Chapter 1

Laken Pierce blew her face in exasperation. She just stepped into her BeddaSoled office lobby in LA, and some boxes of their shoe stocks were scattered on the blue marble floor while her employees talked to each other about something exciting, judging by the look on their animated faces. And none of them noticed when she came in.

The twenty-four-year-old redhead took off her dark sunglasses and cleared her throat. Upon seeing her, the beautiful and impeccable-looking employees stopped and hastily went on to attend to the scattered boxes. They took out the shoes, placed and arranged them properly on the gleaming and shiny display shoe shelves.

She covered her nose with a handkerchief as she watched them. “What was so important that I get to see all these lying around here?” Her voice was dangerously on edge. Everyone knew it. However, no one attempted to answer that. They knew better than to reason out. She then saw Sue come out from her private office and immediately greeted her.

“Good morning to you, too,” her executive secretary greeted her after taking a knowing casual glance at the ladies who were now busy with their tasks.

She ignored that look on Sue’s face and glared at her well-dressed employees—just like she wanted from all of them. After all, they always personally dealt with big celebrities and other rich people inside and outside of the country on a daily basis.

Her business was a subscription-based model. They would send their clients a pair of shoes or two every month, so she would want everything perfect—from the outside’s neon light to the inside as well as the workers.

Laken stepped closer to one of her five employees named Farah. Her eyes moved up and down, from the latter’s blond hair to her silver shoes. Her huge breasts almost came out of the neckline of her printed black and white dress with only the nipples covered, the fit almost ripped the dress apart, and it was disgustingly too short!

“That dress doesn’t suit you. Don’t wear it ever again!” she haughtily told Farah.

The other woman gaped at her words. And yet, she ignored it and glared at the four other women.

“That should be done in ten minutes!” Her warning voice almost boomed before she left the lobby and went into her private office, where Sue just came out.

As her secretary closed the panel of the door, she freed her nose and breathed outwardly. She briefly glanced at the traffic outside the glass walls behind her black swivel chair and the immaculately simple and yet elegant design of her office. There was one oil painting of a black wolf to her left, while a cabinet file was to the right. She then put down her purse on her glass table that was already clean, thanks to her executive secretary and close friend Sue.

“It’s really bad, huh?”

She knew what the other petite woman with light brown hair talked about. Her condition called hyperosmia. It was triggered when her family had a traffic accident when she was only five. Her dad died on the spot, while she and her mom survived miraculously. Her mom had a few bodily injuries. But hers were both in the face and the head, which affected her lateral olfactory tract. Her heightened sense of smell made her use even the mildest perfume that she had customized, so did her employees. She couldn’t take anything that smelled too strong because of this condition. That was why she had to stay in her private office most days and would only go out if a customer would like to meet and talk to her. With everything else, she let Sue handle them.

“Why didn’t you let them do it before I came in?” she questioned instead.

“Well, I did. I can’t seem to control them without you around.” Her light brown eyes reflected her regretful voice.

She sighed then. She had to do something about it. They had been operating for nearly four years now; however, these women still did not respect Sue’s authority. She had nothing against them but only their attitude towards work when she was not around. She tolerated it. Perhaps it was high time that she had to warn them. If not, Sue would always have a hard time dealing with them on her own. And she did not want that. She wanted teamwork with or without her in the office. That was the way it should be.

“By the way, I received an email complaint from one of our celebrity customers.” Sue handed her a piece of paper wherein the said email was printed.

Her beautifully arched eyebrows moved up when she heard it. This was a first. She took the paper from the other woman and read it.

“Call Farah,” she ordered Sue immediately.

Sue did as she was told and both employees came in a few moments later. The worker she just scolded a little while ago was gestured to have a seat by her secretary.

Laken was now seated in her luxurious and comfortable swivel chair, swinging from side to side while looking at the piece of paper given to her. Sue stood by her, near the glass table, while Farah was quietly seated in a visitor’s chair that was in front of her.

“Do you know how important Jen Jones is? We can’t afford a very disgruntled famous celebrity, Farah!” She threw the paper in front of the employee. “This is going to ruin us! Have you properly thought about your work here? For Pete’s fucking sake! You’ve been here since I started up this company. It’s not like your first day! And just… fix this right now!”

“Y-yes, ma’am. I’m sorry.” The brunette hung her head afterwards, never meeting her eyes.

She inhaled deeply after Sue escorted Farah out of her private office. She leaned back in her chair and thought angrily of the consequences, if Jen Jones would not be pacified.

Dear Miss Laken Pierce,

I had a very bad experience with one of the two pairs of shoes delivered to me the other day. Did one of your staff check the quality of the shoes before they were sent to your customers? Mine obviously wasn’t! That small rubber thing under the heels was torn! How can I use them? I need you to get back to me ASAP!

With that, Jen’s email had an attached photo of the said problem. Yes, Laken could immediately recognize that it was indeed the latest model her company sent out to their customers. This was horrible and embarrassing! For almost four years in this industry, this was the first complaint they had ever received! Although it could have been a factory defect, she was very infuriated with Farah’s performance and attitude towards work lately. The latter should have double checked this matter.

‘Fucking Farah,’ she cursed in her head.