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“Kim and I are a different story, and in the end, she was right.” I sigh. “But this is not the same. I’m sorry, Emma. I just don’t think there’s anything to fix.”
Both kids look like they want to argue with me, but I’ve heard enough. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
I’ve had women throw themselves at me my whole life because of how I look, but that’s all they ever want from me. The second I try to pursue something, they treat me as nothing more than a good fuck.
The seed of anger that thought stirs up pushes away some of the hurt. I know it’s not healthy, but I grab on to the feeling. I’ll let myself be just angry enough to get through the day. I can't make her love me, but I can make it hard as hell for her to keep running away.
Twenty-three
Frankie
Mr. Sutton is going to owe me a month-long vacation when this is all over. Which I am definitely taking because if I have to watch Julian’s eyes go from sad to stoic when they catch mine one more time, I’m going to scream.
Mr. Sutton’s put me in charge of MailboxM.D.’s launch in Derek’s absence, on top of the all-nighters we pulled before the party. Which he let me know when I showed up on Sunday to help finish fixing the bug, along with the rest of the team. Normally, I would complain about giving up two weekends in a row to work, but being alone in my apartment with my thoughts is worse.
All I can think about is Julian and what an absolute shit I am.
“No, Raj, you can’t add any more features now. It’s been the Monday morning from hell, please don’t make it worse.”
He tries to argue with me, but I shut him down with a tired look. “For fuck’s sake, did you do this to Derek? Is that why he was such an ass?”
“Chickadee, I am offended that you would insinuate that I had anything to do with that cretin’s attitude.” Raj is lounging in my office, sprawled in the armchair in the corner.
“I take it back, sorry. I’m just exhausted.” I lay my head down on my arms, careful to avoid my keyboard.
“Something tells me that might have more to do with a certain hot security guard than me trying to add one teensy line of code.”
“Quit trying to tinker with it. We’re just monitoring it for issues this week, then we hand it off.” I pinch my forehead. “I’m not saying you’re wrong. But you’re annoying me. Go bother your husband and leave me alone.”
Raj laughs, but does as I ask. The email that triggered my latest outburst sits open on my screen. I have a meeting with HR in ten minutes, and after Friday night’s disaster, I don’t know what to expect.
It’s signed by both the head of HR and Mr. Sutton’s personal assistant. Logically, I know I’m not being fired, but that doesn’t stop my stomach from twisting in knots or my body locking up.
I fire off a confirmation that I’ll be there and push back from my desk. If I hurry, I’ll have enough time to stop at the coffee machine to grab a cup of courage before I go.
Lauren is waiting for me at Kate’s office, looking rougher than I’ve ever seen. “You look exhausted.”
“Fuck you too.” Lauren clinks her coffee cup to mine, then knocks on the door.
Mercedes, Mr. Sutton’s assistant, opens the door, ushering us both inside. “Thank you both for coming in on such short notice. We know you’re swamped with work right now, Frankie. You too, Lauren.”
She cuts straight to the chase. They need statements from both of us about what happened at the party on Friday night, to add to the growing pile of accusations against Derek. Mercedes clucks and mutters about wishing people would speak up, but otherwise doesn’t judge.
Eventually, I finish giving them all the details. Kate folds her hands on her desk and looks over her glasses at us. “Thank you, ladies. I know you each know Mr. Sutton on a personal level, but he asked me to give you both an official apology from Mailbox. And I quote, ‘I knew Novak was an asshole, but I had no idea his actions had escalated into something so wholly inappropriate and unacceptable. That kind of behavior will not be tolerated at Mailbox.’ I’d just like to add that only one person had reported anything about his behavior prior to this weekend, and he was officially written up for it months ago. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have deterred his behavior toward yourself and others.”
I want to kick myself for keeping this to myself. What if it hadn’t been me that he fixated on? Some poor girl who didn’t have a Julian to keep her safe? Who knows what would have happened. More guilt piles on my shoulders.
“I want to add my own apologies that this was allowed to go on for so long. I hope you both will join me in encouraging others to report any inappropriate behavior in the future. And if you know of anyone else who might have something to add to this file, I would appreciate it if you send them my way.”
“I thought he was already fired?” I ask.
Mercedes is the one who answers my question. “Mr. Sutton was served with papers this morning. Mr. Novak is suing for wrongful termination and assault. Anything we can add to the file would be helpful.”
Panic and guilt sit like a stone in my belly. Lauren reaches over and pats my leg. “We will. Was there anything else?”
Kate glances back at her screen. “There is. Frankie, we would appreciate your help with selecting a new hire for the dev team. Mr. Sutton has excused himself from the first few rounds of interviews due to his schedule. He suggested you were the person on your team who would be knowledgeable enough to weed out anyone not qualified. And Ms. Masterson, since you have experience hiring for your own team, he asked you to help and make sure we hired someone who would uphold the company culture.”
Lauren snickers. “He wants me to be the asshole detector. Got it. Are we using a recruiter? The one I usually work with doesn’t hire for this kind of specialized role.”
