Chapter 1
An ordinary day started in the city of Orlando, traffic was heavy and another accident was slowing down her day. Hitting the wheel of her red Jetta and cursing outloud for what seemed the hundred time, she was going to be late again today. The ringing of her cellphone, noticing that it was the supervisor she despised more in the world, she took a deep breath and decided to answer it.
"Yeah?" She almost dropped her phone but quickly managed to hook up her earpiece and continued to wait for the traffic to start moving.
"Miss Ambert, the whole world is wondering where you are? You do realize that you are late, right?"
"Yes Ma'am, I am well aware that I am late. I have been stuck on traffic for the past hour. It's not moving, I am so close to the office that it's fustruating to wait." She sighed and frowned. How dare she point out the obvious? she thought.
"Miss Ambert, you have 30 minutes to get here otherwise don't bother coming in at all." After that last word all she could hear was a click sound.
Being on time was her best attribute. Working overtime was another. Customers loved her, her attitude and her ability to make everything fun for everyone around her. She wanted people to be excited about coming to work, more than a job that was her life. But behind the scenes, someone was taking her efforts and using them against her. It was the kind of thing that books get written about and people get fired for everyday.
She could sense something wasn't right because of the way Miss Bell talked to her this morning. The way that last week they were friends, hanging out at clubs and now she was distant and just plain rude to her for something that couldnt be helped. She had only been late once before, but she made up for that staying later to compensate for the work not done. Today would be one of those days. Something was wrong she had a gut feeling she shouldn't even bother coming in but when the traffic cleared up and she noticed she had 20 minutes to left, and she was only 3 minutes from her office she decided to go in and make up for being late. She got off the car, she wore a grey suit and her red blouse with matching grey heals. Her hair was pulled back and her make up was light. She opened the door and sat on her desk, immediately she went through all of her papers and messages, sorting what was a priority and what could wait, when Miss Bell stepped in her office.
"Glad you decided to show, Miss Ambert. Eric wants to meet with you, regarding a special assignment he has for you." Miss Bell set a file on top of her desk. "You will need this file."
Opening the file, she noticed that unlike other clients she had this was a big account she was being awarded for. Saying a silent prayer for her meeting to be a success she grabbed the file and headed to the boss' office. She knocked softly before walking in. He was expecting her, he didnt look to happy. In her mind, that couldnt be good and it had to do with the file she had just gotten.
"Red, do you know why you are here?" He asked lacing his fingers together and looking straight into her eyes. It was intimidation that he was using to scare her. She didnt know what this was about but she was calm. For a minute she tried to think of anything she had done wrong, the only thing she could think of was the fact that she had been late twice.
"Um...to work?" She answered not really understanding what he wanted.
"Yes. We have a client that actually sent a letter to the president of the company saying that you helped him in a situation that seemed impossible and now our president Mr. Sheik has sent you this letter and a bonus check that you will get at the end of the week. Also I am assuming that Cindy has giving you a new file?" She nodded and he continued. "Your new clients, NSYNC you've probably heard of them before. They actually asked for you because a friend of theirs recommended you. You realize that this will take a lot of your time. SO from now on, you will eat, breath and sleep NSYNC."
"Wow, I get to sleep with NSYNC?" She joked. Making her boss smile. "Sir, I wont let you down, but I still dont understand who would recommend me to them because I dont think that any of my clients know them in that personal level. May I asked who did that because I will love to send them a huge thank you note." She finished going through her list of clients in her head but no one ring a bell.
"I dont even know why I'm giving you this account. I swear Mr. Sheik must be on crack to actually grant these guys their request. I have faith in you but then again you are relatively new in the office and the other people that have seniority are not very happy with you right now. My advice to you is to keep your eyes open and remember at the end of the day you are responsible for yourself and your clients."
"Thank you sir, I will do my best and I'll keep what you just said in mind. Are they expecting my call or do they have an appointment with me already?" She asked."You have to meet them today at noon."
Miss Cindy Bell was giving her a nasty look and finally she understood why her boss, Eric Ruisard, had warned her. She smiled at her and walked in her office to find a new message. Dialing the familiar number, she heard a voicemail go off and decided to call later. Going through the file she realized that she had no clue who these people were and what her exact task would be. It couldnt be teaching them how to budget because these guys had more money that she could dream off, yet according to their records too much money was missing. Doing a quick calculation she noticed that a good 10 million were missing. She was going to audit, the record company, management, previous and present, anyone else she could think of. This was going to take forever.
Possibilities, that's what she sensed from the situation and although there was a jolt in the pit of her stomach, she decided to give her all. After all that was part of her beliefs.
