Carter enjoyed how distraught his stares made Ava, he was finally keeping to his promise of making her pay and he was only just getting started —he was a man of his words wasn't he?
A smirk crossed his face as he stood up to leave,he had gone back to using his walking stick which was such a relief—the wheelchair made him feel somewhat disabled and this was better. He had another meeting but he was going to hang around to see the effects of his torture.
He had alighted his personal elevator with two of his bodyguards, the entrance hall was strangely quiet,everyone was staring towards the coffee stand. He followed their eyes and what he saw offended him greatly.
Ava looked devastated with her tear filled eyes fixed to the ground, rage filled him as he beheld the scene—he was the only one that could torture her! No one else!
His bodyguard noticed he was upset and began to make a move towards them but carter restrained him.He clenched his fists as he began to approach them,no one even noticed his presence,they were all fixated on Candice and Ava.
Candice loved the attention she had drawn and wanted to use Ava to prove to other employees that she was not to be toyed with.
"I need all three reports in the next one hour" she said firmly.
"I can't!" Ava responded in a slightly raised tone that showed she was fed up, she raised her head to look directly at Candice her face holding a hint of provocation.
"How dare you!" She spat out raising her hand to hit Ava hard across the face. But before her hand could get to Ava's face,it was suspended in the air and another gasp followed.
"Enough" Carter said firmly in a calm but dangerous tone. He looked down at a torn piece of paper and realized it was what Ava had been working on,the other night at his house. His rage grew.
"Don't you dare lay a finger on her, she's mine!"
Ava's heart stopped in a bit, what did he mean by she was his? She slowly turned her head to find that people were already recording the scenario,her cheeks burned in embarrassment as she quickly put her head down. Carter's bodyguards noticing the recording, began to get them to put their phones down and made as many as they could delete the videos they had already taken.
Carter had thought of firing Candice, but that was too cheap a punishment if that was how she treated his employees. He didn't like unprofessionalism or weakness but this act by Candice was too extreme. He demoted her to the least position at Ava's unit—which was the position of an office messenger—and threatened kill her career if she ever tried to quit the job. He declared that Ava would work at his house moving forward and on no occasion should anyone bombard her with work from the office.
"Go get some rest" he said, briefly casting a glance at Ava who didn't know what emotions she was feeling at the moment.
******
Ava crawled up on the couch in her sitting room moping at her center piece, the anger and embarrassment on Candice's face as Carter spoke kept thrilling her mind in a not so good way,but the remembrance of Carter's barritone voice saying "she is mine" did worse,it sent shivers down her spine and simultaneously did dangerous things to her body—as though it ached for his acceptance.
She tried to watch her favorite series but her mind kept spiraling back to the scenario. Weary,she stared at her ceiling till she drifted to sleep.