Smolder by Soren Summers

Author:Soren Summers [Summers, Soren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Soren Summers
Published: 2016-12-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11: Release

Phyllis clasps her hands and lays them on the table.

“We’re letting you go.”

“Wait,” Zach says. “What?”

“We thank you for your service to the company, but now that the position of CEO is vacant, so is the position of his personal assistant. Ergo, Mr. Glazer, your services are no longer required.”

Zach should have expected as much. Maybe he was hoping for placement in a different department, to be absorbed somewhere he could be useful, but with the merger ongoing the company probably doesn’t even want to bother. He can see the last page of his notepad vividly in his head, the ink in get a job and get a promotion coming alive and crawling off the paper. It was so naive to think he would ever finish that list.

“Isn’t there anything I can do? Anywhere I can go?”

Phyllis nibbles at the end of her pen. “The unemployment office is one option. You can also consult job search websites. Those are a good start.”

“Phyllis,” he says, exasperated. “It’s me. Zach. Why are you talking to me like I’m a stranger?”

She raises an eyebrow, taken aback. “I don’t understand, Mr. Glazer. This is how I always speak.”

No. Not even close. Phyllis Navidad is one of the most acidic people Zach has ever known. There’s a wicked edge to everything she says or does, and maybe that’s why he could tolerate being around her at work. Sure, the woman could be nasty, but there was always room to find it funny. Not now, though.

Zach knows he shouldn’t risk it, but he reaches across the table anyway, laying a hand on her arm.

“Phyllis, please, just listen to me – ”

She recoils, her face wrenching in aversion. Her eyes are – they’re totally black.

“I’ll warn you not to touch me again, Mr. Glazer. You’ve been terminated. Now please leave the building before I’m forced to call security.” She turns her attention back to her desk, brusquely rearranges some documents, uncaps a pan, and starts scribbling.

Dismissed. That’s it. He can’t fight this, whatever this madness is that’s seized both DomestiCore and his entire life. Maybe now that’s he’s unemployed he should book a one-way ticket back to Skelway. He’ll get to be with his parents, at least, and finally prove Francis right. Maybe he really isn’t cut out for big city life, for a career, for amounting to anything.

He shuts the door to Phyllis’s office, dragging his feet down the hallway. This is messed up. All wrong. His mind whirls with the impossibility of it all. There are too many coincidences. No, they aren’t coincidences. Hargrove is behind this. He has to be. Him, and Ayesha, and Vertex, that damned company, that cult. He turns the corner, blustering and apologizing when he slams bodily into someone in the corridor.

“Sorry,” he mutters disinterestedly, only just giving the other person the benefit of an apologetic glance. When he recognizes that someone, Zach isn’t sure whether to be relieved or aggravated.

Stuart just stares at him dumbly, his posture rigid.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.