Chapter Text
Clarke Griffin put her head in her hands and wondered what the hell she was going to do.
She’d been back in Arkadia for less than a fortnight and it felt like in the last five days especially her carefully ordered life had spiralled completely out of control.
Her parents were dead. Killed in a car accident, and she’d left everything behind at college to come back and make the necessary arrangements… and try to pick up the pieces of her father’s company. Truthfully, she had no idea what she was doing, she wasn’t even a business major, and yet here she was, staring at spreadsheets that were looking less and less like anything good. But there were one hundred people employed by Griffin Engineering. One hundred people relying on her to figure something out. She felt the weight of it tugging at her constantly. On top of everything else, the numbers weren’t adding up. And she wasn’t sure her heart could take losing the company as well. She had to fix this.
She called Wells, her father’s assistant in. Her assistant, she reminded herself for umpteenth time.
“What can I get you Clarke?” he asked, standing in the door way.
“We need help, Wells,” she said. “We need to hire someone to help me understand this mess, and help me fix it.” Wells nodded.
“I’ve heard of some people. Blake Consulting. Want me to get you their number?” he asked. She nodded.
“Thank you, Wells,” she said, and he left her alone in the office that was her father’s while she tried not to cry.
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Bellamy Blake smiled atwoman waking up beside him. He was already awake, showered, dressed and just about to leave.
“Morning,” he says, touching her shoulder. She looks over at him, taking a beat to register where she is, who he is.
“Hi,” she replied. She rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up without revealing her nudity. It didn’t fit well with the way they had torn each other’s clothes off not seven hours ago. He smirked.
“There’s coffee and aspirin on the kitchen counter,” he said. “I have to go to work.” He stood, straightening his shirt and tie in the reflection of the window as he went to stride out of the room.
“Wait,” she said. He paused, turning back. “Um… last night was…” she tried.
“Last night was last night,” he explained. “We don’t owe each other anything, and I won’t call you.” She winced, and nodded. He nodded in return.
“It’s been fun,” he said, and left without a backwards glance. He wondered if he should have told her not to steal anything. He wondered if he remembered her name. He shrugged, shifting his focus to work as he shut the door to his apartment. He grinned, remembering today was the day he was meeting his next client, Griffin Industries. He loved the initial meeting, laying the ground rules, explaining how this worked. He hadn’t thought he’d go into consultancy, but there was something he loved about going in to someone else’s mess and dealing with the fall out. Cutting staff, or selling off chunks of business. His word was powerful, he was good at what he did. And he loved it.
He met Nathan Miller, his financial consultant, as they entered the building their office was housed in.
“Big day today boss,” Miller said as they crossed the foyer to the elevators. Bellamy grinned.
“Have you had a chance to look at the numbers for Griffin?” Bellamy asked, knowing he had. Miller nodded.
“It’s not looking good. Their accounting department is either useless or someone is siphoning money and running them into the ground deliberately. It’s a fucking mess,” Miller said as reached their floor. Bellamy nodded, trying not to smile. Miller bumped him. “You’re such a bastard,” he said. Bellamy laughed.
“Of course. What other kind of person would be a consultant?” Bellamy asked. Miller chuckled as he slid behind his desk, booting up his computer.
Bellamy moved into his office closing the door behind him. He picked up the file that Roma had compiled for him about Griffin Industries, and the woman in charge, Clarke Griffin. He paused and looked at her photo. Blonde hair, blue eyes, she was pretty, typical daddy’s little princess… but there was something in the set of her jaw that made him that she wasn’t going to just do what he said and he grinned, bracing himself for a fight. She’d left art school to come back and run daddy’s engineering firm after he died. She wasn’t going to let go without a fight, but then from what Miller said, she might not have a choice. He shrugged, it didn’t matter to him what she did, as long as he got paid.