Chapter 1
The air around you was filled with business, people on the phone trying to wrap up urgent tasks with coffee in their hands that they desperately tried not to spill. Everyone in the pompous entrance hall of ‘Ecoff’ looked similar to each other, the men even the same. Most people wore suits and ties, dressing incredibly formal.
As you tried to spy over all the moving heads of people, whom didn’t seem to care about anyone’s presence that wasn’t their own. You finally spotted the elevator that led to your designated work floor and quickly made your way through the crowd towards it.
Even though you had taken it once before when you had your job interview here just a few months ago, you had to orient yourself again. Especially with how nervous you were, it was harder to remember everything.
With a slightly nauseous feeling in your gut you pressed the button to your designated floor of the firm. The ride upwards to your very own office felt much longer than it actually was. It would usually feel a lot shorter, but with the knowledge of your boss having selected you at her own hands instead of choosing her employees to do so made your gut turn.
All kinds of scenarios ran through your head. Considering every single possible reason as to how this day could possibly go. It wasn’t your first job, not even your first position in a big firm, yet this was different. Ecoff was the most successful and largest economy firm on the continent and it has been your dream to work here ever since starting your political economy degree.
There was a very special secret revolving this firm, nobody knew who exactly ran it. Wanda Maximoff, the state Senator, was know to be on the board and close to the CEO of Ecoff. Why their friend wasn’t willing to go public was a huge secret, but you didn’t have time to think about it too much. Your guess was that it was most likely a scandalous person that could possibly harm the reputation of this firm forever.
The ding of the elevator ripped you away from the spiralling thoughts inside your head, others around you walked out of the elevator while you took a second to compose yourself. Exiting the elevator felt like a pure fever dream and your teenage-hood dream at the same time, the ceilings reached about seven meters high and the space was incredibly open and welcoming.
The walls were littered with majestic pictures of landscapes and the walls were painted in an off white colour which made the space seem warmer. Everything felt like this was right and just what you were meant to do.
Unfortunately you had very little time to look at any of the interior further, because a woman in her early thirties approached you with a polite smile on her face. Her red hair was in loose curls which were just a bit longer than her shoulders. The woman’s cream white V-neck blouse was tucked into a pair of black slack that she wore perfectly with a pair of black pumps.
“Good morning! You must be the new employee in our political marketing department!” As she asked you whether it was in fact you, all you did was simply nod and smile at her as you felt some tension build back up. “My name is Natalie Rushmann and I am the Assistant in the marketing department, so feel free to direct any and all questions to me.”
Natalie spoke with a raspy voice and it was admittedly very attractive. She was generally very much your type and you couldn’t help but notice how her blouse was just see-through enough for you to see the outline of a lace bra.
After the two of you shared some more introductions she proceeded to show you the way to your office down the hall. Besides the door was a plaque with four names, including yours. Apparently you’d share a workspace with two women, Maria Hill and Carol Danvers.
Entering the office felt almost surreal, as all the feelings of pride suddenly started building up inside you as you realised that this was actually what you had always worked for.
All though it would have been nice to let yourself embrace this positive emotion, you had to quickly turn it around since all your colleagues were already awaiting you. All of them greeted you politely and proceeded to introduce themselves quickly. The woman with blonde shoulder length hair and hazel eyes was Carol, she was wearing a loose fit suit in a pale blue colour and white blouse.
Carol seemed to be the exact opposite of Ms. Hill whom seemed equally as polite, yet more uptight. The brunette was wearing her dark brown hair in a bun and was wearing a black pencil skirt with a white blouse.
Honestly Ms. Hill simply seemed to be more traditional than Carol, but she was also the head of the department so it made sense for her to be a bit more ‘professional’. After all the introductions were done you were happy to finally find your desk in the room, always having found such introductions a bit awkward.
You were happy to find that you had a spacious L-shape desk right by a floor to ceiling window, showing you the north side of Boston and the Harbour. The view was astonishing and you felt like it already put you into a good mood.
On your desk were two big screens with a keyboard and mouse already prepared, as well as a small printer and storage underneath the desk. The room was spacious enough to let all of your desks stand freely, making it possible for everyone to create their own space.
The first few hours in the office were spent with organising your desk, getting to know all the softwares and programs you’d be working with as well as looking through client files in order to get to know them better. Everything went very smoothly and Natalie even brought you coffee every now and then, even though your office had its own coffee and tea station in the room.
After about four hours of getting settled in it was time for lunch and yet again, Natalie picked you up from your desk. “How about we get some lunch from sweetgreen around the block? I would love to hear all about your first day!” the smile on the young woman’s face was as bright as the sun, so you felt like there was no way you could say no to her.
While you went to grab your wallet from your purse, Natalie waited patiently by your desk, but she must’ve not noticed you looking at her after finding you wallet, because it seemed as if she was examining your work a bit too closely. It was an odd thing to do, but you decided to let it go and not comment on it any further, deeming it unnecessary and she could’ve just been curious.
As you and Natalie exited your office and walked into the hallway, her phone suddenly lit up with a call. Due to your incurable noisiness, you tried to peek at the name on the display, but it only read ‘Wands’ which didn’t tell you whom this person was. While you were caught up speculating about the identity of this caller, your colleague was already done with the call and suddenly seemed just a tad brighter than before.
It wondered you so you promptly asked if she had gotten any good news just now. “Oh, that was just a friend! They said they’d swing by later to drop something off for me.” was her response and that was the last mention of her call. The two of you now walked across the marble floors of the building, straight to the elevators.
After about five minutes of waiting on the elevator, it finally arrived and both of you were grateful to finally step inside, it should’ve been obvious that getting an elevator at lunch time would get difficult in a building with about 25 stories, but you weren’t prepared for how full they would be. You were stood right in front of Natalie, her chest to your back, next to you were about a dozen other people and they were all much too close to your liking.
While the elevator took its sweet time getting to the ground floor, you couldn’t help but notice how Natalie’s hand ever so slightly grazed your waist as if she wanted to hold it. It also felt like her eyes were fixated on your posture, making you nervous and fuelling the need to step out of this tiny space. Thankfully the ding of the elevator yet again pulled you out of your thoughts and you were finally able to escape the enclosed space.
The first steps in the entrance felt just as cramped as the elevator ride itself and it started making you feel very uneasy until a soft hand enclosed your wrist and you heard your name being called softly. “Hey, is everything okay? You seem sort of hurried and anxious, how about we get out of here, hmm?” Her soft hand was now holding onto your own as she guided you through the hall out onto the street.
Leaving the loud and buzzing environment behind you felt like a true relief and you automatically took a deep breath in and out in order to calm you down. You were so caught up in trying calm down that you didn’t even notice how you kept squeezing Natalie’s hand just the slightest bit, not until she abruptly pulled it out of your grip however.
The young woman seemed almost distraught by how fast she had come close to you and it sort of made you feel bad to have put her into this situation. Luckily, Natalie composed herself very fast and simply continued to act as if nothing happened while heading to get your lunch. On the whole way to sweetgreen and back your colleague was caught up explaining all the different departments, employees and structures of the firm in vast detail.
“Ms. Belova works is security, she seems absolutely terrifying, then there is also Maria, obviously, who isn’t as involved with the board but still one of the higher ups. Then there is Mr. Fury who handles international relations and Mr. Barton is apparently in the Finance department.” she said as if she was holding some kind of presentation.
“Obviously then there is also Mrs. Maximoff, who Co-owns the whole firm with the CEO. She gets easily irritated when people try to ask too much about the CEO, so try not to mention it in her proximity.”
It was then that you realised that Nat seemed to be very well informed about every single situation in the firm. Albeit it irritated you a bit, why she seemed to be in on everything, you didn’t dwell on it for too long. Instead of focusing on how much information the assistant had, you rather let yourself ask a question that’s been on your mind for years now.
While the both of you went through the electric sliding doors and into the entrance hall of Ecoff, that was now surprisingly empty, you finally found a way to strike up a conversation about the anonymous CEO.
“So, since you seem to know so much about everything in here, do you have any clue on who the CEO might be? Or maybe why they stay hidde-“ an unnaturally loud and clearly annoyed grunt behind you made you quickly not finish your thought, as this could only be aimed at you.
This suspicion of your proved itself right as you turned around to look for the person you had seemingly upset by speculating about your CEO. Unfortunately it wasn’t just a finance employee that was bored of hearing this conversation, but it was the exact person that Nat had just warned you about, to not mention anything like this in front of.
“And here I thought people would simply deem themselves lucky to work at this firm and didn’t have to speculate about the CEO any further.” The voice came from a fairly tall woman who must have about five inches on you. That woman was now towering over you in her navy blue suit and red bottom heels with ginger wavy hair framing her face.
You gulped hard, knowing that this simple question might make you lose the job you had just started, because this was very clearly Wanda Maximoff standing in front of you.
Having a well known and liked politician and CEO stand in front of you with a look of pure displeasure and annoyance was probably something to avoid on your first day in their very own firm, yet you had managed to conjure up that exact situation. Before you even had time to start apologising and explaining your childish topic, the CEO spoke again.
“I will go and check on some files, once I’m done we should have a little chat about your future here.” the low growl and threatening tone she used was scary to say the least, but you agreed to it and quickly made your way to the elevator in order to not embarrass yourself further. While you walked away from the women, they seemed to strike up a conversation about some clients that needed handling.
You sat at your desk for another five hours, working on sorting files and taking notes on clients, while waiting for Mrs. Maximoff to meet you. Your other colleagues had gone home by now and said their goodbyes by now, questioning why you had decided to stay behind and work. “I just feel like I haven’t looked into the files enough yet!” had been your answer and you were glad that nobody knew the actual reason.
When 6pm rolled around you started getting a bit irritated at how long they were holding you back now and it almost made you want to simply get up and leave. Just as you went to finish up for the day there were some fast paced steps approaching your office, you were happy to see that it was Natalie, even though she looked fairly tired.
Natalie informed you that you should follow her to Mrs. Maximoff’s office in order to talk to her and that you should hurry a bit. This time the two of you didn’t have to wait long for an elevator, which was a relief to your nerves. None of you talked, with Nat apparently sensing how nervous you were and giving you space to calm down like she did earlier.
The elevator opened on the highest floor of the building, the first thing you could see as you stepped out was a front desk. with the firm logo in front of it. Behind it was one dark oak wooden door to each side, the one to the left seemingly being the CEO’s office and the other one being Mrs. Maximoff’s office.
As you walked across the parquet flooring, which had a lighter brown colour than the doors, you immediately felt like this floor was a lot more homey than the other floors. All the other floors simply seemed more like your typical office, while this one almost looked like an apartment.
Both you and Natalie stopped in front of the door to the right which held a nice gold plate saying “Wanda Maximoff, Co-CEO”. The red head turned to you and gave you a reassuring smile “You’ll be just fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.” she said and walked away with a wink and left you alone in front of the door, leaving you to your fate with the woman sitting behind it.
You were admittedly a bit scared to knock on the office door, trying to make no further mistakes, but it seemed like this was exactly what the woman wanted. The timid on the door was followed by a voice behind the door telling you to come in. Mrs. Maximoff’s voice had become raspier over the hours in which you hadn’t seen her and it sort of suited her.
Saying that this situation intimidated you would be such a huge understatement, that you didn’t even know how to put your feelings into words, nor actions. As the deep green eyes of your boss bored into you, sweat was forming on your forehead and you gulped really hard in an attempt to swallow down the embarrassment and anxiety you felt.
The room you entered was as large as a well-sized living room and had floor to ceiling windows just as your office did. To your left there were about three shelves, all housing Folder which probably contained client information and various contracts, all of them seemed to be neatly organised and well kept.
As you looked to your right you spotted a mahogany coloured linen couch which seated about three people and two matching armchairs across from it. A round maple coffee table was placed in the middle of the seating arrangement and around it stood some small bookshelves in the same wood with what seemed to be law books on its shelves.
It took you some courage to finally look in front of you and into you Boss’s eyes, even though the light in her office was already dim due to the sun settling, you could still see the fire in her eyes. The woman was sat behind a massive L-shaped desk, the wood seemed to be out of maple as well and fit into the room perfectly, the side of the desk that was facing you had a printer to the left and some papers lying on the.
One side of the desk stood parallel to the window and door, while the other one was rotated by 180 degrees. Mrs. Maximoff’s two monitors stood on the other part and had a keyboard lying in front of it as well as a mouse.
You now stood right in front of her desk and held onto the back of one of two dark grey barrel chairs that were placed in front of her desk. “Sit down.” the older woman ordered, which you followed right away and tried to sit as professional as possible in order to get some plus points with the woman in front of you.
Time seemed to go by incredibly slow as the two of you looked into each other’s eyes before your boss started talking. “So, I take it that this is not how you wanted to start off your first day, or is it?” she questioned slightly amused. “No ma’am, this is definitely not how I planned to start off here and I am so ashamed of myself for questioning the CEO in any way.”
The smirk that had slightly formed on her face before was now gone and she looked at you with a stone cold look, making you fear for your position. “I respect your ambitions in this firm and I understand that this is important to you, but I just do not see how this topic could hold to any importance to you, especially considering that you are practically a nobody.”
Mrs. Maximoff’s words admittedly stung, you couldn’t deny that she had a valid point and that compared to her, you indeed were nobody. That doesn’t mean that you’d let anyone, not even her, talk to you in that tone. “Mrs. Maximoff, I understand what you mean, but I do have to say that I won’t let you talk to me like that.”
You could feel your pulse quicken as her eyes darkened and she raised her eyebrows daringly, but you kept going. “I am an incredibly capable as well as educated woman with a lot of qualifications for this job. Any firm would be happy to call me their employee and while I understand that I have overstepped a boundary in this firm, I think we both know that it would be a stupid decision to fire me over it.”
“So you consider me stupid?” the woman across from you asked in a daring tone, making shivers run down your spine as you uncomfortably squirmed in the dark grey chair. It seemed like suddenly everything around you and especially your face was ten degrees hotter than before, but you had to stand your ground.
You took a second to compose yourself before answering in the steadiest voice you could muster up. “No ma’am, I absolutely do not think that, but I do believe that I deserve a chance in this firm and that this mistake of mine should rather be a lesson for me than a punishment.”
Your boss’s eyes seemed to soften up just the slightest bit, yet you weren’t sure if it was because she pitied you or because she encouraged your confidence. However much you most likely just overstepped, she didn’t immediately throw you out, which made you feel hopeful to still have chances with her.
“I absolutely respect your confidence and I do have to agree, you are in fact very qualified.” As she said those words you could have sworn to see a slight smile cross her features. “However, I do not tolerate overly confident people whom act arrogant and you are almost making the cut.
The way she spoke almost confused you, it was clear that she was keeping you on edge to see your reaction, but you still feared the outcome. “I do think we can get past this, you deserve a fair chance with us. You are on a thin line with me, though. Capabilities mean nothing to me if you can’t use them. You can go now, I’m sure we will speak soon.”
It was rare that you were itching to leave work this badly, but you almost jumped out of your seat as she dismissed you, happy to go home and not have lost your dream job. “Thank you Mrs. Maximoff, sincerely. I will make sure you won’t regret this decision and I am again very sorry.”
All she did was nod at your words and then went back to files on her desk before saying a short goodbye to you. The last she saw of you was you walking out of her door in a hurry to get home.
Just mere seconds after the door had closed behind you a door to Wanda’s right opened, revealing a young red head. “She is bratty.” was all the woman said before plopping herself onto her wife’s lap and smirking up at her.
“Well darling, she surely has fire. So how is she otherwise? I mean when her boss isn’t scaring her to death.” Wanda was now smiling down at Natasha, curious to know how her wife perceived their newest employee. “She seems to take a liking to me and warms up quickly, I like her. She seems ver..what did she say? Qualified!”
Wanda couldn’t help but giggle at Natasha’s choice of words, knowing that you must genuinely be a good employee for her to not mention any faults. As the two of them just sat there looking at smiling at each other, both noticed how tired they really were.
“So Mrs. mystery CEO of Ecoff, would you take your wife home now and continue what you started earlier when we were supposed to take care of a case?” Wanda’s voice was husky as she whispered unspoken promises into her wife’s ear and nibbled on it slightly just to tease her more.
Natasha was all too responsive, immediately jumping up and pulling the slightly older woman up as well. “Oh, I can’t wait to get home, honey.”