“Thanks,” Torie said, joining him at the door. Riding down on the elevator with a host of other people, they stayed silent, but once in the car, Torie gave him directions to her office.
“I know where your office is,” Paul replied, pulling into traffic. “Did you call ahead?”
“I guess I should.” Her stomach coiled into a knot at the thought. “At least alert Tristan that I’m coming by.”
“Much as I’d rather surprise him, yeah, you should.”
Torie managed the call, even with her hands shaking. She didn’t mind conflict, nor did she have a problem with her boss, but this unwarranted distancing of the firm from her personally was new territory. Heck, everything was new territory.
“Tris will be waiting for us,” she said, closing her eyes at the thought of being escorted to her desk, watched, stared at.
“Nice of him,” Paul said dryly, the sarcasm evident in his tone. “Of course, since it’s your desk and they haven’t fired you, he really doesn’t need to escort you.”
“Of course.”
The visit was as stilted and painful as Torie imagined. She’d imagined bad. It was worse. Tristan followed them to her office, and anyone still in the building stared at her as she walked in, following her with their eyes. She could feel the speculation building in her wake.
“Torie,” Tristan said, his eyes shadowed. “I’m so sorry about this. I really…”
“Not sorry enough to vouch for me, stand up for me,” Torie said, fighting back tears. She’d never played the weak female card here before, and she wasn’t about to now. Nothing would be worse than crying, so she locked it down. “I’ve worked hard for this firm, helped build its reputation, served on every board or committee you ever asked me to serve on. Given that, I somehow deserve this kind of treatment?” She motioned toward the door, where she could see people peeking over their cubicles to see what was going on.
“No, but—” he began.
“But nothing,” she snapped, letting anger take the place of the tears. “This is so wrong.”
He glanced at Paul, who up to this point had been silent. “I know it’s tough, but the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. We might have lost clients.”
“Did you?” Paul spoke for the first time.
“Uh, I don’t know,” he waffled. “I don’t think so, but we were advised to do, um, damage control. Quickly.”
“Oh, so putting me on admin leave is damage control? What about saying you believe in me? In my innocence? What about supporting one of your longest-serving, most loyal employees by believing in her?”
“Torie,” Tris stuttered. “You’ve got to see our side.”
“No, actually, I don’t. You never hesitated to use the fact that I was a woman, and one of the best in my field, to your advantage. From contracts to PR, you made sure everyone knew you had a crack engineer who met the government requirements for gender equality. Nope, never missed an opportunity on that one, did you?”
“But—” Tristan began.
“Yeah. But when it came to trash-talking reporters with no real information sniffing for more, you caved. You
“When you come back, we’ll do our best to make it up to you.”
“Uh huh. That’s going to take some doing.” Torie unlocked her desk, found the safety deposit box key, took several other items as well, then relocked the desk.
“D’you mind leaving that unlocked? We needed some files earlier today and couldn’t find them.”
“No. I won’t.” She turned to Paul. “I don’t have to do that, do I?”
“No, and you can press charges if they break the locks.”
“It’s our desk,” Tris protested, shocked.
“Yes, but unless you terminate her employment, in which case she would clean out the desk, the contents can be considered her intellectual property to which you have no right.”
Tristan looked at him in horror. “What are you, her lawyer?”
“Yes, actually, I am.”
Tris’s face went pasty at the rejoinder, and he almost staggered when Paul handed over his card.
“This is Pratt and Legend,” Tris said.
“Yes. We’re among the best in the city, I believe.” Paul smiled.
While the two men were facing off, Torie took a moment to check her files. So far, nothing had been disturbed. Paul’s words had reminded her that she had a stake in things. Given that, she selected several items from her file rack on her credenza. The folders contained ideas for breaking into new markets, ideas she was developing to present. They also included her personnel report on all her employees, and the review she’d been preparing on herself.
“Uh, Torie, I don’t think…”
“These are ideas in development. My ideas. I believe my attorney already indicated I was perfectly within my rights to take them with me.”
