Page 16 of The Date

I drop my briefcase onto my desk. “I’m not apologising.”

Her eyes narrow. “Well, then maybe you should start looking for another assistant.”

I meet her gaze and arch an eyebrow. “Is that a threat?”

“If you can’t treat me with some basic respect, I’ll hand in my two weeks’ notice right now.”

Is she fucking kidding? I look at her for a moment, waiting for the part where she takes it back, but it never comes. I’ve treated this woman with more respect than she deserves. She’s been insubordinate from day one and getting worse with each passing week. Lately, she’s escalated with her snappiness, and constant push back on every single thing I do. If I were any other boss, she would’ve lost her job a long fucking time ago. “Okay.”

She blinks, her mouth forming a hard line. “Okay, what?”

“I accept your resignation.”

Her arms drop to her sides as her voice rises a few octaves. “What?”

“You heard me. I accept your resignation. You don’t need to give me notice. I’ll make sure you’re paid for the next two weeks. And since I’m a nice guy, contrary to your beliefs, I’ll even throw in an additional month as a bonus.” I point towards the door. “Now pack your belongings and get out of my building.”

Her mouth drops open. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life.” She stares at me, clearly expecting me to back down, but I hold her gaze. She made the threat and didn’t expect me to call her bluff. Now she’s standing here speechless, trying to figure out how to save face. I’m not going to make it easy for her. If she wants to leave, she can leave. Frankly, she’s doing me a favour. “Well?” I say. “What are you waiting for?” I gesture towards the door again.

A strangled sob escapes her—maybe a wail is a better description—the second she enters the outer office area. It’s overly dramatic, but that’ll teach her to try and force an apology out of me, perhaps she’ll rethink her attitude for her next boss.

Her departure gives me the perfect opportunity to put a plan in motion to win Rose back.

I pick up the phone on my desk and call Violet. “Have you got a minute? I need you to come to my office.”

“Why?”

“We have an issue.”

“For fuck’s sake,” she grumbles before she ends the call.

I sit back in my chair and watch my sister pace my office like a caged lion. She’s spent the last twenty minutes in the outer office area trying to console Janet before she left, to no avail.

“I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you the past few days, but I want it to stop this instant.”

“Nothing has gotten into me,” I lie. “Janet had it coming. She tried to strong-arm me, and it backfired in her face.”

“You could’ve at least let her stay until we found a replacement.”

“It won’t be hard to find one,” I say. “Besides, Janet’s taken annual leave in the past, and we managed fine without her then.”

“For a week at a time, or two tops. And who’s going to train this new person when we find them? They’re not going to walk in and automatically know what they’re doing.” I open my mouth to reply, but quickly close it again when Violet points in my direction. “If you say me, I’m going to lose my shit.”

“I can help.”

“When? You barely have time to keep up with your own work.”

“I’ll make time.”

She stops pacing and sighs. “Are you going to tell me what’s really going on here? Are you having some kind of midlife crisis or something?”

“I’m thirty-one years old, Vi. I’d hardly call that midlife crisis territory.”

“Do I need to call Mum?”

“Don’t you dare,” I growl.