Chapter 20
CHRISTIAN
It was a ridiculous thing to do, he knew.
It wasn’t his job to single-handedly clean the whole store, even if he was a janitor.
But part of him still loved this place. He’d spent his whole childhood here, pretty much.
It was more a home to him than the huge townhouse they’d owned in the Upper East Side.
It had made him unfathomably sad to see it so trashed.
It had got him thinking, too, about why he had stayed here.
His dad had asked him to solve the mystery of what was going wrong in the store, and while he wasn’t overly keen on doing anything for his father, he understood that he was doing it for the store itself.
And he would find out what was going wrong. He was getting close already.
Yawning again, he emptied his bucket, cleaned his mop, and refilled his bottles and sprays.
He’d head back out in a moment and carry on his shift, but he wanted to report back to his dad first. Splashing some water on his face, he made his way through the staff corridors and past the busy clerks until he reached Lewis Carroll’s office. Knocking twice, he opened the door.
Margot was sitting in his father’s chair, dwarfed by his immense desk.
She looked up from a pile of paperwork, swinging the chair from side to side.
She looked way too comfortable there, and the smug look she threw at Christian made it very clear she knew what he was thinking. His dad was nowhere to be seen.
“Margot,” he said. “Where’s Dad?”
“Christian,” she spat back. “He’s at home. He wasn’t up to coming in today.”
The words hit him like a physical blow. He couldn’t remember a single time when his dad had been too ill to work. When he’d been a kid he’d prayed sometimes that his dad would get a cold or sprain his ankle, just so that he would stay home and spend time with him.
He walked into the office and closed the door behind him. “What are you doing in here?”
“My job,” she replied, looking him up and down. “Shouldn’t you be doing yours? I saw the security feed from last night. You’re pretty good with a mop. If you like, I can make your janitorial position permanent.”
Christian ignored the bait, walking to the other side of the desk. He would not let her intimidate him.
“I am good at my job,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here.”
“Yeah?” she said. “Like what?”
“Like the fact that people are leaving Carroll’s in droves,” he said. “The store is half empty, there aren’t enough staff.”
“We’ve lost the occasional employee,” said Margot. “But it’s nothing to worry about. The ones who are left will just have to work twice as hard. In the end, it costs us less.”
“It’s costing us business,” he said. “Customers are leaving.”
“It’s nothing to do with you,” she said. “I’m handling it.”
“Are you?” He put his hands on the desk. “Do you know that somebody is paying our staff to leave? Somebody is deliberately sabotaging the store.”
Margot smiled coldly. “That’s what you think?”
“I don’t just think it,” he said. “I know it. Somebody is giving cash payouts to anyone who leaves. Somebody wants this business to die.”
Margot leaned back, chewing her pen. “So it’s another store,” she said. “It has to be. Another company is trying to put us under before Christmas. They know that if we don’t survive the last quarter, then we’re going to be in trouble. Who told you this?”
“A source,” said Christian. “You don’t need to know.”
“I do need to know,” said Margot, pushing herself to her feet. “It’s my job to know. I’m the only one who can save this company. I’ll find out the truth, and when I do, you can pack your things and leave because it will be me sitting at this desk, permanently.”
She gave him one of her death stares, and there was something in it that made him instantly suspicious. What had she just said? I’m the only one who can save this company .
It was no secret that he hated Margot, but was she really capable of sabotaging Carroll’s?
Maybe she was trying to make things look bad so that she could fix them, proving to his dad that she had what it took to take over.
Or maybe she was being paid off by another store to take out the competition.
Carroll’s was a big fish — if it sank then it would make room in the pond for a lot of smaller fish to thrive.
“My dad trusts you,” said Christian. “I’m not sure he should. I know how ruthless you are, Margot.”
“Poor Christian,” she said, pouting. “I know deep down you’re still desperate for Daddy’s approval.”
She walked around the desk, standing in front of him and brushing some dust from his overalls.
“I’m not sure if you ever knew this,” she went on, “but it was your father who brought me in to toughen you up a bit. He thought I might rub off on you. In his words, you were ‘too soft’. All these idealistic notions of fair wages and ethical product lines — very noble and totally naive. Very bad for business.”
“What?” said Christian. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” she went on, smiling smugly. “He thought you were weak, that you weren’t strong enough to run a business like this.
Your kindness, my determination. It would be a perfect match.
But then I realised you were weak. All those trips overseas to check on the welfare of the factory workers, all those campaigns to pay workers more and treat them better.
You cost the store money, and I realised you were a lost cause.
You can’t teach someone how to have a backbone, Christian.
You’ve either got it or you haven’t. Which is why I paid the suppliers in Rapu-Rapu to ask you to stay out there and help them.
And they jumped at the chance. As did you. ”
What? Christian felt sick. He thought he’d been brave getting away from the company, but all this time it had been Margot’s wish to get rid of him.
“And I’m glad you did,” he said, trying to hide his hurt. “I could never stand your greed. It made me sick. Not everything is about money.”
“Says the billionaire,” she said.
“It was never about the money for me. But I see you’re still obsessed with being rich, being powerful. Is that why you’re doing it?”
“Doing what?” she said.
“Paying people to leave,” he went on. “I think it’s you. I think you’re so desperate to take over the company when Dad leaves that you’re deliberately sabotaging it. I think you want to march in and fix it, then you’ll be the next CEO of the Carroll empire.”
Margot chewed over his words for a moment, then she smiled. “Prove it.”
She walked away, opening the door and pausing for a moment. “I’ve worked too hard for this,” she said. “You don’t get to come back here after five years and take it away from me. I’m going to tell you something, so listen well.”
He met her eyes, refusing to let her scare him.
“If you come after me, Christian, I will ruin you,” she said. “Now, go grab your mop. The store’s a disgrace.”