Chapter 7 The Reporter

Anna Giuseppe stormed towards the elevator, whining and grumbling to herself, with an article in her hand. She was a reporter in Smith Magazine, a national news outlet in the city. She was a not so easy woman, or you could say a young lady- she is just twenty-four. Anna walked into the elevator, just then she saw someone running to catch up with her. “Hey, please hold the door,” the lady said loudly while running. Anna first grumbled to herself before holding the door; she was really in a hurry to lay out her anger on the chief editor- Baron White! He can’t just flunk her paper all the time, it wasn’t acceptable!! The lady caught up and hurried into the elevator, and then Anna pushed the button, closing the Elevator door and up they went. “Thank you,” the lady uttered excitedly and Anna nodded, trying to force up a little smile which was however not convincing enough. “I am Melina,” the lady mentioned and offered her hand for a friendly shake. Anna looked at her with a blunt face, she just wanted to reply. ‘Who asked you?’ but no, she had to be nice, right? “Oh, I am Anna, nice to meet you,” she replied coldly and accepted the handshake, after which she turned back to face the door. She was not feeling even a quarter of the excitement radiating from the other party’s body. She was in a bad mood right now but this strange lady didn’t seem to see it. Anna thought that was the end of the discussion, in fact she really hoped so, but it definitely wasn’t. “So, I am new here, what about you?” Melina asked. Anna growled mentally and clenched her fist; she was getting pissed off by this lady’s words which were irritating for her right now, thanks to her mood. If she started this conversation now, and loses her current temperament, then she wouldn’t be able to say the things she wished to say to Baron. “I have been a reporter here for the past two years, trying to crack a single case but someone keeps making things difficult for me,” she blurted, unable to hold back her frustration. “Oh,” the lady muttered with a less excited expression. “That is quite annoying. By the way, cracking a case, isn’t it a detective’s job?” she queried. “You can say that,” Anna replied in a whisper, while impatiently staring at the door, waiting for it to open, even though the elevator was still going up. She didn’t care what people said, she had been committed to solving the mystery and unveiling the guilty for two years now, she wasn’t going to give up now. Finally, they arrived at the sixth floor. Smith Magazine was the fifth tallest building in the city. The elevator door began to roll up and Anna was ready to jump out, but once again, Melina extended her hand for a handshake. “Anyway, it was nice to meet you, thanks for the pleasant conversation.” She uttered with a smile. ‘Pleasant conversation?’ Anna muttered in her head. That was barely a conversation, let alone a pleasant one. She accepted the handshake anyway and nodded with another fake smile, her cheeks were hurting from having to fake it. She escaped from the elevator before the lady could say any other thing and hurried down the hallway. It was quiet and cold in that part of the building; of course, Baron white disliked noise and he enjoyed having all the ACs turned on to the coldest temperature. Sometimes Anna wondered if he was really even human, he was white like snow, just as his name implied. Anna arrived at the door to his office, she took a deep breath in before knocking, her lungs were already freezing from the cold. “What do you want Ann?” she heard his husky voice from the speaker above. He was such a lazy man, he spent more time on his butt than otherwise, either screaming at some worker or binge watching some movie. Anna scoffed, she knew he could see her from the camera above. He had everything set up to avoid stressing him. “I am coming in,” She yelled at the camera and before he could object, she pushed the door open. She met him sitting on his office chair with his leg on the table. He was watching a move on the Smart TV like she imagined; well, she knew him too well. “I didn’t say you could come in,” he half-yelled and spread his arms while staring at her in scrutiny. “Oops, well I already did,” she retorted and walked to him. she dropped the papers on his table with a nonchalant expression on her face. “What is that?” he asked, with his eyes still fixed on the TV. “Why don’t you take a look?” she replied sarcastically. She was aware that he already knew why she was here, the very same reason why she is here eighty percent of the times she comes up here. Baron White groaned and took the paper; he flipped through the pages and sighed. “Okay, so what about it?” he queried. Anna placed her hands on her waist. “Well, I need an explanation, I worked so hard on this and sent it to you for publication approval, but you sent it back, why?” she asked, while still maintaining the nonchalant expression. Baron White sighed and took his legs down from the table. “I am sorry Ann, but I can't publish a story that would spread fear and insecurity in the society, especially when there is no proof to support it,” he replied. “What do you mean there is no proof? Those men are out there and you know it!!” she stated. Baron White waved his head sideways. “No dear, I don’t and I won’t run a Book based on lies and fabricated stories, it would taint the image of our Company. If you want me to approve this story, then you need to get proof, solid evidence.” He put forth in finality. “You know this story is real, you have known for months but you just don’t want to admit it,” she fired back. “Keep your assumptions to yourself Ann, you are one of the best reporters that we have and that is enough, you don’t need to do all this to prove your competence to me or anyone. But if you are desperate to write a story, then there are many other cases that you could work on.” He advised. “That is where you get it wrong, I am not doing this for myself, I am doing it for the innocent people out there, they deserve to know the truth, they deserve to stand up for justice and put away these bad men. We can’t continue to live in fear and terror, the truth needs to come out to the light.” Anna protested. “I am not running the story, and that is final,” Baron stated. Anna had already lost her cool but was trying to keep it together. She looked around the office, bit her tongue and scoffed mockingly, then she turned back to Baron and took the papers from him. “Fine then, you want evidence, I would get you evidence,” she replied and stormed out of the room. Anna had been determined to expose the Sicilian Mafia and bring them out to light ever since she learnt about them a year ago, she had stopped at nothing to uncover their evil activities in the city, but they were always one step ahead of her. She had set her mind to it, the world needed to know of the existence of these criminal organizations that have been operating for centuries, they needed to stop fearing them, these so-called Mafia families needed to be punished for their crimes and if any other person wouldn't step up to the task, she would!! To be continued!!