Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty–Five

Genevieve walked in and glanced around at the magnificent lobby. Large black stone walls encased white marble floors with gold details and glistening gold elevators. She quickly looked for a restroom and ducked inside. She stripped off her leggings and donned her heels She opened her coat enough for everyone to see her black, cap–sleeved dress. She tamed the Пlyaways on her head and nodded once to

herself

Feeling more confident, Gen strolled toward the reception desk. She waited patiently for the beautiful blonde to get off the phone. The woman hung up and glanced at Gen with a strained customer–service expression.

“May I help you?” she asked as her phone continued to light up with countless calls.

“I’m sorry, I’m looking for Accardi Industries. Are they…”

“Fourth floor,” the woman said, before answering the next call on hold.

Gen’s brow furrowed. A business with the revenue of Accardi Industries had to be higher than that, right? If not top floor then, at least

higher than forty.

The woman hung up and her smile was now incredibly tight around the edges. “Yes?”

“You said, fourth?”

She took in a deep breath and Genevieve could practically see the fantasy of reaching across the desk to choke her play out behind the woman’s eyes. “Accardi Industries. Fourth floor.” She picked up the next call and Gen stepped back and looked around.

She spotted the lobby’s directory. Gen walked over to it. She started at the top floor and skimmed her finger down until finally coming to

Accardi Industries: Level Four. What the hell?

Gen walked toward the elevator and waited with a group of people to board. The elevator ride was short and she had to excuse herself as she waded through the people in front of her. She stepped out onto the floor where another receptionist was stationed behind her desk. This woman, however, beamed up at her as she stepped forward.

“Good morning, how may I help you? Do you have an appointment?” the brunette with wire–rimmed glasses asked.

Gen let out a sigh of relief as she closed the distance and returned the woman’s smile. “No, this is actually my first day. My name is

Genevieve Sinclair, I’m the new accountant.”

The woman’s smile widened as her eyes ventured over Genevieve’s appearance. “Ohh, you’re the one everyone’s wondering about.”

Gen’s forehead scrunched in confusion. “Excuse me?”

The woman waved her hand. “We’ll talk later. You’ve caused quite the stir here. Hold on,” the lady said, holding her finger up while she

typed a few numbers on her phone. “Hey, Kaitlin, Miss Sinclair is here. Okay, I’ll tell her.” The receptionist hung up. “She’ll be here to

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Take you back in a minute. How was the move?”

Gen shook her head and leaned over the desk. “What exactly are people saying about me? They’ve never met me.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, I didn’t mean anything bad, at all.” She shook her hands out and stood up. “Let’s start over, I’m Simone,”

the said

“Nice to meet you.”

“We’re just excited to get a new accountant. No one liked Giovanni,” she explained.

“Makes sense then,” Gen said, deciding to let it go while knowing she wasn’t being completely honest.

The door to the right opened and a short, plump redhead emerged carrying stacks of files. She brushed her hair behind her ear as she

practically skipped over to Gen.

“Hello! I’m Kaitlin, your assistant!”

“Oh, hello, nice to meet you. I wasn’t aware I’d be getting an assistant.”

“Trust me, you’ll need me,” Kaitlin assured her. She gestured her hand to follow her through the door she’d just come through.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Sinclair!” Simone yelled as the elevator pinged again.

Kaitlin swiped her key card and ushered Gen inside.

“The right side of the floor is for the higher ups: yourself, legal, PR, and the chief execs.”

Matteo, she thought. Great. That meant she would not only be on the same floor as him, but sharing the same small space.

“Today we’ll have to do all the boring stuff. You know, like getting your ID card, registering security passes to access certain areas, sign paperwork, blah, blah, blah. Tomorrow you’ll have a few meetings in order to introduce you to everyone. We’ll start the real work on

Monday,” Kaitlin explained as they walked.

A young man walked toward them scribbling furiously in an open notebook. He was probably in his early twenties which was why it was

so startling to see him with such a concentrated, serious expression as if he’d been in the business world for half a century.

“Hey, Alexander,” Kaitlin greeted. “Is he in yet?”

Alexander continued jotting things down as he got closer. “Yeah, meetings all day. He’s in the conference room,” the young man informed

them as he breezed past.

Kaitlin blushed as her eyes followed the man who hadn’t even bothered to look up. “That’s Alexander,” Kaitlin explained. “He’s Mr.

Accardi’s assistant. He’s always so busy.” Kaitlin shook her head and tore her gaze away. “Anyway, this will be your office. My desk is just

across the hall here.”

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Gen turned and walked into the office. It was rather large, maybe twice the size as the one at home. It had a large mahogany desk with a

feather desk chair and two leather armchairs on the opposite side. There was also a cute seating area in the corner with several empty bookcases. She looked back at her desk and scowled at the fact that her chair was facing the door rather than the wall of windows behind

1. it.

She walked toward the windows and looked out. When picturing any kind of view her office might have, she saw the tops of skyscrapers and miles of views. This office, however, merely looked out onto another building. Her eyes tracked down to find a peaceful park with a

pond where an elderly couple sat on a bench feeding the ducks. She shrugged, maybe it wasn’t so bad.

“Your boxes were delivered yesterday,” Kaitlin announced after giving Genevieve ample time to look around. Gen looked at the stack of

boxes and nodded. “Whenever you’re ready I can give you a tour and then head on over to HR to get you set up with everything

“Let’s go ahead and do it,” Gen decided. “It’ll help me get my bearings and walk off these nerves.”

Kaitlin’s face lit up. “Honesty, I like it. You and I will get along just fine.” Gen stepped out of her office and glanced around as Kaitlin

gathered her thoughts. “So, to get to HR, we’ll go back the way we came. But, since we’re already over here…”

Kaitlin started by going left. As she walked she would point at the office doors, most of which were closed. Not that it mattered, as every

office was encased in glass.

“The office next to yours is Miss Kennedy, no, not of the Kennedys. Don’t mention it. She hates it. She’s our lead Public Relations tzar.”

Gen puckered her lips. She knew PR women. They all worked very closely with the CEOS and stereotypically had relations with them. Not

that she was one to talk.

“This is Mr. Johnson, he and Mrs. Tutt in this office are the company’s main lawyers. You’ll have meetings with them tomorrow,” Kaitlin

continued. She slowed down as they came to the corner office and pointed at the one door that was open. “This is Mr. Accardi’s office,”

Kaitlin said.

Gen raised a brow as she shamelessly glanced in the office. Then she noticed the room beside them: the conference room. She saw at least

a dozen men and women seated around a long mahogany table. Several people were gesturing wildly while others were shaking their

heads or rolling their eyes. What caught her attention though, was the man at the head of the table, whose sharp gaze was already locked

on her. He leaned forward on the table, steepling his hands. His eyes gleamed and lowered as he watched her. She wrenched her stare

away from him and followed Kaitlin down the hall beside the conference room.

“Have you met Mr. Accardi yet?” Kaitlin asked.

Gen laughed before she could stop herself. Kaitlin gave her a quizzical smile. “Yes, I’ve met him a few times,” Gen said, ignoring the

searing heat of his gaze as it followed her.

Kaitlin smacked her forehead. “Duh, of course you did. That’s how she got the job, Kaitlin. I interviewed with him last week… Was he, like,

super intense with you?”

She risked one last glance at him. He flexed his fists as he was forced to pull his eyes away from her to address someone at the table.

Then they took another turn and Gen could finally breathe again.

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Chapter Twenty–Five

“Yes, he was very intense with me.”

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