a.n. don't forget to comment and vote

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Renleigh Kensington

My stay in London was short but just enough to make me want to get back to New York. It felt weird to be away, somehow, I felt like a stranger in the city I called home. I connected negative memories to this place, even with the gender reveal being such a success. Coming back before I had the chance to properly deal with everything that happened a year ago was probably one of my worst decisions.

It was now July, the gender reveal a week and a half ago already. Time flew by with the number of things I had to catch up on. By things I mostly mean therapy, the gym, grocery shopping and just an overall big clean in the apartment.

Also, okay... I can't lie I did pay a visit to the office but only because I talked about it with my therapist and she said it was okay. She even mentioned that I most likely should go because if I won't, I might get the urge to open my laptop and drown myself in emails and set up meetings I'm absolutely not ready for. So, if I go in when I want to and I'm not kept from doing so then perhaps I won't do any more damage to my already fucked health.

I guess that happens when you get out of the womb and fail to find the time to stop for a minute.

At the end of the day, I was still the CEO of the company and I had a reputation to up keep so I had to dress apart. It had been a while since I looked through my work clothes and, in all honesty, I needed to refresh the whole wardrobe. The colours were boring, the styles were boring, basically all my fits were boring.

Some time off, really gave me the chance to clear my mind and allow it to generate some new ideas.

Eventually, I ended up in a yellow outfit. The skirt was a bit shorter than I imagined it to be and it seemed like my boobs got bigger over the period that I spent in the gym and ate properly because my shirt was a bit tight on me. It was a cropped turtleneck in a ribbed material. It went amazingly with the simple look of the skirt and blazer. I twisted my rings around my fingers and moved my bracelets around so they looked proper.

After a quick breakfast, I was in my car and on my way to the office. I was excited to step back into the world of business, even if it was only for a little bit. I felt refreshed and ready to look over things that needed my attention and helping my PA out a little bit. Speaking of which, he became more of a COO during my absence and that actually made me so proud. He was so good at what he did, the fact that he had been trained by Danielle and he was under my control for the majority of his employment, really shaped him into someone who shouldn't be messed around with.

In times like this, I prayed—that if I ever have kids—they turn out the same way. Tough, career-driven, passionate and definitely aware of their worth. I went through a hell of a lot to get to where I was and I knew if I had the chance, I would make sure my kids never have to experience half of what I have.

"Ren—Miss Kensington!" I smirked when Liam noticed me in the hallway, a perfectly fitted suit making him look like he really ran the whole establishment. The little slip up was not something that made me look at him differently although old Renleigh, the one before Harry, definitely would have done something to 'punish' him for it.

"Liam," I greeted him back as I leaned in for a kiss on each cheek. He seemed taken aback and, to be fair, I myself was slightly shocked at how openly I welcomed him but it also felt extremely natural. That little incident a while back—when he had to take me to the hospital—changed the dynamic between us and it wouldn't have felt right to act like it never happened.

"Surprised to see you here, boss," he commented as we began to walk towards the lift.

"It was time to come and pay you a visit, see how you get on with the newbies," I explained.

"They are not as bad as you'd think," he told me the surprising news. I hummed, interested in what he had to say. "I mean, they do make the odd mistake but I feel as though they have improved massively. I have some performance reviews scheduled for today—in an hour, actually—so if you want, you can sit in for them."

"I think I will," I replied. "Just to see the shock on their face and make them feel a bit intimidated."

"You are cruel," Liam chuckled. "Anyways, how have you been, then? The doctor cleared you, right? You are fit to come back?"

"Depends which doctor you want an answer from," I replied. "Dr Kensington believes I'm perfectly fine but Dr Scott said if he was in my shoes, he wouldn't even think of working for the rest of the year."

"Ah," he laughed. "So, I guess I'm still running this place then, huh?"

"I suppose you are still in charge, yes," I confirmed. "How is that going for you? Having to deal with meetings and annoying asshat partners?"

"In all honesty, it was scary at first," he explained. "It was actually kind of annoying how I had to turn to supervisors to ask for help or the way I had to email Danielle when I had no clue what was going on and no one was available here. But, it was a quick learning curve, one that I think I needed."

"I'm sorry about that... I kind of just ordered you to take care of things without any further training or tips and that's on me."

"There is no need to worry, Renleigh. I managed to learn what I needed to and I can use that knowledge to sort things out that need to be sorted out," he reassured me and the way he handled this conversation alone was enough proof for me to know that he was really prepared to be in the position he was forced into. I smiled, relieved, as I sat in the chair in my office. Well, it was his now, I guess.

"I see you've made yourself feel like home in here," I commented as I looked around. He placed a few things in here that I noticed were from his office but I didn't mind. I didn't have too many personal belongings in here, anyway. Other than photos and my stationery and other shit, it was still pretty empty.

"Yeah... I wasn't sure for how long I'd have to be in here so I just slowly moved my things. I hope that's okay," he smiled once he sat down. "I also swapped out your chair with mine because although yours was super comfy and made me feel like a boss, I like mine better."

"No, it's fine, honestly," I replied. "I don't mind. Working somewhere that feels more homey is better, anyway. So, work—is there anything specific I need to know about? Any trouble with anyone?"

"As far as I am concerned, everything is fine with everyone. One of our investors tried to pull out when they heard you were going to be away for a while but after a rather strongly worded email and meeting following that, he was back on his arse," he filled me in. I chuckled as I flicked through a folder that Liam placed in front of me. Just a summary of everything he has done and other business related documents I needed to sign in order for them to be sent off. "Ah, another thing—Samantha Martin requested maternity leave and that will obviously put her out for a while so there will be an empty spot for someone to step up, temporarily, of course."

"Hm," I hummed and closed the folder. I moved my bag on the desk a little bit so I could place the papers next to them. I crossed my right leg over my left and leaned on my left elbow, fingers intertwined. "Found anyone yet?"

"I wanted your opinion on it since this is still your business," he said.

"Alright, what is it?" I asked.

"I was thinking of recruiting internally before taking it external. I think that giving opportunities for already hired employees for a temporary role would make more sense."

"It could create conflict amongst colleagues," I challenged him instantly.

"Not if all employees within finance get the chance to interview for the role," he shot me down. I nodded and allowed him to continue. "It wouldn't cost us money to put out an advertisement for the position or time for running the interviews and then training from the bottom."

"You just said already existing employees would get to interview."

"Interviews can be informal meaning they can be done at anytime, anywhere. For example, they can be carried out during performance reviews, looking at how they respond to things, what ideas they come up with. Also, group interviews would give everyone the same ground to stand on, the same chance to get the role all whilst seeing everyone they are going up against. It would save time as everyone would be assessed at the same time."

"What about training the person who will be filling in for her?"

"There is still a couple of weeks left until Samantha leaves which gives enough time for us to find someone to replace her as well as give them the chance to shadow her. I would know that learning from someone through doing things works like a charm. Whoever we end up picking, will learn fast otherwise they wouldn't have been recruited in the first place."

"Fair enough."

"Recruiting internally would also mean they would already know how things are run around here and they would also be already familiar with the other staff. We'd also know what we're getting based on their application from when they were hired as well as we'd have a knowledge of how they'd be available and whether or not they are suitable for the role, not just talent but time-wise, too. Performance reviews allow us to know how they work, how productive they are, etcetera. Senior roles require longer stays and more stuff to look over."

"We could be limiting our choices. I mean, sure, recruiting internally is quicker and easier and like you said, the employee will already know the business practices. But we'd also be limiting the talent we can choose from," I mentioned. "Recruiting externally would give us the chance to find someone who could add value to the business, someone who might even be more qualified than those who we already have. Not to mention that a new employee could bring a sense of fresh air, a new pair of eyes, someone who can bring new ideas and new focus to the field."

"Doing it within the organisation would make us look more attractive in the long run as well as it would retain our already working employees. Part of that is giving staff the opportunity to progress. It may be a temporary role but it is enough of a push to make everyone work a little harder because they know they have the opportunity to grow and develop within our organisation," he brought his counter argument.

"Alright... how about the position of the person who fills in Samantha's role? Who is going to do their job?"

"It will be shared throughout the team equally. It will test if they can work together and how effective that work is," he explained. "Not to mention that by doing it this way, we know for sure that Samantha's position will be available when she returns and the employee filling in for her will also have their job back. This will help decrease staff turnover. When it comes to their salary, we can just pay them the difference on top of their already existing income."

"Very well," I sighed, feeling extra proud on the inside at how well he managed to deal with all my attacks. "Sounds like you have every part figured out so I'm giving you the greenlight to proceed with the interviews."

"Whew," he chuckled as he leaned back in his chair and placed his hands on the edge of the desk. "I can't say I was expecting this little Q&A this morning."

"But you were prepared. That's all I can ask of the newest COO of the New York branch," I decided to say. The way he handled me was enough for me to know he was going to make a great right hand. He was made of the same material as Danielle and although I have had the woman by my side for years compared to the amount of time Liam spent within the company, I could tell he was just as good as her.

"No," he looked at me like he saw a ghost as those words registered in his mind and I just nodded with a big grin on my face. "For real?"

"For real," I laughed. "Although, this does put me out of having an assistant at all, I think you deserve the position and in all honesty, your salary is almost as much as a COO's should be anyway so I don't mind pushing it up a couple of hundred and giving you a different title."

"Wow, I... I don't even know what to say," he chuckled.

"Say, thank you Miss Kensington. I will not let you down. You are the best boss I have ever had and I will do everything in my power to keep up the reputation of Kensington and Co."

"Thank you, Miss Kensington. I will not let you down. You are the best boss I've ever had and I'll do anything in my power to keep up the reputation of Kensington and Co."

"Eh, a few words said differently but it'll do," I joked and he rolled his eyes at me playfully. "I suppose this calls for an email, letting everyone know of the changes and reminding everyone that if they didn't respect you so far then they will sure as fuck do now. You do have the power to sack them but hopefully, you won't have to go through with it. It's a long procedure and you have to deal with people begging for their jobs."

"What do you do then? When they want to keep their positions?"

"I tell them that they should have thought of that before they fucked around. Everyone who works for me, knows that I do not tolerate anything less than perfection and they are fine with that when they apply and get the job. If they want to mess around and sit on their asses and twiddle their thumbs then I guess they can easily do that at home where they're not wasting my time and my money," I said honestly. Just because I looked at life from a slightly tilted angle, didn't mean that my values and beliefs changed when it comes to my job.

High performance, perfect reputation and success is still very, very important to me.

"Ruthless, honest and straight-forward. Okay," he pretended to take notes and then dropped his pen. "Wait, doesn't that make us look bad? Don't they go around telling people not to come work for us?"

"I mean, they probably do but I haven't noticed a drop in applicants so I don't think it bothers anyone too much. Plus, chances are, that the people who I have had to fire in the past were already talking shit about me and the way I run my business."

"I suppose you are right," he hummed. "There is a reason you had to fire them."

"Exactly," I agreed. "So, I say we schedule some time for us to go through some things you need to be aware of, provide you any necessary training you'll need for your new position and then I suppose I am going to be able to have even more time off of work."

"Sounds good," he smiled.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm being an actual, asshole CEO who shoves everything onto their employees," I laughed.

"It's why we're your employees, Miss Kensington."

Impressed, I nodded a few times and said, "I really have made an amazing decision hiring you and bringing you out here with me."

• • •

I spent my entire day at the office. I sat in for the performance reviews, I helped Liam wherever he needed help and I also went around the whole building, just checking in on everything and everyone. I liked doing that, it helped me ensure that everything was running smoothly because I witnessed it with my own eyes. It sort of gave me a little bit of peace of mind.

I had a quick lunch with Liam so we decided to have a nice dinner together after work. I really enjoyed getting to know him more, the way his mind worked, his outlook on certain things. If I really was going to leave the New York headquarters to him, I needed to make sure it was going to end up in good hands.

Absolutely knackered from being on my feet all day, it felt like heaven to sit in a bath full of warm water. I had my laptop placed on the toilet, the lid down, so I could actually finish one of the many shows that Harry always made me watch with him. The thing about watching shows with him though, is that he constantly gets better ideas—like crawling between my legs and making my whole body shake or bugging me about needing my attention until I'm the one on my knees—and when that happens, we miss like five episodes or something because his ideas take the longest time to carry out.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy them but also, he is fucking horrible at keeping his hands to himself and letting me watch my shows.

Well, his shows.

And he would also probably argue with me and say that I'm the one who starts the filthy games but really, it is him. I swear.

And of course, when it's not but that is certainly not the point here.

Speaking of him, we were meant to FaceTime in a bit. I wasn't feeling up to it before so I asked if he could do it later and he seemed fine with it. The five-hour difference—him being behind in time—took some getting used to again.

Being away from him in general took some getting used to but I had a feeling this time around it would be different.

• • •

a.n.

that heated business conversation with liam,, that was so fucking hot. attending classes has its benefits i guess hehe

this was the last work chapter i think anyway so from now on i don't think you will see either of them at work oop gonna miss them being bosses

gonna miss them period cos we only have 6 more chapters to go and then they either live happily or sadly ever after 😚 but then i'm wanting to post the first chapter of my new fic on sunday so when ffc ends we can just roll over to that you know hehe

omg the new fic is called *drum rolls*

DOWNFALL.

i'm so excited YASS lmk what u think of it even though there's not much you know about it LMAO

xoxo