Page 32 of Our Broken Pieces
After a heartbeat of silence, he turned towards Reagan and pointed out her stupidity, once again. “Are you telling me that an employee of only two months knows Cavanaugh Industries policies better than an employee who has been with us for years, Ms. Contreras? Are you suggesting that Ms. Anderson knew enough to know that what you two were doing was against policy, butyoudidn’t?”
“Uh...I...well…” Reagan was drowning, and she looked over at Lacey for a life jacket to be thrown her way, but Lacey was only saving Lacey. Once it was clear to Reagan that Lacey wasn’t going to help her, she turned back towards Mr. Cavanaugh. “I…”
Once again, I overstepped, and jump from the frying pan into the fire. I wasn’t sure why I was being insistent, only that I wanted to be the type of person who did the right thing, regardless of how much I disliked Reagan.“Mr. Cavanaugh, I didn’t have to agree to the extra workload,” I pointed out. “I chose to take on the extra work. I think it’s fair to say that we,both,used poor judgement equally.”
His resolve snapped.
He snapped, and that’s when I realized I wasn’t defending myself, so much as challenging him in front of others. “I didn’t ask you, Ms. Anderson,” he snapped, confirming that I was pissing him off just as much as Reagan was. “Or do you not only do Ms. Contreras’ work but speak for her as well? Because I’m askingherto explain the situation, notyou.”
“My apolo-”
“Get out,” he snarled at Lacey and Reagan. “Get out. The both of you.”What. The. Hell?“Since Ms. Anderson believes she has all the answers, I don’t need either of you in the room any longer.”
Holy. Shit.
I sat silently as Reagan stood and Lacey gathered her stuff. Neither woman spared me a second glace as they made their way out of the conference room.
With the final click of the door to the conference room being closed, Mr. Cavanaugh leaned towards me and asked, “Now, would you like to explain to me why you feel Cavanaugh Industries rules don’t apply to you, Ms. Anderson?”
I did my best not to stumble on my words. However, since the odds were pretty high that I was going to get fired, there was no sense in lying. “I don’t believe the rules don’t apply to me, Mr. Cavanaugh,” I denied.
He arched a brow and leaned back in his chair. “Really?”
“Really,” I insisted. “That’s why, when you fire me, I’m going to walk out of here with my head held high. I take responsibility for breaking procedure, and there’s no excuse. There’s a reason, but no excuse.”
“And the reason?”
“I don’t want to be a file clerk for the rest of my life. I have a business degree and my talent and knowledge is wasted by filing paperwork and answering phones. I took advantage of Reagan’s manipulative personality and I’m not sorry for it.” I shrugged a shoulder. “I’m sorry I’ll be getting fired, but I don’t regret the experience I gained.”
Mr. Cavanaugh cocked his head and he regarded me silently for what seemed like eons. Just when he was about to speak, the conference room door opened, and a female voice said, “I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr. Cavanaugh, but Mr. Evans is here and would like to speak with you.” Even though there were a million Mr. Evans in the world, my heart skipped a beat at hearing that name.
It was silly, after all this time, but I couldn’t help it. I suspected Gage’s name will always garner a reaction out of me, no matter how much time has passed.
“Thank you, Pat-” Mr. Cavanaugh stopped mid-sentence and the look on his face became positively calculating. “You know, Patty, please show Mr. Evans in. Ms. Anderson is going to take point on a joint project between CI and SFH.”
My eyes widened as Patty shut the door and Mr. Cavanaugh addressed me, “You think you’re so smart, Ms. Anderson? You think you have what it takes? Well, this is your one chance to prove it.”
Before I could ask him if he were crazy, the door to the conference room opened, and a voice I would recognize on my death bed said, “Lorcan, thanks for making the time.”
I sat frozen as my boss stood up, a smile in his voice. “Gage.”
I stared at my lap as the men shook hands and prayed this wasn’t happening. I had known Gage had gone onto to do great things with his finance company. There was no way to work in the industry and not have heard of Gage Evans, but I had worked very hard to avoid anything that was Gage Evans related. I had avoided social medias, anything financial related, and just damn near everything world news.
And, now, he was here.
“Gage, let me introduce you to the woman who is going to work on the Darwin project with your team,” Mr. Cavanaugh said, and I knew my time was up.
I wiped my hands on my skirt and stood up to face Gage Evans, after leaving him ten years ago.
The second my face lifted to his, I knew this was a mistake.
Hate never looked so beautiful.
Chapter 22
Gage~
At first, I thought this had to be a joke. But then I remembered that, while Lorcan knew all about Mystic and the havoc she had caused me, I had never told him her name. He knew I had been broken by the female species at a young age, but I had.Never. Told. Him. Her. Name. She had been just ‘that girl’ because I had hated saying her name. I still did.
