* * *
Monday morning found Jake sitting at his desk with a pile of correspondence to go through, hundreds of emails to read, and a calendar filled with meetings. And what was he doing? Looking at pictures of Stacey riding the pony with Shea holding the lead rope. Since he’d returned home, he and Shea had agreed to video chats every day, first with Stacey, then a more private one for the two of them later in the evening.
They were busy making plans and deciding how to move forward. Together. He’d already made an appointment with his financial advisor.
A knock at the door dragged him away from his phone screen.
“Come in.”
Keisha stuck her head inside, her eyes wide. “It’s Mr. Clarke.”
Well, that’s never a good sign.
“Bring him in.”
The heavyset CEO strode into his office. “Jake, glad you’re back.”
“Thanks, Robert. Please sit.”
He waited until Clarke fit himself into the chair in front of the desk before sitting himself. “What can I do for you?”
“I assume you’ve been brought up to speed on the Sterling issue.”
“Yes. Has anyone heard from Rebecca?”
Clarke’s face darkened. “Oh, yes. She, through her lawyer, of course, has presented us with a list of demands.”
Jake raised his brows. “A list? For us? What does she want?”
“Aside from a lump sum settlement of five hundred K to forestall a sexual-harassment suit? A written admission that our firm failed to protect her and was negligent in our anti-harassment policies.”
Jake narrowed his eyes. “You realize that if we do that, it’s not only tantamount to the company admitting guilt, but that I was negligent and derelict in my duties. And you know damn well I was not.”
“Precision can’t afford a lawsuit, Jake. Especially not one so messy and ugly. We need to schedule a war-room meeting on how to handle it.”
“Oh?” War-room meetings were used specifically for strategizing internal shake-ups. “Should I be concerned?”
He’d expected Clarke to brush him off with an “of course not.” But that didn’t come.
“You’ve been with the company for over ten years. But maybe all the upheaval in your personal life took your focus off your work here.”
A red haze fell over his eyes. “Are you kidding me? You’re blaming the fact that Sterling couldn’t keep it in his pants on me?”
“Our policies need to be stronger and more effective, and we need to convey them to the employees better than we have been.” Without meeting his eyes, Clarke extricated himself from the chair. “I’ll see you at two o’clock.” He closed the door behind him.
That was some next-level bullshit Clarke was being fed by someone. Jake did yearly training for employees and a separate session for managers. He sent out monthly emails and met with each division, asking them to speak with him on any personnel issues they might have. One thing he’d learned was that people who didn’t want to listen, wouldn’t, no matter how many training sessions and lectures they were given.
For the rest of the morning, Jake reviewed every memo and directive his office had sent out the past two years, every training session he’d taught, and made a spreadsheet of the past five years of complaints and settlements, which, Jake was pleased to see, were minimal, and none for any type of harassment.
And much as he hated to do it, he put out feelers with headhunters to get a sense of what was out there. Just in case. Because he didn’t have a good feeling about the way the wind was blowing.
At two o’clock, he took a deep breath before opening the door to the conference room. His gaze swept over the long table and found Erica and Oliver, an empty seat between them. Grateful that they were there, he nodded to the other division heads and joined his friends.
“Thanks for saving me a seat.”
“Aside from a killer tan, you look sick. Do you know what this is all about?”
“Somewhat.” He sketched out Clarke’s visit earlier.
