Chapter 62
JEREMIAH
An annoying buzzing woke me up from a deep sleep on Monday morning. Again. I sat up, disoriented at first.
Shaking off the cobwebs, I realized the buzzing was my phone ringing. Neil. Again. I scrubbed my palms over the stubble that had grown on my cheeks overnight and sighed, knowing that I had to take his call.
The long weekend with Steph had worked wonders for me. Despite everything that happened last week, I felt revitalized, refreshed, and ready to face my father and whatever rampage he started on Friday.
Neil updated me throughout the day as he promised he would, but neither of us could really figure out what Dad was up to. According to Neil, he raised hell, but he kept his cards close to his chest.
No doubt today would be the day that changed. My father was a great chess player. He strategized as well as any king ever had, which was probably how he managed to build Williams Inc. into the multinational conglomerate it was in a few decades.
Companies the size of and with the reach of Williams Inc. usually took generations to build up. Jance had done it all himself.
But it also meant he only let you see his moves when he made them, in his own good time and not a minute before. Whatever he got lined up on Friday, we would see him start knocking the chess pieces over one by one this week.
Taking a moment to brace myself for the first hit I knew was inevitably about to land, I reached for my phone and answered Neil’s call. “I’m assuming you’ve got news.”
My eyes slid to the digital black numbers on the clock on my nightstand. “He’s on the move early this morning, it’s only six thirty,” I said.
“I don’t know what time he got in, but I think he’s been busy with this all weekend anyway. He called me at four and told me to get my butt down to the tower immediately,” Neil said, his tone clipped and tense.
“Let’s have it then, what’s going on?” I got out of bed, walking over to my bedroom windows while I waited to hear what my fate at Williams Inc. would be.
I yanked open the blackout curtains just as Neil started talking, his words fast and almost dazed. Like he didn’t quite believe he was saying what he was. “Jance removed your name from every company file, the letterhead, and every platform we have.”
I sighed, gripping the hair at the nape of my neck. The bastard was going through with it, apparently. “He’s finally firing me?”
“I think so. Probably later today,” Neil said. Stress weighed down every word out of his mouth. “I don’t think he’s bluffing, Jer. At first, I thought he was just trying to make his point, but he’s got the whole army of lawyers in his office. And I accessed our employee platform earlier, you name’s not even on payroll anymore.”
“I’m not surprised.” I had given him an ultimatum, after all. Dad didn’t appreciate being told what to do. The only ultimatums he tolerated were those he issued. “I wasn’t sure if he’d go through with it, but I knew what I was doing when I told him to make a decision. I knew there was every chance he was going to fire me.”
“I never thought he would,” Neil said, still sounding incredulous. “I thought it was just another blowout that would pass.”
“It might have.” If I hadn’t followed up standing up to my father at the office with that visit to his home. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“One more thing, Jer,” Neil said, trepidation in every syllable.
I gritted my teeth, bracing myself. “What?”
“It’s probably going to happen as soon as you get here, seeing as your dad’s already here. I thought you should know before you arrive that he’s firing Stephanie as well.”
My blood chilled. I wouldn’t have wanted her working for a tyrant like him without me in the building anyway, but I was planning on having Neil look out for her. After all this time she was finally settling in at Williams Inc., I knew the job meant a lot to her. “On what grounds?”
“Does he need grounds?” Neil asked. His voice muffled and then became clear again like he’d had his hand briefly stuck over it. “I can’t talk long. Apparently, the fun is continuing elsewhere in the building. I have to go try and do damage control.”
“Got it. Just tell me about Steph, then I’ll let you go. I need to prepare her.” The news was going to devastate her. If I could’ve wrapped her in bubble wrap to protect her from the blow, I would have. Of course, she wouldn’t let me. She would insist on standing on her own two feet for this as well, even if it was the last thing she needed after finally overcoming her parents’ abandonment and going after what she wanted.
Over the weekend, we talked a lot. I knew she felt like she was finally starting to come into her own and was rightfully proud of herself for it. One thing was for sure, I wasn’t going to stand idly by and watch her struggle or be unemployed until we could get things figured out.
This wasn’t her fault. I wasn’t going to let her pay for mistakes she hadn’t made.
“There’s another young woman sitting at Stephanie’s desk,” Neil said. “Your father planted her there and said she wasn’t to move a muscle until you got in. She’s going to call him as soon as you do.”
“He’s already got someone else manning her desk?” Barely contained fury gripped my gut. He was playing a dirty game. If he thought I was going to lie down and take it, he had another thing coming.
Neil sighed. “Since six o’clock this morning, yeah. Stephanie’s termination has already been processed. There’s not much to be done about it at this stage.”