“W-why? I don’t understand. I work harder than anyone else. My performance—”
“Is exceptional,” Charles finished. “However, when we looked at your file again, we discovered you received your accounting degree from a community college.”
Ava balled her hands into fists and set them on her lap. He opened his mouth and kept talking, but she couldn’t hear him. Gina, like everyone else at the firm, had graduated from a fancy Ivy League school. They came from good, solid families. None of them grew up in a trailer park, like Ava did.
“Mrs. Chambers didn’t think it seemed to matter,” Ava finally spoke up, referring to the HR manager. “Why isn’t she here, anyway? Isn’t firing staff supposed to be her job?”
Amanda pursed her lips and looked annoyed Ava had interrupted Charles’s monologue.
Finally, Amanda spoke. “At Green and Hill Accounting, we’re a family. Charles and I see it as our duty to personally inform our staff that—”
“I don’t need to hear this bullshit anymore. I get it. You guys want me gone. It doesn’t matter if I slaved at this job for five years. Hell, if I only knew all that wasted time would lead me to this moment, I would’ve put myself out there. I’d be married and have kids by now.”
Oh, my God. Ava had broken down. She was babbling nonsense and couldn’t seem to stop herself.
“Ava, please sit back down,” Charles said. “We’d like to make this transition as fluid as possible.”
When had she stood up? She shook with silent anger. Never had she felt so humiliated.
“Fluid for you?” She shook her head. Fuck you both, were the three parting words she wanted to leave them, but she culled her temper. Despite her origins, Ava had class. “Thank you for having me for the last five years. I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve also realized it’s time for me to move on.”
With that, she strode out of that conference room, her head still held high. On the outside, she might appear strong, but deep down? Ava wanted to hide somewhere where no one would find her.
Then she’d curl into a ball and cry her heart out. Ava knew the place where she could do that. She pushed past Gina on her way to her secret location. Gina gave her a concerned look.
“What’s wrong?” Gina silently mouthed at her.
“Bathroom,” Ava lied. “Need to fix my makeup.”
Gina knew her better than that. Her best friend probably knew she was lying, but Ava needed to get away. She felt many stares on her fleeing figure, but that was probably just a figment of her imagination.
Amanda thought the firm was a family? Yeah, right. Ava worked in a cut-throat environment. Every junior accountant fought for a project like sharks who scented blood in the water.
She reached the door at the end of the corridor. One that read office supplies. She yanked it open and slid inside then turned the light on. Reams of paper and stationery stared back at her from the shelves.
Whenever the pressures of her job got her down, Ava always came here to think. To clear her head. She had always loved stationery, and the smell of her paper calmed her.
Growing up in a small and often empty trailer, she’d head to the stationery store in town to pass the time. Reminiscing about her childhood made her think of her mom.
“Oh, God,” she whispered.
She slid to the floor, not caring if her dress got dirty. Tears streamed down her cheek. Ava wasn’t a crier. She couldn’t remember the last time she shed tears. When her dad left Ava and her mother, perhaps? Her mom was a saint.
Joanna Addison had worked two jobs to pay the bills and to keep Ava in school. She owed her mom everything. Half her paychecks went to her mom.
Unfortunately, after five years of being chained to her desk, Ava had become a stranger to her own mother. She hadn’t even been home since she’d started working here. Failure tasted like bitter ashes in her mouth. A tentative knock on the door made her jump.
“Ava? It’s Gina. Can I come in?”
“Go away. Please.”
Ava probably looked awful. All that stupid crying messed up her mascara and eyeliner. She probably looked like a clown. Gina, of course, didn’t listen. She opened the door, took one look at Ava, then closed the door behind her. Gina took a seat next to her. There wasn’t much room in the tiny space, and neither Gina and her were exactly small.
“Hey, you know you can talk to me.” Gina took her hands in hers. “What happened?”
“They didn’t call me in to tell me I’m promoted. They’re letting me go.”
Gina widened her eyes. “You’re joking. There must be some kind of mistake. Ava, you work harder than everyone else here. If you hadn’t helped Anton with his client, the firm would probably be in trouble.”
“Don’t remind me about Anton,” she said with a scoff.
Anton was a senior accountant Ava worked with on a project. She had wondered how he got the position because Anton never seemed to be interested in doing any work. Anton had attended no meetings with their client either.
Ava did everything. What was worse? She agreed to date that loser. She didn’t know what had come over her. Maybe it had been the loneliness and late nights talking. Either way, that relationship didn’t last long.
“Let me talk to Charles and Amanda. My parents are good friends with them. I’m sure I can get them to reconsider,” Gina said.
She shook her head firmly. “Gina, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want to continue working for a firm that treats their employees like shit. Besides, it might only get you in trouble.”
“Did they say why they’re letting you go?” Gina asked.
Ava scoffed. “They found out I graduated from a community college.”
Gina frowned. “What does that have to do with anything? You’re more than qualified.”
“I guess I don’t fit the image of the firm.”
Some of Charles’s words came back to her. The firm had certain standards to maintain, he had said. Charles promised to write her a good recommendation, but would he still do that after she walked out of that meeting in a huff?
“Okay,” Gina said. “Today’s almost over. We can think about the future later. We’ll both get hammered at the Rum and Monkey. What do you say?”
Ava had planned to head back to her lonely apartment. To order in massive amounts of Chinese takeout and to binge-watch some romance movies with Fatty, her tabby cat. Drinking her sorrows away seemed like a much better idea. Alcohol might be a momentary cure, but she didn’t care.
“I’m in,” Ava said.
She smiled as Gina pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away her smudged makeup.
“There’s my awesome girl,” Gina said.
Ava gave the other woman’s hand a squeeze. “I’m so glad you’re here. I wouldn’t know what to do if you weren’t.”
“You can always count on me, babe.”
End of sample chapter
www.evernightpublishing.com/bratva-boss-baby-by-winter-sloane
Bending Iron (Fallen Saints MC Book 5) Page 9
