Filed to story: The Return Novel (Natalie & Bryce) PDF Read Online Free
Natalie smiled grimly to herself. She was not fazed by Mark Ellington and introduced herself, “I’m the new agent, Natalie. I need your signature in a few places to affect a transfer that is sanctioned by the higher-ups.”
Natalie didn’t go into detail as there was not much to say. She felt that maybe Ellington was envious of the new employees. Even he knew that when decisions were made in the company, they were sanctioned by the people behind the company—the people that had the real authority. And no one from his ranks could challenge the decision made by those at the helm of the company.
Ellington was stunned for a moment, his arrogance draining away. Natalie sat down at the desk. “If it’s not too much trouble,” she said, putting the document in front of Ellington to sign. Ellington started to become agitated, rattled at being outgunned by this newcomer, but he signed the documents without even reading them.
Natalie was satisfied. She grinned cheekily as if she had gotten away with doing something bad. She smiled and said, “Thank you.” But she was in no hurry to leave the office. Instead, she stood up, went across to the sofa, and calmly flipped through the document Ellington had just signed.
Ellington’s resentment boiled over, and he said angrily, “Do you have any other business with me? If not, then I think you should leave. I’ve got things to do.” His closeness to Howard meant that he was accustomed to getting his own way inside the company.
Natalie laughed as she didn’t care and was in a buoyant mood. She said, “Okay, I’ll leave now.” When Natalie stood up and was about to leave, Tony stood still, pale as ever. If Natalie hadn’t barged in, Tony thought that he might have struck Ellington. Was she just going to leave, allowing his nightmare to continue?
She stopped halfway to the door, looked at Tony, and asked, “What are you standing there for? Come on, you’re with me now.” Tony didn’t react for a moment. Ellington, confused, said through gritted teeth, “What do you mean by that?” Natalie smiled innocently and said, “Are you slow on the uptake? Didn’t I just introduce myself as the new agent hired by the higher-ups? Tony Babble is my artist now.”
Ellington looked at her angrily and said, “But that’s impossible! Everyone here knows Tony Babel is my man. Who the hell do you think you are?” Natalie laughed like she’d heard a good joke. “Oh, nothing is impossible, Ellington. And anyway, didn’t you just sign the document?” She jabbed the document into Ellington’s hand. He took the papers and looked at them carefully. When he had perused the document, he threw it angrily onto the table. “Natalie, you tricked me,” Ellington said disbelievingly. The document was a contract agreeing to transfer Tony Bobble to another agent. It was purely his own fault for being so arrogant and failing to read the document before signing it.
“Strange thing to say,” said Natalie. “When did I trick you? I explicitly said I needed your signature for a transfer, didn’t I? You signed it yourself, and yet you blame me for your carelessness and not reading the contents.”
Ellington choked but thought, “So what if I did sign the transfer contract? He’d had his eyes on Babel for a long time, and he wouldn’t give him up so easily. And he certainly wasn’t going to allow Natalie to walk all over him like this.” He had to suppress his anger and tried to adopt a conciliatory tone.
“Look, Natalie, you know I’ve been guiding Tony for a long time. It wouldn’t look good if you rushed to take him off of my roster so suddenly. People wouldn’t like it.”
Natalie squinted, guessing he was trying to get around her by softening his tone. She snorted, “Look, Mr. Ellington, this really is not my doing. This transfer request came straight from the top of the organization. If you want to question this, then go and talk to them.” Then she added, “If there’s nothing else, we’ll both be leaving. Come on, Tony, let’s get to work.”
Natalie beckoned to Tony to leave with her, but Ellington stopped them. His face thunderstruck, he said, “Now just wait a minute. We have to sort this matter out properly first. I’m going to get a definitive answer. Just wait.”
He went to the desk and picked up the phone. Natalie nodded; she wasn’t too concerned and only gestured dismissively for Ellington to do what he had to do. Then she grabbed a glass of water, went back to the sofa, and sat down. She made herself comfortable while drinking her water but soon noticed the blood on Tony’s hand. Frowning, she took a Band-Aid from her bag and gave it to him, saying, “Best cover that up quickly and stop the bleeding. You don’t want to get an infection.”
He took the Band-Aid in a daze, suddenly realizing there was a lot of blood on his knuckles where he punched the bottle earlier. He applied the Band-Aid and then listened in on Ellington’s call, aware that this could be his only chance to get away from his old agent. Where did this woman come from? How could she be so confident that she could get her way?
Ellington was still on the phone, his back to them. Natalie couldn’t wait to hear how dumbfounded Ellington was going to be. She heard Ellington ask to be put through to Gary Willis, the department head. When he was connected, Ellington said, “Gary, hi. Look, Tony Babel signed a contract for two years, and there are still six months for the contract to expire. If we change the contract now and transfer him to this Natalie, that might be illegal.”
Faintly, Natalie heard Willis’s reply through the speakerphone, “There’s nothing here that’s against the rules. This contract belongs to a minor artist anyway. Find yourself some new, bigger artist, and we can sign them up. Then when the time comes, your new investments will come to fruition for you.”
Ellington couldn’t believe what was happening. He tried a different track, “Carrie, Carrie, I’ve been with Tony Babel for many years now, and I’ve grown attached to him. I can’t bear to give him up to this new woman. So how about-“
But Willis interrupted him bluntly, “There’s no point in saying anymore. The CEO wants this transfer to happen. Any further discussion is useless. Just deal with it.”
And with that, Willis hung up the phone.
Why is too much arguing the unnecessary thing?