Shortly after Cedric's departure, Carlos entered.
"I need a dress for a gala tonight. Contact Cedric for details." She instructed.
"Understood. Will you need my assistance for tonight?"
"Yes. I will need you to drive me."
Carlos nodded.
"And find a partner to attend with you. We will be meeting with a number of people I would like to have a deal struck with tonight."
"Do you have anyone in mind?"
"No. I don't mind whoever you bring." She said with disinterest. "But make sure she won't cause problem for us."
Carlos nodded. He made a mental note to push her work for the evening into a later date and made preparations when he remembered an important meeting for the day. "What about your meeting with the investor from Russia tonight, miss? You were supposed to tell him your decision for the proposal he recently presented."
"I will call him personally." Olivia decided after consideration.
Carlos nodded and retreated after Olivia gave a few more instructions for matters he needed to settle. Once she was alone again, Olivia went to call her Russian's investor and dealt with him regarding their supposed meeting.
An accented voice answered. "Hello, Maya speaking from Gennadi's Inc. How may I help you?"
"I would like to talk to Viktor Gennadi. Tell him Olivia Queneviere is on the line."
"Excuse me miss, but Mr Gennadi is currently in a meeting." She said after a short pause.
Olivia frowned. Does she not know who she's speaking to?
"I will ask him to return your call when he is done, Ms Queneviere. Or would you like to leave him a message perhaps?" The girl continued.
At least she's polite, Olivia thought.
"No." She tried to be polite too. "It would be better if you can get him to me as soon as possible. It's an urgent matter."
"I'm sorry miss, but Mr Gennadi's meeting had only just started. I'm afraid it would take much longer before he will be finished."
She didn't sound the least bit apologetic to Olivia's ear. Olivia's patience ran out. She was never one with abundance of it in the first place.
"Maya, was it?" She asked, pausing deliberately for the effect before continuing, "It would be wise for you to let him know I called immediately," she emphasized on the 'immediately' boldly, "Or things may take a wrong turn."
They did have a rather civilized dealing before after all. Olivia forced herself to remain so.
"Excuse me?" The shock was clear.
So she didn't take the hint then. His secretary was quite thick. Olivia wondered how he picked her. Just as coldly, she said, "Well then, good day to you, Maya."
Ending the call as calmly as she could, she tried regulating her temper back on track.
It failed. Miserably.
She was pissed off beyond telling. "Carlos!"
"Yes, Miss Olivia." Carlos was on full-alert the moment he entered the room, detecting her not-so-subtle anger radiating off of her.
"If Gennadi call, tell him our deal is off. He had his priorities wrong." She instructed in a deadly tone.
"Very well, Miss Olivia," Carlos obediently nodded. He excused himself shortly after, and couldn't help wondering what had happened for her mood to take a sharp turn like that.
The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. At least until they received a particular call.
"Hello-"
"Connect me to Olivia. Now."
"May I know who's speaking?" Carlos asked for courtesy's sake despite already having a guess at it.
"Viktor Gennadi."
"Mr Gennadi," Carlos repeated. He took his time to continue. "I'm sorry, but I received strict instruction from her to simply relay her message to you," Carlos calmly stated.
Before he could be interrupted, he told what he was told. "Miss Queneviere said that we will not have any deal signed between us."
"What?!" Shock and anger rang clear in his voice. "That's absurd! What do you mean by that?"
"I'm sorry to say it but that was Miss Queneviere's final decision, Mr Gennadi." Carlos informed.
Silence temporarily filled the air before Gennadi spoke again, this time with barely suppressed anger. "Let me talk to her."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. She had told me she wanted no disruption for the evening."
A string of words in language Carlos recognized as Russian greeted him. He didn't know the language but he could recognize vulgar words when he heard them.
"Get me through," Gennadi demanded once again.
"I'm sorry but I can't do that."
Then it was silent again. Carlos could hear some noises but nothing was clear enough for him to understand.
"Well do you know the reason at the very least?" Gennadi asked after another moment of deliberating silence.
"Yes," Carlos gave away. Adjusting his voice to closely mimic Olivia's low, threatening tone from earlier, he said, "You had your priorities wrong, Mr Gennadi."
Obviously surprised and bewildered with the reason, Gennadi half shouted, "What do you mean?"
"My apologies. I don't know the reason behind it. You will need to directly ask her that." Carlos covered up. "But she want no disturbance for the time being."
"Is she still in her office?" Gennadi asked grudgingly.
"Yes but she will be heading home in a short while. She had something to attend to." Carlos said matter-of-factly. It might seemed impudent for him to disclose his Misstress's schedule but Olivia had told him that as long as it didn't involve her time with her family, he was to state her schedule as asked.
Gennadi asked a few more questions before he grumpily ended the call. Not long after, Olivia exited her room, ready to head back.
"Carlos." He was immediately by her side. "Are you done? I need to stop by somewhere before going back."
"Alright miss." Carlos nodded and finished up before obediently trailing behind her like a guard dog.
Olivia strode forward without regard to her left and right. It was a norm for a path to open for her to pass through. She received greetings from left and right which she simply nodded as acknowledgement.
Once inside the car, she stated her destination and Carlos drove off.
The journey was cloaked in heavy silence. Neither seemed to have any interest in talking. Olivia was about to be driven nut when finally Carlos spoke.
"Miss Olivia, earlier, just before you come out, Mr Gennadi called."
Olivia raised a brow. Glancing in the rear mirror, he eyed her briefly before continuing. "Among all thing he said, he apologized for his secretary's incompetency."
"What for?"
"He said because she didn't direct you to him immediately when you called."
Olivia mused on it. "What else did he say then, among the other things?"
"He asked your schedule for the evening."
Olivia chuckled. "Well, the evening might be more fun than I initially thought then."
Carlos kept his thought close to himself but couldn't help a sigh as he picture the possible trouble that might happen later that evening.