Chapter 24 Dedication To Your Pay-Check
Noah’s POV:
She must be insane! In what world would I sabotage my own team? She’s not moving though. Eden Winters is ridiculously stubborn and she’s showing no signs of backing down. How can she even keep a straight face while making such utterly absurd accusations?
“It doesn’t make sense,” she says. “Your problems with Team Two pre-date my arrival at the company. It's far more logical that you or someone else in the department are culpable.”
“You’re delusional,” I bite out angrily. “Why would I sabotage myself?”
“Dunno,” she says, shrugging her shoulders again. “I didn’t say you did, only that you could have.”
I open my mouth to respond but she’s too quick.
“You tried to fire me without any evidence, just an assumption. Based on your logic, you should be fired too.”
“But you’re not fired,” I retort, “so you’re splitting hairs.”
“Only because I actually know my employment rights,” she comes back. “You wanted to fire me.”
“This is pointless. You’re wasting my time.”
“True,” she agrees. “It is a waste of your time. It’s a waste of mine too. It’s not like anything I say will make you change your mind. You’ve already decided I did it.”
She’s right. I saw her talking to Holly and I jumped to conclusions but that doesn’t change the fact that no one else in my team would ever do it. I barely know her. She’s been here for all of three weeks. It’s completely possible that she was hired for this sole purpose but that might just be me being paranoid so I don’t voice the idea. She’s the weak link because she’s not invested her time, her effort into this team. She’s not dedicated to it the way they all are. The way I am.
“I’ve given years to this company,” I say, gritting my teeth. “You’ve been here for less than a month.”
“So…”
“So, you tell me who cares more about the success of this team.”
“It’s too subjective,” she tells me. “You can’t use the number of hours you’ve worked to determine your commitment.”
She’s laughing now.
“The only dedication that proves is your dedication to your pay-check.”
We’re getting nowhere with this. It’s pointless to argue with her.
“How did you even get this?” I ask, holding up the photograph.
She avoids the question, pointedly not answering it. The whole thing is highly suspicious.
“You need to leave,” I tell her firmly. “If you don’t leave, I’ll call security.”
“I’ll leave,” she says with a final, highly disrespectful shrug of her shoulders. “I just wanted to tell you, I didn’t do it.”
“You’ve already told me that.”
“Have I?” she asks. “I didn’t think you actually heard anything I heard on Friday.”
I begin to move around my desk, approaching the door. I’ve had enough of this conversation. I’m busy. Without an assistant this whole situation is almost impossible to manage. This is not the right time for this.
Just as I’m about to open the door and tell her again that she should leave, there is a knock from the other side. Opening it, I open my mouth to tell whoever it is to come back later but there’s something about the look on Stacey’s face that makes me hesitate.
I’m pretty sure she’s been crying. Her eyes are red and puffy.
“I’m really sorry, sir.”
“Sorry? Sorry for what?” I ask uncertainly.
“It’s all my fault,” she says, her voice breaking as she holds out an envelope for me.
“What’s that?”
“My resignation.”
“Why are you resigning?” I ask, not accepting the envelope.
I move around her to close the door. The last thing I want is for everyone outside to overhear this conversation.
“It’s my fault,” she tells me again.
“How?” I don’t believe her. There’s no way Stacey would do that to her colleagues.
“I didn’t mean to,” she says. “It was an accident but that doesn’t matter. It was my fault – my mistake – and I want to take responsibility for it.”
“Explain,” I demand. As much as everyone seems to think I’m a complete jerk, I’m not about to accept her resignation without an explanation.
“I was sending an email to a supplier,” she tells me, her words coming out in a rush. “The contact I have, her name is Holly. I completely messed up and emailed the wrong person.”
“Do you have proof?” I ask.
“I printed off the email,” she says with a nod. “It’s in there with my resignation.”
I take the envelope and she turns to leave but I tell her to wait. Removing the sheets of paper from the envelope, I place the email on my desk after a quick glance at it. Then I rip up the other leaf of paper.
“Go back to work please, Stacey,” I say. “Thank you for bringing this to me.”
She looks like she’s going to refuse but quickly changes her mind, turning to leave once more. She hesitates though, turning her head towards Eden, not looking her in the eye.
“I’m really sorry, Eden,” she says before stepping out of the office.
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