CHAPTER TWELVE

Downstairs in the ballroom, Vivian watched Nayla sit beside her filling out an application.

"Does that mean you're hired?" she asked her friend.

"Child no. They just want our information in their database."

"That seems backwards to me."

"Me too. But it doesn't matter. They'll never call me."

Vivian looked at her friend. "Why not? You were as good as anybody else up in here."

"Because of what you said. I'm too old. I'm the oldest thing here."

"I'm older than you by two months."

"You know what I mean."

"Then why are you filling out that application if you know it's a waste of time?"

"Miss Ellis?"

The two friends looked when they heard Claudio's voice. He had just walked over to them.

"Yes?" Vivian asked him.

"You need to go to HR. I've already phoned them."

Vivian was puzzled. "Human Resources? I need to go there for what?"

"You have a contract. Ten floors."

Vivian and Nayla looked at each other. And then back at Claudio. "You mean a cleaning contract?" Vivian asked him. "A cleaning contract to clean for The House of Janardi?"

"No, to clean the Empire State building. Of course to clean HOJ. Isn't that what you asked for?"

But Vivian was still unbelieving. Yes, that's what I want. But I don't understand."

"Neither do I," Claudio admitted. Which confounded her even more.

But Nayla was too excited to worry about the oddness of it. "Which location will we be cleaning these ten floors?" Nayla asked. It wasn't lost on Vivian that Nayla was suddenly referring to we rather than she .

"The location is here at headquarters," said Claudio. "You can begin Monday morning."

When he said that they would be at the main location, Vivian was stunned. But Nayla nearly ruined it. "How are we going to have enough staff in two days to clean ten rooms?"

"Excuse me?" asked Claudio.

Vivian quickly spoke up. "What she meant to say is that we'll have to move staff to accommodate this fast turnaround. No worries."

"There had better not be," said Claudio.

"We'll be here bright and early Monday morning, sir."

"Go to HR first. They're preparing the contract. They will also do a background check, as I'm sure you know."

"No issues there either," said Nayla proudly. "Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank me. It's a mystery to me too. But the boss said do it."

The boss? Why would the boss say do it? "Who's the boss?" asked Nayla. "Will he be our boss too?"

Claudio frowned. "Of course not!"

"Then who's the boss that hired us?"

"He didn't say anything about hiring you. He's hiring Miss Vivian Ellis's company. And the boss is Janardi himself," said Claudio. "THE boss. And yes, I know. It's crazy to me too."

Both Vivian and Nayla were dumbstruck. "You have got to be kidding me," Nayla said. Then she looked at Vivian. "You know Janardi?"

But Vivian was still too stunned to answer that question coherently. She needed to be sure. "What's his first name?" she asked Claudio.

"Giorgio," he said. "Why?"

"Yeah, why would that matter?" Nayla asked her too.

Vivian knew him as Jonni, because he said she could call him that, but she remembered his actual name began with a G and could very well be the name Claudio said. She didn't know back then that his last name was Janardi. Didn't have a clue back then that he was the Janardi of the House of Janardi! She was floored.

Claudio stared at her. He could see her distress. "You saw him lose his temper with one of the designers. Didn't you?"

Now Vivian was worried. "A designer, no."

"But somebody in this building?"

"Yes."

Claudio smiled. "Get used to it, darling. It will not get better." Then he pointed at her. "Get to HR."

"Yes, of course. I'm on my way," Vivian said as she stood up and grabbed her pocketbook.

But Nayla was in shock. "You know Giorgio Janardi ?"

When Vivian would only stare at her, Nayla realized why. " You're the one he cussed out?"

Vivian, still in disbelief herself, nodded her head.

"But you're nobody. Why would he cuss you out?"

"I walked into his office unannounced and we got into an argument."

Nayla was shocked. "You walked into Giorgio Janardi's office and got into an argument with him? When? How is that even possible?"

"I didn't know it was him! And he was really rude to me."

"Then why did he tell that guy to put you under contract? Unless it's a got cha kind of thing. Unless he pretend he's going to give us that contract and then we get to HR and it's just a big fat joke."

But Vivian was already shaking her head. "He's not like that."

Nayla looked at her sideways. "How would you know what he's like?"

"He's an asshole. But he's a serious asshole." Then Vivian began leaving. "We need to get to HR before he changes his mind. Let's go," she said and hurried out of that ballroom.

But she was as baffled as Nayla as to why he chose to help her after the way they spoke to each other. She would not have even accepted his offer had her company not been in severe dire straits. But her company was in severe dire straits.

Nayla was as happy as a lark. She knew how much they needed that contract too. But Vivian was acting as if she just knew it was a mistake and he'd realize it and pull that contract in a heartbeat. She was in a mad dash to sign that paperwork. Nayla had to practically run to keep up with her.