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I opened the door and stepped inside the large office with the towering cherrywood bookshelves and windows that overlooked our small town of Castle Forest, Tennessee.
Sitting at my father’s desk was my stepmother. It had been years since they got married, but it still felt weird to call her that considering she was barely a decade older than me and could have been my sister, though we looked nothing alike.
Hilda’s hair was as blonde-white as hair could get—all thanks to a creative stylist who could apparently be talked into anything for the right price. She’d always worn her hair in a tight bun on the top of her head, which made her look harsher than necessary. Then again, I had a feeling that was the look she was going for.Her eyes were large and icy blue, lined with thick, dark liner impeccably traced. Her lips were bright red and overlined to make them look larger than they really are while contouring and highlighting seemed to magically alter the shape of her face.
“Bianca, please take a seat.”I cringed as I sat.
“Please, I know we’ve had this talk before, but no one calls me Bianca anymore.”
Hilda frowned at me. “Bianca is a lovely name, given to you by your father. I can’t see why you would want to change it.”
Because Snow, my middle name, was chosen by my mother?Mom told me that when I was born, my fair skin, red lips, and jet-black hair reminded her of the princess Snow White, and she instantly knew she wanted my middle name to be ‘Snow.’
Hilda didn’t give me a chance to continue the conversation before launching into what she wanted to say.
“As you know, third quarter profits are way down, and we are going to have to cut some corners around here, Bianca.”I cringed as she said my name, once again disregarding what I had asked of her.
I knew the company’s poor financial standing better than she did, considering I actually kept an eye on the numbers year-round rather than only when it mattered for show.
“I know, I’ve seen the numbers. I have a few ideas to improve next quarter—”
She stopped me as if I hadn’t been talking at all. “We need to lay people off. Starting with your department.”
I frowned. My department had already been cleared out. All that was left were Rosie and me, along with two others who worked part-time after having their hours cut drastically last quarter.
“I feel like there are better ways to go about this, considering my department is in charge of operations and I’m already working fifty to sixty hour weeks, sometimes more.”
“Rose can be moved to part-time,” Hilda said. “And we can lay off Gerard.”
“I can’t pick up Gerard’s duties as well as Rosie’s extra work, there’s not enough hours in the day, Hilda. My department is vital to the success of the company and I need both Gerard and Rosie full-time.”
She pursed her lips as her icy eyes seemed to stare right through me. I knew what this was about. She couldn’t fire me, not without reason, but she was hoping to run me out of the company. A lump formed in my throat as I feared that my time was coming to an end at Grimm Industries.
Not that I ever wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps anyway. I had no interest in being CEO, but I had always just assumed I would. It’s why I studied business in college rather than creative writing—my true passion. I figured that the business was my legacy, my future, but I was quickly coming to the realization that I needed to make other plans, and soon.
“I’m not going to cut Rosie’s hours,” I said, holding my head up high. “We simply can’t afford to lose her right now. Gerard has been looking for other full-time work anyway, and he had three interviews last week so he’s hopeful. I don’t think a layoff will be necessary.”
Hilda’s eyes narrowed, but I kept my face calm and serious. I wasn’t going to waver on this.
“Fine,” Hilda said. “We can cut Marketing.”
That wasn’t a good idea, either. I knew they were already short-staffed, and we needed marketing to get our name out there. We were struggling to gain new clients as it was.I had no choice but to stand by and watch as my stepmother flushed my dad’s company down the drain, and truth be told, there wasn’t much I could do about it. I wasn’t even sure Iwantedto do anything about it.
Things would have been different if I were running the company, but Hilda had convinced my father that a twenty-something wasn’t capable of running a business. She had somehow swayed him into believing thatshewas, although she had no business background and no job history. How could he have been so blind?It was his legacy that would be going down in flames and I was going to make damn sure that I wouldn’t be going down with the ship.
I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and form an exit plan.And by the looks of things, I needed to do it fast.
“Is that all you wanted to speak with me about?” I asked, not even bothering to argue with her about marketing. I swear she looked disappointed. In the past, we would sit for hours, arguing about how to run things. I used to care about what would happen and I also worried about the employees—many of whom had been there for many, many years. But now, most of them were gone—either retired or moved on to other jobs—forced out by Hilda. And the few that remained were like Gerard, looking for a way out. I helped where I could by giving references and referrals, but there was only so much I could do.
Hilda just wanted to argue, and the more I argued with her, the more she delighted in destroying my dad’s business. She could sell it off in parts and still be ridiculously wealthy. But once I stopped caring, well, that pained her. I could see it written all over her face.The game was no longer fun for her.
“Yes, that will be all for today,” Hilda said.
I didn’t bother to say goodbye or smile at her as I left. I simply stepped out of her office and leaned against the wall, letting out a deep breath as I tried to slow my heart rate.
Rosie was right, I needed a vacation.
I knew that there was a lot of work coming up, but the place was literally falling apart at the seams. Whether or not I got the work done didn’t really matter; I didn’t see the business lasting another quarter.
