Mergers and Acquisitions

by A. E. Radley

  Sophie swallowed nervously. The offer was taking a turn she hadn’t expected. She worried that the heat from her cheeks may set the fire alarms off.

  “Dinner with me isn’t a requirement for my silence,” Georgina reassured her. “If you don’t want to have dinner with me, that’s perfectly fine. Our little secret will remain just that.”

  Sophie mentally pictured Kate’s rage if she heard that Sophie socialised with Georgina. While the opportunity was amazing, she knew she had to side with Kate. Kate was her employer, and Georgina would be going home soon. As much as it hurt to let such an offer slip through her fingers, she knew she had to.

  “I-I… think we better not,” she said sadly.

  Georgina nodded and offered a small smile. She looked up to Kate’s office briefly and then back to Sophie. “I understand. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of any further conflict between you and your boss.”

  “Oh, there’s no…” Sophie trailed off. She didn’t want to lie. There was already enough deception in the Red Door offices as it was. The unfinished sentence hung between them.

  “Sophie, can you come in here, please?” Kate’s voice sounded through the intercom on Sophie’s desk.

  “You better go.” Georgina slid from the desk. “I’ll see you later.”

  Sophie watched her leave. She couldn’t believe she just turned down career advice from Georgina Masters. Or that Georgina had asked her to dinner. Sophie’s mind swam with questions. Did Georgina suggest dinner purely for efficiency’s sake, or was it something else?

  A smile grew on her face. Again, Georgina’s terrible reputation didn’t ring true. The formidable woman had been nothing but lovely to her since she arrived. Or maybe she’s just lovely to you, her mind supplied.

  She remembered Kate’s request. Grabbing her notepad and pen, she rushed into Kate’s office.

  “Ah, there you are. Close the door,” Kate said without looking up.

  Sophie closed the door and walked towards the visitor chair which she had come to think of as her customary spot.

  “What did she want?” Kate asked as Sophie sat down.

  “Oh, nothing, she… was talking.” Sophie adjusted her glasses, keen to avoid direct eye contact.

  “Talking?” Kate looked up and chuckled. “With you?”

  “Yes,” Sophie replied defensively. “Actually, she’s really nice.”

  She wasn’t sure what caused her to say it, but she immediately wished she hadn’t. Her knee-jerk attempt to get Kate to see that Georgina wasn’t the devil himself was quickly regretted.

  “Are you ill, Stephanie? Georgina Masters is many things, but nice is most certainly not one of them.” Kate glared at her.

  “Well, she’s nice to me,” Sophie mumbled.

  “Then she’s playing you as much as you are playing her,” Kate told her.

  “I’m not playing her, you’re making me spy on her.” Sophie swallowed. She wasn’t sure where this sudden bravery was coming from, but it gave her a chill as well as a thrill. Maybe this was the new Sophie Young.

  “Speaking of which, I’ve read your email. I suppose we were asking for trouble by sitting Michael over there. Draft a memo to all staff that filing cabinets are to be kept locked at all times.”

  Sophie opened her notepad and scribbled down a note to create the memo and send to Kate for approval. Apparently, the new Sophie Young’s outburst wasn’t even noticed by Kate.

  “Have you heard anything else?” Kate asked.

  Sophie held her breath. She had, but she didn’t want to say. The tension in the office was rising every day.

  “I can see in your face that you know something,” Kate added. “Spit it out, Sally.”

  Sophie winced at the name. She knew Kate was just doing it to push her buttons, but she wasn’t quite brave enough to point it out yet.

  “I think Michael is going to the pub with the web developers. He got himself invited to their weekly darts match.”

  “I’ll kill them.” Kate jumped to her feet.

  Sophie stood up as well. “I’ll talk to them.”

  “You? What could you possibly do?” Kate laughed and shook her head. “I want a team meeting first thing tomorrow morning, we need to have a conversation about fraternising with the enemy.”

  “I think he was just being friendly,” Sophie pointed out.

  Kate glared at her and slowly lowered herself back into her seat. “Don’t go soft on me. You’ve only just stopped stammering when I talk to you. Michael is fishing for information. He’s not trying to make friends, he’s not trying to improve his darts game, he is doing exactly what you are doing. Spying and reporting back. Don’t be so naive as to think otherwise. You’re dismissed.”

  “But—”

  “Meetings don’t book themselves.” Kate gave her a final, cold stare.

  Sophie nodded. She knew that any argument she made now would fall on deaf ears. She turned and walked out of the office.

  At her desk, she opened a new memo template and stared at it blankly. She was desperate to clear the atmosphere, but she didn’t know how to do so. Speaking to Kate seemed out of the question, especially lately. Kate seemed temperamental at the best of times, but it was getting worse each day. Sophie knew that the stress was getting to her, but she didn’t know what she could do to help. Or if Kate would even accept her help.

  Sophie chanced a glance through the office window. Kate was holding her head in her hand as she read something off her laptop screen. Stress was practically radiating from her. Sophie wished there was something she could do, but she guessed she’d be unwelcome anyway. Maybe it was best to steer clear. But she didn't know if she could do that, either; her instinct was to help where she could.

  Everything seemed so complicated. On one side, she had Kate. On the other, Georgina. Both presented their unique problems. And Sophie was stuck in the middle.

  Chapter 19

  “And, suddenly, I was uninvited from the darts tournament,” Michael said. He poured himself another glass of wine and gestured the bottle towards Georgina.

  She nodded her head and watched as he topped up her glass. “Well, that was to be expected.”

  “Normally I wouldn’t mind, but I did genuinely want to play darts. I wanted to impress them with my skills. I played up the dumb American thing and suggested I didn’t know what darts were.”

  She chuckled. “Ah, but it’s us and them now. You’re not in the right group.”

  He let out a fake sigh. “Who knows, I might have hidden talents. I might be the very best darts player in all of London. And now, we’ll never know.”

  “It’s a terrible loss, I’m sure,” she drawled with a smirk. She looked at her plate with regret. The food was delicious, perfect ingredients and wonderfully cooked. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to eat. Her mind was consumed by a certain person. A person she knew she shouldn’t be thinking about.

  “So," Michael whispered. "Sophie Young."

  Georgina tilted her head up and looked at him. She shouldn’t be surprised that he had guessed. He knew her inside out. But that didn’t mean she was going to admit anything that would confirm his suspicions. “What about her?" she asked.

  "I've seen the way you look at her,” he said.

  “Don't be ridiculous, Michael.” She picked up her fork and stared down at the plate. She’d have to be more careful in the office. She didn’t want to get a reputation for undressing the junior administrator with her eyes.

  He chuckled. "Fine, fine.”

  She let out a sigh. As much as it frustrated her to admit, maybe she needed to talk about it. Keeping it bottled up certainly wasn’t helping her any. She lowered her fork to her plate and looked around the room to check they weren't being overheard. “I must have a type, Michael.”

  “A type?”

  “Yes. Naive young women with appalling dress sense. That kind of type.”

  “Corruptible?” he questioned with a waggle of an eyebrow.

  “Micha
el!” she admonished, though she found herself smiling at the thought.

  “So, you are interested?”

  She picked up her glass and looked at the wine as she thought about the question. “She’s intriguing,” she admitted.

  Intriguing wasn’t all Sophie Young was. Something was drawing Georgina to her, and she seemed completely unable to stop herself. She knew it was wrong, stupid even.

  “Jessica is my friend—”

  Georgina glared at him. “Jessica left me. It’s over, Michael,” she reminded him.

  “I know, I just…” He lowered his knife and fork. “This, whatever it might be with Sophie… it’s not to get back at Jessica, is it? Because that’s not fair to either of them.”

  Georgina sipped her wine and frowned in concentration, trying to answer the same question she had been asking herself.

  “I know. And, despite my annoyance at being lectured, let me assure you that it’s not my intention to use Sophie to make Jessica jealous. Besides, Jessica is off in Africa saving starving orphans. I’m sure she won’t be calling up to check in on who I might be seeing. Especially considering we are very much broken up. She made that abundantly clear. And, ultimately, Sophie declined my offer of dinner. Which is why I’m here with you and not her. So, maybe this whole conversation is moot.”

  Michael pulled a face. “Oh, and here I thought it was my charming company.”

  Georgina lowered her glass and smiled at him. “Maybe a little of both,” she allowed.

  He returned the smile. “So, she turned you down? Is she back with the boyfriend?”

  She shook her head. “No, she thought dinner wasn’t appropriate. To be honest, I think Kate is the problem.”

  Michael picked up his knife and fork. “Yes, I did wonder if there was something going on between her and Kate.”

  She spat out a laugh. “I didn’t mean it like that! Kate treats the girl like dirt. Something going on between them? That’s absurd. I really don’t know where you get these ideas from.”

  He gave her a knowing look. “Kate treats her like dirt? A bit like you did with Jessica at the beginning? And you may say it’s absurd, but I saw the attraction between you and Jessica long before you did. I have an eye for these things. Lesbian May-December romances, can spot them a mile off.”

  “May to Dec—!? How dare—”

  “Deny it all you like, but Kate looks at Sophie the way you looked at Jessica. And the reverse is true as well.”

  “Impossible. Kate’s…” She trailed off as she considered his words. Kate did seem to have bisexual leanings. And maybe she did employ some of Georgina’s behaviours with Jessica. She had pushed the girl in much the same way. But Kate wasn’t Georgina, and she knew that gave her the advantage.

  “Even if Kate did have feelings for Sophie,” Georgina said, “she’d never act on them. She doesn’t have the courage to become involved with someone of Sophie’s age. She may be one of the big names in marketing here, but she’s all about her image. She wouldn’t risk the gossip.”

  “You don’t mind the gossip?” Michael enquired.

  Georgina grinned devilishly. “They can say whatever they like about me. If my relationship with Jessica taught me one thing, it’s that life is made for living.”

  Chapter 20

  Sophie closed her eyes and counted to five. It had been the week from hell. Things had gone from bad to worse, and the cherry on top: Jonathan was officially signed off work for another month. Sophie was no longer Kate’s temporary PA, she was Kate’s PA. Except, she wasn’t being paid for it.

  Georgina and Michael remained in the Red Door offices as Yannis dropped in for impromptu meetings every other day. Georgina and Kate were at each other’s throats constantly. Any pretence of kindness had well and truly vanished. Now it was more like outright war.

  Every time Yannis visited, he threw Sophie’s meticulously planned schedule for Kate out of the window. And most of the time he made sizeable changes to the direction of the campaign. He was a nice guy, but a part of Sophie had started to hate him.

  Despite Yannis agreeing to see a pitch from each company and work with only one, he was frantically trying to wow investors. And for that, he needed whomever would give him what he needed at the time. A logo, a wireframe mock-up, a drafted press release. His demands meant Mastery and Red Door were working together on the project. Even if it was the project before the project.

  Sophie found herself longing for the good old days when no one knew her name. Even if Kate did call her a variety of names starting with S. Even if each grew more outlandish the more frustrated Kate became.

  She finished counting to five and opened her eyes. Kate stared back at her, obviously wondering if she had gone insane.

  “You want me to lie?” Sophie asked.

  “Are you really going to tell me that you’ve never lied, Sophie?” Kate asked.

  “Kate, I—”

  “Save it. I want you to go over there and tell Georgina exactly what I just told you.”

  “Kate, I’m really not comfortable telling—”

  “I wonder how comfortable you’ll feel when you’re unemployed?” Kate asked. Her unwavering stare scared Sophie into swallowing hard.

  Sophie was getting to know Kate and her working practices better as the days wore on. She knew that Kate would never actually fire her over such a matter. And she knew that Kate knew that she knew that. But Kate was also well aware that Sophie was still scared of her, and she wasn’t afraid to use that advantage. Especially when Kate was as determined as she was at that moment. Sophie’s eyes flickered down to her hands where they fidgeted in her lap.

  “I’ll take your silence to mean that you’ll do as I say?” Kate asked. She picked up her pen. “Now?”

  Sophie nodded. She quickly stood up and left Kate’s office. She was beginning to seriously wonder if Yannis was going to get a campaign out of either agency. Georgina was starting to live up to the rumours of her difficult nature, too.

  A couple of staff members from Mastery had been flown over, Georgina claiming that the Red Door staff were unable to provide her with the resources that she needed. But that didn’t stop her from ordering Red Door staff to work on projects for her, often without informing Kate first.

  As a result, Kate’s mood had gone from bad to worse. Sophie had called Jonathan and asked for advice on how to help. She couldn’t stand to watch Kate suffer, and she was desperate to support her through the stressful times. Even if Kate did pretend to forget her name and spoke down to her, something in Sophie was determined to help.

  He’d joked that Kate maintenance wasn’t another facet of the job, but he’d given her some tips. And so, Sophie started scheduling scalp massages and providing Kate with headache medication when she noticed a clenched jaw of pain.

  Despite the drama, Kate and Georgina somehow kept up the insane illusion that they didn’t want to kill each other when in public. Wide smiles and friendly chuckles would make the average bystander think that nothing untoward was happening. However, just beneath the pleasant veneer, both women were constantly scheming. They reversed each other’s decisions by going directly to the team, or by making Sophie do it.

  On top of everything else, Georgina was still being nice to Sophie. And she was the only one. All the Mastery and Red Door staff were too busy to notice her. Everyone was deeply embroiled in office politics, and Sophie was being used by a pawn by more than one party.

  But Georgina never asked Sophie what Kate was up to. And she never asked Sophie to lie for her, even though they both knew that if Georgina pressured her to do so, Sophie would cave in an instant.

  Sophie half-heartedly knocked on Georgina’s open office door. The last thing she wanted to do was to lie, but there really was no other option.

  “Come in, Sophie,” Georgina called out to her.

  Sophie walked in. She fidgeted with her hands as she approached the desk. Georgina was writing and didn’t look up at her.

  “Kate w
-wanted me to tell you that—”

  “That the copy for the television ad has been completed?” Georgina guessed. She glanced up at Sophie.

  Sophie nodded.

  “Presumably, she wants me to look at it and find the deliberate fault or faults therein so she can be assured of my distraction while she makes changes to the website mock-up that I approved this morning?”

  Sophie felt her knees go weak. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

  Georgina smiled. “Don’t worry, your boss is only doing exactly what I would do if our positions were reversed. Consider your message passed on. I’ll look suitably surprised when the copy changes come to light.”

  “Thank you so much.” Sophie breathed a sigh of relief.

  Georgina leaned back in her chair. “Well, I have to admit that I’m only being kind for my own benefit.” She offered a lopsided grin. “Hoping that you might have reconsidered my dinner invitation. I’d love to talk more about your career plans. Over a good meal accompanied by fine wine, of course.”

  Sophie bit her lip. Part of her wanted to. Georgina was the only person in the office treating her with any kindness at the moment, but she knew that the fallout from Kate would be immense. She’d taken on the task of helping Kate deal with the stress of Georgina. Accepting a dinner invitation would make the whole situation worse.

  “I’m really sorry, I can’t.”

  Georgina smiled and leaned forward. “I suspected as much, but I had to try.”

  “I better get back.” Sophie indicated the way out of the office with her thumb.

  Before Georgina had a chance to reply, Sophie rushed out. It wasn’t the first time Georgina had hinted towards a dinner invitation. Each time she did, Sophie felt her resolve crumble a little more.

  As she approached her desk, she could see Kate pacing in her office. Kate gestured for her to come in. Sophie let out a deep sigh and walked into the office.

  “Well?” Kate demanded as soon as Sophie was within earshot.