The Take Over

I hadn't gotten much sleep last night after having that disaster of a conversation with my family. I could tell that everything was about to crash soon and I have no idea what I will be able to do if my real identity gets out. I don't care much for the safety of my family but I don't like it when people poking around in my stuff. I have made quite a few enemies that it sometimes scared my business partner whenever they seemed to pop up. I had a short chat with the company lawyer late last night and had the company shares transferred over to my name. I knew my father won't keep his mouth shut for long but I need this business to succeed. So I can get on with my actual reason for returning back to New York.

I got out of my car at the same time as my father this morning. The shock on his face was evident enough that he didn't believe that I would actually show up today. He followed behind me when he saw that security was not going to stop me but in fact ushered me through the gates. He was stupid to think that I hadn't already infiltrated his office with my people. He scurried off to his office while I found an empty conference room and set myself up. I followed the hallway five minutes later and found his office. Not bothering to knock I walked right in, much to his secretary's dismay. Frowning, he ended his call and I sat in front of him.

"What have you done?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about"

"Why does Sabrina Hanning now own eighty five percent of the company shares? Who is this Sabrina? Is that what you call yourself nowadays?"

"Why yes that is correct. I would like you to call a meeting with your floor team. There will be a staff meeting in ten minutes"

He was about to argue with me but I had already made my way back to the conference room. Soon enough the room filled with his team, of roughly about fifteen people. Some faces I recall from meetings I attended when I was a kid but there was no way anyone would be able to recognise me. Even if they did, I had painful ways of making people shut up.

"Good morning everyone. I'm aware everyone is pretty busy with their cases, so I will keep this nice and brief. My name is Sabrina Hanning and as of yesterday, I am the new owner of Martin & Martin. There will be changes over the next couple of days, as I move into my new role of CEO and as Mr Martin moves into his more suitable role as Head Director. Now any questions?"

I did a quick scan around the frowning faces, not bothering to look at my father, who had his hand up.

"Alright let's get down to business then. Three years ago, we merged with Hannings Law. It is a complete mess and I would like that be of first priority in fixing it up"

"But we have the Johannas file that needs finishing by today"

"I will fix that, no need to worry. Now if there aren't any more questions, grab a file on your way out. Dismissed"

There was some grumbling before the team disbanded, taking a file with them as they left. My father was fuming and stayed behind, waiting until everyone had left. I needed to defuse him before he started to go off and start exposing me to these people.

"I will be needing an office space, it will help if I can get two right next to each other. Don't bother with finding me a secretary, I will do that myself. God knows the type of incompetent people you tend to hire. I will finish my work here until my office is ready. And don't call me my name in this building or rather never call me by my name. My name is Sabrina Hanning and I would like for you to keep it that way. I have a reputation to uphold and I will not have the short tempter of my father ruin that. You can leave now"

My father stood there for a bit longer than I liked. His mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. This was starting to get bothersome. I knew I should have had him dealt with before I returned to New York.

"I said you could leave Director Martin"

Huffing, he rushed out of the conference room. I don't care that he was not happy with me but I was not happy with him. He will learn his place pretty soon and if he doesn't he will learn what it's like to underestimate me. A few hours passed before there was a small knock on the door.

"Come in"

"Ma'am"

I looked up at the paperwork I had to sort through, to see an intern standing in front of me.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I finished fixing up the Hanning's merge"

I looked down at my watch and saw that it was only nine in the morning. Who was this boy?

"Name?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your name intern"

"Oh, it's Matthew King ma'am"

"Leave the paperwork here. If I'm impressed with your work, there is a chance of a promotion. You can leave now"

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am"

I watched him scurry out of the room with a smile on both of our faces. Opening the box at my feet, I searched through the staff files, until I found his. Matthew King, twenty four, single, lives rather close to the office. Been an intern for three months but his file was empty. There were no notes from his supervisor, no cases he had worked on, nothing. What exactly were the people doing in this office? Groaning, I started working again, knowing I had a lot of work ahead of me.

By the time I looked at my watch again, I noticed that it was six. I had worked my way through lunch again. I packed up the boxes and wandered down the halls, hoping that Matthew hadn't left yet. I walked past the small space filled with lit up cubicles. Everyone was still working but that's impossible. I had already taken all the caseloads for the day. This means they have only been working on the merge that had already finished this morning.

"What is exactly going on here? Why are you still here?"

"We are still working on the merge"

"But that was already fixed this morning"

"What? That's impossible?"

"What I find impossible, how a bunch of imbeciles still manage to have a job here. Matthew King, you need to be here first thing in the morning"

The room grew quiet as everyone stopped working. Their faces showed pity but I was smiling. Matthew only looked confused.

"I didn't want to pit you guys against each other but I needed to know what your work ethic was like. There will be some changes with staff in the next coming weeks. If you can't show some promise, I will very kindly show you the door. Matthew, I will be here rather early"

"It's Matt, ma'am"

"What?"

"I prefer Matt, ma'am"

"See you in the morning Matt"