ton
icient executive assista
at made him pause, his finge
r was And
request for a flight booki
ne read: Resig
rmal, polite, and unequivocal. Andrea Ayers was resignin
er years ago. A way to keep her officially on the payr
The "business trip" in Europe, and now this. It felt wron
skly to the heavy oak doors of my of
of several allied packs. I looked up, my expression annoyed by
ater, I unmuted
pped, my voice low and imp
n the desk, the email displayed clearly. "Mr.
e word "Resignation." My brow furrowed, n
thought w
s being dramatic.
ident. This was another passive-aggressive move
aped my lips. I pushed the tablet
mpt. "It's a useless position anyway. If she do
serious than it seemed. But one look at the icy fury in my eyes and he
smissively. "Follow standard procedure. And
ntion back to the video conference, my face onc
y orders. He sent a formal, impersonal reply to Andrea's email, accepting her resignation. He
of meetings. I leaned back in my
ing me. I needed a second opinion, someone to bounce ideas
the edge of my mind-a memory of other late nights when Andrea had stayed late to help me structure a negotiatio
head, dis
A mix of frustration and an odd sense of...
g away. It was just the stres
hone and dialed
d sweet, answered
as just think
h Bonnie. The strange, unsettling feeling in my chest
. Everythi
rea
alifornia, the email notificatio
ation A
words without any emotion. It
st official tie to Braxt
ed the
erlooked the sprawling tech campuses of Silicon V
logo was designed. A stylized, elegan
us L
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