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FIVE YEARS LATER…

A frigid cold smile plastered on her face, Anastasia stared at the culprit standing in her line of vision with undisguised disdain. Consideration or pity were not part of her dictionary, so she could not be bothered that the poor man stood completely humiliated in front of her, his head bent in resigned shame. In fact, it gave her a sense of perverse satisfaction to know that she had the power to make that man cower like a worm. She was an unfeeling bitch, she knew – in general models were supposed to have a mean side.

Anyway, she was after all Anastasia Forrester– the queen bee of the contemporary NY fashion world which gave her enough leeway to do anything she wanted. Humility was not her thing. Had been in the past but now she felt better being the proud princess she was. It was life, after all, which had molded her into who she was now, who she was meant to be.

« So, what will it be Mr. Patterson ? You have two options. Either you accept that you have stolen the sample from the store room and resign or I hand you over to the cops ? » she proposed in an uncompromising voice, bestowing him with a glacial look that could freeze hell over.

In a completely melodramatic setting, the entire office was holding its breath, waiting for the offender’s reaction, and Ana had the bitter notion that most of them were probably enjoying the show. What a bunch of losers, she mentally sneered. Regrettably enough, she had turned into a great cynic, believing people to be superlatively selfish ; everybody was only bothered about his own loss or profit. This was unfortunately the stark truth. If someone was at a top of a building ready to jump, people would gather like a voyeuristic crowd just to watch while pretending to care.

In a manner to peremptorily intimidate, she drummed her nails impatiently on the table, knowing that the staccato beat would dismantle his feigned regret. Truly enough, the poor guy was actually looking nervous, ready to puke his lunch and she smirked inwardly with sadistic satisfaction. It was not her fault that she endorsed no room for concessions. Life was good to some and bad to the rest. Besides, the hardest way was the best way, wasn’t that what they said ? She could teach the hard way alright.

What delighted her was the fact that her whole staff was gawking at her in an awe-struck way, not daring to oppose her even if they believed that fifty years old employee was innocent. It was unfortunate that she needed a scapegoat and Mr. Patterson was regrettably handy at the moment. Frankly, she didn’t care if he was being victimized ; her only focus was to resolve her problem as soon as possible. The only way to stop the frequent robberies which had been happening in the warehouse was to designate a victim at random to scare the hell out of everyone.

Still standing with his head bent without a word in his own defense, Mr. Patterson was seriously starting to piss her off with his demureness. She sighed, and mentally rolled her eyes with piqued impatience. Considering the amount of backload which had amassed, she had no time for that kind of prolonged drama. Uncrossing her legs, she got off her chair and sauntered with ease in the direction of the open space, making sure that she was standing in a strategic position before dropping the bombshell.

« As most of you are probably already aware, the theft rate has become alarming following which I had a hidden camera installed there. » There was an audible gasp from her audience and she arched her eyebrows cockily, knowing that it showed confidence. « There’s not only one thief but several of my beloved employees who have had the audacity to take samples from the store room without my permission. Like I had already mentioned the last time, I prefer sincerity to fraud. This time, there will be no commiseration from the management level. So, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to resign or you will wait for me to take actions after the security hands me over the surveillance video. »

With that barely subtle menace firmly asserted, Ana kept her facial expression unyielding before turning her back and signaled Mr. Patterson to get out with an arrogance which would have made her father proud. Before closing the door, she thought a last parting shot would emphasize the impact of her threat.

« Please understand that those who present themselves with an apology will be permitted to resign ; the rest will be thrown out without a reference. » Before she slammed the door in her usual imperial style, she sensed a general wave of fear cascading through the crowd. Good, she thought. She liked making her point in such a way that nobody would dare defy her.

With time, she’d devised that there was only one way to achieve an objective ; by being merciless and cruel. Within record time, several employees came to confess their « indiscretion », some with great regrets, some with completely original sob stories, and some with unabashed defiance. Without remorse, she ordered them to hand over their resignation letter by next Monday. Dishonesty was something she refused to take lightly, Forrest Modelling Agency was already so accommodating over flexible working hours and personal priorities that she could not afford tolerance against fraud.

Inexorably, her lack of compassion created a buzz among her employees, conjectures of every form staring to take place, unfounded gossips blown out of proportions, and she faced them all with her usual impassible coldness. After the fuss died, the open space of the office finally resorted back to what could be called a normal routine, Ana allowed herself to drop the mask and sank against her chair with bone-weariness.

A knock on her office door disturbed her single second of peace, her façade firmly back in place and the door opened to accommodate a flustered looking Mr. Patterson in. A cocked eyebrow in his direction, she waited until the door was firmly closed before she once again let herself to sag in relief against her office chair.

Then, she burst out laughing.

« Ahhh Jeffrey, » she sighed with fatigue, rubbing her eyes with both index fingers. « The next thing you know we’ll be opening a drama company. What a brilliant performance ! » she winked at the elderly man in open camaraderie and was rewarded with equal warmth. « I’m really sorry for making you go through that ordeal. Thank you for playing along. »

« No worries, Ana. Anything for you, » he practically beamed at her.

She’d known Jeffrey Patterson from the time he’d been working for her father as the latter’s personal P.A, and had been ruthlessly replaced by a tart four years ago. Ana had taken pity on the old man and offered a job in her then newly established agency. Jeffrey had been hesitant at first, but then with a little bit of persuasion from her part, they had formed a perfect team to mount her small business to the zenith it actually was.

When the thefts had become unmanageable, they’d devised a warped strategy to identify some of the culprits. With forced enthusiasm considering her small victory, she showed him the list of offenders. « So far this idea has worked but I am sure there are some recalcitrant who are going to find out that the cameras do not actually exist. Unfortunately, we are not receiving them until later this year so we will have to wait for another two to three months to have them installed. For the moment I am counting on your discretion and supervision. »

Even before she had finished her sentence, Mr. Patterson was bobbing his head up and down like it was hooked on a spring. Ana authorized a warm smile to spread over her face, an expression she reserved for her close ones only, and nodded back in guise of showing her undying gratefulness, watching the dear friend’s retreating back with a sense of accomplishment.

It would not have been possible for her to grow at such a drastic speed without the help of the few sincere persons she had in her life, and Jeffrey Patterson was one of them. Among one of the top fashion business in NYC, FMA was consuming most of her time so much so that she was practically sleeping at her office. Not that she minded in any way ; her social life was inexistent anyway. It would seem that she was the only model still in the business who hated being in the limelight, occasionally attending the social gatherings only to build stronger contacts for her agency.