Chapter 19 - Meetings Are Hell

Following his talk with Zane, Samuel decided to stay in the guest room a while longer while texting his parents.

He decided to not tell that he would be in area in following days with his potential bride to be. He was certain that if he did, they would want him to stop by for a quick visit and he wasn't ready yet to introduce Lena to them. He was certain they would end up with a bad impression of her if he did.​​

He did promise to call them later however as he had been too tired and overwhelmed the previous night to talk on the phone with them.

With it still being early and having no idea where Lena was, he visit with Ryan and see if he could ask for his help before lunch came around. Maybe after that the little queen would be around and if not, he'd find something else to do.

Lena was trying very hard to not drum her fingers on the table out of impatience. Her neutral poker face was minutes away from breaking. She hated boring and stuffy meetings like the one she was one. Too many people in one room; arguing, chattering, laughing, wasting her time over frivolous things that could be discussed via phone or email.

The problem was however that due to etiquette and keeping up good relationships, she'd been stuck in the meeting room for over an hour and she hadn't even had a chance to get breakfast before her father sprung this sudden meeting on her.

The other annoying aspect was that the meeting was held at one of the locations where the legal side of business took place and that happened to be over an hour drive away.

Appearance-wise it looked like any other corporate building that one could see in a city. Bland gray three-story building that was matched by a equally bland off color white walls on the inside. The only exception was the dark red walls of the office where such meetings took. Lena got say over that part of the remodeling as it was technically her office. The heavy walnut wood long table that could at least twenty people and the chairs were also her choice.

They had the money and power to choose a bigger setup than the current building they were but her father always explained that it looked less suspicious to start something that Looks small and expand over what would be considered a normal amount of time for 'legal' business to expand.

She couldn't deny that it was good experience and wasn't a bad 'birthday gift' from her father. Most children weren't fortunate enough to receive such a gift from their parents upon turning 18. Lena wasn't upset at her father over the matter, quite the opposite as this had meant he had trusted her enough to already informally take over one corner of everything she would eventually be inheriting the moment she got married and he retired.

She bite the inside of her cheek as she listened to two older men argue over the same point for the fifth time. She sometimes wondered however if her father did such things to attempt to show her how much harder taking everything over would be than she expected or perhaps an attempt to put her in situations where she had to learn to hold her temper rather than lashing out.

"Get on to the next point." her tone was level and calm but had enough of an edge to it to let those in the room know that she was getting sick of sitting there in the meeting and had other things to do.

Thinking about taking over reminded her of the problem she had left back at the house. She gripped the inside hem of the dress suit she was wearing until her knuckles were white as she maintained her calm exterior as more unnecessary questions about the expansion were being asked. The business was hardly taking off and yet some of the men were already thinking way further into the future than they ought to be before they finished the tasks they had to take care of at hand. Plus with the way Lena was feeling, some might keep their job long enough into the future to know how well the business would succeed if they didn't get their acts together and stop wasting her time.

She still needed to sort out what was she was going to do with Sammy-boy, her potential husband that she had left back at home. She couldn't deny that there were parts of him that were quite interesting to her and that with how naïve and uncertain he was that there was high potential for her to mold him into the person that she wanted him to be. However, she wasn't certain that those traits outweighed his deficits such as the fact that he was bloody useless when it came to defending and handling himself.

She had no intention of marrying someone who would just end up being a burden that she would have to watch out for. She an heiress to a major mafia gang, not the baby sitter for some child whom her father had decided before either was born would be her future husband. If turned out that it wasn't possible for him to shape up and meet her expectations, she was just going to have to drop him and her father would have to accept that it wasn't going to work out between them. He couldn't go back on his promise that he would drop the issue if she really did give it her best shot to make the situation work between her and the little chickadee. She could honestly say that thus far she had been trying to give him a chance and not reject him outright.

She could tell that by the way the conversation was going that the meeting would be drawing to a close soon so it was time for her to stop letting her mind wander and focus on what was going on in front of her so that she could leave sooner rather than later.

Once the meeting was over, Lena leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes with a slight sigh. She still had to keep her professional demeanor in place until everyone had left the office but she couldn't deny that she was thrilled the meeting was over.

"Excuse me miss, I had a few questions with you regarding some of the plan we went over. In particular the changes that you wanted to make." Lena opened her eyes to look at the other but didn't bother standing despite the fact that the other was evidentially older than her.

"Is there a problem Mark or something you need clarified?" She inquired, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice as the man standing in front of her cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses.

"Just a few small things. I happened to notice that when going over this that some of the projects and projections have changed and don't match up with the ones your father had put in place."

"Of course they don't. That's because as we went over before, I am the one taking over now." Lena replied as though it was most obvious answer in the world.

"I understand that, but I thought that we would still be keeping up with the plan that your father put in place. It's most reliable and the best option with the current circumstances."

"Mark." Although her voice was calm, there was a storm brewing her eyes and the levelness of her tone indicating her frustration was so thick it could've been cut with a knife. "While I appreciate your concerns. I am not following my father's plan because him and I already discussed that the one I have proposed would be more effective and better suited for our goals. I would appreciate in the future if you wouldn't challenge my decision just because of my role and gender." Mark looked like he had more to say, but could tell by the little queen's tone that he would be better off keeping his mouth shut. She continued speaking as she stood up.

"While it is true that at this point in time my father is still ultimately in charge of all business dealings until I take over. He specifically gave me complete control of this company to achieve my goals with. As employees here, you're loyal to both me and my father but only answer to me anymore with questions, concerns or otherwise. If this is something that might turn into a problem, I'm certain that there can be help for you to find a job elsewhere that would be more suited for you." After she was finished speaking, she didn't even wait for a reply or the rest of the members to leave the office before she began to walk out ahead. She was starting to get a headache and really just wanted to be home where she could finally eat some food.