Chapter 6: Taming Mr. Walker: Chapter 6

Charlie

I didn’t sleep a wink last night worrying about this meeting. Why did he have to be so vague? Could he not have given some indication as to what it’s about?

He has some nerve. Emailing me at 9 p.m. the night before and expecting me to be on call at all times to check my emails. My contracted hours don’t begin until 8.30 a.m. I am under no obligation to see this git before then.

Even his emails are devoid of manners as if every word is too much effort. An automated messaging service would have more charisma.

Of course, I didn’t have the guts to say that.

It’s 7:59, and I’ve been pacing in circles outside his office for ten minutes. It’s an office he’s commandeered for the acquisition.

I’m wearing my most professional-looking grey skirt and white blouse, ironed for the first time since I bought them.

I take a deep breath in, smooth my hair down and knock on the door.

Nothing. Did he hear me? I know he’s in there. Is he making me stew?

I knock again.

“Come in,” a gravelly voice responds after a minute.

I wish he didn’t have that deep Scottish voice that triggers my heart to beat double time.

As I enter the office, I close the door and stand awkwardly in the centre of the room, shifting my weight between my feet. I don’t want to get too close in case he can smell fear.

Behind his desk, he stares at his laptop and scowls. He doesn’t even look up. “Sit down.”

Suddenly I’m irrationally nervous. I take the seat opposite him, pulling my grey skirt down to my knees when it creeps up. While he’s frowning at his laptop screen, I sneak a glance at him. Even at 8 a.m., the bastard looks sensational.

Something on the screen causes his thick Roman nose to flare. He always seems so angry. I wonder if anyone gets to see a softer side.

I rehearsed the scenario over and over in bed. I was going to walk in self-assured and composed, look him dead in the eye, and make sure he knew I was a confident, powerful woman unaffected by his presence.

Instead, I’m just sitting here, gormless, watching him ignore me. To kill time, I pick at imaginary fluff on my skirt. The silence is killing me. Maybe it’s a CEO intimidation tactic. Or maybe he’s just an asshole.

“Hi.” My voice comes out louder than I expect it to. “What do you want?”

His eyes snap up to mine as if taken aback. “Good morning, Charlie.” He leans forward in his chair, folding his large arms across his chest. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows showing his muscular forearms.

I avert my eyes from his distracting bare arms.

“I hope that’s not how you greet clients.”

“I’m Support, not Sales,” I reply bluntly. “I only talk to clients when they’re already annoyed. Anyway, you’ve never seemed one for niceties. Not with me anyway.”

“Very well.” He cocks a brow. “We’ll skip the niceties and get down to the reason I asked you here. Listen,” he starts in a smooth voice, rolling up his sleeves further. “I wanted to tell you as soon as possible given our … common connection.”

Unease rolls through me.

“As you heard in the intro yesterday, we’ll need to streamline some of the company’s departments into our parent company, Nexus.”

Streamline. Cutting the fat.

“It’s simply not economical to keep the team structure as it is,” he continues, scanning my face. “I’ve secured you an excellent position in another tech company with the same package. And of course, your leaving package here will be very generous. More than any other pay-out, so I’d advise you to keep it to yourself.”

I stare at him aghast. He’s fucking firing me?

“You’re firing me?” I blurt out.

“No,” he replies, his eyes steely. “You’re being offered a very generous redundancy package and a new job elsewhere. This is special treatment given the circumstances.”

I blink at him, confused. “How have you decided this so quickly?”

“What with our connection to Tristan, I wanted to secure you a decent package quickly …” he trails off, searching my face for comprehension.

This is about me being Tristan’s sister? I feel my temperature rise. How dare he.

“Special treatment?” I explode, glaring at him. “You think you can fire me and decide where I work?”

His eyes flash with anger. I guess no one talks back to Danny Walker.

He pushes his chair back and moves to the front of the desk, towering over me. “You’ll do well to treat me with some respect, Charlie. No one talks to me like that,” he growls, his hands gripping the desk hard. “If it hasn’t sunken in yet, I own this company. I say who stays and who goes.”

I draw in a sharp breath. “This can’t be legal! I’ve worked here for five years, and you fire me after day two of—”

“You are not being fired,” he cuts me off. “It’s a very generous redundancy offer. I can assure you our lawyers are very comfortable with this.” He lets out a harsh breath. “I can’t play nice here. We don’t need both support teams going forward. There will be forty percent redundancies, minimum. See reason.”

My eyes narrow. “You haven’t even looked at my credentials or what I’ve done.”

“What about what you haven’t done?” he responds, his voice strained. “There are constant outages. Development is crawling. Your department is inadequate.”

“I know that!” I’m fuming. I can’t believe Tristan is friends with this asshole. I can’t believe I ever found him attractive. “I’m up all night trying to resolve the outages,” I splutter. “If Mike didn’t veto my proposed cloud solution, we wouldn’t have any outages. Instead, all I can do is paper over the cracks.”

“And you just gave up trying?” he barks back at me.

“Yes,” I snap. “After six months of trying. Have you met Mike?”

“That’s a defeatist attitude,” he retorts.

“Seems like I’m easily defeated by pompous men in suits who don’t listen to me,” I fire back.

His eyes darken. “Careful, Charlie.”

I meet his unrelenting stare head-on, not backing down.

“Listen to me,” he says, emphasising every word. “You can accept my generous offer now, or you can try to convince my HR team to keep your job.”

“Do I have a choice?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.

His lip curls in displeasure as he studies me like I’m a petulant child not eating my porridge. “Right now, yes. I’ve put an informal agreement on the table to make sure you are looked after. You have about ten days to mull it over. After that point, it’s up to my team to decide who to keep. We’ll be cutting 40% of the workforce. I can’t offer you as good a package if you walk away from this offer now.”

“And you think I won’t make the cut on my own merits,” I reply, with a sharp bite. “I’m not just Tristan’s silly little sister. I’ve done a lot for this company this past year. I’ve saved us twenty percent in support costs this quarter.”

His square jaw clenches. “I’m not saying you won’t make the cut, however, be warned the calibre of the Nexus team is exceptional. I’m giving you a chance to walk away, so you don’t have to try. Tristan knows that and understands.”

“Wait, what?” I jump from my seat to face him head-on. Or at least chest on since he’s at least a foot taller than me. I’m going to have to buy higher heels for the office.

“Tristan knows?” I shriek. “You told Tristan before me?”

I stare at him incredulously. This guy is an absolute snake.

He bites his lip and has the decency to look guilty for a fleeting second. “I didn’t have to tell you personally, but I wanted to because of our history and …” He pauses. “Connection.”

“How lovely of you,” I deadpan. “A real saint.”

“Less of the attitude, Charlie,” he growls through gritted teeth. He’s pissed now.

“It’s Charlotte to you,” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest. I need to bury my fists, or I might punch his stupid, gorgeous, arrogant face.

“Just read the package. It’s already in your emails. You’ll be happy. Lots of people would love to be in your position. The new company has very—”

“You don’t get to dictate where I work,” I interrupt.

I’m done here. I can’t listen to this guy any longer.

I storm out the door, slamming it so hard anyone already in the office turns around to stare at me.

Seconds later, the door flies open as I’m halfway down the aisle, and I hear angry footsteps advancing on me.

My arm is yanked backward by a powerful hand, and I flip around dead in my tracks.

“That’s the last time you slam a door on me, Charlie,” he snarls, staring down at me. He’s so close I can feel his breath on my cheek with every angry word.

Staring back at him defiantly, I jerk away from his grasp. Everyone in the office is watching the show-down.

I can’t think of a good comeback. Turning my head, I storm down the aisle, hoping he only saw the anger and not the hurt in my eyes.

***

Great.

Tristan knows already. That means Mum and Callie likely know. I’m eighteen again, and they all know my business. Mum is probably telling it to Father Murphy in confessions.

I don’t reply.

It sounds like a fantastic opportunity. Danny is offering a brilliant package. You can take some time off if you want, with your pay-out!

The dots indicate he’s typing more.

I’m great x I respond, trying to close the line of questioning. I don’t want to talk to Tristan about this yet. It’s too fresh.

I stare at my phone, sighing heavily. I know he’s right. I read the package, and it’s decent, better than any redundancy package I’ve ever heard of.

It didn’t make Danny Walker any less of an asshole.

I joined the company straight out of university, and for five years I had worked my way up to a mediocre middle management position by working long hours and putting up with Mike’s shit.

The truth is, despite all my complaining, I like working here. I have friends here. It’s my comfort zone. People respect me here. I’ve just been promoted, and now I’ll have to build myself up all over again somewhere else. Now all my long hours mean nothing. If I move to a larger company, they’ll never give me the same responsibility with my level of experience. It’ll be an instant demotion.

Sure, it isn’t the best company to work for. We don’t have a restaurant or gym like Julie’s office, and the offices are more skanky than swanky, but it’s my world.

Now within one day of taking over the company, Danny Walker destroys all that by sauntering in, swinging his dick, and informing me I need to pack my bags.

The whole thing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

He just assumes I’m rubbish at my job and that I’m not serious or intelligent enough to meet his standards. Not like Jen.

I know that’s why he never offered me a job at Nexus. When I was looking for work all those years ago, he was willing to get me an interview at any other company, but never his. Never Nexus. Even when I saw jobs advertised at Nexus.

I’m just an irrelevant and inferior pawn in his game of acquisitions that he needs to remove to save an argument with Tristan.

Then he implies I should be grateful for him setting me up with another job I didn’t even agree to? I’m not a charity case.

Truth be told, I’m hurt more than angry. After ten years, he still sees me as a silly little girl.

He never even gave me a chance.

“You’re the talk of the office,” Stevie announces, sliding his chair over to me. “There are two camps, the people who think you are brave talking back to Danny Walker and the people who think you are an idiot.”

“Great.” I snort. “Everyone knows about our little tete a tete.”

“Look, if it’s killing you this much, just ask him outright, why?” he suggests. “Just keep calm, no flying off the handle.”

He’s right. I need to manoeuvre this calmly and rationally. Prove to Danny Walker that I’m a mature woman.

My jaw tightens with determination as I open my emails and start typing.

Dear Mr. Walker

How dare you …

I delete the typing.

Dear Mr. Walker,

I would like to understand the rationale behind my redundancy offer. Can you elaborate with specifics on why I was narrowed out to be removed from the team?

Kind Regards,

Charlotte Kane

There, that’ll do. Before I can talk myself out of it, I hit send.

The response is instant.

Charlie,

Please set up a meeting with HR to discuss any outstanding questions. Rest assured that the team will take you through everything and ensure you are supported throughout this process.

Read the package first. It’s an extremely generous offer.

Regards,

Danny Walker

I snort, and a few people beside me look up.

The atmosphere in the office is like a funeral home. We regard each other with suspicion now that we realise we’re competing against each other. People traipse in and out of meetings with the Nexus HR team like a counselling clinic. This may be the highest level of productivity our company has ever seen, as we all fight for a place.

I hit reply and hammer on the keyboard.

Dear Mr. Walker,

As you personally made the decision of removing me from my job and you personally notified me of this decision, I’d like you to explain why I was chosen.

Is this A) because you think I’m incompetent after doing zero research and relying on your own prejudices about who you think I am, or B) because I made a stupid mistake eight years ago that I bitterly regret?

Which one is it?

Kind Regards,

Charlotte Kane

I suck in sharply. I’ve never broached the dry hump incident before. It’s always been the elephant in the room.

I wait.

And wait.

No response. Spineless.

Forty-five minutes later, an email pops up.

Charlie,

It’s C) the company’s new operating model requires streamlining, and we do not need two IT departments.

I made you a personal offer. The decision to accept it or not is yours, however, if you choose not to, you will be subject to the same redundancy selection process as the rest of your colleagues, whereby we will assess whether the job still exists under the new structure.

For what it’s worth, I am disappointed that you have regrets from eight years ago.

Sleep on it. You’ll come round and realise it’s the best outcome.

Regards,

Danny Walker.

I read it again, blinking. Then again, more slowly. He’s disappointed that I have regrets? What the hell does that mean?