." Arianna's voice was calm, but cold and serious.

"Just who do you think you are giving me demands." Eleanor's facade was of the brink of crumbling, but she wasn't about to show that. "I was told I would be taken to speak to Ms Richard and YOU are clearly NOT Ms Richard."

"No, I'm NOT MS. Richard, I am however her daughter, MISS Richard, so I suggest you SIT DOWN!" Arianna's commanding voice echoed out of her office, the other employee, shivered glad it was CEO Harris and not them.

Eleanor crossed her arms, raising her head, remaining motionless.

"Don't act so arrogant in here, because to I may only be an assistant, but-"

"Wait, you're only an assistant?" Eleanor let out a laugh, "What am I even doing talking to you, do you think, because you're her daughter you have the authority to have meetings in her place."

"Mrs. Harris, I suggest you think very carefully about how to speak to me," Arianna gracefully stood up from her desk, slowly strutted towards her in such a way that put the former model to shame. "because while I may only be an assistant and you may be the CEO. However, I am a powerful assistant in large company, you're a powerless CEO of a small company, that one word from me and no-one would ever hire your models ever again."

"Y...you don't scare me!" Eleanor tried to hide her fear, but Arianna could see right through her.

"I think you should be." Arianna's patience had run out, her golden eyes glared with fury at the older woman standing a metre away. "Now since you have wasted my time, you can get out of my office, and I'll see that your modelling agency won't see next year."