Chapter 11
ELEVEN
D read filled her with every step she took as she walked into the office. Today, she was going to find out if she would be hired permanently or be sent back to the temp agency. So far, none of the temporary workers had been hired, and she didn’t have high hopes she was going to be the first.
She had tossed and turned in bed last night about coming in today after the humiliation of Kent Bryant seeing her mostly naked.
There were two reasons which had given her enough courage to walk through the front doors.
One, she couldn’t be totally sure he had recognized her.
The extra money could’ve been a coincidence.
At least that’s what she told herself. The other reason …
well, three others, were Glory, Colby, and Tinsley.
They were worth any sacrifice to her pride.
She had proven that when she cleaned Matthias Luciano’s house.
There was no one to blame but herself for putting herself in that humiliating position.
She had told April she would think about it but had given in just a few hours later when April twisted her ankle and begged her to go to Matthias’ house that afternoon.
She would have had to call and tell Ivo she wouldn’t be able to work that afternoon, and he would have given it to someone else.
Faced with being short for the rent and not sure if Livvy would pay the money she was owed back, she had caved, telling April she would cover for her.
The experience was awful, but she had recouped her rent money.
If she could clean a stranger’s house with a thong up her ass, she could walk into an office fully clothed with her head held up high.
After placing her purse into the bottom drawer of her desk, she logged onto the computer, then slid the cursor to a work folder that had been set up for her.
A message at the top of the file drew her attention.
An appointment had been scheduled for one p.m. with Human Resources.
Her fingertips quivered on the computer keys before checking that she had seen the message.
As she started on the tasks in the work folder, she had to force herself to concentrate on the list needed to be finished before the meeting rather than give in to the fear she wasn’t going to be hired permanently.
She kept a watchful eye on the time and finished with an hour to spare.
She was about to leave, when she saw a new email in her inbox.
It was Livvy’s evaluation of her. She must have meant to add it to an email sent to Bree but accidently sent it to her instead.
Or callously, Livvy had wanted to make sure she knew what she thought of her work.
She opened her desk drawers and methodically removed the few personal items she kept there, placing mints, a novel she would read during her breaks, and her favorite pen in her purse.
She wanted to make sure she wouldn’t have to return to her desk for the items and give Livvy the pleasure of watching.
Logging off the computer, she then made her way to Livvy’s office, holding on to her nerves as she knocked on the closed door.
“Come in.”
Upon hearing Livvy’s muted voice, she opened the door, finding her standing by a filing cabinet. Livvy eyed her before going through files in a drawer.
“What can I do for you, Sage?” Livvy asked without glancing at her again.
“I just wanted to be reimbursed for the money you owe me.”
Taking a file out, Livvy snapped the drawer closed. “Certainly.” She gave her an assessing gaze, then gracefully moved to her desk to take out her purse. “Sorry, I forgot, or I would have made sure I paid you back.” Withdrawing a designer wallet from her purse, she took out several bills.
Sage watched as she counted out three twenties before handing them to her.
“You owe me two hundred and eleven dollars.”
Disdainfully, Livvy stared at her doubtfully. “I’m sure I don’t owe you that much.”
Sage opened her purse, took out the receipt from lunch, and handed it to her. “I circled my part of the ticket. I also circled the tip. Since it was my decision to tip, I deducted that from the total you owe me, which leaves two hundred and eleven dollars.”
“How generous of you.”
The snideness in Livvy’s voice hit her like a sucker punch to her pride.
Taking more cash out her wallet, she held it out with a sharp motion of her wrist. “This should take care of what I owe you.”
Pride made her shoulders stiffen. The money she had earned cleaning the house gave her a small breathing room; it had made her consider to not ask for the money back.
The problem was after her bills were caught up, she had no doubt another expense would pop up with the girls.
When that happened, she would be sick to her stomach that such a large sum of money had been bamboozled out of her because she hadn’t wanted to ask for the money back.
She accepted the money and placed the bills in her purse. Not telling Livvy where to shove it took every bit of restraint she had.
“Thank you.”
Livvy went around her desk to sit down. “No problem. I just forgot it. I’ve been swamped with work. Thank you for reminding me … I should have realized you’re barely making ends meet and paid you back immediately. My bad. It must be hard having to live payday to payday.”
She swallowed down her indignation at the insincere way Livvy was speaking to her while looking down her nose at her clothes and purse as she was tapping her purse with a manicured nail.
It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.
Her clothes and purse might not be a luxury brand like Livvy’s, but she had haunted sale racks and was proud of each as if she had scored a prize when she managed to buy them.
So, done with taking Livvy’s toxic attitude, she didn’t hold back. “I won’t have that problem after today, will I?”
Livvy’s lips pursed. Her jab had missed the mark.
“I wouldn’t be so confident you’re going to be hired permanently, if I were you.” Pleasure shined out of her malicious eyes.
The email hadn’t been an accident. Livvy wanted her to see the bad performance review.
“Even if I am hired here permanently, Bree made it plain the most I can look forward to is part-time. The temp agency that contracted me to work here has offered me a full-time position at another law firm, starting Monday.”
Sage could tell from Livvy’s surprised expression that she hadn’t expected there would be another option so readily available to her.
“I’m never late, and I complete all my tasks before they’re due. I have been an exemplary employee here, despite the evaluation you gave me.”
“I beg to differ.” Livvy’s expression grew calculating. “I wouldn’t count on that new job, if I were you. The temp agency hasn’t received the evaluation from Hollingsworth yet.”
“Whether I receive a good evaluation from my time here or not, I have several recommendations from my previous employers. I don’t anticipate any problems. My agency is well aware of this company’s tendency to give negative reviews to their employees, which is why they sent me particularly to this placement.
They knew if I wasn’t hired, being their top placement, that the firm had no intention to hire anyone regardless of how well they performed. ”
“There is nothing in our contract with the temp agency that states we have to hire anyone permanently,” Livvy snapped at her.
“True,” she conceded. “But …” Sage kept her voice and expression calm while Livvy was becoming decidedly flushed with anger.
“Bree has been using Hollingsworth’s dissatisfaction to garner a lower wage for the employees being sent here while expecting a higher skill set from them.
When I’m not hired, plus given a low evaluation score, my agency won’t be sending any more workers at a discounted rate, if at all.
The owner of the agency prides herself on finding permanent placements for her workers. ”
“Well, isn’t that just so peachy of her.” Livvy made no attempt to hide her snideness.
Sage continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “ Yes, it is . Nikki is a good person. She will also be sending a formal letter to Mr. Hollingsworth, detailing why he will have to find another agency to provide employees, or hire them himself.”
The fire went out of Livvy’s expression, as if she had dumped a bucket of water on her. “HR handles the hiring and firing.”
Sage nodded. “The owner wants to make sure Mr. Hollingsworth is aware she has fulfilled all the requirements made in the contract she signed.”
“In other words, she wants to cover her ass.”
“Yes, Nikki does. I think that makes perfect business sense when she signed a contract with a group of lawyers, don’t you?” Sage said rhetorically. “She may not have a team of lawyers at her disposal, but she doesn’t play games, either.”
Livvy gave her a dark frown. “Exactly what are you alluding to?”
“Nothing. She just wants to make sure that Mr. Hollingsworth is appraised of the discounts that have been given to make Hollingsworth happy and why her company will no longer be providing any services.”
Livvy’s expression showed her conflicting emotions. If she had any doubts that Bree and Livvy were somehow embezzling the money being paid to the temp workers and pocketing the excess cash, Livvy’s face dispelled any of those misgivings.
Livvy started backtracking. “You don’t even know yet if your finally evaluation is satisfactory or not.”
“Did you forget the email you sent to me? Even if you call Bree, she couldn’t change the evaluation if she wanted to. I sent a copy of the email to my home computer,” she said with finality, glancing down to her wristwatch. “I need to be going. I don’t want to keep Bree waiting.”
Standing, Livvy placed her hands on her desk, outrage pouring out of her in waves. “I’m going to call Bree and tell her exactly what you said. She’ll call your boss and tell her how insolent you are being.”
“Go with that if you want to,” she replied, unperturbed at the threat.
“Of course, make sure you give her all the facts, not the ones you manufactured in my performance review or just how you have created a toxic environment in this workplace, compounded by Bree, who does the dirty work for you by getting rid of anyone you can’t manage to make bow down to you.
I’ll miss working at Hollingsworth for several reasons, but you won’t be among them. ”