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"I came for our appointment. The one we spoke about at the party? You said you'd listen to my ideas for a new location."
"Jennifer," I say. "Your appointment was for tomorrow."
"Was it?" She smirks. "Oops. That's all my fault. But good for me, I'll have brand new gossip to share with all Mr. Saxon's loyal fans."
"Please don’t,” I say.
"Why not?" Her tone is vicious. "Don't want to be known as the office slut?"
"Watch yourself,” Charles says, and she ignores him, still looking at me. "I told you he was the type to fuck his secretary."
"No, Jennifer,” Charles says, "I'm not. I'm just not the type to fuck you."
Her face goes cold. "I see. Well I don't think you'll be keeping little Alyssa as your toy any longer. Not unless you want to lose this entire company."
"What?" The word comes out of both our mouths at the same time.
Jennifer crosses her arms. "You think I don't know about Seattle and the state of this company? I do. I know everything. Imagine how the employees at your company are going to feel when they find out that instead of paying attention, you were letting this company bleed out while you were fucking your secretary. I think Heely International will think twice about their offer to invest."
"No one will believe that's what happ--"
"Alyssa, don't." Charles holds out a hand. He looks back at Jennifer. "What do you want?"
"Fire her,” Jennifer says. "Right now."
My jaw drops open. "You can't be serious."
"Of course I'm serious," she fires back. "Because of you this company almost sank. I have a lot invested here, more than a secretary who's been working here for three weeks. I don't want to see it worthless just because you couldn't keep your legs closed."
I open my mouth but nothing comes out. This isn't happening. "Fire her, Charles, and stop seeing her. If you do that your little secret will stay safe with me. Oh, that and a big fat bonus check."
I look at Charles. He's gone pale, and I see his jaw working. Clenching and unclenching. "You're not actually considering this."
"Alyssa, you know what this company means to me."
"Charles, this is blackmail. You have no cause to fire me."
He swallows, turning to his desk. He takes a pen and begins to write a note. He folds the paper in two and hands it to me. "I'm sorry, Alyssa. I can't let this company--Peter's company--fail."
"Please don't do this," I say, fighting back a sudden surge of tears. "You can't fire me. I can't be fired again. You told me you love me."
Jennifer laughs. "And you believed him?"
"Alyssa Harrington, your employment at Saxon Hotels, Inc. has been terminated. Effective immediately. I think it's best if you go."
The tears flow over my eyes. "You can't."
"I can,” he says.
It takes every ounce of my strength to leave his office. But I do, because I've never seen his eyes so cold. I get my things and head for the elevators, trying to hold myself together until I can be truly alone. It's not working. My face is crumpling in spite of my efforts and I clench my hands to stop the tears. The paper Charles handed me crumples in my hand. I unfold it to find just three sentences, but they stop the flow of tears.
You're not fired.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
16
Charles
I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest as I watch Alyssa walk out in tears. I can only hope that she reads that paper soon enough to undo any damage I might have just done. Now I just have to deal with the problem in front of me. A problem that's bothered me for far too long.
Jennifer laughs when Alyssa disappears. "Good riddance. You can do so much better."
"Like you?" I ask, pretending a calm that I do not feel.
"If you like."
I clear my throat. "Jennifer, you've worked here for five years. And in five years, you have taken every opportunity to make it clear that you're interested. If I had any interest, believe me, I would have shown it by now. And all you've done here is make sure that you will never, ever, have my kindness or consideration again."
She grits her teeth. "I did you a favor."
"No, you blackmailed me. You're right, I don't want this company to fail. But if you think at all for one second that I am going to thank you for blackmailing me, you're more delusional than I thought. Now get the hell out of my office."
I'm glad that looks have no power, because if they did my death wouldn't be a kind one. I follow her to the door and close it. Then I lock it behind her. I move away from the door and to the furthest corner of my office and pull out my cell phone to call Alyssa. She answers on the first ring and I don't wait for her to speak. "I'm sorry, I love you."
"Why did you do that?" Her voice is still teary, though I don't think she's crying anymore.
"I'm so sorry. I couldn't think of another way to buy us some time."
"Time for what?"
I lean against the window. "First, I have to know if you forgive me."
"Don't ever do that to me again."
"Never." I make it a vow to myself that I won't.
"I forgive you,” she says softly. "Why do we need time?"
"Jennifer is hiding something, and I think we can use it. But I need you to help me find out what it is. She has no reason to be so 'invested' in the company as she says."
I don't think I've ever heard Alyssa's voice so serious. "Do I get to slap her in the process?"
I smile in spite of myself. "I think that can be arranged."
"Then I'm in."
17
Alyssa
I wait outside the office building, and it's almost dark when Jennifer comes out. "You know, I thought you wanted to be my friend, but it turns out you're just a bitch."
Jennifer stops in her tracks and turns. She sees me and smiles slowly like something about to hunt prey. "You shouldn't be on this property anymore. I could have you arrested for trespassing."
"But you won’t,” I say.
"How do you know that?"
I roll my eyes. "I won't even be here long enough for that. I just want to ask you a question, for my own knowledge. Do you really want him that much? Or do you just hate me?"
"Hate you?" She huffs a laugh. "God, I wish. I envy you."
"I can't believe that's how you're going to play this."
She gets in my face, "I have been throwing myself at that man for five years. I worked hard, I got every promotion I applied for. I made sure I was the smartest, most dedicated person at the company and he still didn't see me. Then you show up and he's fucking you within a month, telling you he loves you? Such bullshit."
"So it is true then. You're doing all of this because you're jealous."
"If I did all this purely for jealousy, I'd be just as stupid as you. Everything I said in there was true. This boat is sinking, and since I am the smartest, most dedicated employee, I'm going to make sure I get a goddamn life raft."
Her proximity is making me nervous, so I take a step back. "What are you talking about?"
She smiles. "What the hell, you were just fired. Nobody is going to believe you when you accuse me of anything. Let's just say that there are larger hotel companies in the world, and there's a good position for me when I deliver Saxon Hotels, Inc. to them. I sent off copies of our financials today. There will be a bidding war in progress by the end of this week. So did I do it all for jealousy? No. I did it for piles of money. But screwing you out of a job and screwing Charles out of his investors is just icing on the cake."
There it is, everything I needed to hear. Now I can do whatever I want. I step forward and slap Jennifer across the face. She's so shocked that she doesn't move. So I do it again, harder.
"The first slap was for Charles. The second slap was for me. I'm not going to slap you a third time, because I know that the world already has that in store for you in the future."
The incredulous look on her face feels almost feels better than the slap. As I walk away I reach into my pocket and stop my phone's recording.
18
Charles
The wait is excruciating. I've been pacing the hall in front of my doorway for the better part of an hour, unwilling to sit in case she knocks. I need to be here when she arrives. I need to tell her I'm sorry again, I need to tell her that I love her.
When the buzzer finally sounds I nearly fall over myself to open the door. She's really standing there, and she's smiling at me. Even after she said she'd forgiven me there was a part of me that worried I'd never see that smile on her face again.
"You look messy,” she says. "It's sexy."
I pull her inside and press her against the door, kissing her as hard as I dare. "I'm sorry,” I say, when I manage to pull myself away between kisses. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't you want to know what happened?"
"No,” I say, and it comes out as a growl. "Right now I want to kiss you until you forget what happened."
She places a hand on my face, pulling me back gently. "As much as I love kissing you, and you really don't have any idea how much I do, you need to hear this."
Fine. I pull her into the living room with me and down onto the couch, arranging her on my lap. She pulls the phone out of her pocket and plays the recording. A steely rage takes over my mind. Jennifer wants other companies to take apart Saxon piece by piece. That's not going to happen. I retrieve my own cell phone and call the building. I talk to security and make sure that Jennifer Hayes' pass into the building is canceled, and that she is to be escorted off the premises immediately. Now that I have cause, firing her is the first thing I'm going to do in the morning.
