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“I can find it if I want,” she snapped back. “I found this. I’ll find proof for the rest if that’s what you want.”
With a sarcastic chuckle, Derrick stood. “Well, call me when you do.”
As she watched him move towards the door, she threatened, “If you leave this office right now, I swear to God, I’m taking this straight to Richard.”
Derrick swiftly turned to back to her. His face contorted in fury as he demanded. “Are you threatening me?”
“Do you have to ask?” She scoffed. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“You know, this is why I can’t stand you.” He took fast steps to stop right in front of her desk. He slammed his palms on the desk and leaned forward in an obvious attempt at intimidation. “You always think that you’re better than everyone else. That you just have to snap your fingers and we’ll fall into line.”
Chess, who wasn’t in the least bit fazed by his fury, retorted, “So is that why you did it? Because I’m better than you.”
“Yes- what- no,” he corrected himself with disgust. “You’re not better than me. You just think you are. You’re so fucking self-important that it’s sickening. You think that just because you got promoted faster than me, it makes you the smartest person in the world. And Huskle, that old fart, eats it up. Do you know what he told me when I went to ask him if I could also try running for VP?”
This was news to Chess, and instant shock overshadowed her anger. “You wanted to run for VP?”
“Yeah, I wanted to run.,” he revealed sulkily. “You were running, so why couldn’t I?”
Chess could list several reasons but she chose the most obvious. “Because only team leaders were supposed to run.”
“Yeah, and I would’ve been a team leader if it wasn’t for you pushing me off the ladder,” Derrick retorted. “So I went to Huskle to ask for a chance, but he told me that I just wasn’t cut for it. That I was a follower, not a leader. He said that it was better for me to just keep riding your coattails because you were going to do great things, and maybe if I stuck with you, I could get some of your crumbs.”
There was so much to unpack from his monologue that she didn’t even know where to start. His accusation that she’d pushed him off the ladder was provably false. She hadn’t pushed anyone off the ladder. Every promotion she’d gotten, she’d earned fair and square.
The reason she’d swept past Derrick was because he was unable to meet the key performance indicators that Richard had set for one to be a team leader, and she had. His failure to be promoted wasn’t her fault. Was she supposed to dim her light just so he could shine?
“Ten years and that’s all I get.” Derrick spat, “Crumbs!”
Chess sat silently for quite some time before she asked, “So it was jealousy? You betrayed me because you were jealous?”
“I WAS NOT JEALOUS!” Derrick screamed so loudly Chess almost jumped out of her seat. Pacing in front of her desk, he declared, “I was just trying to get back what I’m owed.”
There was no logic to his words, so she pointed it out. “How would sabotaging me help you get what you’re owed?”
Frustration etched in his every expression, word, and movement, he threw his hands up. “Because Richard will know that you’re not as good as he thinks.”
“Okay, but that still wouldn’t help you.” She calmly pointed out, “If I lose, then Mark will be VP. Not you?”
“Mark won’t be VP.”
Chess eyebrow’s shot up. “Then who will?”
“I don’t have to answer any of your stupid questions.” Derrick’s voice rose until he was yelling again, “If you want to take that dumb video of yours to Richard, then take it. Do what you want. I don’t care anymore. I was going to quit anyway, so you’re just helping me do it faster. I don’t need this job, and I certainly don’t need you. I’ll go somewhere where I’m wanted. I quit!”
She tried to stop him. “Derrick-”
But he was already at the door, opening it. He stormed out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind him. The room practically shook with his dramatic exit, and Chess could only stare at the door in stunned silence.
This wasn’t how she’d seen this going.
24
“Y
OU DID THE BEST YOU could,” Tazeem consoled Chess later the same day when he picked her UP from work. “And it’s not as if you asked him to resign. He did it on his own.”
“I think the part that kills me is that I just didn’t see this coming.” Sadness glimmered in Chess’s gaze as she said, “He always seemed so happy and proud of my accomplishments. I thought he was on my team. How could I have misread him so badly?”
