Page 96 of Cuts like a Knife
“I never sent you that link,” he snarled at me301.
“Yes you did, Rian,” I say. “Maybe I misinterpreted what you wanted me to do, but you sent me that link. That exact link.” I looked to Kelsang. “I showed Adele the email. I showed her first thing this morning. She saw it. I’m sure IT can pull it up.”
Kel shook his head, almost sadly.
“That won’t be necessary right now,” he said.
“Kel,” I said, almost helplessly. “What is happening right now? I can’t be getting fired? Talk to Adele. Look at the email!”
“We’ll talk to Adele. Just … sit tight in here for a bit, Alexis,” he said.
Sit tight? I’d been sitting for hours already.
“I need to pee.” I said, which was embarrassing, but factual.
“You’re not a prisoner,” said Owen. “Go ahead. Get a coffee or whatever else you need. Someone will be back here to talk to you again in a little while.” He directed his next words to Kelsang. “I need to go. I’ll text you.”
The men filed out and I sat for a moment, breathing hard.
Minutes later, I watched as Adele passed by, moving in the direction of Kelsang’s office.
“What is happening?” She mouthed at me.
“I don’ t know,” I mouthed back, my eyes wide302.
A few moments later, I got up and made my way to the restroom. After relieving myself, I stood in front of the sinks. I looked pale. Almost gray. I splashed some water on my face.
It was just a mistake, I thought. Everything would be fine. I did the right thing. I f—ed up, but I admitted it right away. I apologized. I did the right thing. That had to count for something.
Back in the conference room, I waited so long, almost the entire staff filed out for the night. Adele hurried past again, but she didn’t look at me, even though I tried to catch her eye.
It was dark by the time Kelsang returned. Past seven. He entered the conference room with two people I didn’t recognize — both in suits.
“This is counsel, Matt Doan, and I think you know Patty Hendricks from HR,” he explained. I vaguely recognized the woman from when I was first hired. Neither Matt nor Patty was smiling.
“Okay, so unfortunately, and obviously, we have have to let you go,” Kelsang said. “We’re terminating your contract immediately, so once you leave today, you won't need to come back.”
“I don’t—” there was a ringing in my ears. I couldn’t believe what was happening. “Kel. Rian told me to cut down that story. That specific story. He sent me the link to that exact piece,” I said.
“He says he didn’t.”
“So look at the email! Get IT to show it to you! Have you talked to Adele? She saw it! I showed it to her this morning.”
Kelsang is shaking his head. “I did talk to Adele. She doesn’t know anything about the situation and doesn’t want to be involved, for obvious reasons.”
“I talked to her today. This morning.”
“So what we’re going to need you to do is sign this exit paperwork,” Patty said, as she pushed a thick stack of white, legal-sized pages across the table to me.
I ignored them.
“Kel, talk to IT. If Rian is lying and saying he never sent it, there’s an easy solution. The email is right there. He can't have made it magically disappear from the server.”
Kelsang sighed, heavily.
“It’s really neither here nor there, Al. You admitted everything. You apologized to Alan in an email, which I have already seen. But the bigger problem is the pattern of behavior. All the bylines on old wire stories.”
“But I didn't put those there! I already explained this.”
