Chapter 3

With Athena Gray's word behind me, I finally had something solid to stand on.

I hurried straight back to the office, and the second I reached the front door, an internal company email landed in my inbox.

"Cassandra Fox: insubordination toward a superior and deliberate slacking. One absenteeism write-up on record, monthly performance pay docked."

I wasn't rattled in the least. I walked in calm as anything.

My coworkers all watched me with strange looks.

Some were enjoying the show, some looked sorry for me, and a few threw me glances, hinting I should go soften things up with Kayla.

I stepped into Kayla Chavez's office. She took a sip of her coffee and said, with a smile that wasn't quite a smile,

"Saw the write-up, I take it? Do you finally understand how things work under me now?"

I had a bellyful of anger, and I fired back,

"Ms. Chavez, if your interference costs us this contract and the company takes the loss, are you going to answer for it?"

Kayla slapped the desk and shot to her feet.

"Cassandra Fox, watch your tone with me!"

"I run this branch. Since when does a sales rep like you get to sit here and threaten me?"

I was in no mood to debate respect with her. I got straight to it.

"The person I met with is Ms. Gray from Taykon Medical. If this deal falls through, the company's annual profit gets cut in half, and everyone's income gets cut with it. You included."

And that wasn't me crying wolf.

We sell pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and in a climate of bulk medical procurement, private medical outfits like Athena's are where the real profit sits.

If Athena didn't renew, the company would be in serious trouble this year.

Kayla didn't take a word of it seriously. She actually let out a scornful little snort.

"Cassandra Fox, don't you think a lot of yourself?"

"You're telling me you keep this whole company afloat single-handedly?"

With that, Kayla made a call and summoned Bernard Lawrence, the new hire in the sales department.

Bernard had only been with the company a few months. His numbers were nothing, but he was extremely good at flattery and working the room.

The moment he walked in, it was "Ms. Chavez" this and "Ms. Chavez" that.

Kayla pointed at Bernard and spoke to me in a commanding tone.

"Cassandra Fox, every one of your resources was handed to you by the company. Today I'm going to make you see exactly where you stand!"

"From this moment on, all your clients will be handled by Bernie!"

I was stunned for a second. I hadn't thought Kayla would actually be reckless enough to push it this far.

Bernard was a raw beginner who'd only just entered the field. He didn't understand half the unwritten rules of the industry.

I lost my temper completely, and I warned her,

"Ms. Chavez, Bernie just started in this field. Put him on my clients and something big is going to go wrong."

But Kayla raised an eyebrow and said, chin in the air,

"Cassandra Fox, I've met plenty of self-important old hacks like you."

"You graduated from some second-tier school, didn't you? Bernie here came out of a genuine top university."

"Other than collecting a few more years of the company's salary than him, what exactly do you have on him?"

Bernard chimed in from the side.

"Right, Cassie, anything you can do, I can do. Just relax and step back into the second string."

My hands shook with anger.

All these years, to keep my clients well served, I'd gone and earned certificates I didn't strictly need, licensed pharmacist, certified medical-device internal auditor, all of it.

If Bernard were the one making contact, those clients wouldn't spare him so much as a glance.