Page 10 of Punish Me

“We can make the twenty percent cuts without cutting staff, Ambrose,” she pleads.

“Where?”

“The premium materials we’re using. We don’t have to have—”

“The quality of materials our customers expect, ask for, and have come to rely on us for? Those cuts leverage us above other construction and design firms and keep us at the top of the game. Not following what we know works and is tried and true will have us on our asses in no time, Bryn!”

“What happened to creative destruction?”

“In the right areas. Stay in your lane,” I warn with a low rumble.

“You’re being thick-headed.”

“Call it what you want. You’re not seeing the endgame.”

“If you’re going to rule this company like a dictatorship, why do you need anyone else working for you? You may as well fire me, Adriana, Gabriel, Beth, and Noble while you’re at it. You don’t need anyone!”

“Contrary to what you’re saying, Ms. St. Clair, I have consulted with them. They gave their opinions, aligning with mine and the board’s opinions. If you’d kept our five-thirty meeting the Wednesday before last when I was in town, you would have been allowed to provide your input. Obviously, you had something more valuable to do with your time. I don’t see how your opinion should be considered after everyone else has agreed.”

“You’re being difficult, Ambrose! I told you I had a meeting at the start of the week and would leave the office at five-thirty. Why would you schedule something at that time?”

“Maybe I forgot,” I lie nonchalantly.

It was a last-minute emergency meeting called by the board of directors. The chair called me that morning and suggested the board wanted to meet to discuss finalizing the budget for the upcoming year. I’d tried to stall, knowing Brynlee would be closing on her home that afternoon, but Tina, our board chair, didn’t give a damn.

They didn’t see how we would make our goals for the next fiscal year on the track that we were on. They thought it best that we begin RIFS now rather than later. The staff that we were letting go were getting healthy severance packages.

Regardless of what she said, it didn’t matter her opinion on these budget cuts they were going through. Once the board spoke and the majority of the executive staff agreed, her vote didn’t count.

What I haven’t said to her and refuse to say because I don’t want to abandon the support I’ve given the other staff is that I don’t agree with the decision either. It’s a shitty time to let go of staff during the holidays, but I know they want to go into the new year without the baggage of excess salaries and with a clean budget.

I spent two days fighting and arguing with the board over those proposed cuts before we finally met with the executive team. I couldn’t believe the others sold out so easily, and while I may be the CEO, I don’t have the veto power to overthrow the board without two board members and two executive staff voting with me.

“You’re being an ass about this, Ambrose. If you can’t get past what happened between us, maybe we’ll have to have Adrianamediate, and if that doesn’t work, then we’ll need to bring it to the board’s attention.”

I stand up from my chair, pissed at her audacity to threaten me.

“Are you threatening me?”

She stands and mimics my position with her fingers gripping the edge of the other side of the desk from me.

“That’s not a threat, Ambrose. It’s a promise. I refuse to work in a hostile environment where you threaten me and wield your power over my head like some terrorist or dictator! I was hired to do a job because of my skills and expertise. You will not denigrate my role or my abilities to feed your pompous, egotistical display of power!”

“Do what you feel that you need to do, Bryn. I promise you...you won’t get far.”

She stands and narrows her eyes further at me, her nostrils slightly flaring. Our heavy breathing fills the room, giving an air of fallacy that we’d been making love. More like making war, though I’d give anything to do the former over the latter with her.

“If that’s what you think, then watch me. I want to save jobs and make this company profitable, Ambrose. Not feed your ego.”

I release the edge of the desk, crossing my arms over my chest. “Do what you feel is necessary.”

If I’m not mistaken, her eyes are wet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brynlee this angry, and I hate that it’s at my hands. It seems I’m always bringing these histrionics up in her.

***

“Hello, big brother,” Austin announces, barging into my office.

I watch as he closes the door and drops onto the couch opposite my desk. He props his legs over the armrest and lays his head opposite.

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