Page 108 of Ten Rules for Faking It
“Sir, I’m calling security,” Jane said.
Chris came out of his office, worry etched into the lines of his face. “What’s going on?”
The man pointed at him. “Are you him? Are you Mr. N. Jansen of Quality Corporations Incorporated?”
Chris stopped, his expression one of surprise before he masked it with professionalism. His eyes met Everly’s for the briefest of seconds before he focused on the irate man.
“I’ve called security,” Jane said.
“I’m saying my piece, and then I’ll go. As much as I want to punch you, I won’t. You cost me my company, put my employees out of work. I won’t lose anything else to you. You’re not worth it.”
Everly felt Stacey step closer and take her hand. She hadn’t realized she was pressing her fingers into her palm, but now it stung.
“You must be Mr. Lee. Why don’t we speak in my office?” Chris said, gesturing to the door behind him. His tone was almost resigned. Defeated. What was that about? Who was this man?
“So, youdoknow who I am. Guess I should be flattered, huh? That if you were going to dissolve my company, through email, you at least knew my name. How magnanimous of you.Do you want to sit me down in your office and tell me doing that was just business?”
Chris’s jaw tightened, and Everly held her breath. She watched his chest rise and fall, realizing he was trying to maintain composure.
“What I’d like is to let my employees get back to work. This doesn’t concern them at the moment. I’d very much like to sit down with you to discuss what happened.”
The man reared back, threw his hands in the air. “Whathappened? Youhappened!”
Chris stepped closer. “That might be what it looks like, but if you’d just allow us some privacy, we can talk.”
Security came down the hall, assessed the situation. Chris put a hand up to hold them off.
Mr. Lee laced his hands in his graying hair. “We were struggling, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t have made it. I sank everything I had into this ad company. Wewereturning things around. You didn’t even have the decency to seek out other solutions. You can’t just make decisions that impact dozens of people with the swipe of a freaking signature.”
Chris winced. “You’re missing valuable pieces of the puzzle. It’s not as black and white as you’re making it seem.” His eyes darted to his staff. To Everly. His mouth tightened.
Mr. Lee growled, taking a step forward. “My life savings were in this company. Now, it’s gone. No warning. Just gone. I looked up your company. You don’t care about anything other than profit and proving you can take someone’s legs out from under them.”
Chris’s eyes blazed fire. His back stiffened. “You know nothing aboutme,Mr. Lee. If you won’t take me up on my offer of a private discussion, I’m going to need you to leave.”
Mr. Lee pointed at Chris, the fight sagging out of his stance. “You’ll never know what it’s like to build something from the ground up. You’ll never know what it’s like to lose everything.”
The security guard sidled up to the man. Mr. Lee’s breathing had gone ragged, and Everly was close enough to see sweat forming at his temples.
“Sir, I’m going to escort you out,” the security guard said. Everly didn’t know his name. He worked the whole building and a couple of others in the same area.
She blinked, trying to pull her breath in. Mr. Lee shook his head, pulled a piece of paper out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He held it up, ripped it in half. “Gone. Just like that.”
“I’m sorry,” Chris said quietly, holding the man’s angry stare.
Everly could see in his face, his eyes, the way his body tightened that he was. He was truly sorry, but nothing made any sense. Mr. Lee shook off the security guard’s touch and turned around, stomped down the hall toward the exit.
The rest of them—Jane, Everly, Stacey, Mason, and Mari, who’d come out of the meeting room—stared at Chris. His gaze found Everly’s, and everything inside of her tumbled like rocks off a cliff.
“Staff meeting, now.” Chris pointed to the meeting room.
“I’m so sorry. He said he had an appointment,” Jane muttered.
Chris was still looking at Everly when he replied, “It’s not your fault, Jane.”
Stacey went ahead of Everly, releasing her hand. She couldn’t look away from Chris, her heart pounding, a feeling of dread making her stomach queasy. Even though he was standing right in front of her, she felt like he was disappearing.
They filed into the meeting room, sat around the table, the tension thicker than fog. Everly felt like she could choke on it. The muscles around her ribs tightened. She rubbed the pad of her thumb over her other fingers, counting to herself.
