“Have a seat.” The woman ran a hand through her frizzy hair, lodging the pencil into her messy bun. She dug through several stacks of folders until she finally wrangled the one she wanted out from the rest and handed it to Jack. “Here you go. You can start filling those out, and let me know if you have any questions.”
“I’ll leave you in Paula’s capable hands.” Carmen left, whistling “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.”
The first few forms were standard, consisting of an employment application and tax form, but Jack frowned when she got to the explanation of salary and benefits.
Carmen had told her a number over the phone when she’d made the job o er, and this wasn’t quite what Jack had been expecting. “Is this right? According to this, more than half of my compensation is in the form of a year-end bonus.”
Paula shrugged. “If that’s what it says, it must be right.”
“Could you take a look, though?” Jack handed her the page, any confidence she had in the problem being sorted out quickly dimming as the woman squinted at it as if she’d never seen anything like it before in her life.
“I’m really more in charge of the day-to-day stu , not new hires. I can ask Derek next time he’s in, but Carmen specifically told me she was putting your packet together herself.”
“In that case, I guess it must be right. I’ll ask Carmen about it later.”
Jack took the paper back and placed it in the folder with a sinking feeling. She’d believed she was getting a significant raise by coming to Bay State, and technically it was true, but with so much of the money not coming until the end of the year, her weekly paychecks would actually be smaller than what she was used to. She moved to the next form in the stack, a nondisclosure agreement. As Jack started to read the
densely worded document, her stomach began to churn.
“This nondisclosure agreement…”
“Oh, sign the last page and move on,” Paula directed without looking up from her work. “Standard stu . I’m sure you signed the same thing when you interned here. You were an intern, right? I think I saw that in the file.”
“Yes, I did, which is why I’m confused.” Jack swallowed, her throat dry. “I’ve never seen one like this before. Frankly, the wording’s pretty intimidating.”
“Legalese,” Paula said with a dismissive laugh. “It always is, isn’t it? Don’t worry, though. They’re not even enforceable. I don’t know why we bother.”
Except, Jack knew for a fact that wasn’t true. Her very first month on the job at Bay State the last time around, she’d heard about a former portfolio manager getting sued.
Jack reread the first paragraph again, her unease intensifying. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take this home and read it thoroughly tonight to make sure I understand it.”
“Suit yourself.” Paula rooted around in her bun and retrieved the pencil she’d stowed there. She wrote something on a sticky note and attached it to her monitor. “If everything else is done, Carmen said to tell you that you’re expected in the main conference room for the nine o’clock kick-o meeting.”
Jack’s heart pounded as she sprinted toward the conference room. It was almost nine, and the kick-o meeting was too big of a deal to risk being late. Jack put aside her concerns about her HR paperwork, all of her capacity for worrying suddenly taken up with the prospect of sitting in the same room with every big dog in the company before she’d truly been briefed on what her new role at Bay State would be.
Carmen waved to her as they passed in the hall. “You’re going the wrong way.”
“I need to grab my laptop bag,” Jack assured her breathlessly.
“Yes, we’ll need that.”
Jack scooted into the conference room at precisely nine.
Carmen directed her to a chair right beside the CEO, who sat at the head of the table. Jack grabbed her laptop from her bag and opened it, looking expectantly around the room, ready to take notes. She was unnerved to find that everyone in the room was staring right back at her with the same sense of anticipation. Frantically, Jack made eye contact with Carmen, silently imploring her to explain what the hell was going on.
Carmen grinned and moved around the table to stand behind Jack. “Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce Jack Kennedy, an expert on Silvio Othonos and our new ace in the hole.”
The CEO nodded in her direction. “So, this is how we’re going to bag the biggest client on the market right out from under Toby and Laurie Emerson, huh? I like it. Good work, Carmen.”
All around the table, people applauded her like they had earlier on the trading floor. Only now, Jack knew why. She whipped her head around to look at Carmen, eyes wide. “But, I—”
“Jack.” There was warning in Carmen’s voice and in the way her lips settled into a thin line. “Why don’t you start us o with a rundown of the pitch you’ve been working on.”
Jack tried to swallow, but her throat seized. The reasoning behind the year-end bonus and the draconian nondisclosure agreement was abundantly clear. She’d been hired as a corporate spy to betray her former employer.
All eyes were on her.
Jack’s heart thudded. There was no way Jack would do it, and what was more, she’d told Carmen as much on multiple occasions. Her palms turned to sweaty mush, and she was
certain she looked as if she was about to burst into tears. Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. Saved by the bell.
“I’m so sorry,” she said as she reached into her pocket.
“My mother’s been ill. I need to check this.”
A text from her mom informed her that her temperature was now ninety-eight point nine. Jack placed a hand to her mouth and did her best to look alarmed.
The CEO looked at her with concern. “Everything okay?”
“No. It appears she’s taken a turn for the worse. I apologize, but I really have to go.” Jack slammed her laptop shut and bolted from the room.
A clicking of heels echoed behind her as Carmen gave chase. “Jack! Hold up!”
Jack stopped but didn’t turn to face her old mentor. She was much too angry.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Carmen gripped Jack’s left shoulder and spun her around like a toy, making it clear Jack didn’t have a monopoly on rage.
Jack gritted her teeth. “Leaving.”
“You can’t leave. Everyone in there is expecting your intel.”
“Because you lied to them and blindsided me. I told you I’m not a spy, Carmen.”
“I’m not asking you to be a spy.” Carmen’s expression softened, and she let out a laugh as if everything had been a huge misunderstanding. “Goodness, Jack. You have an imagination almost as overactive as your mother’s.”
Jack was not so easily taken in. “You mean you don’t want me to violate my nondisclosure agreement with Emerson Management?”
“Oh, come on.” Carmen let out a quick burst of air as if poo-pooing the whole idea. “Those are never enforced.”
“If that’s the case, why did you include the most ironclad nondisclosure I’ve ever seen in my new hire packet?”
“Standard stu ,” Carmen said with a shrug.
“That’s not what Paula said.” Jack’s chest hurt as she tried to absorb the depth of her former mentor’s betrayal.
“And that compensation package. I assume the low salary and huge year-end bonus was to make sure I only got paid what you promised if Bay State got the Othonos account.
That’s low.”
“That’s business, darling. Besides, I have no doubt you can bring in the account.”
“Yes,” Jack agreed, “but I can’t say anything about Laurie’s plans in order to do it. It would be a huge breach of trust.”
“She fired you!”
“It doesn’t change the fact what you want is wrong, and you know it.”
Carmen’s expression softened. “I understand why you might see it that way, and I admire your ethics. I do. But, in this business, loyalty doesn’t get you far.”
> “Then this isn’t the job for me. Here I thought you were my friend trying to help me out.”
Carmen’s body sti ened, like she was made of stone.
“Jesus Christ, Jack. Grow the fuck up!”
“And be like you?” Jack pressed her fists against her thighs, fighting the impulse to throttle Carmen on the spot.
“No thanks.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a liar, with all that crap you love to say about how this company is di erent from all the rest.”
“We are. That’s why it’s so important we land this account. To get the credit we deserve. You of all people should understand that.”
“I understand things better than you think.” Jack wiggled free from Carmen’s grasp. “Thanks for the job, but you can shove it.”
“If you walk out that door,” there was a hardness to her tone, bordering on hatred, unlike anything Jack had ever heard before, “say goodbye to ever working in this town again.”
“Wow.” Jack looked at the woman she’d believed to be her friend and saw only a vindictive stranger. “And here you tried to warn me about how bad Laurie the Hatchet was, when you’re just like her. Only worse, because at least she’s upfront about it.”
Carmen snorted. “This is how people succeed. If you can’t handle it, then you don’t have the backbone needed for anything that requires grit.”
“I’d rather be honest than cruel.”
“Then enjoy living with your batshit crazy mother for the rest of your life,” Carmen spat.
“I’d rather live with her than work here. I’ll never betray a promise once I’ve made it, no matter how tempting the o er.” Jack spun on her heel and marched toward the exit, grateful that she had her laptop bag with her and didn’t need to return to her o ce.
JACK HAD WALKED HALF of the way to Massachusetts Avenue before she realized she’d left her coat hanging on the back of her o ce door. Former o ce door, she reminded herself. But it was one of those warm March days that Boston was known for, the ones that lasted long enough to get your hopes up that spring had arrived before burying them under a foot of April snow. She didn’t need a coat and opted not to take the bus to the South End either, instead continuing on foot the entire way.
Four days ago, she’d had it all. Just shy of thirty years old, she had a high-powered job in finance, the type of job most
would kill for. And then she’d been fired from one job and quit another, all in the span of less than a week. Some people burned bridges. What Jack had done was more akin to setting o a nuclear bomb and obliterating her entire future.
What was I thinking?
First there’d been Laurie. Such an impossible woman, with a terrible temper that made her so di cult to work for, and yet, Jack couldn’t banish the sense of connection and belonging she also felt for the woman. It was maddening.
And then there was Carmen. Why had she gone o on Carmen?
Because she’s fake.
That was it in a nutshell. Laurie was demanding and harsh, and she could certainly make mistakes, but they were honest mistakes. Carmen was sweet and funny, always talking about how important family and friendship were to her, but it was all for show. In the end, it had turned out there was nothing honest about Carmen.
After an hour of brisk walking, Jack finally reached her home, a tired-looking brownstone in which she and her mom had an apartment on the second floor. She sat on the stairs and tried to clear her mind of the worries that crowded in. Now that she was without an income, would she and her mom have to move? If so, where? To one of their cousins’
places? Which cousin would draw the short straw?
Jack’s phone rang. “Yes.”
“Where are you?” It was her mom. Of course. “My feet hurt.”
“I’m downstairs on the stoop.”
“Why are you there?”
Jack shut her eyes. “Can’t seem to find the will to come inside.”
“Are you okay?” Her mom’s voice quavered with concern.
“I have absolutely no idea, but no, I don’t think I am.”
Jack hugged her arms close to ward o the feeling of vulnerability that overwhelmed her. “When the numbness wears o , I may break.”
“I’m coming down. Don’t go anywhere.”
Her mom took her time, but after what seemed like an eternity, she appeared with two mugs of tea. “I made Barry’s with a splash of Dingle whiskey.”
Jack’s heart clenched, remembering the night with Laurie and Dingle gin.
“Honey, are you crying?”
Jack sni ed, loud and wet. “No.”
Her mom sat down, placing the mugs on the step below.
“Yes, you are. Tell me what happened. Why are you home so early on your first day?”
“Where should I start?”
“Wherever you want. I have all day.”
The words flooded out of Jack like a force of nature. There was no staunching them even if she wanted to, but she didn’t. She spilled about meeting Laurie. The hotel. The opportunity of a lifetime. The second one. Ending with Carmen’s betrayal.
“I never trusted Carmen.” Her mom sipped her tea. “You should never trust a woman who demands so much attention.”
Jack snorted at the irony but didn’t point out her mom’s hypocrisy.
“I remember what Uncle Teddy used to tell me. The dream will never die.”
“Mom, stop. He didn’t say that to you. That’s a line from Ted Kennedy’s 1980 concession speech. One that you always misquote, by the way.”
“It doesn’t make it less true. You, my darling daughter, are a force to be reckoned with. Every time you’ve been
knocked down, you’ve picked yourself up and fought even harder. When the clouds start to clear, you’ll see your way forward. And, I have no doubt you’ll wipe the floor with your enemies. We’re Irish. We learn, but we never let go of a grudge.” Her mom’s accent became more Irish with each word. She ground her fist into the palm of her hand, as if to demonstrate the vanquishing of foes. “What’s the one thing you can do to show them Jack Kennedy isn’t a woman who can be trifled with?”
Jack’s thoughts raced. The Othonos pitch had meant everything to her. More than a job at a particular company, and more, perhaps, than the teamwork she’d had with Laurie. What bothered her more than losing any of that was not having the chance to prove to herself, and to the world, that her instincts were correct and she had what it took to land the biggest client in the world.
“I wish I could finish my project and win the account.”
“Then do that.”
“Good plan, Mom. Except, I don’t have a company, so it’s not like I can actually give a pitch on my own.”
“Then don’t worry about that part. Do it for yourself.
That’s all you need. Prove it to yourself. Don’t settle by working for people you can’t trust. If I’ve learned one thing from losing your father, it’s that sometimes you’re the only person you can count on.”
“What about you and the bills? I need to get a job.”
“Don’t you worry about that. I’ve got a little nest egg saved up that can see us through for a while. You do what you need to do.”
“But—”
“No buts. Finish your tea. Then get back to work.”
Jack started to contradict her mom but stopped. Maybe she had a point. While Jack’s career in finance might have ended permanently after today’s scene with Carmen, that
didn’t mean she couldn’t do this final thing for herself, to prove she had it in her, right? At least she could give it a try and not let Laurie or Carmen have the last word.
C H A P T E R S E V E N T E E N
THE ELEVATOR HUMMED AS IT SPED UP TO THE TWENTY-FOURTH
floor, but with each passing second, Laurie’s brain fog receded, and the knowledge it was only Thursday morning instead of Friday dawned. She’d woken up believing it to be Friday, and now she contemplated pressing
the down button immediately. She’d been going nonstop for what felt like a lifetime, and the prospect of surviving today while also knowing there was still another workday ahead of her, was altogether a little too much to bear even for the unsinkable Laurie Emerson.
The elevator doors slid open, and Laurie used her final reserve of willpower to force herself out of the tiny box and down the hall to her o ce. She knew if she stopped before making it the whole way, her legs would turn to jelly and she’d end up in a heap on the floor. If that happened, Toby would make sure the news of her collapse traveled far and wide as rapidly as her firing of Jack had. She’d been putting out the fires caused by his loose lips since Monday morning, the short-sighted idiot. She wasn’t surprised by his desire to make her look bad, but Laurie had wrongly counted on her stepson having enough self-preservation to understand that letting the whole world in on the details of Jack’s firing cast a shadow across all of Emerson, not solely Laurie.
Not that I was wrong to do it, she thought. No, any doubt she might have had that her reaction had been too harsh evaporated the moment she learned that Jack had accepted a job o er from Carmen fucking Vega. It had happened so fast Laurie wondered if that had been her plan all along, provoking a firing to give her a technical loophole through which to wriggle out of her noncompete clause. At the very least, one of the women must’ve had the other on speed dial, for work emergencies or good old-fashioned plotting. The anger this thought produced gave Laurie the final burst of energy she needed to catapult her past the admin area and into her o ce, without derailing herself by sparing a glance for the empty desk where Jack had once sat.
“Welcome back.” Marian trotted after her through the open o ce door, arriving at Laurie’s side in the nick of time to help her out of her jacket. “How did the meetings go in New York?”
“Couldn’t have been better.” From Marian’s thinning lips, Laurie knew the woman had been working for her long enough to recognize a lie. “It’ll be fine. We may be leaner than last week, but we’re also meaner, which is half the battle in this business.”
Heart of Ice Page 20
