Chapter 42

Kasey

“Are you getting pink again?” Kasey asked Nicole as the two searched through colors at the nail salon. Kasey asked Nicole out so that the two could chat, but now she began to fear Nicole’s response.

“I’m getting nude. And you can quit with the small talk. I know something is weighing heavy on you.” Nicole read her like a book, as usual.

“What are you talking about?” Kasey feigned shock.

“Kase, you barely said a word over breakfast, and you’ve been a prisoner to your thoughts since we got here. You usually get your nails done on the weekends, so I knew something was up when you called.”

“Well, its Jay,” Kasey decided against denying it any further.

“Well, there’s a surprise I didn’t see coming,” Nicole teased, finally choosing a color from the wall of polishes.

“Seriously. Things are different now, and I need some advice.”

“What’s different?” Nicole asked.

“When I confronted Renee about the deal with Jay’s company, she told me he gave it up in exchange for me,” Kasey paused at the sound of Nicole’s gasp as her hand covered her chest.

“I knew it!” she squealed.

“You did not!”

“Well, no, not that literally. But I thought it had something to do with you all along,” Nicole explained, a little too excited for Kasey’s liking.

“I can’t make sense of it. Why would he make such a terrible deal?” Kasey asked her best friend the question she’d been trying to make sense of since she learned the news.

“Are you kidding me? Isn’t it obvious?” Nicole huffed, as Kasey chose a shade of blush polish.

“Isn’t what obvious?” she turned to ask.

“He’s trying to prove to you it’s not about business. He built those companies from the ground up, Kasey. If he’s willing to give one away—to an enemy at that—just to have you back, doesn’t that prove something to you?”

Kasey hadn’t considered that, refusing to believe Jay could care that much for her. She didn’t want to get her hopes up with possibilities, but now hearing it from Nicole forced her to see things from a different perspective.

“Nicole, that’s crazy,” was all she could say, shock capturing her thoughts.

“What’s crazy is Renee finding a way to get her hands on a third of Passions Publishing when she was so far behind them in every metric,” Nicole shook her head as the two made their way to adjacent nail technicians, beginning their manicures.

“Yeah, I guess that never made sense,” Kasey admitted. There was a reason she stormed back to the office when Nicole first told her about Renee’s purchase of a Passions Publishing house, she just couldn’t believe it was possible.

“Well, I guess you’ll get to ask your new boss, because he’s shaken up his world to work with you again,” Nicole giggled, as she finished the sentence, obviously the change of events was as unbelievable to her as it was to Kasey.

“Well, that’s the thing. Renee is saying that she never intended to follow through on the deal, so I don’t have to go and work for him.”

“Would you actually continue to work for someone like that, Kasey? She made a deal, with a man who was out of his mind with desperation, and completely took advantage of him. Now, although she got the better side of the deal, she’s going to renege on her end? She’s slimy,” Nicole shook her head.

Nicole hadn’t said anything Kasey didn’t already know, but it left her with a new sense of contempt for Renee. She represented everything ugly about the publishing industry—overly competitive, greedy, and untrustworthy. It had become apparent that Rockwell Publishing wasn’t a good fit for Kasey within her first week of employment, but now she wondered if it was finally time to do something about it.

“I have to go talk to her and figure out what’s going on,” Kasey answered Nicole, knowing it wouldn’t be a good enough response.

“What is there to figure out? She made a deal with Jay to take over one of his companies in exchange for you coming back to his, and now she’s refusing to let you go.”

“I’m not a puppy, Nicole. No one owns me, or can choose whether or not to let me go,” Kasey was beginning to resent the way she was being negotiated for, like a pawn on a chess board.

“No, you’re an asset that both of them want professionally, but Jay wants you even more. He cares about you, Kasey. Even if you don’t want to work for him, you owe it to him to take a stand against a woman like Renee who is cheating him.”

Nicole’s words replayed in Kasey’s mind long after they hugged each other goodbye and went about their business. It was one of Kasey’s days to work from home, but she found herself turning towards the office instead of returning to her townhouse. There were too many unanswered questions, and she planned to get to the bottom of things before she could figure out her next move.

She could tell there was a lot going on from the movement outside the office. People were walking out the main doors carrying cardboard boxes, while others entered through the opposite set of doors empty-handed.

When she made her way in, the desks of many receptionists were unmanned, and she wandered to Renee’s office without any stops by security, despite her lack of a name badge.

“I was just going to call you. Let’s have a chat!” Renee spotted Kasey near her office, and walked the last few steps with her arm uncomfortably around her shoulder.

“What is going on?” Kasey asked, once they were inside the office that still looked too much like Jay’s.

“We’ve got to move staffers to the new office. Things are really looking up, Kasey. We may very well top Passions Publishing for the first time this month!” Renee smiled brightly at the announcement, but Kasey felt sick.

“Because you have one of their houses,” Kasey shrugged, annoyed by Renee’s boasting, as if she had earned the boost in sales.

“Because I’m a business woman.” She crossed her arms as she corrected Kasey, eyeing her closely before she continued. “The acquisition has afforded us a new office building, where we are relocating staff, in addition to the new benefits we’ll be offering all of our leading earners,” she grinned.

“This isn’t right, Renee. What you did to Jay is wrong.” Kasey could hold back no longer as her disgust for Renee multiplied with every word she spoke.

“Kasey, I thought you were a business woman. If you can’t handle how business works, maybe this isn’t the right place for you,” Renee threatened, as she raised her eyebrows expectantly.

“I think you’re right, Renee. Rockwell Publishing might not be a good fit for me,” Kasey heard herself say, instantly feeling the fear of unemployment crawling up her shoulders.

“Well, I was just going to tell you about the raises we’re giving to those we value most. Yours has already been decided to be a five figure payout. All you have to do is help with the onboarding at the new office.” The arrogance had evaporated from her tone, leaving nothing but worry as she pleaded with Kasey to stay longer.

“No, I don’t think I’ll be able to do that,” Kasey decided without a second to deliberate. She knew that what Renee offered her was blood money, and she wanted nothing to do with it. “Good luck with your new business, Renee.” She turned to leave, but Renee’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Where do you think you’ll go? No one wants you, Kasey. You’re not the superstar we thought. Jay came by yesterday to let me know he didn’t want you working for him anymore. He asked for the company back instead. You’ll never find work in this city again,” Renee had returned to her condescending normalcy, and Kasey pretended to be unbothered as she flashed a smile before leaving the office one last time.

Moving quickly, she gathered the few personal items she had in her office before leaving the busy company that seemed to be growing too fast for its own good. What did Renee know about managing two publishing houses? She could barely keep one above water.

Kasey tried to focus on the business because her chest was heavy with what Renee said about Jay not wanting her at his company anymore. Maybe he had come to his senses and realized that Kasey wasn’t worth his company—or even worse, maybe he wasn’t interested in her at all. A man like Jay could easily find another woman overnight, Kasey had always feared he would tire of her.

As she made her way through Rockwell Publishing for the last time, carrying a cardboard box like so many other employees, she forced the negative thoughts to the back of her mind. Renee only wanted to get in her head, but Jay was the only person who could tell her the truth. She needed to hear from him exactly what was going on, and she planned to do just that.