Chapter 27 Ella
ELLA
“Do you have the price point for the watch again, Ella?” Jerome asks, looking down at his notes.
I’m meeting with my old marketing team during my morning break from the PR team, and I’m helping them finalize details before their launch of Vericom’s smartwatch next Friday.
Vericom is a subsidiary of Langford Holdings, and as Langford Holdings does all of their marketing in-house, we are in charge of their launch.
But Vericom is panicking at the moment because our marketing team was supposed to have final approval on the ad structure, photos, and release, but have had some hiccups with all of the firings and reshuffling of teams. One of the fired employees, Aaron, destroyed a lot of the information for the launch when he was let go, and the team has been scrambling for over a week to put it all back together.
I wasn’t overly involved in the project before, but since they’re in a pinch, I’m helping them out.
“Yes, the price point is six ninety-nine.”
He slots in the price in the mock-up for the ad on his computer.
“And I know the company wanted the graphics behind it brighter, more reds and oranges before fading down into the pinks and purples.”
I give him my last notes of what I can remember of the previous visual ad and some of its talking points.
Madelyn was on the project as well, and she’s been the rock star of the new team since she put the whole thing back together from memory.
However, she wasn’t familiar with the visual ad because that was Aaron’s job, and I only know the specs of the ad because Aaron asked my opinion on it several times, seeking a female perspective.
Finally, we’re satisfied we have it mostly put back together, and the marketing team heads to the conference room to call Vericom and present the redone ad.
“Good luck!” I call as they head over.
A man carrying a large and exquisitely beautiful flower arrangement walks down the aisle between cubicles.
“Ella Hale?” he asks.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“These are for you.”
I shrink a little and lead him to my desk. Then I move to grab my purse for a tip.
“No need,” the delivery man says. “It’s already been taken care of.”
“Okay, thank you.”
He turns to leave, and a few female coworkers flit over to my desk, gushing over the flowers.
“Are they from Mr. Langford?” one of them asks.
I lift the card from the arrangement and read it.
Asher’s apology is short but sweet, and I tuck the card away before anyone can see it.
“Yes.”
“You’re so lucky. I can’t believe you’re dating Mr. Langford,” Cami says.
I don’t know Cami well, I only sort of know her in passing, and I don’t know the other three women standing around my desk.
With the department switch around there’s a few new faces I’m not familiar with, and somehow all the women I don’t know are the ones around my desk asking me questions about Asher, commenting on my flowers, and telling me how lucky I am.
“Yes, well. I am . . . lucky,” I stumble over my words. I really need to learn how to speak coherently when it comes to Asher. “He’s amazing.” When he’s being nice.
The women gush again.
“Wait,” one of them says, grasping at my hand. She looks down at Asher’s ring. “This has Mr. Langford’s initials on it. Did he give it to you?”
“Yes, it was his ring as a boy.”
“I know that ring! I’ve seen it on him in photos when he was younger,” Cami squeals.
“The Langford’s are an old family with long traditions.
I’m obsessed with stuff like that. I love keeping tabs on all the high society in New York and the UK.
That’s why I work here; I wanted to work for the Langfords.
Maybe snag me a Langford man. You’re a lucky bitch, you know that? ”
I raise my brows. “Yes.”
“So you really just met him at a launch and hit it off?” another woman asks.
“Yes.” God, I need to work on my replies.
“And then what?” they press as if I’m being dense on purpose.
“We . . . just hit it off. There was an instant connection, an instant chemistry between us.” That’s not a lie, at least. Even when I thought he hated me and was going to fire me, I could feel something electric coursing between us.
“We went on a date, and haven’t really been apart much since.
” Also not a total lie. Since I met Asher, I haven’t been away from him much.
It’s like we crashed into each other’s lives, got caught up in each other’s orbits, and now our gravitational forces are keeping us tethered to one another.
“But Declan and Sterling are still single,” Cami says. “Wait, would you introduce me? I’d kill to go up to the executive floor! I hear it’s incredible up there.”
“Uh . . . I have a lot of work to get done. Let’s chat another time.”
My phone dings, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
“I have to take this text, it’s from Asher’s PA, Matthew.”
“Ugh, why wasn’t I at that market launch,” Cami groans as she and the others leave my desk. If she only knew.
What would you like for lunch?
I have some work to get done, so I was just going to work through lunch. I’ve been helping the marketing team this morning, and I still have my own work to get to.
Asher says that’s a no. He wants you to come up to his office at one for lunch.
I roll my eyes and text back.
I really do have work to get to.
Do you really want to poke the beast? He’s already given his instructions.
I super love that he thinks he can dictate my schedule.
He’s the CEO, he can dictate anything he wants to about your work, including your schedule.
Why are you taking his side?
Because I know which battles to fight and which ones don’t even need to be battles. And this one doesn’t.
I feel like he just snaps his fingers and I’m supposed to be at his beck and call.
That’s how businesses work. And plus, Ella, he just wants to see you and make sure you eat. That’s the opposite of most employers, who wouldn’t care if their employees worked through lunch and didn’t take a break during the workday.
Before I can finish texting Matthew, Madelyn pops out of the conference room and waves me over. She asks me one more question about the ad, and when she ducks back in and shuts the door behind her, my phone rings: Matthew.
“Hello?” I say, walking to a quiet corner by the drinking fountain. The floor is buzzing and chaotic this morning.
“How dare you leave me on read. It’s a good thing I love you.”
I snort. “My sincerest apologies, Matthew. Someone had a question for me. You know I would never willingly leave you on read.”
“Lunch?” he asks. “What would you like.”
“So, I’m allowed to at least pick what I eat?”
“Yes, smartass. What would you like to eat?”
“Ella, can I talk to you?” a male voice asks behind me.
I jump at the voice, overwhelmed with all the things going on simultaneously. What is it with everyone needing me all at the same time?
I turn and see Brad looking at me with a sort of assertive expression I’ve never seen on him.
“Hang on, Matthew.”
I hold the phone away from my face. “I’m on the phone, Brad, can this wait?”
“I’d rather not wait. I’ve held this in since last week, and I need to say my piece.” His tone is clipped, annoyed.
What the hell is wrong with him? “Okay, what’s up?”
“What’s up is that I feel pretty pissed that you lied to me.”
“What? Lied to you?”
“Yeah. You could have just had the decency to be honest with me when I asked you out.”
“Brad, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, that’s how you want to play it?”
“Play what? You’re not making any sense.”
He steps closer to me. “You told me last Thursday that you didn’t think it was a good idea to date a coworker when I asked you out.”
“Oh. Well, yes, I do think that. I wasn’t lying.”
“Yeah, but you’re dating the CEO.” He steps closer again, and I instinctively step back, but there’s nowhere to go since I’m backed into a corner.
“How long has that been going on?” Brad demands.
“Have you just been laughing at me every time I asked you out while you were secretly fucking Asher Langford?”
“Excuse me? That is so out of line, Brad! I don’t owe you a damn thing. You asked me out; I said no. End of story. You asked me out again and again, and I told you the truth, I didn’t want to date a coworker.”
“But you’re dating Langford!” His voice rises, and I again try to move, but have nowhere to go.
“Asher is not my coworker. He’s my boss! And he’s not even that, he’s the owner of the company. We don’t work together regularly. And frankly, it’s none of your damn business! I can date who I want to date, and I don’t owe you any explanations for it.”
Our shouting has alerted others, and a few people have crept closer to us in the semi-abandoned drinking fountain corner.
Jenkins, who was standing near the conference room keeping a general eye on things has noticed, and he’s marching my way with purpose.
Brad leans down toward me, and now my back is literally pressed into the wall.
“So, a lowly coworker like me just isn’t good enough, is that it?
You won’t date someone or sleep with them unless they’re six bosses up and running the company?
But I guess dating someone like me wouldn’t have made you famous overnight, and you wouldn’t be going to fancy galas in expensive dresses.
I thought you were different. I thought you were a nice girl, but you’re just like every other gold-digging whore sleeping her way to the top. ”
Jenkins grabs Brad by the arms and shoves him against the opposite wall. “You will not speak to Ms. Hale again,” he growls in Brad’s face. He reaches up to the communication device in his ear. “He’s contained; I have him. I need Ms. Hale’s escort here, now.”
“What the fuck, get off me!” Brad shouts, wriggling against Jenkins’s grip. Jenkins hauls him off to Emily’s empty office and pushes him inside, locking him in.