Charlotte PoV

  When I stepped off the lift onto the executive floor of Miller Hardlight Sciences everything was dark and quiet. Not exactly what I would have expected for a Wednesday afternoon. Either the place went under, or Benedict must have been sulking again. Crossing the abandoned floor, mentally ordering each polarized window to clear as I went, I made my way to Benedict’s office. The only person still at their post was Anthony, Benedict’s personal assistant. The man nodded respectfully to me as I strode past.

  Even though the door was locked, it opened to my personal codes. The smell of expensive synthetic alcohol hit my nose the instant I stepped into Benedict’s office. I’d expected to find the man himself behind his desk, slaving away like usual, but instead I found him reclined in one of the expensive purple lounge chairs he kept for entertaining guests. He was wearing one of his over the top purple suits, a crystal bottle on the table next to him, glass in his hand.

  “I’ve never seen you drink during a workday,” I said quietly as I stepped up next to him and gently pulled the glass from his hand. “Feeling guilty about something?”

  “Please don’t tease me right now,” he moaned, sinking further into his chair. “I feel bad enough as it is.”

  I perched on the chair across from him, placing the drink on the table next to me, out of his reach. “Then why the hell did you do that? You heard the news; you knew why Evelyn and the others attacked the council building, yet you still tried to interfere. That’s not like you.”

  “You know why,” Benedict groaned. “It’s Evelyn. Ever since I met her, she’s been nothing but standoffish, and aggressive towards me, and her attitude rubs me the wrong way. She treats me like a corporate stooge! I’ve spent years trying to change things for the better. How many hours and billions of dollars did we spend lobbying for the council to implement reforms? To get harsher penalties for companies that sacrifice their indentured servants, break contracts, and take advantage of the citizens? For real monitoring and policing of the corporations? It was probably too much, looking back, but it was working! We were making a difference in the lives of the people in this city.”

  He sat up and ruffled his hair. “I’m proud of my accomplishments! The opinion of just one person shouldn’t make a difference to me. Why do I let her get to me so much?”

  “Do you want my opinion?” I asked.

  “Please,” he replied, slouching in his chair.

  “I think there are three reasons she gets to you. The first is, she’s an undercity resident, one of the people you’ve been unable to help over the years. Despite all the money we’ve sunk into public work projects and politicking over the years, we’ve never once been able to get a toehold in the undercity. The residents just don’t trust outsiders, and who can blame them? They’ve been screwed over by nearly every other entity in this city.”

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  I stood up and walked over to Benedict, pulling him up until he wasn’t sitting in a slouch anymore.

  “The second reason is she doesn't want to work with you. Not only does she not like corporations, but she refuses to join the Family. You’re so used to people falling under your charms that when someone doesn’t, you don’t like it.”

  Benedict groaned. “And the third?”

  “When she puts her mind to something, she gets things done. She doesn’t care about the rules, the laws, or what other people think--she just does it. And she’s effective. You’ve been working so diligently to change the system from within, for so long, that it bothers you when someone gets more done by ignoring the rules.”

  “I… can’t deny that.” He tried to slouch down, but I didn’t let him.

  “Now, darling, please tell me what was going through your head when you ‘rescued’ the council members. I know you heard about what happened below. This couldn’t all have been about Evelyn.”

  “It wasn’t. I just kind of panicked, okay? Like I said, we’ve spent years trying to change the system, and I thought it was working until I heard the council tried to take down a plate. Everything we’d worked towards was discarded by the council the instant it was convenient. What’s worse is, before I could even begin to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it, Evelyn and her friends decided to just tear down the entire system. I saw years of work going down the drain in seconds. I offered the rest of the council members sanctuary and locked them in rooms downstairs until I could figure out what to do.

  “Now that I’ve had time to actually think about the issue, I admit that removing the current council and replacing them with a more reasonable alternative is better. I just felt like things were moving too quickly.” He sighed, “It’s like you said; I probably blamed Evelyn because she was trying to institute serious changes, while I’ve been stuck making minor improvements.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, Evelyn’s involvement was entirely driven by the fact that people were in danger and the fact the council pissed her off. It was entirely driven by emotion and the need to help others it wasn’t politically driven at all. She doesn’t want anything to do with choosing a government or participating in an interim government she just wanted the council out,” I explained, sitting on his lap.

  “That doesn’t exactly make me feel any better. It just means she’s a better judge of character, and getting things done than me,” Benedict pouted.

  “She just has different priorities than you,” I replied, patting him on the back.

  Benedict seemed to collect himself. He sat up a little straighter and nodded confidently. “I’ll just have to do better in the future. Stop letting what Evelyn does get to me, and concentrate on my own projects. If I learn anything from this, it should be that I need to think outside the box more. We probably could have done more if I had been willing to bend the rules just a little bit.”

  “That’s the spirit,” I said with a smile. “You should probably apologize to Evelyn. But later; she was really pissed at you earlier.”

  “Apologize?” he replied indignantly. “She beat me once I released the council members to your custody. Did you know that?”

  “Then you should also send a nice thank you gift to Hel later too. Apparently Evelyn was so irate that she needed to be sedated before coming here,” I told him. “I’ve seen what she does when she’s angry. It usually involves that massive bear of hers and immense property damage to her target.”

  “Right. Apologize to Evelyn and thank Hel--got it,” Benedict said.

  “Good,” I said, leaning forward and placing a kiss on his forehead before standing up again. “Now darling, it’s almost dinner time, and we have reservations, but I refuse to go anywhere with you while you smell like a distillery. Please go use your private bathroom to get cleaned up. I’ll have Anthony deliver a fresh suit.”

  The man nodded and pushed himself to his feet before heading to the back of the small office. “Wait for me, love; I won’t be long. When I come back, I’ll look like a new man.”

  “I can’t wait,” I replied with a smile.

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