"She's thirty-three this year, right? Unmarried, parents are rural folks with no pensions. I heard her father was just diagnosed with kidney failure last month. Dialysis alone is a bottomless pit. She's still paying off her mortgage in the city too. The second she opens her eyes every morning, she's staring down tens of thousands in expenses."
"That kind of person is your classic mid-career battery."
"Almost drained, terrible return on investment. She's not like you. You just graduated. You listen, you're cheap, and you're easy to manage."
"Then why did you have Max try to keep her just now?"
"That was for show. If I don't back her into a corner, how is she going to hand over her core resources like a good girl? She thinks resigning is some kind of threat to me?" He scoffed. "I've already had people spread the word that Edwina Henson was fired for taking kickbacks. Once your reputation is ruined in this industry, where can you go?"
"She thinks she can just walk away? Cut off her income for two months, and her mortgage and her father's medical bills will crush her. She'll come crawling back, begging me for scraps."
"Uncle Darrell, you're brilliant!" Narelle's voice dripped with admiration. "So my P4 position..."
"Relax. Once Henson is squeezed out, that spot is yours. When her big project closes, the numbers go under your name. You'll get a fat year-end bonus out of it too."
I stood behind the partition, my bag strap digging into my palm so hard it burned.
So that was it.
My family burdens. My sick father. The relentless grind of mortgage payments. They'd turned all of it into leverage.
They'd calculated that I wouldn't dare lose my job. Calculated that money would force me to bow my head.
So they trampled my dignity without a second thought, paving the way for their little protege.
Strategic restructuring. Cultivating new talent.
All of it was garbage.
This was a premeditated purge.
Slaughter the worn-out workhorse who'd outlived her cost-efficiency, and make room for the parasites.
My phone screen lit up.
An email notification.
The sender: Frank Chavez, HR Director, Apex Capital.
Apex Capital. Grandmark's biggest competitor. Known across the industry for their cutthroat culture, but equally known for paying top dollar.
Ms. Henson, I've been following your career for some time. I hear you may be exploring new opportunities. We have an opening for East Region Sales Director. Base salary: $750,000, plus team commissions and equity options. If you're interested, let's talk tonight at eight.
Seven hundred and fifty thousand.
Double what I was making at Grandmark.
And that was just the base.
I stared at the number, and a laugh nearly escaped me.
At Grandmark, I'd begged like a dog for a P4 title, and all it got me was suppression and humiliation.
In a competitor's eyes, I was a general worth a fortune.
The loyalty I'd given so freely was a joke in Darrell Finch's mouth, but on the open market, it was a gold-plated reputation built on results.
These five years, I hadn't just been working for Grandmark. I'd been building my own brand.
Every deal I'd closed, every client who trusted my name, that was my moat. Mine.
Finch thought I survived because of the platform.
He was wrong.
The platform survived because of me.
I drew a long breath and wiped away the dampness that had nearly spilled from the corners of my eyes.
My fingers flew across the screen:
Mr. Chavez, very interested. See you tonight.
On the other side of the partition, Narelle was still fawning over Finch, happily scheming about how to carve up my year-end bonus.
I gave them one cold glance.
You want to play dirty?
Fine.
Let's play.
I hadn't even made it back to the office before my phone exploded.
It was Sam Dickerson, CEO of Oceanfront Group, the client the entire company treated as its lifeline.
"Edwina, what the hell is going on? I'm hearing you quit? Then who's handling my acquisition contract next week? That Bennett girl from your company just sent me a pile of garbled files. She hasn't even completed the basic due diligence. Is someone over there treating my multi-billion-dollar deal like a joke?"
