The Sweet Poison of Revenge

by Storm, Victory

"And how do you know?" I asked, avoiding getting stuck on what she had said about Rick.

  "I overheard her talking to someone at Prestige on the phone, saying she's not happy with her job and that she's looking for a new ad agency," Audrey explained.

  I knew that woman. She was Savannah Summering, a rather fickle but extremely wealthy woman, passionate about make-up. I had tried to take her in, but the Marshall Company had preceded me.

  "I know that woman. She has a reputation for being very unpredictable. I am not surprised the Marshall Company is having difficulty. However, I know their leading creative director and I know that he will be able to satisfy her requests ,” I commented, trying to remain impassive, even if inside me I already had in mind a way to bring Savannah Summering to my side.

  "The Marshall Company?" Audrey wondered.

  "Yes, are you familiar with it?"

  "No, but I also have news about this agency: it has lost its chief creative director, and everyone is concerned about it."

  That was some news!

  The Marshall Company had always been one of my main rivals. The idea of seeing it fail made me jump for joy.

  I would have stolen every available customer!

  As well as the artistic director!

  "Do you know why the creative director left?" I asked.

  "I don’t know that. I only caught part of the conversation while serving lunch to a group of agency employees when I was working at Prestige. “

  "What you've just revealed to me is extremely important and profitable, if used to my advantage."

  "I know."

  "Who else did you give this information to?"

  "Nobody," she answered sincerely. “Even though I wanted to save it for the next job interview at the Keith Company. That is if I pass the first round of interviews. They've had my resume for four days now, but they never called me back. "

  "I doubt they will."

  "I think so too," she snorted in surrender, curling a lock of hair around her finger, as she did when she was nervous and worried.

  It was unthinkable that such a clever woman in the marketing and administrative sector had been rejected during the preselection.

  I had worked alongside her for six years and knew how smart and determined she was.

  "What do you want in return, for you not to spread this news?"

  "You want exclusive rights, if I understand correctly."

  "Exactly. This is business. "

  Audrey looked at me for a long time and with a strange intensity. She was the only one who could look at me like that.

  That was how I fell in love with her.

  In love…

  I was not simply in love.

  I was literally crazy about her.

  So much so, that I could not think of anything but her.

  I had to clench my fists not to touch her and get closer to her, with a sudden desire to kiss her.

  'In return, I'm only asking for a little kindness. I do not want to revive the past and repeat for the umpteenth time the reasons for our separation are not what you think. I just want to start over and take over the reins of my life. "

  "Nothing will ever be as before," I warned her.

  “I know and I am not asking. I just wish that if you meet me on the street, you do not treat me like an outcast of society. I did not come back to Chicago to annoy or intrude on your life or work. I just want to find a job, pay off some old debt and enjoy a coffee without worrying about tomorrow. That is all I ask."

  Her words and the streak of sadness and melancholy that I read on her face alarmed me.

  I sensed a weakness in Audrey, which I had never seen before.

  There was something wrong, but I avoided expressing aloud the thousand questions that crowded my mind.

  5

  Zane

  “I'm nearly working twenty-four hours a day to meet the biggest customers of the Marshall Company. Now the news is starting to spread, and we have little time to get the goods before someone else comes to blow it. However, everything I am doing is not enough. We need reinforcements,” Ryan exploded, my right arm, after two intense days, in search of the golden business of the year.

  "I am here too, or have you forgotten?"

  "I know, but that's not helping us, since you're neglecting the ongoing negotiations and never answering the phone."

  "My secretary does that."

  "Zane, which secretary are you talking about?"

  I did not answer. Sarah had been the last one and, I had fired her after Audrey's arrival. I was so out of my mind that I did not even remember doing it and I had not posted the job yet.

  “I have never known a boss worse than you. You are faultless in your job, but with your personal assistants you are bad. I have been working for you for more than three years and I can tell you with certainty that in this period of time you have changed more than fifty secretaries. No one can put up with you for more than a month. Either because you treat them badly or because they do not try hard enough, in your opinion. Do you know what you really want?” My friend burst out frustrated.

  Audrey ... She was perfect.

  "I don't want anything, I just want them to do the job they are being paid for," I answered determinedly.

  6

  Zane

  "Today my wife asked me if I have a lover, since I have gone back home for three days just for a shower and three hours of sleep," Ryan chuckled as we were about to have a bite to eat at Prestige , since I couldn't take any more of the takeout food and needed a breath of fresh air.

  “I work twenty hours a day and she thinks I have time for a lover! Doesn't it seem absurd to you? “Ryan continued, while I tried to distract myself, looking at the windows of the shops and bars overlooking the sidewalk.

  Hearing Ryan talking about his wife always made me uncomfortable and the accusations his wife was making were not new to me.

  When I was married, Audrey also often asked me, in times when I was often absent, too busy from a negotiation or backlog.

  Was it possible that women thought only of that? To be betrayed?

  My God, I would rather die rather than betraying Audrey with the risk of losing her!

  "Are you listening to me? I know you are a declared bachelor, allergic to marriage ... You don't know what it means to have a wife by your side. "

  Unfortunately, I know, and how!

  "Exactly. I don't know and I don't care, "I said shortly, while my gaze caught Audrey’s figure, who carried a tray full of dishes towards a table, inside a small restaurant, the Sander's Place. "Let's eat here," I decided on impulse, without thinking.

  "Here?! Didn't you say that this place is not good? “Ryan was surprised, but I didn't even answer him and went in without waiting for him.

  As soon as I crossed the threshold and approached the counter, I saw Audrey come towards me, her eyes wide with despair.

  “Zane, please, I really need this job! You can't always get to my third and the last day of the trial period and make me lose my job. "

  “I am here to eat. And I am with a friend, 'I stopped her, ignoring her concern and her pale face. That day she did not look good.

  "Okay, I'll get you right in," she understood, waving hello to Ryan, who had joined me in the meantime, and taking us to a free table. "What can I get you?"

  "What do you recommend?" Ryan asked seductively. He always liked to make women lose their heads, even if he never did anything out of respect for his wife, who was truly a saint.

  “The tuna. It is fresh and the cook has a special recipe with tomatoes and black olives. It is an inviting and very light dish, to be savored with a Californian white wine ,” she replied with a smile, even if from her expression I immediately understood that the food was rather poor and that she was offering us the only salvageable dish on the menu.

  "Tuna is good for both of us," I decided, before Ryan could order the usual salmon or an angus steak.

  "Perfect," Audrey said relieved, marking the order
. "I'll get them ready for you immediately."

  I could not avoid following her with my eyes, while placing the order in the kitchen and as the owner of the place came close to her, whispering something in her ear.

  I noticed he sudden tension of her body, while the man's hand slipped from her back to her bottom.

  How could she allow him to behave like that? That was harassment! Could Audrey have changed so much in those four years that she accepted such a behavior? Or was she really desperate enough to accept everything?

  Later, when I saw her come back to us with a bottle of wine, she was so pale that I could not help worrying.

  Zane, it is none of your business! Audrey is no longer your wife!

  With a notable effort, I simply thanked her and went back to talking about work with Ryan, without turning back to her.

  When we finished eating, I went to pay and I saw Audrey being picked up by her boss, but I feigned indifference and turned around.

  7

  Audrey

  Returning to the Thunder Company, knowing that Zane did not want me there, had cost me a lot, but, above all, it was the reason for my visit that weighed on me like a boulder.

  With each passing minute, I felt my courage fail, but the awareness of not having another choice held me back and kept me nailed in front of the empty desk of Zane's secretary.

  I had been there for more than half an hour.

  I had just finished my last shift at Sander's Place and, after a thousand trials in front of the mirror to convince me to carry out that behavior, there I was, waiting.

  Zane was not there, his secretary was not there, and although the phone kept ringing off the hook all the time I was there, nobody dared to come up there to answer it.

  Everyone seemed terribly busy and nobody had paid attention to me or asked what I wanted.

  I had tried to approach someone, even just to let them know about the phone, but I had not been able to find anyone available to help me.

  It was as if that area were radioactive and everyone kept away as if afraid of contracting who knows what disease!

  After forty-five minutes of exhaustion and with a deep hatred for that continuous shrill, I decided to answer.

  If Zane finds out, he will kill me!

  “ Thunder Company, Zane Thunder office. Good morning, how can I help you? "

  "I've been calling for three hours to cancel my four o'clock appointment!" A furious man’s voice shouted at me.

  I looked at the time. It was ten minutes to four.

  "If you leave me a name and a telephone number, I'll have someone call you back."

  “I'm Colton Trenn, but don't bother. Just tell your boss I'll go elsewhere. "

  "Please rethink that. Mr. Thunder has been away all morning on an emergency and unfortunately the secretary is ill, "I invented.

  "I don't care. I'm in a hurry too since I need the advertising stand and posters for tomorrow. "

  "I am aware of that. That is why Mr. Thunder is not there. He spent all morning at the print shop for your posters. One of the machines broke and ... "I lied shamelessly. That phone call reminded me of the Audrey of yesterday, when I did everything, even clutching at straws, in order not to lose a customer.

  "It does not concern me."

  “You are absolutely right, but please think about it. Mr. Thunder put all the agency's work on standby to give it priority. It is not for me to say it, but I want you to know that my boss is very fond of his brand. He considers you one of his best customers. "

  "Really?" Asked the man hesitantly.

  "Absolutely yes. What about if we move the appointment back an hour? I know that Mr. Thunder is looking forward to showing you the results of the work done based on the storyboard you have agreed on. "

  “All right,” the client snorted, making me happy at the idea of having done what I set out to do and hoping not to have double-booked two appointments, since there was such a mess on the office computer that the calendar of meetings was unclear.

  At the end I wrote the client's name on a sheet of paper, the information I had obtained, the date of the new appointment and the telephone number that I had requested at the end.

  I was just saying goodbye to the client when I noticed a figure standing in front of me.

  Zane!

  "Sorry," I rushed to say, facing his stern gaze. "The phone kept ringing, and nobody answered," I justified myself, trying not to stammer because of the tense situation.

  "Go away," Zane hissed threateningly.

  'I have arranged an appointment for you. The client wanted to cancel and contact another agency ...,” I tried to explain, offering him the sheet on which I had written everything, but he didn't even reach out to take it.

  “I don't want you here. I was clear the last time. "

  “I know, I know ... I will leave immediately. I just wanted to talk to you about a profitable deal. "

  "What are you talking about?"

  And there I was, at the point I had sworn to myself I would never reach.

  I felt my cheeks flush with shame and my hands trembling.

  "How much are you willing to pay for this information?" I asked, hearing my voice flicker and weak.

  I was not really meant for that kind of thing! Not with my ex-husband, at least.

  Zane burst into a low, hoarse bitter laugh, only managing to make me feel even more uncomfortable.

  "That's why you came back to Chicago! Do you need money! My dear, you won't get a penny from me,” he chuckled maliciously, making me feel even more humiliated.

  "I'm not asking you for charity, just how much you're willing to pay for information worth several thousand dollars."

  "Let's hear it, how much do you want?"

  "Five thousand dollars," I dared to ask, looking down in shame.

  “I offer you three thousand. Not a penny more. But only if your tip is really interesting, "he replied after a long moment.

  With three thousand I could barely cover the arrears, while with five thousand I could also pay the installments of the bank loan given to me for the care of my father.

  "Okay," I accepted, feeling like a total loser.

  "Well. So, who are we talking about? "

  "Farlight Edmond," I replied, thanking myself for having done my research about the man and his business, before going to meet Zane.

  "The liquor mogul?"

  "Exactly."

  "What does he want?"

  “Revolutionize the brand of his trademark. “

  "Impossible."

  “I was informed, and I read that there was a production scandal in Wisconsin last year, which undermined the brand's respectability. I think Farlight feels the need to project a new image of himself and his spirits. "

  "If so, it would be wonderful business, over a period of at least five years."

  "I think so too."

  "How many are aware of this?"

  "I do not know. A few days have gone by and ... “

  "Then I have to hurry!" Zane hurried, running to his office.

  “You have to take care of Colton Trenn first. In less than an hour, "I reminded him.

  "Oh, I forgot about him. I hate that man,” he said, picking up his cell phone and calling a certain Ryan to tell him to make an appointment with Edmond Farlight while he was taking care of Colton.

  "Can I get my money now?" I asked, when I saw him sit in his luxurious office, at his computer, deep in thoughts.

  "First, I want to make sure Farlight hasn't already signed up with another ad agency."

  Zane was right, but unfortunately, I was in a desperate hurry. I had until that evening to get the rent money if I did not want to be kicked out.

  Quickly, I took a slip from the office and wrote down my name, phone number and address on it.

  "Please, I really need that money by tonight. I will leave you my contact details. Let me know as soon as possible if you are all squared with Farlight and if you are going to send the money to me or if I ha
ve to come and get it. The important thing is that I have it by six o'clock tonight. "

  "If you are in such a hurry, couldn't you ask the owner of the restaurant where I had lunch today for an advance? I noticed you seemed to be getting along. "

  "I think you misunderstood confidence with sexual harassment," I replied offended and furious at the thought of that slimy pig.

  Zane laughed and I finally relaxed.

  I had not heard him laugh for years and, as at the time, even at that moment, I felt that shuffle in my belly that always made my heart pound. He had an irresistible laugh and I loved the dimples that appeared on his cheeks when he laughed.

  "He also fired me," I added, snorting.

  "Why? Haven't you succumbed to his advances? "

  “Not even dead. That man disgusts me. Either way, I was scolded for refusing to recommend salmon instead of tuna to customers, "I confessed. Even the cook got angry because the salmon was four days old and smelled bad, but the owner had said to serve it anyway, and to keep aside the tuna that had arrived fresh just that morning.

  "I understand."

  8

  Zane

  I had spent the whole afternoon thinking about my ex-wife.

  I had barely been able to concentrate on meeting Colton and had cheered when Ryan had warned me that my tip was true, but that Farlight's elusive and reserved character had made him back off and return to Winsconesia, without closing any negotiations.

  I had a golden opportunity in my hands, which would bring a lot of money to the Thunder Company, making it even more popular.

  Yet all I did was think of Audrey, her brown curls that fell gently on her shoulders, her hazel eyes, always so expressive and revealing of her moods, her delicate and small mouth ...

  Watching her on the phone with Colton Trenn had taken me back years, to when I met her.

  She was the marketing expert on my team, but since she was the only woman and Kreinberg was a dirty male chauvinist, she also often acted as secretary.

  Only the two of us had managed to never lose a customer.