I went to my office and as usual Chloe was sitting on the couch, taking sips of coffee from her cup and working on her tab at the same time.
"Hey, good morning."
I said and she realised my presence.
"Good morning, how are you?"
She asked with a concerned face, yesterday's event has taken a deep impact in her as well,but I wanted to tell her it was okay and it happens in the mob world, but she wasn't one of us and the thought would make her even more petrified.
"I'm good. Are you okay?"
I asked.
"Yeah, but when you were late I thought you wouldn't come, today."
She admitted with nervousness, she was too innocent to understand all this.
"I am alright,Chloe. You don't have to panic, incidents like this are not gonna stop me from working."
I stated and she looked convinced.
"What took you so long, then?"
She asked, concerned as a friend would be.
"I reached hotel on time but I went to meet Benjamin, first and as he was having breakfast he made me eat with him."
I told her and she nodded.
"Oh okay."
She said and went back to working. She was a really focused girl, I was similar aged as her but I would get tired easily by working on that tab all day long. I don't know how is she so much determined to her work at this age.
The day going faster than I expected and today I was able to focus on reading the files, without yawning. Well, that was an achievement for me. I have never worked before in my life.
I decided to tell Enzo about tomorrow's meeting during dinner, he joins us for dinner these days, that's a good thing. I don't like eating alone and I couldn't always take Chloe, out with me. She must also have some plans and she would still never say no to me. I suppose, if she had a boyfriend, even if she had, she barely thought about him as she is so focused on working all day.
"Reservations are going a bit slow these day, maybe because of the hot season that's approaching, tourists aren't paying much visits."
She said, frowning as she read the chart on her tablet.
"Umm.. I suppose that happens every year."
I said to wash off some of her worries. She used to take so much tension with the slightest fall of our business.
"Yeah but I joined the hotel a few days before you did, so I don't really have clue about last year's statistics, I'll go through them as soon as I finish these."
She said and I couldn't do anything but smile at her dedication.
I completed my work early, as I didn't take a lunch break today and most of the file which needed urgent attention were already sorted. I finally decided it was time to feed my hungry stomach as it grumbled. I went to the indoor dining area as Duke informed, Chloe as left for lunch just now. He and Chloe were kind of becoming close. Duke knew her whereabouts. But then, it was part of Duke's job. He had to see, if everyone is safe or not. I spotted Chloe's long chocolate brown hair tied in a high ponytail, from the entrance. She was talking to a staff. I guess, she was talking to our main chef. Was she here to have lunch or still working?
"Hey Chloe! What's wrong?"
I asked seeing her furious and tensed face.
"A mistake by cooking staff."
She answered with a frown.
"What kind of mistake?"
I asked her, hoping it wasn't something big. The chef, constantly kept her head bowed and was petrified. Of me?
"A customer ordered a specific kind of cake to be delivered to their suite, but they over baked it and now we are not left with much time to prepare it and it needed some special ingredients, and we are out of stock now as it's weekend."
She told and it was a problem,but not as big as I thought it would be.
"We can only do one thing now. We should go and tell everything to the customer and apologize for it."
I said with a sigh and I didn't want to punish the chef for it. They were already working hard and mistakes in kitchen, happens usually. Chloe looked at me and after a moment of thinking she agreed. Maybe she was calculating the possible reactions of the customer on her mind. She never did anything without pondering on it. That's why her work was perfect.
"But can we have, something to eat first? I am too hungry."
I said and she simply nodded and we took the seat in the nearest table. The chef herself, served us food, she did not sent any waiter for the purpose and I pity her for that. I would have said her not to feel so bad, but then you should think with brain not with heart. And maybe I was just thinking out of emotions. Enzo might have fired her for this not-so-big mistake and I was glad he wasn't here to do so.
After having our meal, we decided to go to the customer. The chef, who now had a name, Lilly, decided to join us and apologize personally. I was glad that we got some good staff at Rexivo.
We pressed the door bell, but no one answers. After a moment I pressed it again. The door opened and a guy was dressed in bathrobe and slippers and I could hear a loud voice of music coming from behind and the smell of alcohol and smoke. A few more voices could be heard, they were probably some rich brats, came here to party because they looked too young to earn money that could help them pay Rexivo's bills.
"Umm... Yes?"
He asked ruffling his hairs.
"We wanted to apologize to you... "
Before I could complete, he cut me in .
"For what?!"
He asked suspiciously.
"The cake you ordered... "
I started but again he cut me off. Would he let me speak?
"Don't tell me you couldn't prepare it on time. You don't want to delay my order."
He warned.
"We are so sorry but there is a problem, the cake you ordered for needed some special ingredients, which we had in low quantity. Our chef made the cake but by mistake she overbaked it and we are out of those stock now. We can compensate you by providing another of our best cakes for free."
I tried to sound convincing but he didn't looked convince. Of course he wouldn't fall for the free cake trick. But I still tried.
"You better not give me excuses, I don't like things if they aren't according to me. You get my order prepared or else it won't be good for you or your bloody restaurant."
He was being way too furious. It was just cake, he could just chill.
"We are sincerely apologizing to you. This is the first time, something like this happened. We are really sorry."
Well, this happened the first time since I was the chairperson. And this guy was totally overreacting but I kept my nerves down and kept on an apologetic face.
"Whoa! I don't give a duck about that. By the way where is your jerk of a chef?"
He asked and I couldn't let him misbehave anymore.
"Excuse me! Watch your tongue, before I slice it off. You don't need to overreact on a matter that's not too serious and I, being the chairperson came to apologize to you with my manager and chef and here you are not ready to understand.
I yelled in a breath and the guy clenched his fist.
"You bitch! How dare you talk to me like that?"
He shouted and the music behind him turned off as we heard a couple of footsteps approaching. A guy familiar to his age came and he looked underaged to be holding the alcohol bottle.
"You better decrease your voice. I don't want my guests to get disturbed. And as I could see, some underage drinking is going on here."
I said wanting to make him nervous about it but his expressions remained same, rude and disrespectful.
"You better not give me lectures on that. This is the least illegal of what all business you people have."
He said we were all shocked. How could he say that so casually, he wasn't someone to know about this stuff and even if he knew he would better keep his mouth shut to save his sorry ass.
"Shut up you idiot. You don't know what you are talking about."
I warned.
"Oh! Of course I do know Valerie Monaro. Don't make me spill things about you or your Savior, whom you seduced, to gain this position."
He said with smirk, gazing me from head to toe with a dirty look. He a few years younger to me still his gaze made me uncomfortable. Who was he? How did he know, so much about us? And what kind of shit was he spilling about me and Enzo?