The Syndicates: A Dark Mafia Romance Collection

by Raven Scott

  13

  Oran

  “Do you have any questions?” May didn’t look nearly as nervous as she must’ve felt, or maybe she just wasn’t nervous at all. I leaned back in my chair to cup my cheek thoughtfully. The way she thought up the design was a way I hadn’t heard of, and I tapped my temple as I stared at her expectantly. Drumming my fingers on the table, I rolled my jaw as my mind churned, then I turned to the supervisor, Mark.

  “What do you think? Honest opinion, please.” This middle-aged guy, older than me by at least ten years, pursed his lips, but I could see the stars in his eyes.

  “I think it’s pretty damn obvious why David would steal from her, for sure.” Nodding curtly, I let my mind bowl over all that technical jargon I didn’t understand. With May on this project, it could certainly be done. “That’s so simple. To use vinyl is a very out-there idea, and using smaller engines disproportionate to the actual ship to sail with the tides . . . ”

  “My thoughts exactly. What do you think consumer-wise? Do you think it’d catch on?” Mark rubbed his head thoughtfully, but the answer honestly didn’t matter to me. I was going to do it regardless. I’d fund it personally if I had to. Not breaking even wasn’t something I considered.

  This was just a really cool idea and I had someone who could bring it to life.

  “Without consideration of operating costs, and assuming you have proper market targeting . . . yeah, without a doubt, you’d at least break even on production within . . . two years, I’d guess. It’d be a niche, but people who go to Ren Fairs also spend eight months out of the year designing and creating their costumes. Not to mention weddings, parties, other events. If this were a team project, it’d be ready to go into design phase, just about. You did all this by yourself in just the last five weeks, May?” She nodded, her face lighting up as her cheeks puffed in a huge grin. My chest warmed as affection tilted my lips.

  “Jerry didn’t give me any work, so this is what I’ve been doing. Since it’s a project directly assigned to me by Oran, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Also, this is way more fun than trying to redesign a freighter.” Ah, now we were at an impasse, I knew— May wanted to give her new team a chance to get used to her, but what she didn’t realize was she was a threat. She was the girl other co-workers hated because she was just inherently innovative and adaptable and resourceful. “I totally understand if you want me to do it on my own time, but it is technically work-related. All I do is organize everyone else’s documents, and my team is one unnecessary person larger than it should be. All the other teams are full, and I really don’t think I’d be welcome, anyway.”

  “Okay. Is that what the yelling was about?” Her smile dulled, and May sat in the chair at the head of the table to twiddle her thumbs in her lap. I sat back and watched, rubbing my jaw as my gaze darted around the spread covering almost every inch of three-quarters of the table. “What happened?”

  “Jerry is just mad. He and David were buddies, so when David got fired for stealing my stuff, I was the cause, so I got the blame. Which is dumb, because David was the one actively trying to get me fired in the first place. Jerry only lets me be so involved that I can’t claim bias negligence, and he made a jab at me the other day about my being paid almost four dollars more per hour than anyone else, which just made them dislike me more.” Lifting her hands onto the table to clasp her fingers, May frowned fully. I crossed my knees and leaned a little farther back in my chair. “I get why it looks the way it does, but those records aren’t a secret. It was proven irrefutably that David stole my work and passed it on as his own the entire time I’ve been here. That was a possible promotion for me. That was eight projects I can’t put in my portfolio because of the investigation. I could be consolidated by now if it wasn’t for him, but I’m being treated like garbage for something he did to himself.”

  “May, I can’t force anyone to be nice to you. It’s not that I don’t sympathize, but you said it yourself— you’re involved just enough that you can’t claim personal bias in the workplace. As for the pay, your pay isn’t public knowledge, so I’ll find out how he found out, and if it was somehow dubious or intended to create a toxic work environment, then I can do something about it.”

  “Mark, okay, I don’t think you get what I’m trying to say.” Straightening, May practically skewed her supervisor as her voice deepened slightly, and I held my breath in anticipation. “I’m going to quit if you don’t do something about the hostility being directed at me. I don’t care if they’re nice. There are plenty of other firms that’ll give me the professional opportunities I deserve. David may not be able to find a job, but I sure as hell can, and I will. I don’t care how it sounds— I know how good I am at this, and if I’m working in a dead-end position, I’ll go somewhere else in a heartbeat.”

  “I’ll have a conversation with your team and Jerry, but I can’t promise they’ll treat you better. A talk might even make it worse, May.” Like any good negotiation, May knew she had all the cards. She nodded at Mark’s cautionary tone. “Was there anything else?”

  “Yes.” Speaking up quickly, I sat straight to stretch out my legs under the table, and Mark arched his brows at me in surprise. Frowning darkly, I could still taste that shit on the roof of my mouth, and he visibly shuffled in his seat. “What the fuck is with the perfume, Mark? That shit is a safety hazard and it’s against regulations to wear perfume in any office space. There’s a reason for that, you know that. Someone almost died due to an asthmatic reaction. Do you not take that seriously?”

  “I can tell them to wash it off. I can send them home for the day. But those women will wear that stuff regardless. We had a safety seminar where it was stressed, and the reason why, just two weeks ago, Mr. Santino, but, obviously, some people weren’t listening.”

  “Do you have a list of who’s repeatedly ignored the rules and gotten complaints lodged against them? This is why I show up without warning, Mark.” He nodded, hoisting himself out of his seat to trudge out of the conference room and back to his office in expectant silence. Glancing over at May, I only shrugged at the humored look on her face. “I like to meddle.”

  “Obviously. So, is that true? It’s against regulations in your offices to wear any perfume at all?”

  “Yes. Years ago, long before I took over, a man almost died from an asthma attack, as I said. Any perfume, anything you can smell like lotions or whatever, are not allowed in the workplace. Even scented hand sanitizer isn’t allowed— it all has to be unscented. The guy’s family sued on his behalf and we settled because it wasn’t malicious and they were fully entitled to whatever amount they received. The changes we implemented as a result, so it never happened again.” Surprise rose her slender brows, and my lips twitched in a smirk. “The perks of having a family business— I know about shit that happened before I was handed the reins.”

  She gave a soft ‘ah’ before the glass door swung open, and I stood up to take the page Mark had printed out. The top half of the page listed the times and dates of related seminars, and the bottom half were names and dates of complaints. Scanning the list, I frowned at how the complaints seemed to spike following a seminar.

  The same four names popped up with the most complaints, too.

  “Mark, I hate to do your job for you, but . . . ” Rounding the large, circular table, I didn’t give Mark a chance to speak up as I left the conference room. Mark wasn’t a bad guy, he just didn’t go the extra mile to enforce rules, which was why he was still a mid-level supervisor. Grabbing the floor’s attention, I called off the names I’d singled out and all four women stood up from beneath their dense clouds of noxiousness. They weren’t on the same team, but they all sat relatively close to each other.

  Piling into the conference room, I ignored May packing up her folder out of the corner of my eye. Even now, I had to hold my breath, but the stench of different kinds of perfume mixed together still made my eyes water under my glasses.

  “I’m going to say this once, and o
nly once. Wash off that horrible perfume and read the safety regulation book. If anyone wears perfume again, you’ll be fired on the spot. Mark, here, isn’t going to take a complaint— he’s going to fire you right then and there.” The girls were shocked— shocked!— at my declaration, and I arched a brow in silent inquiry. “Do I make myself clear?”

  “I’m sorry, I read the handbook and nowhere in it does it say that perfume is against safety regulations. Lotions have to be unscented, but—" Holding a hand up to stop her, I narrowed my eyes on a slightly older, slightly chunky woman, her face tinged pink. “Excuse you! I’ve worked here for almost fifteen years and perfume has always been allowed!”

  “I can always fire you for cause if that’s what you prefer.” Her rounded face became even redder at my flippant tone, and I leaned on the table between chairs to cross my arms. “You’ve been working here for so long, so you know the regulation handbooks were updated every year, and you should’ve received a copy. You also are required to attend workplace etiquette seminars where this subject is specifically discussed. So, either you purposefully ignored safety regulations, which in itself is cause for termination, or . . . well, what other reason could there be?”

  “Exactly who are you again?” This whole subsidiary is starting to get on my nerves. Did no one do their research on their parent companies? Was I just some douchebag with a particularly itchy fire finger?

  Yes.

  Yes, I was.

  14

  May

  “Malory, what can you tell me about Seattle Bay Nautical Design Subsidiary?” Watching Oran as I neatly stacked all my materials, I frowned under furrowed brows as the bridge of my nose tingled wildly. Those four women he’d called into the conference room went back to their desks, but Mark still stood by awkwardly, and I licked my lips heavily. I had a feeling he was going to do something drastic, and judging by the distaste drowning his sharp features, I was right.

  Oran went on mini power trips. I got that. He looked for people to fire just so he could do it himself. It was understandable considering how powerless he must’ve felt when he lost his partner.

  But exerting his power over someone like that, even if that person deserved it, wasn’t going to help him. Sadness tightened my chest and I paused what I was doing when he spoke up again.

  “So, they’re just hemorrhaging money is what you’re saying?” Oh, shit. I could see where this was going, so I rounded the table to grab Oran’s forearm and pull his phone from his ear.

  “Oran, no. You can’t just do that. You can’t axe the entire company because some idiot didn’t recognize you. That’s not okay.” I spoke firmly but softly, very aware of the muscles roiling under my palm, and Oran frowned darkly at me as my heart threatened to burst from my chest. “Just . . . this isn’t going to help, okay, and I think you know that. Just hang up the phone and we’ll talk about it with Mark and the two other supervisors another time, okay?”

  Squeezing his arm insistently, the fabric of his shirt imprinted on my palm, and he pursed his lips thinly before doing as I requested. Setting his phone on the table, Oran’s frown twisted in distaste, and relief surged through my veins.

  “I suppose you have a point.” Ducking my head in a nod at his mumble, my palm slid from his arm, and Oran inhaled deeply as he rubbed his jaw roughly. “Apparently, there are some more serious issues that need to be probed . . . properly.”

  “Right, good. Okay, I presented to you, but I do have to get through the rest of the day. I’ll walk you out.” I waited for Oran to exhale heavily before striding for the door, and he opened it for me to gesture me though. Tension buzzed between my shoulders, but I tried to shake it away as we skited the cube farm and headed toward the elevator. “I know you’re trying to help, Oran, but you really didn’t do me any favors by turning the whole office against me.”

  “The perfume issue had nothing to do with you, May.” Thank God the elevator opened almost immediately, and I pursed my lips thinly to hide my frown. Once the doors closed us inside, I turned to him fully, and Oran sort of squared me up the same way he’d done with Jerry. For a long second, I thought carefully about my next words, while he pushed his sleek-framed glasses up his nose a little.

  “I brought you in, so you going on a rampage like that affects me, Oran. You can’t just name-drop yourself and get what you want. Jerry might be an asshole, but he was right. I should’ve at least called to ask about a room, and my team is only allowed to use room one, which is the conference room being used. He was totally in the right even if he was an ass about it. This is a subsidiary company of yours, and I know you’re the ultimate boss, but . . . how many times have you been in this building? Never. So you don’t get to expect people to know who you are.” I spoke as gently as I could, and Oran’s eyes flickered with guilt, just the faintest spark. Reaching to touch his shoulder, I managed a comforting smile while the strangest sensation washed over me. “I know it’s hard, but you can’t control every single thing at every little company under your umbrella. It’s not going to make you feel any better. Firing people left and right for the most minor thing isn’t going to do anything but ruin those people’s lives. It won’t affect you at all.”

  “This has nothing to do with Kara, if that’s what you’re getting at, May.” I almost winced at that. So, her name was Kara . . . that’s pretty. Taking a stabilizing breath, I shook my head as Oran’s shoulder flexed under my palm when he tensed.

  “It may not have anything to do with her, Oran, but her death obviously hit you harder than you’re willing to admit. You can’t take that out on strangers for the smallest, justifiable reason you can find.” He sucked in a sharp breath at my declaration and I stepped back to cross my arms over my chest. “Everyone deals with death differently, and you said it yourself, Oran— you’ve changed. Are you going to turn all that progress around because of a few unhappy, middle-aged women with low self-esteem?”

  “You’re making this into something it’s not.”

  “You mentioned her without any prompting from me. I’m not saying a guy almost dying isn’t cause enough to enforce a rule like that, Oran. I’m saying you should let the supervisors do their jobs. They have the complaints, they’re following the rules by doing the seminars, and it’s at their discretion to police their employees. Are you implying that you’re doing right by the supervisors by shutting the whole place down even though they didn’t do anything wrong? On a whim? Just because you want to flex a little?” His eyes narrowed on me, his lips thinning and his jaw ticking, but I didn’t back down. “There are over sixty people involved in this department alone, not including support staff. What about those people? They’re just gonna come to work one day to find they have no job because of something done by someone they don’t know?”

  “Alright, okay, I get it.” Running his hands through his hair in agitation, Oran breathed a sigh through flared nostrils, and I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth. He looked so tortured, for only a fraction of a second. I saw how crazy he truly felt and my heart ached for him. “I’ll reign it in . . . or try to, at least.”

  “Thank you.” Swinging his arms down, Oran leaned against the wall, but the elevator suddenly stopped in its tracks and the doors slid open to reveal the lobby. He hesitated before stepping off, and I held the doors open as he straightened his suit jacket sharply. “I’ll see you on Friday, okay?”

  “See you Friday, May.” I let go of the doors and Oran frowned under brows tightly knit by troubling thoughts before he was fully blocked from my view. Jabbing the button for my floor with my thumb, I slumped against the metal-plated wall to heave a massive sigh. Rubbing my palms up my cheeks and into my hair, I closed my eyes as my brain flipped firmly to damage control.

  This was bad. I’m gonna be the most hated person in the office now, not just on my team. Frustration welled in my chest, but guilt clawed at my throat. Would Oran act this way if we weren’t messing around? Regardless, we had sex, and he clearly wanted to have sex again,
and I definitely wanted to have sex again . . . so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he was doing this shit for me.

  As much as I appreciated the thought behind it, Oran wasn’t going to have to deal with the fallout of his little tirade.

  “Shit. Okay.” If I was lucky, Mark wouldn’t jeopardize his job and will cite those women for health and safety violations, for which they wouldn’t get a second shot. After all, Oran was right— they were deliberately and knowingly ignoring a regulation. If someone choked on that cloud, those women would be ruined . . . permanently. They’d get sued up the ass by everyone— the company they worked for, the people they hurt, maybe there was even a slim chance of criminal charges.

  But Oran didn’t have to work there every single day, and just like with David, if he weren’t around to blame, it’d lay on me.

  “This is gonna suck.” Straightening to throw back my shoulders, I took a few calming breaths to face what was about to happen. When the elevator stopped again, anxiety curdled my blood and I rolled my head before the doors slid open a final time.