“That’s nuts, to blame you.” Oliver’s eyes flashed. “You work your ass off. It’s not your fault Sterling is a low-life cheating bastard.”
“Sterling is Clarke’s best friend. I’m sure he’s more than happy to cover up his indiscretions, and who better to dump on than the gay guy?” Jake straightened his files. He’d come prepared to defend himself, but he wasn’t sure of the enemy he was fighting.
Clarke swept into the room, followed by a fortysomething man Jake recognized as one of the firm’s attorneys and a woman in her midthirties, her hair pulled back from her face in a tight knot, and wearing a black suit with a white shirt. A diamond pendant winked at her throat. Clarke took his position at the head of the table with the other two flanking him.
“Who’s that?” Erica whispered to him.
“Not a clue,” Jake answered, but he didn’t have a good feeling.
“Probably Sterling’s replacement,” Oliver said in his ear.
“Hmm.” Jake grunted. He wasn’t so sure.
The room quieted down, and Clarke cleared his throat. “I have some sad news to report. Richard Sterling passed away this morning. I just got off the phone with his wife. We will be making a statement to the press, and of course you’ll want to send your condolences to the family.”
Jake didn’t have to like the man personally to feel sorry for the tragic loss of life and the devastation his wife and children must be feeling. Over the years he’d met Elizabeth numerous times, and she’d never been anything but pleasant.
“Which brings me to this meeting,” Clarke continued. “We’ve begun the hunt for a replacement for Dick. It won’t be easy because he was one of the premier financial consultants in the world, but we’re confident we’ll find someone.” Clarke tipped his head to the woman. “But now I want to introduce you to Renée Schneider. She’s going to be our Vice President of Human Resources, a new position we’ve created. Renée will report directly to me. She’ll be responsible for managing the hiring and firing of all personnel, as well as working with employees once they’re hired to groom them, so they become loyal Precision employees. She’ll evaluate and revamp all our training, and manage and supervise the human-resources division. I’m sure you’ll all give her your full cooperation as she begins her tenure with Precision.”
Jake sucked in a breath, barely registering Erica’s shocked expression and Oliver’s smothered curse. If it wasn’t such a huge betrayal of trust, it might’ve been amusing to see everyone else at the table turn to stare at him. Clarke deliberately didn’t meet his eyes, and Jake’s hands curled into fists.
“I need to get out of here before I say something I’m going to regret.”
Ollie put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t give them any excuse to label you as noncooperative. You don’t want to lose your job.”
Didn’t he? This was such a huge knife in his back, Jake wasn’t certain he could ever recover. He barely paid attention to the rest of the meeting, when the lawyer spoke about the possible lawsuit and settlement negotiations.
“Thank you, everyone. That’ll be it for today.”
At those words, he pushed away from the table, shook off Erica’s and Oliver’s hands, and strode out of the room. Head held high, he ignored Keisha calling out to him and entered his office. He closed the door behind him and began to shake.
That meeting was nothing more than a slap in his face, and Jake burned from the public humiliation. He sat behind his desk and buried his head in his hands. Two raps sounded on his door, and he sat up, blinking furiously to see Maria poke her head around the door.
“Can I come in?”
He gestured to the chair. “I assume you heard the news?”
Her lips tightened. “What are you going to do?”
He met her sorrowful eyes. “Right now? I had plans to leave early anyway. Stacey has an appointment with her doctor. Clarke came here earlier and dropped some hints that perhaps my personal life had contributed to the problem.”
“What?” Her shriek cleared out any fog swirling around in his still-shocked brain. “That is the biggest bunch of bullshit I’ve ever heard.”
“I always prided myself on leaving my issues with Brian and Stacey at home. But maybe I did let them control me somewhat.” Maria opened her mouth, but he put his hand up. “I’m willing to admit it, but only that far. I’ve given this place everything I could. It was my salvation when things were falling apart. And I refuse to be made the scapegoat.”
“You don’t deserve this.”
He smiled sadly. “But you know I have to go, don’t you? I can’t stay. Basically I’ve been demoted.”
Tears streaked down her face. “Please don’t leave.”
“It won’t be right away. I can’t quit without securing another job. I need the health insurance for Stacey.”
Maria wiped away her tears. “Maybe it won’t work out, and she’ll hate it here.”
But they both knew that by bringing in someone over him, he’d received a vote of no confidence, so if not Renée, it would be someone else.
“We have to get to work. You have a report to get to me, and I have a termination before I leave.”
