29. So, that happened
29
SO, THAT HAPPENED
T his is a bad idea. A bad, nonsensical idea.
“I don’t see how just showing up is a good thing, Lena. I mean, what if they’re busy? What if they can’t see us?” I ask.
Though, really, I’m just terrified of facing another person’s wrath for the third time today. The more I look at people’s behavior around me, the more horrified I am. I mean, is this specific to Jenna and Lena? Or is this an industry thing? If I stay in this long enough, is this who I’ll turn into? And where is the silver lining in all of this? My handy little survival tool is failing me now because I can’t see the good at all.
Lena scoffs as we exit the Uber, pushing a pair of oversized sunglasses over her head in the way that makes some women’s hair look straight out of a shampoo commercial. Her tailored red floral dress hugs every single one of her curves as she walks in the sharpest heels I’ve ever seen—and they have to be sharp, since she’s dressed to kill. Lena is channeling Head Bitch In Charge energy, which I’d normally respect. But not now. Not when her intention is to hurt someone and relish in their pain.
“Follow me.”
I’m so caught up in the turmoil of this whole situation that I don’t really realize I’m walking into Will’s office until our elevator ride all the way up to the thirtieth floor—the top of the building.
“Shit,” I mutter, pulling out my phone to text him as fast as I can while Lena is distracted by the receptionist at the front desk. I hear her demand to see the merchandise team, claiming “They’ll know what it’s about.” Which, duh, of course they will.
Bridget
I’m sure you’ve become aware there’s some sort of shitstorm going on between our two companies (not sure how much your boss chose to share with you), but it’s so bad my boss just dragged me to your HQs.
Anyway, if you see me around, remember no one is supposed to know we’re together. HUGE conflict of interest. Especially now.
Just want this day to be over so we can be together. It’s been a total mess.
Also, Lena is fucking insane. Just wanted to clarify that for the record.
Also, also, I really miss you
Also, also, also, I would very much like a repeat of this morning for when you come home tonight, but maybe after a hot shower and a cuddle sesh because today has been a nightmare
We’re asked to take a seat in the office reception area while we wait for the team. In the meantime, I zone out, searching through my socials for my favorite cookie content creators (yes, it’s definitely a thing, no matter what Will says). Watching the way the artists flood their designs with more icing, the way their crisp lines delineate whatever image they’re trying to recreate, usually soothes me. But I’m worn down and wound tight and no amount of decorated sugar cookies is going to change that. All I keep telling myself is that, no matter what, at the end of the day, I’ll have Ginger, Will, and a comfortable bed—and that’s all I need.
And snacks. I’ll definitely need snacks after this.
* * *
“Iris will see you now,” the woman at the front desk says before leading us to an empty conference room. “Wait here.”
Once she’s left us alone in the room, Lena hisses at me to hand her the folders we prepared for this impromptu meeting. Plain cream folders filled with delivery schedules, product line sheets, cost breakdowns, and some additional info Lena slipped into each one before we left. Info she’s counting on to help us keep Stevenson on as a client while completely avoiding a lawsuit, she said. Lena hasn’t let me in on her plan, but she seems to be channeling all the confidence of a mediocre white man, and we all know how things end up working out for them most of the time.
(They turn out well, in case you weren’t clued in.)
When the Stevenson team finally arrives, I stand there, back ramrod straight, as we watch person after person take a seat with stern expressions on their faces. The last one in, of course, is Iris, Stevenson’s Chief Merchandising Officer.
The room goes quiet, an eerie blanket of tension falling over us. Suddenly, I begin to wonder what kind of dark magic Lena has up her sleeve that she thinks we can get by unscathed.
Iris introduces everyone on the team to us. At first, I find the move quite polite and almost welcoming, despite her cold glare. But when I realize she’s brought on one person from each department— three from Stevenson’s in-house legal council—I realize this is far from civil. She pulled in all her best generals, ready to tell us how we messed everything up. Ready to tell us how they’re going to mess us up.
Will isn’t here to represent the finance department, but it makes sense—this is an upper management only meeting, and he was supposed to put in his notice today. There’s no reason why they would call him in, is there?
Part of me is relieved—I won’t have to pretend I’m not in love with the man across the table while my guard is down. It’s already so hard when we’re alone together. Another part of me is extremely disappointed, wanting instead to have had him here in the same room as me. I know his presence alone would’ve helped in this stressful moment.
“Lena, is it?” Iris asks.
Lena flinches as she realizes that her plan to make herself ubiquitous in all Sartoria-Stevenson interactions did not work. It’s clear Iris barely knows her name. But still, Lena carries on with the same confidence she had when she first walked into this room, snub forgotten.
“Yes, Iris,” she continues with a tone of familiarity, an air of confidence I’ve never seen on anyone before—definitely not in someone on the precipice of losing their job. “I know there’s been a slight misunderstanding between Sartoria & Co. and Stevenson due to a minor miscommunication, but I believe we can solve this issue.”
Iris scoffs and shakes her head. “A minor miscommunication? Is that what you call it?”
Lena shrugs, unbothered. “No reason to give it more importance than it deserves. Not when the solution is clear.”
“And what solution is that, exactly?” she asks with a raised, perfectly filled in brow.
Lena smiles broadly. “Simple. You pay the fine. You pay the difference in pricing. And Sartoria keeps your contract as is for this season.”
The Stevenson team bursts into laughter while my jaw drops.
“Is she for real? Who is this woman?” one of the lawyers asks.
“You must be out of your goddamn mind if you think we’re going to do that. And who even are you again? Why isn’t Jenna here? More importantly, why isn’t Sascha here? She’s your CEO, and she should be solving this for us.”
“I wasn’t done just yet.” Lena gets to her feet and puts her hands on the conference room table, leaning over it, staring right at Iris as she does. “See, the thing is, Iris, Sascha isn’t my CEO. I don’t work for Sartoria anymore.”
I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth. “What?” I whisper, but Lena ignores me.
“I’ve started my own environmentally conscious private label—The Green Tailor. And I’m here to show you that you need to dump Sartoria and come with me.”
I blink up at her from my seat, awestruck. What is happening today? “This is coconuts!” I whisper-yell.
She shushes me before taking the stack of folders and passing them around the room. “I know you’re wondering why you would work with me after all of this happened, but I think it’s important to remember that Jenna was the one who took special interest in your account, despite my opposition to her involvement. Therefore, any mishandling of it is purely her responsibility. Anything that fell under my jurisdiction for this project has gone off without a hitch, as you can see. With the exception of pricing and duties, which she took over supervision of, all manufacturing has been perfect, all orders are scheduled to be delivered on time, and the quality of production is unmatched. All abilities I will be taking with me to my next endeavor—including connections with the best factories around. I also have a team of former Sartoria & Co. employees—all rockstars—currently submitting their immediate notices to the company, ready to take you on. We’ll have other clients, of course, but we would love to be able to make you our main stars. The only catch is that yes, you would have to pay the fine that Sartoria’s mistake caused and the balance between the original price quoted and the actual one. But I am ready to offer you a contract right here, right now, saying that we will pay you that amount in full in exchange for your commitment.”
Speechless.
I am absolutely, positively speechless.
Is this real life? Is this seriously happening?
Talk about cutthroat.
Of course Iris is going to say no, right? She and Sascha have been friends for a long time—it was so evident in the meeting when they came over to look at the samples in our office. She would never double-cross her friend so suddenly like this. And certainly not with said friend’s former employee. No person in their?—
“I see.” A slow smile spreads across Iris’s face. “I gotta say, you’ve got moxie, Lena. I like that.”
Is she for real?
Lena smiles triumphantly. “We’re ready to take you on. And we understand that you might need time to think about it, but the offer to pay the fine and the balance is only valid until I walk out your front door. Those were my investors’ terms. Other than that, there’s a proposal tucked in that folder there for you to review.”
Iris thumbs through the proposal with pursed lips, surprising me by giving it what appears to be serious consideration. Lena takes her seat beside me again, a smug smirk on her face.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask her in a whisper.
“Don’t worry about it,” she whispers back. “All will be well. And I know I haven’t looped you in yet, but I just couldn’t risk things being blown. But of course I want you to come on to my company and work with me. Once we’re out, I can finally tell you everything.”
I look down at my hands in my lap, not knowing what to say or do. I’m flattered she’d want to take me with her, but this? This method of operation is definitely not my style. Especially not after it’s been done to me too many times over. No matter how shitty Jenna acted, I would never want to turn into the type of person who schemes and sabotages and doesn’t do the right thing.
After a few minutes of studying, Iris sets the proposal down on the table and squints at Lena, whose energy has not faded.
“Okay,” Iris says. “Okay. But this is a conversation we need to have with a completely different team.” She looks around at the people in the room and dismisses most, with the exception of two of the lawyers, someone from finance, and another from merchandising.
She then proceeds to address someone I assume is her assistant. “Please get the Liams in here. We have much to discuss.”
While we wait for “The Liams”—whoever the hell they are—Lena and I sidebar quietly. Fiercely.
“This isn’t right,” I tell her, my voice full of conviction.
“I thought you wanted to get justice for Jenna stealing your idea.” She rolls her eyes like she still believes I’m that “green” new girl who knows nothing about the industry. And while of course there’s so much more I need to learn, no one needs to tell me that what just happened was wrong.
“Justice, yes. But this isn’t justice. This is revenge. Justice is reporting her and getting her on probation or suspended or fired. It’s not destroying her. It’s not sinking to her level. Or lower. It’s following the right course of action. Due process. Let the system do its job.”
Lena shoots me a half murderous, half shocked look. Clearly, she never expected me to go against her.
“The system?” She scoffs. “In what world do you think you live in, Bridget? Reporting her would’ve gotten you fired.”
“Maybe,” I say with a nod. “But you don’t know that for sure. And even if it had, at least I’d still be able to look at myself in the mirror tomorrow morning. How are you going to manage that?”
“Oh, I’ll manage just fine,” she bites back.
“You’re making a mistake, Lena.” I shake my head in disbelief. I can’t believe I looked up to her. I should’ve known there was nothing beneath her hard exterior but an even harder, colder interior.
“I don’t think so.” She laughs once, tossing her hair behind her shoulder. “So I gather you’re not joining my ranks then?”
“Thank you for the opportunity, but I have to get back to the office. Pretty sure I’ve just been fired, thanks to you. So I need to go gather my things.”
“Don’t bother,” she sneers. “I got a text from Jenna before we went into the conference room that our things had been boxed up and will be shipped to us.”
I scoff and get to my feet, throw my bag over my shoulder as I ready to head out. But just as I do, two men in suits walk into the conference room.
“Ah, here they are,” Iris says with a smirk. The energy shifts in the room, though. The air seems to grow colder, and the tension seems to have increased on the Stevenson side, as if the rest of their team is not as happy to see the two men as Iris is.
Even the lawyers look terrified.
I’m so taken aback by the change, it takes a moment for me to process the two men. One of them is in his early seventies. I’ve never met him before, but I know exactly who he is after having done some minor research on the company when I first started: Liam Stevenson, the CEO and third-generation owner of the family-run department store. The second man is in his mid-thirties—heartbreakingly handsome, a smile that can bring me to my knees, so gorgeous and charming he can get me to do nearly whatever he wants with it. I know this because the second man is none other than Will.
My boyfriend.
Soon-to-be ex, actually.