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“I didn’t make a mistake. I made a good decision.”
The room was silent because everyone around the table knew Keith had made a whopper of a mistake. Caroline handled things wrong, but he made the mistake, and it was going to be a very expensive one.
“Keith, stop talking.” Mark was pissed at pretty much everyone and now it was starting to show. “I don’t even know how we’re going to fix what you did.”
“What?”
“You really should go.”
Keith stood up and left the room. He didn’t wait for anything else to be said, and by Caroline’s estimate, there was a good chance he was going to be fired. At least she wouldn’t be the only one. Mark nodded at Gary, who got up and left, but not without shooting a dirty look at Caroline.
The two partners stood. She didn’t even know their names. There were at least a dozen and she’d never been introduced, and they left with a nod to Mark. Leaving her alone with a man who had expected her to put out for a promotion.
“You’ve been busy,” he said. “I didn’t think you were this ambitious.”
“I take pride in what I do. But what does that have to do with ambition?”
“You took out two well-established members of this company. Gary knows he should have made different recommendations and Keith I can’t assign to anyone again. He’s done. Which clears the way for you.”
“That’s not why I did it.”
“No? It’s pretty ballsy.”
“Mark, I just wanted to do the right thing. In both cases. Keith’s situation became personal when he attacked everyone for incompetence when it was obvious he was the one who disregarded every recommendation about the hydraulic system.” She twisted her fingers. “And considering you think I’d be that underhanded, I guess it’s a good time to tell you I’m tendering my resignation.”
Mark closed the folder in front of him and folded his arms. If he was shocked, it didn’t show. The man had the best poker face ever. “I didn’t take you for a quitter.”
“I’ll be going to a new firm. Promotion, raise, great perks. I wasn’t moving forward here, so I had to look for something else.”
“That was also ballsy. At least it will save me the trouble of firing you. But to be honest, I never thought you’d go someplace else.”
“No?”
“No, I thought you’d marry the millionaire you’ve been screwing and write your dirty books full time.”
Alarm bells sounded in her head and Caroline sat up straight in her chair. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t look so shocked. It’s my job to know what my people are up to. You use the company network from time to time with your personal device. Don’t you think we see things?”
“You check up on me? I use my own computer to check my e-mail.”
“Don’t get worked up about it. The boyfriend was a bit of a surprise. He came out of the blue.”
This was wrong on so many levels Caroline couldn’t count them. It was nothing short of bizarre, it scared her more than a little, and it had nothing to do with her job.
“We never talked about your writing. How long have you been at it?”
Did she have to answer these questions? Should he even be asking?
“You’re using a pen name, right? Wouldn’t want to embarrass your new firm.” He paused and a dirty smile crossed his face. “So, is your stuff pretty hot?”
“Is this something we need to talk about?” Caroline had to get out of there. He’d been spying on her. Apparently, calling him creepy was an understatement. “I’ll get the resignation letter to you this afternoon.”
“Don’t want to discuss it?”
“I think I should go. To answer your questions: I’m not yet published. I do use a pen name and no, I don’t care to discuss it, but I have nothing to be ashamed of. Is that all? Can I go?”
“You’re in a hurry? Don’t want to talk about your little fantasy?”
