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Georgia eyed me in a way that indicated she didn’t exactly buy what I was selling, but she decided against calling me out on it. “Sure. No problem.”
I walked away and made a beeline for Robert’s office. I’d always been respectful, and I intended to be as such now, but I was going to demand answers. With my bag slung over my shoulder, I came to a stop in front of his closed office door. I took a deep, settling breath and knocked.
Robert barely got out the words to indicate I could walk in when I flung the door open and barged inside. “Robert, I just talked to…”
My voice trailed off as I realized what I’d just walked into. Robert was sitting at his desk, but he was not alone. In the office with him were Bryan and Howard, and none of them looked pleased to see me.
“Oh, I... I didn’t know you were having a meeting.”
“Is there a problem, Iris?”
I swallowed roughly, my stomach roiling. “Well, it’s just that I had a meeting scheduled with some members of my team this morning, and nobody showed up. I saw Georgia, and she told me that she’d received an email from you that the meeting had been canceled. I don’t understand why.”
His eyes narrowed, and I could sense a hint of disappointment in him. “Are you sure about that?”
Was he serious?
“Robert, I realize there were a few things that were a problem a couple of weeks ago, but those were technicalglitches. I’m here to do my job, and I can’t do that if I’m being undermined.”
He studied me for a moment, the silence so thick with tension. “Did you enjoy your time off at the end of the week last week?”
Blinking in surprise, I jerked back. “I… No. I had a family emergency, and I needed to head home to Grouse to deal with it.”
“That’s interesting.”
I was beginning to think I’d missed out on some insider information. “Sir?”
“We got a call Friday afternoon that Horizon Solutions has decided to go with Turnkey Strategies for their marketing needs.”
My jaw fell open. I was shocked, saddened. We deserved to get that account. “But I thought Horizon Solutions was giving Mono Mark the opportunity to pitch a campaign to them.”
His disappointment turned into something else. Bitterness, maybe?
“They were. We were supposed to be doing it later this week. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
And that’s when I realized this was going to go from bad to worse. I’d just revealed that I had knowledge of Horizon Solutions contacting Mono Mark. I didn’t want this to come back on Steph or Kasey. “There was… Sir, there were murmurings of the opportunity around the office.”
“And did it upset you to learn that we hadn’t asked you to take part in this campaign?”
“Of course, it did. I feel like I’m qualified and could have gotten us that account with the support of my team.”
Robert’s brows shot up, and Bryan looked at me with such a sniveling smirk on his face. Like he was thrilled to be watching this. I almost wondered if he had any relation to Nova or Madison for the way he was reveling in this.
“Your team, Iris? Or you?”
“Pardon?”
He sighed and turned his computer monitor around to face me. “The CEO of Horizon Solutions was kind enough to share the campaign that was proposed to them. Here it is.”
I stared at the screen. And with each passing second, my stomach felt like it was being hollowed out. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening.
My fingers began to tingle, and I was certain I was going to pass out.
But I couldn’t respond.
I couldn’t react.
“Are you okay, Iris? You look a little unwell.”
