CHAPTER 1
Knock, knock...Bang, Bang, Bang
"Urgh! Who is banging on my
door this early on a Saturday morning?" Renee mutters while making herself
coffee in her small apartment kitchen. She looks up at the time on the
microwave's clock "After almost no sleep last night-this is the last thing
that I need a t 7:00 am." She complains. The
coffee cup slams onto the kitchen granite countertop, and Renee charges toward
the front door. She whips the door open.
"Melaine? Wha...Why...." Before Renee can manage
a sentence, Melaine walks directly in without waiting t o be invited in.
"So this is where you spend your nights, and weekends.
Hmmm...Quaint!" Melaine comments. Renee stares at the woman confused, and
somewhat worried. "Melaine, why...". Renee begins, but Melaine
interrupts.
"Renee, I know you're wondering why I'm here." Melaine begins in a softened tone.
"Colin told me everything that he did to you yesterday. He really does
feel awful, and I am sorry too."
Renee's eyes widen. She knows? He told her! Melaine keeps talking. "He
doesn't want you to leave the firm...he knows you've
worked hard, and deserve every chance you get." Melaine continues. Renee
is slightly agitated by the comment. Still, she appreciates all Melaine's done
for her. She's discerned that her boss genuinely took her under her wing, to
ment or, and grow her creative gift, but her boss'
boss, and founder of the company - Colin Winston - had been cruel to her. As
far as she is concerned, he is a predator.
"Melaine, I can't stay there." Renee begins,
trying to conceal her true displeasure about the
incident that transpired between herself, and Colin the evening before. The
incident where he deceptively lured her to the back room of a French restaurant to seduce her, as he had
done with other young women-or so she thought. "I don't want to stay t here." Renee confirms.
"He wouldn't be there Renee." Melaine begins to
explain in a calming tone. "He's leaving...he's heading overseas to check
in on some of our foreign firms, and scout new locations for possible new ones.
Melaine informs, now smiling. Renee sighs loudly. That is supposed to make me feel better? she thinks.
"So, is that how he gets away with inappropriate
behavior toward an employee...He just gets to up, and fly away?" Renee
says, finally displaying her frustration, and anger. "Well I g uess that's what rich, and powerful gets ya." Renee
spits out disgusted. She plops down onto her brown leather couch in the middle
of the room, facing the wall opposite the kitchen. Melaine sighs, walks over to
the couch, and plops down next to her.
"Rene e, I am not trying to
make excuses for Colin, but he usually doesn't care. Women, at the firm, and
outside the firm, throw themselves at him all the time. He goes through them
without remorse. Somehow, this time what he's done irks him to the core. Our off ice is the flagship office, which he is very proud of. Yet,
he's leaving it in Travis' hands so that you don't have to start over. He
usually couldn't care less about the ramifications of his actions. This was all
his idea."
Renee stands up, and looks dow n
at Melaine. If Melaine dared to come into her personal space, the same place
she had witnessed her boyfriend and best friend betray her-almost two months
ago-then she is going to get an earful. "I just want to create...to
design...to turn old into new, t o surprise, to
revolutionize...to make art. I didn't interview at BYWINSTON because of Colin.
I interviewed because your firm is doing things that others are not. You guys
are edgy, and shake things up. I admired that, and wanted to be apart."
Renee reveal s to Melaine. "So what happened, is
the last thing I wanted. It is the last thing I even expected. I wish...um...I
wish you never changed me. He would have never seen me." Renee boldly
confesses and walks over to the countertop to grab her cold coffee, in order to mask the tears welling up in her eyes.
Melaine rises and walks over to the kitchen