Chapter 1
"I am sick and tired of these men Natasha! Can you imagine the nerve my blind date had, to bring a business proposal," Joanna said as she paced around her office. "I mean seriously..."
"At least this one was honest about his agenda Jo, just let it go. A good guy will come along."
"Miss Powell," Kim her secretary said as she walked into her office with some files.
"What!" she answered angrily.
"Your two o'clock meeting is in a couple of minutes. All of the board members are already waiting for you."
"They can wait, I am in the middle of something," she told Kim as she went back to her chair.
"Sorry Tash but I have to attend this meeting, else my old man will be breathing down my neck, and he expects a miracle in the one year I have taken over from him. Come over later, we can have a girls night, I really could use the company."
"Sure thing Jo. I will be there later, I don't have anything to do with my Friday night anyway," she told her friend as she left her office.
Strutting her way to her boardroom, every employee of hers avoided her, not wanting to be added to her list incompetent fools. They knew to avoid her, especially when she was in a foul mood, which was almost every day. As the sole heir of Powell Architectural and Construction Company, she had to be ruthless in an industry dominated by men. Her heels were loud as they clicked on the cold marble floor informing people she was out of her office. She had on a black pencil skirt which showed off her lovely caramel skin tone. A crisp white long sleeved shirt tailored to accentuate the swell of her bosom, and small waist. Her curly hair was pulled into a tight pony tail, making her hairline cry out in pain.
Kim followed closely at her heels holding her laptop and cell phones.
As soon as she entered the boardroom, there was complete silence, it was as if a judge had ordered silence in court.
"Gentlemen, good afternoon. You all know why we are here," she said as she walked up to the head of the table.
Kim handed her, her spectacles and set up her laptop for her.
Looking around she looked at each and every head of department, and saw complete fear in their eyes. They knew someone was getting fired before they began their meeting. Their new boss had been slowly sifting out the company pests and killing them in a ruthless manner as she restructured the company for the better.
Her eyes landed on the head of accounting and she said, "Your services are no longer required in this company Ted, I know you have been stealing my money over the past few months and as we speak your accounts have been frozen."
"What you cannot do this, I have worked for this company for seven good years, you can't fire me!" He said standing up walking up to her. Jonathan her driver/bodyguard walked in with two other men as they got hold of Ted before he reached her.
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and smirk plastered on her face.
Walking up to him she said in a ruthless tone as she took off her glasses, "I do not care if your forefathers worked in this company but when you decided to steal from me you made a deadly decision. I pity you though, I saw great opportunities for you, but you just tarnished your name. It's a good thing you are still unmarried, think of how you would support your family, because after I am done with you, no one will want to hire you, I give you my word."
Turning around she said, "Escort him out of my building gentlemen."
Jonathan led his men as they left with an angry Ted, softly closing the door behind them.
"Now we can begin," she said as the men visibly relaxed, slightly. Sitting down in her chair, she crossed her legs over and relaxed looking in the direction of the projector.
"Simmons show us the designs your team has come up with for Mr Xander's building."
The young man nervously stood up as he started talking about the modifications they had made to the hotel design, noticing a few errors she stopped him with a wave of her hand.
"Remove this nonsense from my sight. Go over your designs again, I do not pay you for errors, now wonder this company has been losing business."
"Adams where are we on getting quality building materials."
"I... I spoke to," he said nervously.
"Speak up please, we all want to hear you."
"I spoke to Raymond industries they are the best building suppliers in the country." The quotation for their materials is already in front of you."
"Good."
This went on as she asked each department their share of responsibilities. Once the meeting was done, a sigh of relief escaped each men in the room, leaving the room Joanna headed to her office with Kim closely behind her.
"Do I have any other meetings today?" she asked Kim who was packing her laptop away.
"No Miss Powell that was the last one."
"Great, you can take the rest of the day off, I am heading home. I do not want any interruptions this weekend unless there is a building burning down."
Taking her hand bag and laptop with her she left her office, giving a slight nod of acknowledgment to any worker who dared to say goodbye to her. As she entered her personal elevator she looked through her messages on her iPhone most of them from her mom, asking her to come home for the weekend and one from Natasha telling her what time she would be at her place. Jonathan was already at the elevator entrance waiting for her as he took her bags. Leading the way to her black Rolls Royce.
