He got up from his seat and walked closer to me. “Did Nora make this?”
I was surprised at his guess. “How did you guess?”
He laughed. “You don’t have many friends here, let alone friends free enough to bring lunch for you. So naturally, I guess it’s Nora.”
That makes a lot of sense.
I began laying out the utensils and passed him the gastric medication. “Here you go. Remember to take this if you have gastric pain.”
He looked at the medicine before turning his gaze toward me. “Did you ask Nora to pick this up?”
I nodded. “Something like that.”
He took the lunchbox from me and paused for a moment before asking, “Did you see Ashton last night?”
I was taken aback by his question. I’m going to get whiplash from the way his mind works.
Seeing as I’d suddenly become mute, he took a few bites of his food before launching into a monologue. “Fuller Corporation is planning a project in A City. Technically speaking, Ashton doesn’t need to be in A City for it, but he’s here and it seems like he’s planning to stay for quite some time.”
I nodded, not intending to reply.
He frowned at my continued silence. “Since Fuller Corporation isn’t a local business, they’re planning to hold a public tender for the project tonight at Oasis Hotel. Murphy Corporation is planning to bid on this project as well.”
I stared at him in surprise before finally speaking, “You can just let me know directly what you need me to do.”
He chuckled at my words as a bright smile began to form on his face. “I’m putting you in charge of this project!”
I frowned at him in confusion. “I’ve just joined the company not long ago, as your secretary. My job is to take care of your odd jobs and organize your documents. Following up with Fuller Corporation is a job more suited to a project director. Even if you insist on putting me in charge, you need to consider my capabilities. Do you have that much faith in me?”
He raised his brows and put down the fork in his hands. With a serious expression, he said, “You’ve worked at Fuller Corporation for years, making your way up to the Director position from the lowest rung of the corporate ladder. Isn’t that proof enough of your capabilities? A position is an abstract thing, and it doesn’t dictate whether a secretary can handle the tasks of a project director. You can ask Linda yourself. She’s always been an executive assistant since she first joined the company, but she has a hand in most Murphy Corporation projects.”
I knitted my brows. Is he trying to hard-sell me or something?
He continued, “Besides if we send you to bid for the project, our chances of success are a lot higher. I’m not above playing some dirty tricks.”
As if I didn’t know what he had in mind. He’s definitely trying to gain some leverage by using my relationship with Ashton.
I didn’t really want to go, though I didn’t say a word.
He looked at me, and his gaze softened. “I’m not going to force you if you don’t want to. You’ll just lose your twenty percent commission on the project, that’s all.”
Stunned, I blurted, “Twenty percent?”
He arched his brows and said, “Supervisors in charge are entitled to a twenty percent commission for all successful bids. This policy has been around since Murphy Corporation was first established.”
I wasn’t unaware of commission distributions for successful bids, but supervisors typically got a five percent cut. Even ten percent was pushing it.
A twenty percent cut was a mouth-watering prospect. A project from a company as big as Fuller Corporation would at least come with a six-figure commission. If it was a project on a larger scale, it could go into the millions.
A commission like that could set me up comfortably for years.
Armond noticed that I was in a daze. He continued eating for a while before walking toward the other end of his desk. He passed some documents to me. “These are all the details regarding the project by Fuller Corporation. The local council is planning to work with Ashton as well. Right now, we only have one advantage going into the bidding, and that’s you.”
I replied helplessly, “Ashton’s not going to favor me in the tender just because of our personal relationship. You said it yourself; profit is the only thing that matters in business.”
He smiled cryptically at me. “How would you know if you never try? The tender begins tonight, so you need to get the bid proposal out this afternoon.”
Pursing my lips, I replied in a somewhat harsh tone, “Mr. Murphy, aren’t you just making my life difficult now?”
He smirked. “So you can’t do it? Or you won’t do it?”
The words froze in my throat. Neither scenario was accurate, though my heart still hesitated.
He broke the silence first. “Scarlett, you should start thinking about what you’ll gain from this. Just ask Linda if you’re unsure about anything.”
He turned his attention back to his documents after leaving me with that piece of advice.
