Chapter 51
Iwas most nervous beyond all else to meet his parents. I knew more about him now. How his father had dedicated his life to fighting Alzheimer”s after his own father’s diagnosis. I understood how difficult that had been for their relationship and how it had more or less alienated him from his parents at such a young age, since his father was too overtaken by his own grief.
By the time his grandfather passed away he was fully formed and carving out his own path. Still, they remained cordial with each other and yes he had informed them about me. Their reaction, however, was the one thing I couldn’t control but I didn’t need to be a shaman to guess.
They probably would want someone with higher qualifications, and so this was a stark disconnect that I had to deal with myself. I was sure I was ready to handle it; however, as his parents came over to us, looking absolutely as stately as he was, my confidence faltered somewhat. Due to Guy”s achievements, it was so easy to forget the affluence he came from, but today, as I looked around their exquisite mansion in the Hamptons, I was very avidly reminded.
”Mom, Dad, this is Hannah,” he introduced. He didn”t call me his secretary or his girlfriend. That more or less, didn’t matter, or at the very least, wasn”t important to me.
”It”s very nice to meet you,” I offered my hand for a shake, and his father took it while his mother, however, seemed to grow even more sour at the sight of me. Eventually, though, she addressed me, and it was with the worst backhanded compliment I was sure I had ever heard.
”You”re right, Guy,” she said with a smile. ”She is gorgeous. Like a bimbo. But of course, much smarter, right?”
She turned to her son, and I turned as well to see the scowl darken on his face. As was expected, I didn”t want any tension on account of me, so I smiled and excused myself.
”I”m thirsty,” I replied. ”I”ll be right back.”
I turned around then and headed straight to the bar. After selecting a glass of red wine, I leaned in the corner to drink it and began to text Mandy in order to look engaged. Soon enough, however, he came up to me, and I forced a smile.
”That”s as far as she will go,” he said, and I nodded. ”If she persists again, I”ll handle it.”
I shook my head to refuse his kindness.
”Not needed,” I replied. ”And she is right, I do look like a bimbo, I guess.”
“A gorgeous one.” He smiled.
“I don’t know but I do know I shouldn’t be bothered, but I did want to go to medical school to qualify for more significant occupational labels than ”bimbo.””
”You”re quite pretty to be a doctor,” he replied. ”I don’t know if I”d let you be the one to operate if I was fighting for my life.”
”Exactly,” I replied. ”Everywhere I look, there”s a con, but then...” I turned to him and reached out to straighten his bow tie. I hadn’t intended to basically out our relationship in this way, but when the eyes began to turn on us, I knew then that it was too late to hide. After straightening his bow tie, I looked straight into his eyes and continued with what I was saying.
”But then what?” he asked, and I replied, my decision made.
”Being with you, the pros, that is worth all the other cons.”
”You”re amazing,” he leaned forward to press a kiss on my cheek. ”And don”t forget that you are free to do whatever you need to. Don”t feel pressured by anyone.”
I nodded, my eyes going across the crowd and indeed noting the eyes that turned in surprise at us. A kiss on the cheek was not exactly scandalous but given that I was supposed to be just his secretary, it sent quite a multitude of informative messages to those around and those beyond.
The next day in the office, I received my first well-wisher. It was a photo posted by Rosalie in our group chat, and by the time I opened it up, all hell broke loose. I hadn”t even arrived at the office yet, but after last night, all had been calm, so it was my hope that perhaps not everyone had seen.
However, there it was in the chat: me being kissed on the cheek by Guy, and the girls were completely confused.
”What”s happening?” came the interrogation. ”What is this, Hannah?”
”Yikes. You really would do anything to win the bet, wouldn”t you? You”re formidable, respect,” Sarah asked.
I frowned at this because on the surface, it seemed like a simple comment, but how the hell was it? It felt like an insult.
”It was just a thousand dollars, though. You didn”t have to go that far. Are you sleeping with him?”
”Wait, is this how you maintained your job at the other offices too? You had extracurriculars with your bosses?”
Laughing emoji’s filled the screen, but Faye soon called everyone to order.
”You guys are being rude. They might have just taken a liking to each other.”
”Of course they did. Or I”m sorry, she did. We”ve worked with him, Faye, and all the time there he never even looked at any of us. He didn”t even contact any women, we were his personal secretaries, remember? So, what does this say, that we weren’t pretty enough? Or he just fired us because we didn’t tickle his fancy. I”m not mad at you, Hannah, you had to do what you had to do for the bet and your job, but this freaking annoys me. I”m still trying to get a good position, and here I was thinking I was fired on merit. Turns out my boobs just weren’t big enough!”
I scoffed then in disbelief as I looked out the window. Sure, I”d known I would get this backlash, but from these girls? I didn”t expect the blatant anger.
”So, are we still proceeding with the class action or not?” Sarah asked.
”And miss a chance to get millions from that devilish man? Absolutely freaking not. We have everything we”ll need. The lawyer at my new law firm has always had a hatred for him, so he”s on it with me. We also have inside help. I thought at some point Hannah would be willing to help us, but that will probably not happen now, given that she”s sleeping with the enemy.”
I thought of responding, however, I understood now that anything said would be used against me. I felt hurt. I”d kept my distance from them from the beginning anyway, and we”d only met because of our joint interest, but now there was no need for that.
So, I simply remained silent and put my phone away, but I couldn’t help but wonder about who had sent Rosalie the picture.
Soon enough, I arrived at the office, and of course, I couldn’t possibly miss all the stares that were directed at me. Some were casual, some were intense, and some were extremely irritated. But in the end, I tried my best to convince myself that it didn’t matter.
I got to my desk on time; however, I had barely settled in when the first upsetting visitor for the day came knocking. Sandra.
”You know, when I heard you were invited to the Templeton Charity function, I was surprised. Most colleagues don’t get invited to that, and Guy is unapologetic about it. Only John and a few senior partners. It”s more like a selected gathering than anything else. And then I heard you were going, and my mouth literally dropped. But then I saw the picture, and I understood.”
”What picture?” I asked as I set my bag down and turned on my computer.
”Someone sent it to me,” she said. ”I still can’t believe it.”
”Show me?” I asked, and she was a bit taken aback by this.
”You want to deny it?”
”Just show me. I don”t know what you”re talking about just yet.”
Gloating, she pulled out her phone, and there it was: the exact picture of Guy kissing me from afar on the cheek. I looked at her, then recalled the admonitions from Guy and what he had told me about her coming onto him and failing, and my suspicion of her grew even further.
”Did you send this picture to Rosalie?” I asked.
”Rosalie?” she repeated, and for a second, I wondered if she even knew who I was talking about. But soon enough, she smiled and confirmed she was the inside help that was helping them out.
”Yes, I did. It got sent to me, and then I sent it to her.”
”So, is it safe to assume, then, that you”re also the one on the inside helping them out with the class action lawsuit against Guy?”
She stared at me, and then she smiled.
”Why would I want to sue Guy, he’s my boss?”
”For helping them out, you get money out of it, right? Is that what you”re here for, or is there something else?”
All traces of mirth instantly left her face as, for the first time, I saw her true colors and just how nasty she was.
”What do you think?” she asked. ”I can only imagine you”d think there was some other motive beyond financial gain since you’re the kind to sleep with your boss to keep a job.”
I shot back at her immediately.
”And what was your intention by trying to sleep with him yourself?” I asked, and instantly I could see the shock that came across her face.
”Don”t worry,” I said, needing her to leave so that I could get on with my day. I also didn’t want Guy to come to work and see her in his office, especially now that I had a better understanding of their history.
”I”m not going to report you to him for being a mole or whatever. But please try to get out of my way, and if anything out of the ordinary happens or they get information that they should usually not have any access to, then you”ll be absolutely screwed with no recourse.”
She stared at me incredulously and almost in shock.
”Wait, wait, wait, are you... threatening my job?”
”I”m not threatening anything,” I told her. ”I”m just a secretary. But I”m just saying that if any attacks out of the ordinary come against my boss, who is also your boss, based on insider information that shouldn”t have been so easily disclosed, then I will have no choice but to point him in the direction of whom I am very certain gave them that insider information.”
She smiled, then, as she looked at me more darkly than ever before.
”You really don”t know who you”re playing with, do you?” she said. However, I ignored her. I was done with this foolishness. These were the kind of incidents I wanted to avoid, but it was good it was coming to light now so that she could leave me the hell alone. She had already long started to irk me in the worst of ways.
”I can get you fired from the position you are sitting in today. Do you understand what I”m saying? Whether you”re sleeping with the boss or not, why don”t we have you make a monumental and very public mistake and see if he can look past that and keep you in this position when he fired the others for much, much smaller mistakes? Do you want to bet what he cares about more? A cheap, convenient fling with a secretary or his reputation and firm?”
At her words, a cold shiver went down my spine. I looked up at her then, and when she saw the fear in my eyes, she smiled.
“You know what?” she asked. “I’ve decided that I cannot stand you, and if that is the case, then you must leave this firm. Wait for your big, monumental, and very public mistake. I swear you won”t see it coming. You”re in contact with the other girls, right? On your secretary group chat? Why don’t you ask them exactly how they were fired? See if any of them can actually explain it. It’s a big mystery, right? They would never have made such stupid mistakes, right?”
At this, she got up with a scoff and strolled out of the office, while I was left staring ahead in a daze.