Part Four - Where it all began

This is from Paul Lewis’ point of view and gives some backstory to the recent events.

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He flinched as the door slammed shut. This was his least favourite part of the day, Dad was home and that meant one thing; time for the beating he knew was coming.

It hadn’t always been this way. His childhood was the same as anyone else's, or at least how he imagined there’s to be. It was only when he reached fifteen and his father had lost his job that things began to change. His once jovial male role model took to whichever bottle he could get to the bottom of to numb the feelings of self loathing; with this self loathing came the need to lash out and although he never lashed out at his ever positive wife, his teenage son was an easy target.

Sitting on his bed Paul clenched his fists, digging his nails into the sensitive skin of his palm. Mentally preparing for the call he knew was about to arrive.

“Get your arse down here boy!” His father’s voice echoed throughout the small house. Paul knew he had no choice but to obey; his father would only come and drag him from the room if he didn’t and then the beating would be worse.

Paul snapped back to the present and the matter at hand. The memories still lingering in the far corners of his mind as he settled his gaze on the dark haired woman in front of him; soon to be his latest...client, if he played his cards right at least.  

“Miss Silver, let me assure you if you were to become my client, my focus will be solely on you. I only handle one client at a time so you will have my undivided attention,” each word left his mouth as smoothly as butter being spread on hot toast. This was one thing he knew how to do; sell a deal to a potential client. Not one of his previous targets had failed to sign the contract.

The pretty brunette appeared sceptical as she flicked through the lengthy contract document. He knew she wouldn’t be able to read every little clause in such a small amount of time, so he was confident his special arrangements would have a good chance of not being highlighted.

Resting her hand, palm down on top of the document Miss Silver looked at Paul with an inquisitive eye. “So I would be your only client? That sounds like it could be expensive for me. An unneeded expense at that, I’ve done okay so far on my own.”

Paul had ensured he’d covered all of his bases and had answers prepared for any objection Scarlett Silver could possibly give to him. “I’m not denying that you’ve certainly made a name for yourself in the Indy’s Scarlett…. May I call you Scarlett?” He smiled at Scarlett’s brief nod of assent in response to his attempt to reach her on a more personal level. “Great. Well as I was saying Scarlett, you’ve done okay in the Indy’s but you’re moving up now and it’s a whole different ball game at these levels. Some of the people out there are sharks who would eat you for breakfast. I have experience of dealing with matters at this level.”

Scarlett removed her hand from the papers, shuffling through them once more. “It does sound tempting to let someone else deal with all of the legal and business crap for me. What about cost? How much would this service set me back?” She had to ask. After all she didn’t want to be paying out over the odds for something she could handle herself.

“My prices are very reasonable Scarlett. For the service I would be providing to you, all it would cost is 10% of your earnings from wrestling related activated - that encompasses both fixed contract fees and any additional extraordinary items.” Paul knew his rate was reasonable; he wanted to reel her in, it had been too long since he’d been able to quell the growing feelings of pain inside of him. This was the only way he knew how to temporarily stop the darkness from overwhelming him; it was the only thing that had ever worked. Each client, of which there’d been many, serving their purpose.

His words were having the desired effect on Scarlett. The price was reasonable and it would leave her free to focus on training and fighting rather than the boring paperwork. “Okay… say I do sign. I have a verbal agreement to sign to Rock and Wrestling, a new federation which is opening shortly. I want to honour that agreement so that is non-negotiable.” She was a woman of her word and wasn’t going to back out of a deal, even if it was only verbal at the moment.

“That is absolutely fine. I would never even suggest reneging on any kind of arrangement, be it verbal or written. In this industry your reputation is one of the few things you have. So with that being said, do we have a deal?” Paul smiled as he held out his silver parker pen towards Scarlett.

She accepted the pen with a subconscious hesitancy; something felt not quite right but she couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. “Yes we have a deal.” Signing the back page of the thick legal document she pushed it back to Paul with a smile. “So, what first?”

He couldn’t rush headlong into this. It had to be subtle; build up over time. “First, you go and enjoy your weekend. We can get down to business on Monday.”

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The weekend that followed was one the longest Paul could ever remember having. His need to fight back the looming monster was growing immense; he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on to his already slipping grip.

When Scarlett walked cheerily into his office, promptly, at 9am on that Monday morning it was all he could do not to forgo his usual buildup and just cut right to the chase there and then. Paul knew that doing so would only make her fight back and run. He had to earn her trust; subtly destroy her defences to ensure the best results. “Good morning Scarlett, you’re right on time.” he plastered a smile on his face as gestured to the empty chair in front of him.

“I didn’t think it would be polite to be late on the first day.” Scarlett’s voice was light; completely relaxed - she had no reason to suspect Paul of being anything but a professional wrestling manager.

He relished her naivety. It was part of the reason she made the perfect client for him. By the time she knew there was anything to be unsure of, it would be too late. Now he could set the ball in motion. “I appreciate the professionalism. We do have quite a lot to get through today so it’s best we get straight on with things” - despite his need for the end result, he did enjoy this early game of cat and mouse - “Coffee?”

Realising she was yet to have one in her haste to be on time for their first official meeting, Scarlett licked her suddenly dry lips. “Yes please, milk no sugar, thank you.” As Paul busied himself with making the drinks, Scarlett looked around the corporate office; not quite sure what she should be doing or saying in a situation such as this. “So… what’s on the agenda for today? Sorry to seem so dumb, but this is new to me so I’m not sure what’s going to happen exactly.”

The sweetness of her tone, the innocence of her words - it was going to be harder to contain himself than he’d thought. “You don’t seem dumb at all, it’s a perfectly valid question. I would be more worried if you didn’t ask a few questions. Today will be relatively easily, we’ll just go through a few contract clauses and set a plan of action for taking this arrangement forward.” He carefully placed a mug of caramel coloured, steaming liquid in front of her and took his seat. Pulling the large contract in front of him he turned to the page which would see his plan start to fall into place.

“Thank you.” Grateful for the refreshment Scarlett blew slightly on the liquid to make it a more drinkable temperature; burning her mouth and leaving herself unable to speak would probably not be the best idea.

“The first thing we need to cover is your on screen persona. This is a undoubtedly a male orientated business, so you cannot show any weakness. You need to be a bitch even if that isn’t your true nature.” He searched her face for a reaction knowing she would probably be uncomfortable playing such a role.

Almost choking on her mouthful of coffee as his words reached her; Scarlett composed herself before responding. “I’m not sure about that. Why do I need to pretend to be something I’m not? Surely my wrestling skills should do the talking for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a pushover, I can be just as tough as the biggest bitch out there.”

Paul smiled reassuringly in Scarlett’s direction. “I don’t doubt that Scarlett and yes it might be tough for you to portray a persona that doesn’t match your own but all you have to do is think of it as playing a role. I will even script and choreograph all of your on screen segments so that will help you to believe you’re acting out a character. Trust me on this, this is what I do.” Watching her shoulders relax and hearing the small sigh escape her lips he knew he was managing to convince her to play her part.

Scarlett still didn’t feel completely at ease with the thought of coming across as someone other than herself but Paul was the professional; this was what she was paying him for after all. “Okay, I’ll do it if that’s what you think it will take.”

“Great. As soon as the contract with Rock and Wrestling is signed your new on-screen persona can begin.” Paul couldn’t contain his smug smile; everything was going perfectly to plan.