"So, do you also take note of Mr. Kincaid's messages too?" Niamh asked suspiciously. She was not dumb at all. When she had first caught sight of the handsome man listening so intently to the messages, she figured she had been led to the wrong office.

     The way he quickly ceased told her that he had in fact been doing something wrong.

     Looking around the room, she could feel the elite power Joseph held. On the walls hung pictures of him in his younger days posing with the various receivers of the projects he produced. A picture with dozens of small children caught her eye on the farthest wall from her. She narrowed her eyes at it without getting closer trying to see if her imagination was playing games with her.

     "Is that Niall?" She asked herself.

     Justin turned to see what she was looking at which brought her out of her own little world. Clearing his throat, he avoided her earlier question by saying," I take it you're the new talent Mr. Kincaid has been doting over these past few weeks." He placed his arms behind his back and rocked on his heels.

     Her heart shaped face lit up at the mention of Mr. Kincaid being excited to meet her." Is that so?" She asked trying to mask her kiddy excitement to jump up and down and force him to tell her everything he knew.

     Justin took her innocent look of admiration as a sign that she may possibly be a part of The Family. He quickly came to the wrong conclusion that she wasn't just any intern, but one who would come in to learn the business closely. Justin settled on her being "adopted" into the family, since many of the members were comprised of multiple individual families who would sometimes intermarry.

     She didn't match the rest of them. He could plainly see that she wasn't a Caucasian, which seemed to be a characteristic of the family members. Justin ached to find out her importance to them.

      "Did you get it done for me Justin?" In walked the man of the hour. He walked to the other two people standing in his office. The smile on his face softened when he recognized Niamh.

      " Well, what brings you here?" He didn't say it with any hint of disapproval. It was a simple question.

     "I am the intern, sir.Niamh Deges." Niamh kept her voice sturdy, not letting the fact that he didn't put two and two together from her name and their meeting the day before. His eyes widened slightly as a look of embarrassment crossed it for only a second. He walked to his desk, picking up the folder he opened it, simultaneously looking from her to the paper before him.

    " I apologize Niamh dear. My head hasn't been on my shoulders lately, I should have realized that." He came to her grabbing both of her hands and covered them with his own. The sincere look in his eyes ignited a scary feeling in her. He looked into her face to see if his ignorance had hurt her in any way. The look of a father making sure his child was okay....

     Quickly throwing that image out of her mind, she reassured Joseph that she was fine.

     " Mr. Kincaid it is absolutely fine . I doubt many people could make a connection like that so close to one another." She revealed a white smile to him.

    A hearty chuckle left him as one hand went to pat her cheek. Joseph had fallen back into the days when he would laugh at the jokes of the witty girl she once was. There was always a reason to smile around the child, but his action toward the woman brought a look of confusion to her face. He drew his hands back, forgetting where he was and that they weren't alone.

    Justin looked to him with a raised eyebrow. What was that? The thought of this young woman being in a relationship with Joseph didn't sit well in Justin's stomach. He hasn't ever heard Joseph talk about a woman in his life, but for some reason he selfishly hoped that Niamh wasn't it.

     " I'm going to go ahead and be on my way Mr. Kincaid." Justin nodded his head to him, shaking his hand. " And Niamh, it was a pleasure to meet you. We'll see each other again I'm sure."

    Niamh was taken aback by his matter of fact tone. She watched him on his way out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

     "For future reference Miss Deges, please call me Joseph; Mr. Kincaid was my father's name." He told her with a warm smile.

     "Okay...Joseph." Niamh said happily.

     "Let's take a walk around Niamh. That way we can talk some more as I show you where your new home will be."

    With that, he led her out of the room.

Ooooooooooooooo

     "Welcome Mr. Kincaid." A chorus of greetings met Blaise's ears as he opened the front door to his new domain. Two rows of employees lined his entrance. The conformity they displayed shocked him into the place he stood. His eyes widened at the unusual manner of the people before him. Their appearances were all manicured and identical. The men sported the same haircut while the women each had their hair slicked back into a menacing high bun.

     " Um...Good Morning everyone." Blaise was arrogant, cocky, bodacious, any word you could think of; but in no way was he an attention seeker nor craver. Actually, attention such as this made him slightly uncomfortable, the opposite of his personality.

     He wasn't sure if the intent in his voice carried across the room. Not one head lifted from his response, as if they did not want to make eye contact.

    "Guys...?" Silence met him. Suddenly, the sound of expensive shoes walking on the tile. Around the corner came Blaise's godfather, Daniel Saslow.

     "I believe that was your cue everyone." He bellowed out a hidden command that they willingly obeyed. They scattered like moths to their work areas, continuing on with everything as before." And I believe this will be my first time congratulating you in person son." Walking to Blaise with a wide grin, Daniel gathered him into a manly hug.

     "Thank you Uncle Dan. I appreciate you being here for the first day." Separating, they walked to the elevator and climbed on.

    " Oh not only for a day, I'll be here for quite some time. We can't have you going in blind, can we?"

    This piece of information was new to Blaise. He hadn't been aware of being "supervised" at all. He thought his father had trusted his abilities enough to allow him to handle it on his own.

    " Dad hadn't told me that you would be around for a long period of time." Blaise said monotonously.

    " Ah, well what your father doesn't know now won't hurt him. He'll find out soon, I'm sure, but there will be no problem. You know, I shadowed him his first year in."

      Shadowed? If he thought that term put Blaise at ease, he was absolutely wrong. Coming at this from a professional standpoint, Blaise would only appreciate Daniel helping him when called upon.

    Not him exercising his high position in a place where Blaise should be the highest on the respect list. His own father had even made it clear that he would leave this sector of the company to him. The dominating nature of Blaise would not step aside for anyone.

     " A year? I'm certain you won't need to be here that long. In fact, today will be the only day you have to hang around here."

     The ding of the top floor alerted the pair that their stop had arrived. Just as the doors began opening, Daniel turned to face Blaise with a small sneer.

       "I'll be the judge of that." There in his face wasn't the man Blaise had come to love and respect growing up. The vehement look was foreign to him, and his broad chest swelled out of defense for he saw the inklings of an enemy.

    Of course Blaise wouldn't recognize this word to describe the man before him just yet.

Ooooooooooooooooooo