This one is obviously thicker than the rest and heavier looking, too, as Carey inches closer. Then she walks right past me, causing my stomach to turn.
"Wait," I say before I can stop myself. "What about me?"
Carey pauses, glancing over her shoulder as if she'd forgotten I existed.
"Oh," she says lightly. "This one? No, we'll find you something else."
Something in her tone set off every alarm in my body. She has no intention of finding me something else. I can hear it in her voice, see it on her face. I need that file.
"You only have one left," I say evenly. "Whatever it is, I can handle it."
Carey looks at me, eyebrows lifting as if she were hoping I would insist. "Are you sure? It's another athlete. That's proven not to be your strong suit."
She's calling me out in front of all my co-workers. As if I, or anyone else in here, needed a reminder of my last client. A teenage-gymnast-turned-pyromaniac who set a training facility on fire with a vape pen she "accidentally" dropped in the towel bin. This was after she'd already been kicked out of another facility for a similar incident. I'd worked to clean up her image and get a new trainer to take her on. She refused to take responsibility or issue a formal apology.
Gabriella fired her as a client.
I promised that from that moment on, I'd never take on another athlete. They’re too unruly, too difficult to manage, and too cocky for their own good.
"I'm sure," I reply. "I can do it."
Carey looks up at everyone else in the conference room. "Thank you for your time. You are all dismissed." Then she starts toward the door.
I grab my bag and laptop and run after her, pushing through the conference room door behind her and hurrying past the corporate offices.
"Carey, I need that file."
"This client is difficult." She doesn't slow down. I can only imagine how much she’s enjoying me chasing her to keep my job. "He’s uncooperative and high-risk. A real career killer if mishandled." She turns into her office as I follow her in.
She walks around to her side of the desk, laying down her tablet and the file I am practically begging for.
I walk up to the other side of her desk, facing her, resting my fingertips on its edge. "I'm used to difficult cases. It won't be a problem."
Her eyes gleam. She doesn't think I'll rein this client in.
"This potential client gives a new meaning to the word difficult. But…" I can see her mind working. "The commission is triple what any other case this quarter would bring in. This would be a huge win for the firm if you pull it off, and a huge win for me since I gave you an almost impossible case that Gabriella was going to toss out. I’m up for a promotion." Obviously, her performance here means something back at her firm, too. Now she’s weighing which would be more gratifying—watching me fail and get fired, or watching me succeed so she looks good for her own promotion. "It's a chance to redeem yourself. Show us what you're really capable of before the cuts."
The cuts. She finally says the word out loud. I can see it in her eyes—she doesn't think I have a shot in hell.
I don't look away. I don't blink.
"Sounds like exactly the kind of project I'm up for."
Carey smiles as if I just signed my own death warrant, because whether I fail or get this client to cooperate, Carey wins.
"Oh… and one more thing." She taps the folder. "You'll want to relocate for this one."
I shot a look up. "I'm sorry... did you say relocate?"
"Seattle," she says lightly. "That's where the client is, and he'll need a strong hands-on approach if you have any hope of reining him in."
Of course he will.
"His agent's number is inside the file. I’d add it to your contact list now. You’ll need his help. Make arrangements to relocate on your own dime," she adds, sliding the file towards me, and then takes a seat in her oversized leather chair already turning towards her computer as if this conversation is over. "We won't be able to expense this with Gabriella not wanting us to go through with this client. Oh, and Natalia...?"
"Yes?"
She glances up from her computer. "Though I’d love to see you fail and watch you pack up your office while security waits to escort you out, this promotion I’m up for comes with a huge raise and a company car, so try not to sleep your way to the top this time. We both have something riding on your winning. I’d like not to get fucked over by your antics yet again."
