Calix Radcliff's POV

"Are you Mr Radcliff?" A petite woman asks, looking up at me through her glasses after checking a name on her tablet. I nod, and she checks her tablet once more and nods. "Miss Vanderburg will be with you in a minute, you can wait in her office."

Scarlett Vanderburg

Someone who I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting but had heard all about, the woman had been adopted by Meredith Vanderburg and had chosen to follow in her footsteps, he had proved over and over again that she wasn't using her mother's connections rather was the best up-and-coming lawyers in New York had ever seen. Some described her as cruel and others as compassionate, but there was one thing that no matter what they thought of her never varied, everyone that had met her commented on her intelligence. After all, she was the youngest person to pass the bar exam at eighteen, and she did it on her first try, a feat that not many people many years older than her could do. She was the youngest junior partner in the firm and was quickly working herself up to being a senior partner. I knew exactly who I wanted to represent me when I wanted to build a lawsuit, and it was the woman whose office I was currently waiting in.

She wasn't yet here, I was sitting alone in the massive office which couldn't be more different from my own, whereas mine was all blacks, greys, and silver. It was warm and welcoming with beige and cream, even though it was welcoming it still was clearly luxurious and very well taken care of.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting." I hear a voice say from behind me. Spinning around in my chair, I met with the most gorgeous person I had ever met in my life. White hair falls around her face all the way to her waist, the prettiest silver eyes I had ever taken me in,, and suddenly I feel like I should have dressed up more. She was a lot shorter than me, even in her heels. She was dressed to perfection, a grey pantsuit with a black turtleneck underneath and black and gold jewellery. I school my features when she finally meets my eyes.

I finally managed to get out. "It's no problem, I just got here."

She smiles softly, highlighting dimples in each cheek and I find myself wanting to make her smile more. I watch her move around her desk, picking up a stack of files which I'm guessing were mine. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Radcliff. I have heard some great things about you."

She's heard about me? The thought makes my heart rate quicken just a bit.

What the hell was wrong with me? I haven't given a woman a second glance since I was eighteen, before my father passed and left a massive burden of a company on me. Since then, I have been what classifies as a workaholic, pouring all my days and nuts into not letting my father's company sink to the ground.

But why now was I wanting to impress this woman, to let her have a great impression of me. I know the media describes me as heartless and cruel, but now I am wanting this woman to see me as the opposite.

"Likewise Miss Vanderburg." She takes a seat and I follow suit, watching her read quickly through the files, a minute later her stormy eyes meet mine.

"Tell me about your case." She speaks in a smooth tone that makes me want to tell her anything she wants. "About Andrew Fields."

I clear my throat, refocusing my brain, so I can give her my full attention.

"About eight years ago my father passed away out-of-the-blue leaving his company to my sisters and I, neither of them were interested in running it, so it left me. With the shift in power the company went through a hard few years, but I put everything I had into rebuilding it and not letting it collapse even though I had just graduated from high school and not had much experience. Mr Fields had worked for my father for as long as I can remember, he was always there when I visited and was a trusted man of my father. When I took over, he and the other older members helped me out so much, and I let them keep all their current position minus a couple who I have promoted since then. Andrew was not one of them, so I think that as well as my father not leaving him anything made him greedy, I have recently discovered that Andrew has been stealing from my company in the millions, as well as harassing many of the younger female workers in my company which I of course will not stand for."

I feel the anger coursing through my veins, like it had when I found out I had been too focused on the workload and clients. I hadn't realised the state of the inside of the company. Not only that, but I was infuriated at everyone who's involved, but also at myself for not noticing it sooner.

I look up at Scarlett and instead of the look of disgust I expected her to look at me with, I see one of understanding.

"You don't think he's the only one involved?" She asks.

I shake my head, leaning back in the chair and crossing one leg over the other. "No, I know for a fact that someone in human resources is definitely involved because the claims should have been brought straight to my desk, but in the four years that this had been happening not a single thing has been brought to my attention."

"Do you think only your New York branch is affected? You have offices worldwide, yes?" I affirm her question. "Do you think you have more people like this in your other branches?" She asks again.

That was something I hadn't even considered the possibility of, and I prayed with everything in me that there wasn't even the smallest part but the truth was I wasn't sure.

"I don't know." I grit out.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do." She closes the file and brings her chair closer to her desk, close enough to me I can smell the faint smell of something sweet coming off of her. "First things first, I need you to sign these papers, you've already gotten a copy of our contract but you are more than welcome to read through it again and then, there are another couple documents I need you to read through the non-disclosure agreement I have already signed for your protection and I need you to sign one as well."

I nodded, doing all she asked and handing them back to her.

"Okay, so first there are a few rules I need you to abide by if you want this to go as smoothly as possible. One please be on time to everything, a meeting with me is fine if you're running a couple minutes late, I understand but to court or a meeting with other people is inexcusable. Two, don't lie to me, all things will come to light eventually and it just makes your chance at winning a lot higher and following up with that does not withhold anything that might be held against you from me as well, that can be anything from you stealing a donut from when your were eight or your were part of a heist to take down the King, you won't get in trouble since I can't go to the police with the NDA I've signed."

"Of course, I got it." I agree to her terms. "Anything else?"

"Keep your mouth shut, even to friends and family. Maybe one person you trust will do everything but the less people that know the better. And don't go making statements to the media unless I've cleared them." He gaze burns into me and I agree letting her continue. "So this is what we're going to do. I'd like to place a couple employees in each branch just as a precaution so if they see anything they report directly to us and we gather evidence as well as clean up your company."

"Like spies?"

She laughs a little at that and the sound is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

"A little bit. Do you want to pick the people or would you like me to choose from our company's selection?"

"You've done this before."

"A lot more than people think, we place them in both companies like yours when the problem is on the inside and rival companies when we need insight."

"I think I'll let your teams handle it."

"Good choice." She smiles meeting my eyes and closing her file. "Well it looks like we're done for today, Mr Radcliff."

"You can call me Calix, since we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other that is."

"Well then you can call me Scarlett, Calix." I have never wanted someone to repeat my name over and over again until now. "Let me walk you out."

She stands up, straightening out her suit and I follow her to the door. She smiles at her assistant. We stopped closer to the elevator for the top floor in an almost deserted hallway. Everyone on this floor was important so they all had their own offices and the receptionists and assistant had their desks on the other side of the floor so there wasn't anyone walking around.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr Radcliff." She smiles up at me.

"I look forward to working together with Miss Vanderburg."

♦

"Where were you?" Silas asks, leaning against the desk of his receptionist waiting for me to get back. I send an apologetic look to my receptionist, Kaitlyn who flushes and loses my gaze quickly and tries to hide behind her platinum hair that reminds me of Scarlett's. I look back at the idiot who was looking at me expectantly. I nudged him into my soundproof office, taking Scarlett's words into consideration and not letting anybody know about the ongoing case, and the last thing I wanted to do was alert Andrew and everyone else involved about the investigation I was building on them.

"I went to the lawyers, remember?"

"Oh right?" The imbecile finally regains the memories of the multiple occasions we had discussed this. "So how'd it go, is Scarlett Vanderburg as brutal and cutthroat as she is made out to be?"

I shake my head, she was compassionate and kind, and cared a lot about her job and helping people.

"She's..." I struggle to find a word that won't end up with me having constant teasing from my oldest friend. "Great, she'll take my case where I want to. I just know it."

"So you have a crush on her?" Silas exclaims excitedly, not listening to a word I was saying. "This hasn't happened before in the twenty years we have been friends. You haven't even looked in the direction of a girl let alone kissed on, and no holding Nola's hand in kindergarten doesn't count. I have to teach you all about dating, you have to get them flowers, and hold their doors and chairs out for them."

I interrupted him right there. "Just because I have a lack in the relationship department doesn't mean I don't know how to be a decent human being and who says I have a crush on Scarlett?"

"I've known you since we were six, Cal. I know you by now. I can see it on your face." He speaks calmly before jumping up and racing to the door. "Oh this is so exciting, I've got a wedding to plan."

"Si, Silas." I yell out after him but it's no use. He was gone and probably was going to plan my make-believe wedding, I have given up on that one a long time ago.

"Your two o'clock is here, Mr Radcliff." The receptionist interrupts my thoughts.

"Thank you Miss Lawson."

♦

"Γεια σου μαμά." I greet my mother over facetime. I sat in my bed placing the laptop, since it was extremely late here for me it was the morning for them, they were getting ready for work.

(Hi Mama)

"Hi darling." My mother smiles warmly at me. Not long after my father had passed away and I was settled in the company, her and my older sisters moved back to my mother's homeland, a small island in Greece from New York, only coming back to visit me. I saw them as often as I could but that was only once every two or three months for a weekend.

I was always closer to my father, I was his shadow following him through his business meetings or going hiking and canoeing with him on a spare weekend. But I adored my mother and both of my sisters.

"Is that Cal?" I hear one of my older sisters shout in the background.

"Hey Tal." She pops her head in the frame and smiles widely at me. Thalia and Karisa both had the same dark hair and eyes that I have, growing up people often thought we were triplets even though I was four years younger than Kari and two years younger than Tal. "How's work?"

She rolls her eyes, grabbing the phone out of our mothers hand. "So you know the boss I've told you about?"

"The one you're always complaining about?"

"Yeah that one. So she kept me doing paperwork until like nine last night and then she still wants me to be on time to work this morning."

I don't say anything but mentally I roll my eyes, I love both of my sisters with all my heart but they would never make it in the business world. They didn't understand my workaholic tendencies and how I could work hours and hours on end, they had inherited that trait from my mother. She hated working and was happy to be living off the rest of her days on the beaches of Greece and using the massive inheritance from my father.

"That sucks Tal." I sympathise. "Where's Kari?"

"Meeting that new boyfriend of hers." I raise my eyebrows at that, this was the first I'm hearing of it.

"Don't worry I don't think it's going far, he's some sort of tourist that will be heading home in a couple of days. "Don't worry Cal, you don't have to punch anyone just yet."

"I've actually decided to take a break from fighting at the moment.'' I inform her watching her face morph to a shocked one. I also see my mother pause for a split second in the background. I had gotten into an immeasurable amount of fights since my childhood and it had only gotten worse once my father had passed much to her dismay. She had tried everything to help me stop using fights as a stress outlet but nothing had worked.

"Why." Thalia manages to get out. I shrug, not letting them know the real reason. Scarlett is doing a lot to help me and getting into small fights will do nothing but make her job harder.

"Hey guys I have to get to bed, tell Kari to call me later I want to know about her new beau."

"Sure thing little brother."

"Sleep well, αγάπη μου." My mother smiles warmly at me. And I do just that.

(My love)

Early update because this book is doing so well.

So what do we think?

Calix is a darling and I can promise you guys will adore him as much as I do.

Next chapter is extremely exciting so look out for it

Please vote and comment, what do think so far?

Ara <3