Good Luck Running This Company Without Me

Whispers followed me back to my desk. “Jesus. He really laid into her. That was brutal.” “She actually bought a five-thousand-dollar chair? She really does think she’s his wife.” I ignored the mocking looks and the pity, sat down, and quietly canceled the ergonomic chair. Then I worked through the year-end cash budget, recalculating it one item at a time. By the time I finished, the workday was nearly over. I opened my email and finally replied to the offer I’d been sitting on for so long. “Hi, it’s Claire Bennett. “Is your offer to bring me on as CFO at three times my current salary still on the table?” Rachel leaned over and saw the projected $750,000 rebate drop to zero. Her jaw fell open. “Has Grant lost his mind? I handle cash flow. If the client’s payment comes in late and we don’t get that rebate, the company won’t even have enough to make payroll, will it?” I sighed and pointed to the red mark on my forehead. “He told me to get the hell out. What was I supposed to do?” Rachel hesitated. “So… did you two have a fight?” People around the office had been acting strangely lately, giving me those oh-this-is-juicy looks. I frowned. “Why does everyone keep talking to me like that?” Rachel had never been one to mince words. “Well, you and Grant were always together. We all wondered if you were dating.” “Lately, someone’s been saying the intern is his actual girlfriend. Now people are saying you’ve wanted to marry him all along, and you’re trying to come between them…” “Me and Grant? We’re not together. He’s my boss. That’s it.” She shrugged. “Who knows? People love gossip.” I’d worked my way into this position, and they’d reduced all of it to something he’d handed me. I forced myself to calm down, picked up the rebate adjustment confirmation for the canceled order, and headed back to Grant’s office. I was going to make this clear. Eight years ago, when I’d needed money to cover my mother’s out-of-pocket surgery costs, he’d given me a job and advanced six months of my salary. He’d helped save my mother’s life. I’d return the favor by saving his company. I would spell it out: refuse to spend $5,000, and he’d lose $750,000. Rachel hurried over and pressed her salary advance request into my hand. “You know what’s going on with my baby… Please put in a good word for me.” I took it, gathered the paperwork, and knocked before entering Grant’s office. “Grant, I canceled the chair.” He toyed with his pen without looking up. “Good. Don’t buy expensive things in front of Vanessa again. She’s proud. It makes her feel bad.” I frowned. So the $6,000 Lady Dior bag he’d given her as a welcome gift didn’t make her feel bad? Before I could say anything, he snatched the confirmation out of my hand and scrawled his signature across it. Then he lifted Rachel’s request between two fingers. “Why are you bringing me this useless paperwork? Take it away.” “Just because you’ve been here a long time doesn’t mean you get to play the hero with my money.” I’d had enough. “Rachel’s husband just lost his job. Her baby needs special formula and can’t go without it. It’s only five hundred dollars—” Grant cut me off with an impatient frown. “I think Vanessa’s right.” “You old fossils are parasites. You’ve been here so long that every time something goes wrong in your lives, you expect the company to bail you out.” “Today it’s a salary advance. Tomorrow it’s special treatment. How is this company supposed to grow?” I looked at his cold, calculating expression and couldn’t reconcile him with the kind man I’d known eight years earlier. Maybe being the boss for too long made it easy to forget that other people had problems, too. Harder to care about anyone beneath him. “All right. Sorry to bother you.” I took the signed confirmation and walked out. Rachel was waiting, her face full of hope. “He wouldn’t approve the advance. But I have something better. Want to hear it?” By now, I should have a reply.

“New company. Triple the salary. Are you in?” Rachel stared at me for three seconds. Then her eyes filled with tears. “Yes! Of course! Claire, you’re… I don’t even know how to thank you!” I looked at the message on my screen. Claire, name your terms. —Lorenzo Vitale Over the years, I’d passed up countless better opportunities because I felt I owed Grant for saving my mother. Somewhere along the way, I’d forgotten what I was worth. Rachel was so excited she could barely get the words out. “What about Ethan? Ethan in cash management—” “I’ve already asked. Their finance department needs people. Anyone who wants to come can. Lorenzo Vitale, the owner, has agreed to take us.” Two knocks sounded on the office’s glass door. Grant’s assistant stood outside, looking uneasy. “Claire, Grant wants to see you.” Had he finally realized we were losing the rebate? Was he about to ask for my help? Then I saw Vanessa standing beside his desk, her eyes red again. So much for that. Grant pressed his fingers hard against the bridge of his nose, looking disappointed and exhausted. “Claire, do you have a problem with Vanessa?” “She got back from her business trip last week, and you still haven’t approved her expenses. Why are you holding them up?” I glanced at the transfer screenshots, restaurant receipts, and handwritten slips scattered across the floor. Some didn’t even identify the business that had issued them. “Vanessa, these don’t meet our documentation requirements. The policy is clear. You can’t claim a business expense with just a payment screenshot. We need an itemized breakdown and a business purpose. These receipts don’t even say what you paid for.” Vanessa looked wounded. “But… I really did spend it on the company. Those clients like private clubs, and the club didn’t give me an itemized bill… Besides, the whole trip only cost twenty-three thousand five hundred dollars. That includes round-trip business class, the hotel, and entertaining clients.” I almost laughed at the sheer nerve of it. Only twenty-three thousand five hundred dollars. Last month, Grant had sent an expense report back three times over a fifty-cent discrepancy. We barely had enough cash as it was. After reimbursing another twenty-three thousand dollars, we might not. I turned to the second page of her expense report. “Our hotel limit is two hundred dollars a night. Your business-class flights cost three thousand dollars, and you spent a week at a five-star hotel. The room alone was five thousand two hundred and fifty.” “That’s well over the limit.” Tears spilled down Vanessa’s face. “Grant, I wasn’t just throwing money away. I was trying to land that big client… I was doing it for the company…” Apparently, being challenged in front of her was more than his ego could take. “Claire, do you think you’re going to marry me someday? Is that why you’ve decided you can control my money?” The office and the hallway went silent. I frowned. “Grant, I’ve never wanted that—” He gave a derisive laugh. “Haven’t you?” “You think I don’t know what you’re after? Eight years. Did you think hanging around long enough would make you Mrs. Caldwell?” “Let me be clear. I’m not interested in old women like you. Do your job and stop fantasizing.” Stifled laughter came from the hallway. Heat flooded my face and spread down my body. This was ridiculous. Vanessa gave me a smug look. “Claire, I know you’re upset because you don’t have a chance with him… But that’s personal. Don’t take it out on me at work.” Grant put an arm around her shoulders, gave her a reassuring squeeze, then tipped his chin at me. “Reimburse her. Right now. The full amount.” I took the expense report he’d signed and gave him a calm smile. “All right.” It wasn’t my money. This time, I wasn’t going to worry about it.