Chapter 12
Jason
I watched as Thomas Carter stood by the window, his expressions taking in the chatter of the office while strategizing his next move. I was positive he was getting information from Jen. Vivienne and I had caught her several times snooping up on the second and third floors. I’m also quite sure Jen was the one behind my online calendar issues, I just didn’t have any proof. Thank God Vivienne still used her trusty planner.
Thomas was beginning to weave intricate obstacles for me and Vivienne, aiming to stoke the fires of discontent in our ranks. Jen was nothing if not subtle; her whispers about favoritism slipped like poison into the ears of my employees, sowing seeds of mistrust and disquiet.
Frustration simmered within me, the weight of these changes pressing down on me like a storm cloud. Unable to contain myself any longer, I sought out Thomas, ready to confront him about the insidious rumors and the looming shadow they cast over my work and reputation.
“Thomas! Just what the hell do you think you’re doing? You know as well as I do that I treat all of my employees with the same level of respect. There are no favorites.”
This motherfucker had the audacity to laugh. “Is that right Blackwood? We all see the way you treat your little assistant….”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Carter”, Lucas said rounding the corner to Thomas’s office.
“Vivienne has been a phenomenal asset to this firm for the past year and a half now. We can’t help it if there our jealous employees.
People who are jealous of her success. Since Vivienne has arrived she has continued to prove her worth to this company. In the last quarter alone, we have profited over 250 million dollars. So, I’m going to say this once and once only, Carter, so listen good. If you and Jen do not stop all of this unnecessary gossip, I will personally fire and blacklist the both of you from ever working in this city again, hell I’ll go as far as to blacklist you both from finding employment in the whole state. I will not let the jealousy of two employees ruin the company that Jason and I built from the ground up. Is that understood, Carter?”
Lucas didn’t wait for Thomas to say a word. He simply nodded at me and turned on his heel, walking out of Thomas’s office.
I looked over at Thomas with a glare that sent most grown men to their knees. “This ends today, Thomas. If not, you can seek employment elsewhere.”
Back in my office, I called Vivienne in to go over some notes for the eco-friendly skyscraper in New York. It was going to be a long day.
“Viv, come on in and close the door.” I walked over to where she stopped on the other side of my desk and pulled her into my arms.
I knew she had heard the office gossip by now and that she was struggling with her emotions.
“Viv, sweetheart. Don’t let them get to you. You’re strong and hardworking. No one else here thinks of you any less. It’s just Thomas and Jen who seem to have it out for us.”
“You’re right, Jason. It’s just that I feel like, well, maybe a part of what they say might be true. I’m definitely your favorite.”
“Hush now, woman. You’ll always be my favorite. But for real, let’s get to work.”
As we started going over my upcoming appointments, Vivienne paused and started glancing back and forth from her planner to her tablet with a panicked look. “Viv, what is it?”
“Umm, don’t get mad Jason, but there seems to be another issue with your meetings. Look, for today you have a new potential client coming in at two o’clock, according to my planner. But on the virtual calendar, it shows that it was canceled. That can’t be right, because I confirmed it, if it was truly canceled, I would have notated it on my planner.”
Putting a finger on my bottom lip, I rubbed it back and forth deep in thought. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Vivienne trace my lips with her eyes. It was intoxicating watching her, watch me.
Suddenly, an awful feeling churned deep in my stomach. My thoughts flew to Jen and Thomas. I picked up my office phone and dialed Dominik, our head of the IT department and security.
“Dom, this is Jason. I need a favor, but I need you to keep this confidential.”
“Sure, man. What’s up?”
“Look, I need you to dig into our email system and calendar integrations. I’m specifically looking into two employees, Jen Lipscomb and Thomas Carter.”
Dom let out a low whistle, “Man, what exactly are we looking for?”
So I filled Dom in on my suspicions that Jen and Thomas were working together to sabotage Vivienne and I by making her seem incompetent and me playing favoritism. As I continued to explain to Dom the specifics of what I was looking for, I watched as Vivienne’s eyes grew wide and a slight trimmer appeared on her chin. She knew where I was going with this, but I couldn’t make blind accusations. I needed solid proof.
Meanwhile back at home, Jace was spiraling inward, grappling with the tension that buzzed in the air at home. My unusual demeanor did not go unnoticed by him; Jace felt the discomfort like an electric current, which drew him into himself even further. The carefree boy Jace once was had became withdrawn, his outbursts manifesting at school as disruptive behavior—a painful echo of what was happening in our family.
“Where do we go from here, mom?”
“Oh, sweetie. I wish I could wave a magic wand to help you. But you know, that’s not how life works. Tell me, son, is this really about Jaxon and Jace or is there more going on? You’ve been different lately, but not in a bad way. I’ve seen you smile more and it seems you’re really making more of an effort to be more involved with the boys.”
I wanted to tell my mom everything about Vivienne and what was going on at work, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want mom to judge Vivienne because she was married. I didn’t want mom to paint her in a bad light. I was saved from spilling my heart out, but the ringing of the door bell. Maybe it was Lucas coming to tell me about his latest pussy conquests.
“Mom, can we finish this conversation later? Someone’s at the door.”
“Sure, sweetie. Don’t forget that I’m here if you need someone to talk to. I love you Jason.” She said with a sigh.
“I know and I love you, too, mom.”
I press end of my phone and walk over to the front door, swinging it open wide expecting to see Lucas on the other side.
“Look here fuc…..” My eyes grew wide. I was speechless. On the other side of my doorway stood my ex-sister-in-law, Claire. I haven’t seen or heard from her since Leslie’s funeral.
“Claire.”
“Jason.”
We never were really close. I wouldn’t say she despised me, but she definitely wasn’t my best friend.
“What brings you to Boston? Got tired of smelling all of the cow shit in your neck of the woods?” Yeah, I was being a dick. But I didn’t like Claire. For the simple fact that she used to meddle in my marriage and try to tell me how to raise my boys.
“I’ve heard some unsettling things,” she began, her voice steady but laced with concern. “Are you going to let me in or are we standing here all night?” The weight of her words crashed over me like an unrelenting wave, adding yet another layer of pressure to an already beleaguered heart.
“No, Claire. I’m not letting you in. You’ve spent the last ten years pretending like Jaxon, Jace, and myself don’t exist. So whatever you heard, you can keep it to yourself. You’ve wasted your time and money by coming here uninvited.”
“You’re seriously not going to let me in? Maybe I want to see my nephews.”
Don’t you dare use them as in excuse. You lost that privilege ten years ago when you ghosted us after Leslie’s funeral.”
“Whatever. This wasn’t a wasted trip though. I’m here visiting a friend. I just figured I would stop by. Oh, and by the way, I heard there was some minor issues with an incompetence employee of yours messing up your schedule, but because you’re fucking here behind closed doors, you’ve excused her incompetence. I guess you truly never change. Good pussy will do that to a man.”
What the fuck? Claire didn’t stick around to witness the horror that spread across my face. She spun around and headed straight to the elevator.
The walls of my carefully constructed world seemed to close in around me, the mounting whispers surrounding like a thick fog. I felt exposed in a way I’ve never anticipated.
I closed the door and jogged to grab my phone to dial Lucas and Dom. Thank fuck the boys were down at mom’s apartment. It was time to get to the bottom of all of this office mess and then I could focus on the one woman who was never supposed to be mine.
◆◆◆
Vivienne
Standing just outside the storm of words, I felt the waves of responsibility crash over me. I shouldn’t be here listening to the three of them. I slowly backed away from the outside of Thomas Carter’s office and retreated to my office.
The idea of resignation flitted through my mind, a desperate attempt to shield Jason from the fallout—to protect his reputation from the chaos that was beginning to swirl around us. But the thought of stepping away from my own hard-won place in the office gnawed at me. I was torn.
Later that evening at home, I stood at the stove, my thoughts lost in a fog of distraction. Robert, perceptive as always, noticed the shadows under my eyes and the tension in my voice.
“You haven’t been yourself lately,” he said, as we moved to finish cooking together.
“Robert, I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been myself lately, hell, if we’re being honest, I haven’t been myself in the last several years. I-I feel unfilled in life. I want more, but I don’t know how to achieve it without hurting the people around me”, I said almost a whisper as the last few words left my mouth.
I hesitated at the edge of the truth, the specter of my affair looming large, and I chose to retreat into silence rather than share the deepest wound that I knew would break him.
“Yeah, we’ve been down this road before. I’m sorry I’m not enough for you, Vivienne. I’m sorry I don’t make you happy anymore. I don’t know what else to do for you. I’ve given you everything you’ve always wanted!” Robert was getting red in the face and I knew how this night was going to end.
“Robert, I never asked for things! It’s your actions and words and how you make me feel!” I could sense I was on the verge of shedding tears. But I refused to shed another tear in front him. Robert had a way of making me feel unappreciated and lonely. But also a way of making me feel guilty because of his “sacrifices” for our family. He always said that I was the glue holding our family together, but who was holding me together, as I pieced us all back every time we broke?
“I’ve never forced you to stay with me. We can’t keep doing this.” Robert all but pleaded with me, as he grab his bottle of whiskey and a cigar and retreated outside. He left me to finish up dinner on the stove.
Lost in my thoughts, my oldest son, Anthony, strolled in to the kitchen. He looked down at me, since he was several inches taller than me, and frown. “Mom, you know what you need to do right?”
“I know,” I whispered. “But I don’t know how.”
“Mom. You’re not happy at home. We all see it. You’re miserable. You’re on anti-depressants and you drink your wine almost daily. Not granite, it’s not as much as you used to drink in the past, but you know you’re not supposed to be mixing your medicine and alcohol.”
“God, I love you, son. I promise, it’ll get better. Now go tell your brother dinner is ready and I guess I’ll let your father know, too.”