Page 23 of Bound By Words

“Yes. He’s leaving for the day in an hour and needs to speak to you at your earliest convenience.”

We both knew ‘at your earliest convenience’ meant, ‘right the fuck now’.

“I’ll be right there. Give me three minutes.”

“I’ll let him know,” she confirmed before I heard the chime that the speaker had disconnected.

Fuck me. What did he want at 4:00 p.m. on a Friday?

I closed out my computer, locking the system down and putting the files I’d been working on inside the locked drawer in my desk. Thomas often thought I was paranoid about making sure my projects were never left unattended, but I didn’t trust a few people—namely Trent—to stay out of my office while I wasn’t in it.

My suit blazer was hanging on the back of my office door, so I quickly pulled the wrinkles out of my blouse and pulled it on, carefully arranging my sleeves to peek out at the edge of the cuff. I kicked off my flats, trading them in for the uncomfortable heels I kept hidden behind my door, and let out a deep breath before I walked down the hallway to Deacon’s corner office.

I was no stranger to the walk, but usually, it was with Tom by my side as we headed to an executive meeting, never because I was being summoned by myself.

“Go on through,” Angela instructed, only glancing up at me momentarily before returning her attention to her computer screen. She wasn’t always the most talkative person—reminding me of an older uptight school administrator—but she’d never been outright frosty.

Knocking to alert him to my presence, I pushed Deacon’s office door open and paused as I took in the woman sitting in the chair in front of his desk. Charley’s temp replacement, Helen, looked over her shoulder at me, an eyebrow arched high on her pointed face. She was the former head of Human Resources for our entire company, but she retired last year to spend more time with her grandkids. You’d think that’d make her a warm and fuzzy type with cat sweaters and mints in her purse, but she was scary as hell, and I’d seen her make grown men cry.

“Have a seat, Ms. Stineman.” Deacon nodded at the other open chair, and my palms started to sweat as I took my seat and tucked my legs to the side.

“This is my last meeting for the day, so let me make this as brief as possible. We’ve received an anonymous complaint that you’ve been sexually harassing your co-workers.”

My mouth moved, but I couldn’t quite formulate words. Was this a joke?

“Excuse me?”

“While Thomas has assured me that the accusations made against you are false, I have no choice but to send you on a sabbatical for the next eight weeks while we conduct an internal investigation into some of the other accusations this person made.”

What the actual fuck? I had no idea where this was even coming from. I rarely talked to my co-workers about anything other than work, much less doing something to constitute harassment. I sat stunned, trying to figure out what was happening before my mind raced back to earlier.

“Was it Trent?” I knew I should have taken a break and filed the complaint after his behavior in my office earlier in the day, but I didn’t think he’d resort to something like this. Allegations of sexual harassment, regardless of gender, were serious business in any corporate culture. This could cost my job, and now my entire future stood on shaky ground. If they fired me, word would spread, and I’d be tainted, untouchable.

“I’m afraid we are not allowed to divulge any additional details until we’ve completed our investigation into your behavior in the workplace.” Helen’s quiet voice was sympathetic, but she was still looking at me like a naughty kid sitting in the principal’s office, which I felt like right now.

“I’d like to file a complaint. Mr. Alsop cornered me in my office this afternoon and insinuated that I was having an affair with your son-in-law. He threatened me and said some very sexually inappropriate things to me. He’s also propositioned me outside of the office several times.”

Deacon sat down at his desk, shaking his head as he blew out a breath. “Is there a reason you didn’t go to Helen when the incident occurred today? Or even tell Tom what was going on?”

Closing my eyes, I cursed my hatred of conflict and singular focus while on a deadline. “I had a project that needed my full attention, but I should have made time to talk to her. It’s not the first time Trent’s said something inappropriate to me, but his comments were abnormally aggressive this morning.”

“This doesn’t change your mandatory sabbatical, but we will take action on this in your absence.” Deacon’s voice was compassionate, but he was still resolute.

“That’s it? I’m being banned from the office because he lied to Human Resources?”

“Ms. Stineman,” Deacon cleared his throat. “We take any allegations of misconduct very seriously in this office. At this point, you still have your job, and once the investigation is concluded, if we determine there is no merit to the complaint against you, you may return to your normal job functions. I’d hold off on obtaining legal counsel, but if there is any merit to these allegations, we may have to take action, including termination.”

Fuck.

“What am I supposed to do for eight weeks? Thomas is on paternity leave, and I’m supposed to take his clients while he’s gone. I have deadlines, and…”

“Ms. Stineman,” Helen cleared her throat. “You will be given limited access to the company server, and you’ll be able to continue working on your non-emergent projects while on partial leave. Deacon will assign you work while you’re out of the office.”

Deacon nodded, looking at me sympathetically. While he liked Trent, I could tell he struggled, given his history with false accusations. “You’ve been a very dedicated employee, Kelly. That’s why we aren’t seeking termination at this point, but we can’t give you special treatment either.”

“What about Trent?” That fucker better not keep his position in the office by smearing my name with our employer because he was an insecure dick.

“If your allegations are founded…” Helen began.

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