Page 24 of The Homewrecker's Fate

He hung his head, knowing he’d been caught trying to come off like a martyr – cheating because his wife was knocked up with some other man’s child. Mel was going to hear about this as soon as the meeting was over.

Rich sighed before speaking again. “Aviva is right. My wife, in an alcohol-induced moment of hurt and weakness after finding out about my affair, slept with someone else. She wasn’t the first to step out of our marriage. That was me. Again, I lied to my wife and cheated on her. I lied to Aviva and basically cheated on her with my wife – whom she didn’t know about. Neither woman in this scenario is at fault. If you should be abusing anyone physically, verbally, or otherwise, it should be me. Aviva did nothing wrong. She fell for a liar and cheater who never gave her the option to make an informed decision about the real situation.” He took a moment to look around the room again. There were so many people who wouldn’t meet his eyes that time. Whether it was because they no longer respected him, or were embarrassed of their own behavior, I couldn’t say.

“Aviva is pregnant. She already has enough stress knowing she’ll be a single mom because she won’t, under any circumstances, take me back. She then has been stressed out by people harassing her at work. When my family told me Aviva was being abused by our coworkers, verbally and apparently physically as well, I didn’t believe it. And yes, my family told me because my wife and Aviva are friends. That should tell you everything you need to know about who was in the wrong here. My family hadn’t been mistaken when they told me what was happening to Aviva. Despite me thinking it might have just been her overhearing some very wrong office gossip, I witnessed just how vile and violent things got this morning when Aviva was not only harassed and insulted by an employee, but she was physically assaulted when stepping off the elevator.”

Rich glanced around, searching for the same bitch that I looked for. When I found her across the room, she appeared to be shaking in her too-high heels. Good. It served her right, since she believed in karmic justice. She deserved to be called out for pushing an innocent pregnant woman down.

“On that note,” our owner said as he stood once more. He shot his gaze to Rich. “Thank you for being good enough to clear up some misconceptions for everyone.” Rich nodded and took his seat again. I could feel him staring at me, but I refused to look at him and instead focused all my energy on our boss. “Rich shouldn’t have had to clear up any misconceptions. Aviva should have never been treated poorly by anyone in this company, for any reason. Her job performance certainly didn’t warrant it, and if it had, she would have been dealt with in a professional manner, not a toxic or abusive one.”

He stood there for a minute and shook his head, disgust written all over his face as he stared down so many of his employees. “I am beyond disappointed that you all would treat an esteemed member of our team this way. I was completely taken aback by the act of violence and verbal abuse I witnessed this morning, but I was glad to have been present for it. I don’t think I would have believed a second-hand accounting of what happened. That brings me to the aforementioned staffing and policy changes. Mary Keaton,” He called out. While I don’t think he meant for his voice to convey the anger and judgment that it did, there was no missing it. Disdain dripped from her name as she took an uneasy step forward.

“Yes, I’m Mary Keaton.”

“What is your position here?”

“I work the front desk, answer the phones, schedule appointments, and…”

“That’s enough,” he called out, cutting her off. She stepped back, as if it would help take the heat off her. “You not only verbally abused one of my employees today, in a most vile manner, but you actually shoved a pregnant woman out of an elevator. Had Rich and I not been standing there for him to catch her, she might have been hurt. Her unborn child might have suffered injury or been lost as a result of that attack. That happened on my property, in my company. It is not now, and never will be, the type of behavior that is tolerated here.”

“Yes, sir,” Mary stated in a shaky voice.

“I have already spoken to Human Resources and because of the grave infraction and physical altercation that could leave my company liable for a lawsuit, you are hereby dismissed from your position – terminated with cause. Security is waiting in the hallway to escort you to collect your things and leave the premises. You are not welcome back to this building for any reason. I also encourage Ms. Acker to not only press charges, but obtain a protection order against you.”

Mary’s shocked gasp was audible, because aside from that sound, you could hear a pin drop in the room. It was that quiet. I wondered how many others were waiting to be fired right along with her. Slowly, the woman made her way to the door to the conference room, which happened to be right behind me. “I’m so sorry, Aviva. I didn’t realize.” She spoke her apology so low that only those people sitting near me could have heard her. It wasn’t in me to acknowledge her apology and I certainly didn’t accept it.

After she left, our boss continued with his news, including the policy change that if any married employee started an affair in the office, and it was found out, they would find themselves unemployed, too. “Before any of you gripe about how unfair that policy might be, since we would be delving into your personal life, I want you to remember what just happened here today as a result of a married man having an affair with another member of our team. I won’t punish Rich because this policy didn’t exist and he wasn’t even technically employed at this branch when it occurred. Rest assured; this will be a policy that covers every branch moving forward. We do not have time for personal dramas spilling over into the workplace.”

My face flamed bright red at the implication that my personal drama had been causing so much strife at work. My boss’s hand came down on my shoulder and he squeezed once before letting go. “You hold no personal blame in that, Ms. Acker. No need to feel shame or embarrassment, despite what you may have been led to believe by people in this room who acted out of ignorance.”

He looked around the room again before speaking. “I am putting you all on notice now, this is the end of your speculation, blame game, shaming of any of my employees for their personal choices, or abuse of any kind. If you are caught doing so, this meeting will serve as your warning prior to being fired. All of you are required to sign that you acknowledge this with one of our HR reps prior to leaving this room. If you fail to sign, then I will take that as your resignation, as you will no longer work here.” He turned around toward the door, as if ready to leave, but seemed to think better of it before he turned back around. “One more thing, I don’t want any of you who treated Aviva poorly to bombard her with your apologies. All the guilty parties here have done enough to add to her stress when she was already dealing with things that should have never been her burden to bear. I will not tolerate anyone attempting to make yourselves feel better about your behavior at her expense.”

There was a knock on the door before anyone had time to process that information, and a security guard opened it to stand aside for a man bearing a beautiful bouquet of flowers. “This man has been waiting for thirty minutes, said he had to get a signature from the recipient before delivery could be completed.”

“Who are they for?” My boss asked.

“Aviva Acker.”

My face heated again as I wondered who could have possibly sent me flowers. As I turned and signed the clipboard the man carried, the card dropped out of the bouquet and my boss picked it up. “Mind if I read this out loud?” He asked. When he saw the look of horror on my face, he smiled kindly at me. “After everything I just had to say, do you honestly think I’d read something awful or embarrassing?”

I shook my head, but dread still filled my belly anyway.

“Avi, I know you were dreading going back to work today and that it might be your last day there because of those dicks you work with, so I wanted to give you something to brighten your day no matter which way things go. I’m only a call away if you need someone to come break some necks or bring you ice cream. Your choice. XO, Brax”

Some of the women chorused, “Aww,” in the background and I couldn’t help it when my gaze drifted up to meet Rich’s furious face. His shoulders were stiff and nostrils flared. His hands that had been resting on top of the conference table were balled into fists so tight, it was a wonder if any circulation was going to his fingertips. I would have laughed if this morning hadn’t been such absolute shit.

“The behavior of my employees almost cost us one of our best and brightest. That is unacceptable. Aviva, I hope you will come speak directly to me, in future, if you are unhappy for any reason. This has been a rather difficult morning for you, if you would like to take the rest of the day to go home and relax, you can have it, with pay.” He turned back to the gathered crowd. “The rest of you, sign the damn HR acknowledgment or leave my building and don’t come back.”

Part of me felt the need to stay, to have to force all those people to look me in the eye all day, but the other part of me was wrung dry and ready to leave. For the sake of my daughter’s health, I chose to err on the side of caution and take my beautiful bouquet of flowers home with me to enjoy.

Chapter 12

When I got ready to leave, someone caught the elevator and held it open at the last minute. It was unfortunate that when the doors opened again fully, it was Rich standing there. “Aviva,” he offered my name as a quiet greeting as the doors shut once more and sealed us in the box together.

“You couldn’t wait for the next one?” I asked.

“I wanted to walk you down to your car and make sure you got there safely. I swear, I didn’t know all this was going on. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What good would that have done?”

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