Chapter 283

Tessa’s POV

I wore a black knee-high skirt and a pink blouse; my hair was tied back in a low ponytail, and I put a little bit of makeup on to highlight my features. My clothes fit my body perfectly, showing off my every curve and a little bit of my legs. I wore black heels that made me an inch taller. I had to say; I looked pretty good for my first day at work.

Joseph whistled his approval when I walked out of the bedroom to model my first day of work outfit for him.

“You look amazing, Tessa,” he breathed as he took me in.

I smiled and twirled for him to fully see the outfit.

“I hope it’s appropriate for my first day,” I said, unable to hide the nervousness from my voice.

He wrapped me in his arms and peppered light kisses along my jaw.

“It’s perfect,” he said, approvingly.

I swatted him away, but I chuckled.

“You are going to ruin my makeup,” I scolded; there was no malice in my tone and he smiled in response.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to work? I have some time before I need to leave,” Joseph offered.

I shook my head.

“It’s fine,” I told him, glancing at the clock. It was almost 7 am and I had to be at work in an hour. I was waiting for my Uber to come pick me up, knowing there would probably be a bunch of New York traffic. “I don’t want you to be late for work too,” I added.

“They can wait a little longer for me to get there,” Joseph said, shrugging.

I rolled my eyes.

“They’ve waited long enough, and besides, I need an update on how Ruby is doing,” I reminded him. “I need you to be there for her.”

He nodded and gave me a reassuring, warm smile.

“I will; I’m sure she’s doing great. The elders at the school know what they are doing. You don’t have to worry about her.”

“I always worry about her,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “You know this.”

He nodded in response.

“I know,” he said. “That’s one of the things I love about you.”

Joseph was returning to his job at the vampire academy this morning and then he was going to the mountain village to see if there was anything needed from him. It was nice having things get back to normal, even if I wasn’t exactly sure what “normal was.” But I knew this was normal for Joseph; he was one of the Elders for his vampire tribe and he was a teacher. This was the kind of stuff that he did, and I knew he was getting cabin fever and not being able to resume his duties.

There was a knock on the door, bringing me out of my thoughts. Joseph went to answer the door before I could get the chance; I already knew that it was my Uber. When he answered the door, an older gentleman stood on the other side.

He gave Joseph a polite smile and bowed his head slightly.

“You must be Mr. Evergreen,” the man said. “I’m Antonio Manuela. Or Tony for short. I was hired to be a driver for your household. I don’t live far from here so whenever you need a ride, just give me a call and I’ll be here as soon as I can.”

“Wait, I thought I was waiting for an Uber,” I said, stepping around Joseph to peer up at the man. “You hired a driver?” I asked Joseph, confused because he didn’t tell me this.

Joseph shrugged.

“I thought it would be better if we had a personal driver instead of constantly paying for an Uber to take you to and from work,” Joseph admitted. “I wanted to make sure you had a reliable ride and this company had great reviews.”

“But why?” I asked, raising my brows. “I’m saving up for a car and should be able to afford one soon.”

Joseph looked at me, equally confused.

“I would have gotten you a car myself if I thought that was reliable,” he told me, much to my surprise. “But this is the city and city driving is a nightmare, not to mention parking. Most who work and live in the city don’t own cars because of that reason. This way you don’t have to worry about any of that stuff. If you still want a car later, then we can go car shopping. But for now, Tony will be your assigned driver. I already put his number in your phone and all you have to do is call him and he will come pick you up.”

“You can text me too,” Tony suggested. “I answer pretty quickly because it’s my job. Mr. Evergreen has already given me your work schedule, so I’ll be here every morning at 7 am and I’ll pick you up at work at 4 pm. If there’s anything else needed, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

I nodded.

“Thanks, Tony,” I said, peeking up at Joseph who gave me a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, I should have told you. I just wanted you to be safe and I didn’t want you to worry about anything. Especially now that I’m not going to be here all day. I’d feel safer knowing you were able to get to and from work without any issues.”

“Okay,” I said, kissing his cheek. “Thank you.”

I looked at Tony and gave him a polite smile.

“Then, we should get going now so I’m not late,” I told him.

I said goodbye to Joseph one last time and I followed Tony out to his car. To my surprise, Tony opened the back seat door for me to slide in. I felt a little awkward, but I thanked him and slid into the backseat.

As predicted, a 20-minute drive to work took about an hour. I got there right at 8 am and I was relieved that I wasn’t late. The city was so busy, and I was starting to understand why Joseph didn’t want me to drive myself to work. There was no way I’d be able to find parking and get through all this traffic by myself. I was lucky in the last city I lived in because everything was within walking distance of my apartment, not to mention it wasn’t nearly this busy.

Tony stopped right in front of the building entrance. I thanked him and slid out of the car, shouldering my purse. With a racing heart, I walked into the building. I greeted the doorman who nodded in response.

I knew this building had multiple businesses within it and the doorman was there to direct people to the appropriate business. I already knew where I was going though so I went straight to the elevator and pressed the floor number.

Fable Magazine Cooperation was towards the top floor, and it took a couple of minutes to reach the floor because of how tall this building was. It overlooked most of the city and the breathtaking views from this floor.

When the doors slid open, I immediately saw Ashley hard at work at her desk. The phone rang as I stepped out of the elevator and Ashley picked it up before it reached a second ring.

“Fable Magazine,” she said into the phone. She paused. “And may I ask who’s speaking?” another pause. She then frowned. “We don’t take solicitations; I’m not going to bother Miss Huxley for something like that.”

Without another word, she hung up the phone and scowled. Then her eyes shifted upward and narrowed at me.

“You’re late,” she barked.

I frowned and glanced at the clock on the wall; it was exactly 8 am.

“I’m on time,” I told her, motioning for the clock. “I don’t start until 8.”

She rolled her eyes.

“In this industry, if you aren’t early, you’re late,” she informed me, folding her arms across her chest. “I already put your first assignment on your desk 30 minutes ago. Don’t fuck it up.”

I nodded, not really sure what else to say. So, I said nothing, walked around her desk, and headed into my office.

I couldn’t believe I actually had an office; I fought the urge to twirl around and squeal. There was a manila folder on my desk that had my name on it and before I could grab it to see what my first assignment was going to be, there was a knock on the door.

I quickly opened the door, and I was surprised to see Megan Huxley standing before me. She gave me a gentle smile.

“Oh, good, you are here. I just wanted to go over a few things with you before you start your day,” she told me. “I’m sure you are already aware, but we are a worldwide company with many branches scattered around.”

She spoke as she walked into my office, shutting the door behind her. I spun around to face her as she took in her surroundings; maybe seeing what I had done with the place, which wasn’t much yet. I had just gotten here after all.

“We thrive ourselves in not only fantasy and fiction short stories but worldwide gossip as well. Sometimes a job will require you to leave the location and interview certain people. This job will require some traveling and I might ask you to go to certain places with me. I’m assuming that’ll be doable, right?”

“Yes, of course,” I said, nodding along with her words.

“Perfect,” she said, turning to face me. “We are also working on the book publication portion of our company, and we are hoping to get some books written and released within the upcoming year. If you know anyone interested in getting their book published and released, someone who is good at writing, let me know and I’ll take a look at their work.”

“Will do,” I said nodding. Excitement boiled in through me; I hadn’t officially written a whole book yet, but it was good to know that I might have a chance at getting my first book published once I did write it.

She turned to face my desk and looked at the portfolio lying on top. She grabbed it and opened it, glancing at it briefly.

“Did you get a chance to look at your first assignment yet?”

I shook my head.

“I was just about to when you came in,” I confessed.

She nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s a big one; we mainly want to see if you can handle something with high expectations,” she informed me.

“I won’t let you down. I’ll try my absolute hardest,” I assured her.

She smiled.

“That’s what I like to hear. So, rumors have been going around about someone very famous and extremely private moving to the city and we at Fable Magazine want to know if these rumors are true and if so, we want to know everything about this person. We are excited to have this opportunity and this assignment is huge. It might be a little too big for someone as new as you, but I have faith that you’ll pull this off.”

I nodded.

“And what am I supposed to do exactly? Find out if the rumors are true and then interview them to find out information?”

“Yes, exactly. If you could get a picture of him as well, that’d be great. There are no pictures of him online and those who had met him seemed to have forgotten about it. It’s so weird and we want to be the first to expose him to the world. It’ll increase our ratings big time.”

“Sure, where can I find him? What’s his name?”

“If I knew where to find him, I wouldn’t be asking you to confirm that he had moved here,” Megan said. “And his name is Joseph Evergreen.”