She was now back in the elevator, her time with her grandfather had centered and given her a new sense of resolution. Mentally she added to her list- figure out a way to prevent her grandfather's death, get surveillance for the house and make a quick exit, she had four years to bring down her so-called family in order to save her grandfather- easier said than done. Ding, the door opened on the 50th floor, the floor she'd been assigned to work as an assistant manager, she remembered in her past life there was someone that was secretly taking out funds from the company account and they'd just barely caught it. This time would be different- she knew who it was and was going to stop it.
"You're the new person?" A man said, stepping in front of her, he was a tall middle-aged man with balding hair and slightly yellow teeth.
Bingo she thought. She didn't have to go searching for him, he came to her himself. The man before her was the General Manager of this floor- the finance department, under whom she was to work. This man had cost the company billions, she was going to make him suffer for it.
"Yes, I am, Michelle Hart at your service." She replied offering her hand for a shake, he gazed at it in disdain and rolled his eyes.
"Ah, a Hart. Don't think because you have the company name as your last name you'll get any special treatment. I plan on you working you just as hard, if not harder than everyone else on this floor. Just because you have 'assistant manager' in your title doesn't make you special. On this floor-"
I'm the boss she completed internally staring at him absentmindedly. He was still the same bitter man as he was in her previous life. He always gave her most of the work to handle while also taking credit for everyone else's work. He was lecherous man who had numerous complaints filed against him yet for some reason never got fired. She intended to look into that as well.
"I wouldn't expect anything less." She replied calmly.
"There's your office." He gestured to a cubicle at the far side of the room. It was less of a cubicle and more of a storage area that had piles of documents on the table and scattered around it. "You'll have to clean up first and don't spend forever doing so. You have work to do."
She nodded slightly, made her way to the table and within minutes had cleared her space. She sat at her table and spent a few seconds taking in the area she hadn't seen in years- she'd forgotten how small this corner was.
"Psst." A voice whispered to her left, "New girl."
She turned towards it and was met with her cubicle mate, hunched down with her face squeezed in seriousness.
"Don't let the General Manager get to you, he likes to preen about like a peacock and enjoys throwing his seniority around. I'm Meghan Jones but you can call me Meg." Meghan was a pretty woman with dark circles forming under her rich brown eyes, her equally brown hair was tied up in a messy bun, she looked as though she had spent the night in the office.
"Thanks for the warning Meg, I'll keep it in mind. I'm Michelle Hart, you can call me Elle." Michelle replied, smiling softly.
"Wow, an actual Hart, you guys don't usually grace us with your presence. And by you guys I mean your family, except for Mr. Hart he usually comes by for the bimonthly progress report. When I say Mr. Hart I don't mean your father I mean your grandfather who is a great boss by the way and…" She took a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm rambling. I tend to do that."
Michelle giggled at that. Her previous life she had ignored the existence of everyone around her when she first started at the company. Lionel had told her she was above all of them and therefore she shouldn't mingle with them, it was all a ploy to keep her isolated. This time around, she'd do whatever she wanted.
"I don't think you're rambling. You've made me less nervous. Thank you for that. Are you also an assistant manager?" Michelle asked.
"Yes, I'm working hard to get promoted to senior manager, been at it for a year now, I've worked here for three years."
"If your work ethic is anything like your friendliness, I'm sure you'll get it."
"Really? Thanks that means a lot."
A loud thud interrupted them, they looked up to find the General Manager staring at them with a scowl on his face, "Enough fraternizing. Here are the documents. I want you to organize the financial data by year and recalculate everything making sure it aligns with the budget that was given for each year."
She peeked at the document at the top already knowing what to expect, indeed, he had brought documents as far back as five years. She sighed internally, then turned back to him and smiled.
"This would take me all day at most. Isn't there something else I could do?"
He scoffed at that, "Your first day here and you're already talking back? That's hardly an acceptable work ethic. Also all day? I expect you to be done by lunch, I have other things for you to do." He tsked and walked away.
"Oh no!" Meg exclaimed worriedly, "Will you be able to handle this? Lunch is in like five hours. I could help you if you like." She offered.
"Thank-"
"Do that and I'll be sure to report you to Mr. Frederick." A new voice said from across the cubicle, the owner stood up and approached them. It was a man that looked similar to the General Manager, Mr. Fredrick, except he looked younger.
"Go away Peter, no one asked for your opinion." Meg said her voice losing all its previous sweetness.
"No can do. I have to stop you from doing more of your miss goody two shoes act." He replied haughtily.
"Goody two shoes act?" She responded incredulously, "I'm trying to help a coworker from the blatant bullying that your uncle is doing to her."
"Why don't you take it up with H.R then? Wait that's right, you can't."
Ah, she remembered him now. Peter was the whiny nephew of Mr. Frederick who also used his relation to the General Manager of the Finance department to bully everyone else. She couldn't stand his attitude, might as well bring him down a peg.
"Excuse you, who do you think you are interrupt our conversation?" She asked, still seated as she gazed at him like he wasn't worth the dirt on her shoe.
He spluttered, "Did you not hear what she said, Mr. Frederick is my uncle."
"And?" she asked disinterested.
"Well, you should watch how you speak to me then."
"Following that logic," she responded as she stood up crowding his personal space, "You should watch how you speak to me. The man who pays your salary is my grandfather."
He started to grow red in the face, "You can't use your familial ties to intimidate me." He started to puff up in anger.
Tilting her head in confusion she responded, "Isn't that what you just did?" Then she chuckled, "Listen here, don't bother trying to win this. When it comes to who is more influential I am always going to win. Just because I'm here with you, does not mean you and I are on the same level." She said as she poked him the head repeatedly.
Realizing he lost, he scurried away his face growing even redder, this time from embarrassment. She sat back in her chair, a sense of satisfaction growing in her. She laughed internally at how intimidated she was by him in her past life, she was so scared that news of her behavior would reach her parents and grandfather, that they'd find her talking back at a coworker appalling. However, that was not the case now. Now she did not care about her parents opinions and she knew grandfather would not ever condemn her not without hearing her side of the story. Remembering she had an audience, she turned to Meg, only to find her gazing at her adoringly.
"What?"
"That was awesome. You put him in his place. I have never seen Peter scurry away like a rat before." She laughed and Michelle joined her and the laughter died down into a comfortable silence with only the click clacking of the keyboard from other cubicles filling the air. "You know the offer to help still stands."
"Thank you, really, but I have no problem handling this on my own."
"Alright if you're sure."
Time passed quickly and before she knew it was lunch hour, she turned to the small clock she placed on her table, it was two minutes past one. She chuckled to herself, she'd set a new record- in her past life she'd only finished a few minutes past lunch hour and Mr. Frederick had no issue with insulting her speed. Now she met his deadline, but she planned to eat first before she submitted it- she did not intend to meet him on an empty stomach.
"Wow! You finished right on time." Meg said. "Will you go submit it first?"
"No way will I do that. Something tells me he'll give me more work and expect me to work till lunch is over. I'm starving, I want to eat. Let's go check out the cafeteria together." She replied.
Together, they walked to the cafeteria. Hart Industries was designed in a way that two floors shared a cafeteria, and the cafeteria for the 50th and 51st floor was luckily on the 50th floor so walking there was no issue. The two helped themselves to the buffet before them- appetizers, main dish and dessert, it was all there and all looked delicious.
They sat together and spent lunch getting to know one another. Michelle was surprised at how friendly and supportive Meghan was, she wondered if her life would have turned out differently if she and Meghan became friends in her past life. The thought left her head as soon as it entered, that was then and this was now, she had every intention of making Meghan one of her people. She could tell from her observations that Meghan Jones was a quiet force to be reckoned with. Lunch ended and they made their way back to their cubicles, where Michelle gathered all the documents and made her way to Mr. Frederick's office.
"Good luck." Meg said. She nodded her head in thanks.
She walked the walkway to his office at the other end of the room, her eyes scanning and observing everyone hard at work. Soon she reached his office.
The blinds were closed and the door was slightly ajar, she made to knock but heard his voice, it seemed he was having a conversation with someone.
"I've sent the amount for this month to the account you sent me."
"Very good." The other voice was distorted as though it was fake, "And how is the new intake doing?"
"She's an insolent thing. She practically bullied my nephew. I gave a task and she still hasn't submitted it." He replied irritated.
"Hmm, that is unlike her. Perhaps the new environment makes her think she can do as she wished. Keep at her, I want you to practically break her spirit, so that I can mold her in the way I want her to be."
"Alright then, it's a good thing I have your permission. But what if she goes to Mr. Hart?"
"She's not mentally strong enough to do such. I made sure of it." The voice replied in a confident tone.
It did not take a soothsayer for one to know she was the one they were talking about, she remembered she could not stand outside his door forever and knocked.