But I didn’t have any good ideas.
And if I couldn’t come up with something, I would never see my sisters again.
54
Tess
“Ican’t believe she’s showing her face at the office after all the shit she’s stirred up!” Maeve was indignant as we watched Cressida be patronizing and awful to several new hires.
I was proofing the printed and bound booklet of Quantum Cyber’s contract bid one last time before I boxed up the extra-special surprise to send to AstraDrone.
“I wish I had been there when Beck slapped her down.” Maeve sighed wistfully.
That part of the Friday-night dinner had made me giddy. Even though Beck had spent the entire weekend either asking me questions about my stepfather or locking himself away in his study, the fact that he had shot Cressida down so hard that she was out for revenge was fabulous! Well, obviously the actual revenge part wasno buenobecause it hurt the girls, but it had to mean something that Beck had shot Cressida down.
Maybe I was more important to him than I thought.
Maybe I would go on another date with Beck.
“What do you think about this one?” Maeve asked, turning her monitor toward me.
I peered.
“You’re getting a new job?”
“Cressida is clearly going to scorch the earth,” Maeve said. “I need to get out of here before I’m thrown out.”
I frowned at the job posting.
I didn’t know how I felt about my friend leaving me. Actually, I knew how I felt. I didn’t like it. I would miss her, and I didn’t want to face Cressida’s wrath by myself.
As if my thoughts had summoned her like a demon, Cressida swiveled to head toward my desk.
“I can’t believe you’re still here,” she sneered at me. “I would have thought Beck would have taken my words into consideration and fired you already.”
“Why would he fire her? He loves her, unlike you,” Maeve said hotly.
“Because it’s against company policy,” Cressida snapped.
I chewed on my lip.
“And he has to set an example, and that means making an example out of you,” Cressida added. “Just you wait. You’ll see. He’s going to fire you and leave you to fend for yourself.”
“No, he won’t,” I said uncertainly.
“Of course he will. Beck is a calculating billionaire. He’s just waiting until he squeezes whatever he wants out of you, then he’s going to dump you and probably take up with Shannyn, that hussy, just so he can snag the trust fund and keep his sisters. Once you’re no longer useful to him, you’re over. You’ll see.” She stalked off.
“Don’t listen to her,” Maeve said as I fretted.
“I always knew Beck was going to fire me after he adopted his sisters,” I said, hating how sad I felt. “But after all the time we had spent together, I thought that we had something, a connection.” I leaned over to rest my head on my desk. “This is why I don’t date! It gets too complicated.”
“Talk to him like an adult,” Maeve urged. “Just straight up ask him. If he says he has to let you go, you can forget about him and tell him to eff off, and we’ll both find new jobs together.”
“Right. If Beck wants to fire me, that is A-okay! I will stand on my own two feet. I am a strong, independent woman!” I announced and banged a fist on my chest. “Ouch!”
I flipped through the rest of the booklet. It looked very slick, if I did say so myself. The images were crisp, the diagrams looked great, and the charts were carefully color coded. As a finishing touch to make it feel more authentic, I added a piece of silver duct tape on the spine of the booklet to give it an industrial masculine feel.
“Now,” I said, “on to my surprise!”
