Beaucroft Assets became a multinational corporation earlier this year, but the anonymous employee hinted that there are whispers of clients who have already begun pulling out due to the allegations of their CEO’s conduct. When we attempted to reach out to BA for a statement, we received an email from their HR department claiming that they would be “looking into these allegations.” Nicholas Beaucroft and Justine Varens could not be reached for comment.
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Hi Meghana,
Nicholas and I got married this week and I didn’t see a name change form on the company’s internal Wiki page. What is the procedure for getting my last name updated in the system?
Also, do I need to notify someone else besides you? We want this to be above board.
At least,shedid, thought Jay, as she signed her name to the bottom of the email and sent it off before she could second guess herself. It would have to do for now. If she had made a mistake, she was sure Meghana would correct her.
She twisted the ring on her finger. Nicholas must have had it resized since he had attempted to present it to her nine years ago. At thirty-one, her fingers were no longer as slim as they had been when she had been a young girl fresh out of college. That should have disturbed her and it did a little, but it wasn’t that much more invasive than anything else he’d done.
Keeping her childhood bed because he’d fucked her in it, hiring a PI to stalk and photograph her, blackmailing her into being his mistress by filming her getting off—even when he was a boy, he had lacked both boundaries and restraint.
That morning, he had been holding her like he thought she might be taken from him. Touching her with such aching tenderness that she had feigned sleep so that he might do it longer. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched her like that, with so much longing.
Like she was their whole world.
“Do you think you can make these copies for me?”
Jay looked up. It was that marketing executive that Nicholas had chased away. Memory of his authority had apparently faded in his absence. “I’ll see what I can do.” She didn’t bother to maskthe sharpness in her tone. “It might be faster to do it yourself. I have a full morning with Mr. Hartwell.”
“And you don’t do what you do for your bosses for other people?”
The wording of his question gave her pause. “I’m Mr. Hartwell’s assistant. Not the office secretary. I’m happy to show you how to use the copier later but if I do, it’s going to be a courtesy and not because that’s my job description.”
“That’s funny,” the man—Harold, she remembered his name was—said. “From what I hear, you do plenty of things outside of your job description for your stepbrother.”
Jay stiffened, shooting a sidelong look at Annica. Did shehearthis? But she kept her face angled pointedly towards her own screen, in a way that suggested bomb blasts could be going off and she wouldn’t notice. Either she had the best-noise cancelling headphones in the world, or she wasn’t going to lift a damn finger to help.
“I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean,” Jay said at last, opting for a cold, no-nonsense tone. “I don’t work for Nicholas.”
“Just under him,” she thought she heard Annica say, but when Jay whipped around to look at her in shocked anger, the woman still had her eyes on her screen.
“Look, I don’t have time for this,” Harold say, with a nasty smile that suggested he’d heard what Annica said, too. “Just make the copies.”
Just do this, do that, I thought you were a good girl.
People were always telling her how to behave and what to do, and expecting her to just roll over like a beaten dog. Anger flared through her, hot and dangerous.
She picked up the sheaves of paper, allowing the man one beat of smug satisfaction, before ripping them right down the center with a neat twist of her hands.
“What thefuck.” Harold dove to his knees to salvage his precious documents while Jay turned to her desk, her hands shaking as she put them in her lap.I can’t believe I just did that.
Harold stood, his posture menacing—familiar. She stared at the screen until the bluish light wavered, remembering a time not so long ago when her stepfather had put his fist through the wall.
(if you want to keep that pretty face)
“You’re as crazy as your whole fucking family.”
Jay jumped when her computer chimed. God, shit. She plugged in the jack, silencing her computer as Harold walked away with a shake of his head. Her heart was still beating a mile a minute and there was a high-pitched ringing sound in her ears.
HR had sent her an email.Wow, that was fast. Jay was vaguely surprised that Meghana was responding to a request for a name change personally, when she had an entire staff at her disposal.
Please come see me in my office at your earliest convenience.
Dread sank into her gut like a falling stone. Had Harold run to HR? And—what? she mocked herself inwardly. Complained that she’d ripped up the documents after he’d made vaguely suggestive comments about Nicholas and her family?
