“We have amended your NDAs, which need to be re-signed. If any of you break any part of that NDA, Mr. Langford will send the wrath of his legal team down on you with such force you’ll never recover. You’ll be so buried in legal fees and woes that your grandchildren will be in debt. So, I suggest you get over any petty jealousy you’re harboring and learn to keep your mouths closed—for your own sakes.”
“Thank you,”I mouth to Matthew. He winks at me. Matthew may not have the overbearing, intimidating presence Asher does, but he can be just as effective at getting people to fall in line. General Matthew, kicking ass and taking names, per usual.
“We expect you all to be cleared out by this afternoon,” Janet pipes in. “We need our conference room back.”
Matthew rolls his eyes but otherwise ignores Janet. “Ella, Emily, let’s meet in Asher’s office in fifteen minutes to discuss moving forward.” He turns and exits, shooing Janet and the other board members away in the process.
Emily clears her throat. “Everyone, take thirty minutes to collect yourselves and think about your preference. At the end of that thirty minutes, I want you to email me what you decide.” She looks at Daphne. “No need on the preference from you. I think we can all agree it’s not a good fit. At this point, you’ll be lucky to return to your previous position, but only if you can pull yourself together and be professional from this point forward. You might as well pack up your desk and move back downstairs after you’ve signed the new NDA.”
Daphne bursts into tears, and everyone unconsciously moves away from her as if she has a disease. Part of me feelsbad for her, blame my always bleeding heart, but part of me is indifferent. She brought this on herself. No one made her lash out with petty jealousy at work. That was her choice.
While everyone is signing their new NDAs and quietly mulling over their decisions, a few men from maintenance show up with boxes and hand them to each of us. I walk to my desk and wonder what to do with my things, but just as I’m about to start packing them, one of the men beats me to it.
“You don’t have to do that,” I say to him.
“Pardon, miss. I was told to gather your things and take them to Mr. Langford’s office. He said you’ll be working there for now.”
Well, that answers that.
Ten minutes later, Emily and I are in Asher’s office with Matthew, and the box of my desk things sits on the table in the corner. Just as we start to sit, a knock sounds at the door. Matthew opens it, and a sullen Daphne stands at the threshold.
“Yes?” he says, not hiding his annoyance.
“I wanted to apologize before I head downstairs.”
Matthew moves aside and allows her to enter. Emily and I stand to meet her near the door.
“I’m sorry, Ella. Matthew was right. I was being petty and jealous, and I was out of line. I’ve enjoyed our time working together on this team, and I wish you the best moving forward.” She doesn’t sound all that sincere, but I thank her anyway. I don’t want any bad blood.
“Here,” she says, holding out a stack of papers for me. “These were left on your desk.”
I take them and thank her again, then Matthew, Emily, and I return to the couch.
I shuffle through the stack of papers Daphne gave me. It’s another batch of fan mail.
“So, who do we think is a good fit for the new team?” Matthew asks Emily.
“Heather,” she answers quickly. “And possibly Michael to give us a male perspective. But no one else really stands out.”
“I’m good with them, and I think the three of you would be sufficient for what we need,” I say to her, still glancing over the mail. I’ve tried to answer some of the letters I’ve received in the past. It’s still strange that people would want to hear from me, but I also don’t want to alienate people who have gone out of their way to write to me, so I do what I can.
“Well, that was easy,” Matthew says. “I’ll send an email from Asher’s account this afternoon so there’s no room for complaining.”
I open a blank envelope, and my stomach sinks. I haven’t seen a letter like this since the first one, back when one of Asher’s stalkers sent me a threating letter that called me a whore and warned me to stay away from him. Ever since my mail has been vetted. The page is blank except for one phrase made of magazine clippings pieced together in the middle.
Iwarned you
“Shit,”I say, reading the line over and over again.
I drop the letter like it burned me.
Emily snatches it up. “What the hell? This isn’t supposed to happen! Who let this slip through the cracks?”
She stands, furious, and storms out of Asher’s office. Matthew and I follow her as she hurries to security and forensics on the floor beneath us.
She bursts into the office, waving the paper.
“I need to speak to Thompson,now,” she hisses at the guards sitting and watching a myriad of screens that the cameras all throughout the building feed.
