I pep-talk myself as I wait in the lobby of the Prism offices. “No crying. We’re not going to cry; we’re going to ask for what we deserve. Channel your inner self-absorbed billionaire.”
“Jenna?” the receptionist calls. “Right this way.”
The CEO, Bethany, and the VPs are waiting upstairs in the big conference room, all lined up on the far side of the table.
“Thank you for meeting with me.” I’m wearing my polite PR face. “Good to see you all again.”
They don’t respond. I take a seat with my back to the door and busy myself setting out my notebook and pens.
“Let’s just jump right in. As I mentioned in my email, I was unfairly terminated due to harassment by Stuart Bethany’s husband that was not addressed and was allowed to continue. This resulted in a hostile work environment. Now, I don’t think we should involve lawyers, since there’s already bad press floating around about this organization, but I would like six months of compensation, or unfortunately I will have to get legal representation. I’m hoping we can handle this between us, however.”
“Excuse me?” the VP chokes out. “You think you’re suing us? No. You’re not suing us. We’re suing you.”
“We’re losing clients to your company,” Bethany rages at me.
“What company?” I shriek. “I don’t a have a company.”
“You have one registered,” one of the VPs says, shoving papers at me.
“I… What?”
He shows me the printouts from the Washington State Secretary of State. “That’s your Instagram handle as a business.” He taps the name.
“The CEO of OmniSoft was going to sign a contract here, and now he says they’re going to your firm after what you did with McCarthy. You’re poaching our clients!” the VP yells.
The CEO holds up his hand. “Ms. Whitney, as you can see, tensions are high…”
There was a reason why this man started a successful PR company.
“We’d like to offer you a buyout of your company. Partner with us. You’ll have a team, resources…”
“No, we’re suing her,” Bethany demands.
“You can’t sue me. I don’t have any money!” I screech. “I told you from day one I wasn’t after your husband. I told you Rex was a piece of shit, and I told you McCarthy was a loose cannon and I needed a team to manage him.”
“So this is your fault.” The VP turns to Bethany.
“You can’t fire me. I’m about to go on maternity leave.”
“I want a settlement,” I interrupt.
“You’re taking all of our clients. We don’t have money for a settlement, so lawyer up,” the CEO shoots back.
“Dammit, fine. Never mind.” I swear, leaving the conference room.
I don’t have money for a lawyer. Now someone has stolen my identity. Again. And I’m being stalked. Again. My life is a disaster. Again. Actually, not again. It’s worse because I had to move back home.
“You started a company?” Hannah, who is waiting in the stairwell, grabs me. “Arty says he’s going to go work for you.”
“What?”
“You have office space.” Hannah is accusatory. “I’m your friend. I can’t believe you told Arty but didn’t tell me. Even Cameron knows.”
“I don’t have a company, Hannah,” I tell her slowly. “I don’t know what’s going on. Clearly someone stole my Social Security number. I’m not getting my tax refund this year, either, which is really making me rethink my moral high ground of giving McCarthy his money back.” I slump against the wall.
“Or maybe this money is completely cursed.” I pull the cash out of my purse. “And I need to go to the RDC offices immediately. Of course, if I did have a business, you’d be my business partner, but I don’t. There’s some mistake.”
Hannah softens. “Your life is a mess. But on the bright side, youshouldstart a company.”
