Excuse Me I Quit

What is that fucking noise?

Luca Vanthross groaned as he opened his eyes in annoyance. The blaring sound assaulted his ears when his senses came alive. It was from the alarm clock on the table by his bed. With one more groan, he stretched his arm from under the bed covers and turned it off by smashing it against the floor.

He grabbed his phone to check the time. It read 8:00 am. Clare, his secretary was supposed to be here by 7:30 am to prepare his outfit for work. She was also meant to prepare breakfast, run him a bath, and have his car warmed up, waiting at the front of his esteemed mansion.

“Where is she?” He asked himself, angry. Luca thought about firing her but decided against it when he realized Clare had never missed any of her tasks and always showed up on time. But he was Luca Vanthross and he detested mistakes and incompetence. Clare was going to be reprimanded. With that decision, he climbed off his bed and walked to the bathroom.

After having his bath, Luca grabbed his iPhone and called for his housekeeper who lived in a little rack he'd built for her. It was right behind his mansion and only took about two minutes, going and coming.

“Maria. I want you here, now.” He ended the call without waiting for a response. Although it was a command, Luca’s tone was soft. Maria was a sixty-year-old cleaner that used to look after him when his parents were too busy trying to maintain their rich lives.

When he finally made it and built his own company from the ground up, he took her in as his housekeeper. To others, it was Luca being a cold-hearted CEO who didn't care about an older woman. But Luca had his reasons for taking her in as his housekeeper and he didn’t give a shit if anybody misinterpreted it.

In less than three minutes, Maria made it into the mansion. He could tell she was in the kitchen when he heard pots and utensils clanking in the kitchen.

Satisfied that his breakfast was being prepared, he walked into his closet on the left side of his massive bedroom. It was like being inside the dedicated section of a department store and it was as wide as his bedroom.

Luca had all kinds of men's wear from luxury fashion brands but he mostly wore suits because of his busy schedule as a CEO.

Luca went straight for the suit section in his closet and grabbed a navy blue set. He put it on and reached for coffee brown oxford shoes then complemented his suit with a Chanel men's black tie.

Clare always put his outfit together and doing it himself irritated him but he was pleased with the outcome of his outfit choice as he looked in the mirror.

He headed straight for the kitchen after dressing up. The aroma of the soup Maria prepared almost made him salivate but he wasn't going to show any emotions. An image of his father telling him emotions were for babies flashed through his mind causing him to grimace.

“Is anything wrong?” Maria asked him when she saw that he looked frustrated.

“No. I'm fine.” He took out a chair at the kitchen island, sitting down, he reached for a plate of soup Maria had prepared for him.

Not saying much to Maria, he scooped the soup as he went through the latest news articles on his phone. As always, his company was still number one on the Forbes list. He was also listed as one of the best young CEOs to watch out for. At just thirty-two years old, Luca had managed to do what many men could only accomplish in their forties.

His mind was deep into the article about a competitor company that he didn't hear Maria speaking until she cleared her throat. Luca looked up from his phone and eyed the small woman. From where he was seated, she seemed fragile and weak but Luca knew she was one of the strongest women in his life.

“I said Clare quit being your secretary this morning. She didn’t have the courage to inform you so she told me to relay the message to you.” Maria repeated her earlier statement to Luca.

Out of all the reasons for Clare being late that went through Luca's mind, he didn't expect her to quit her job without any notice.

It didn't matter if he were a CEO or not but it was normal corporate ethics to report to your superior with a two weeks' notice if you wanted to quit your job. What Clare had done was unprofessional and if Luca was feeling petty, he'd have told every other CEO he knew not to hire her if she showed up in their companies.