Page 66 of Best Kept Vows

“And you’ve apparently had another incident just now.” Stacy turned to face me. “Sebastian, can you tell me what happened.”

Jane stiffened.

I picked up the phone, opened the image Jane had sent me, and showed it to Stacy. “Jane showed me this photo of Lia, and said that?—”

“Enough,” Jane snapped. “What is the deal you have for me?”

“No deal.” Stacy turned her attention back to Jane. “You pack up and leave. I have an HR manager and a security guard waiting outside to help you with that.”

She slid a manila folder to Jane. “Here is what you need to sign to get your severance, which is three months’ salary, as negotiated in your contract.”

Jane flipped through the papers and then glared at me. “After all that I did for you, this is the thanks I get?”

“Jane, your choices are signing this, or we will sue you for sexual harassment,” Stacy’s tone was level but ominous.

“What?” Jane’s eyes were ready to pop out.

“Yes.” Stacy picked up a pen and put it on the manila folder. “Read it and sign it. Then, you’ll be walked out of the building with your belongings. If you’ve forgotten anything, it will be mailed to you. From now on, you only talk tomeat Boone Metals, and no one else.”

“You’ll fail without me,” she blurted out, directing her rage at me.

A strange calm settled over me—steady, clear, unlike anything I’d felt in years. I had already failed in the ways that mattered most, and the sting of that truth no longer frightened me. I didn’t care about professional success anymore.

What haunted me was everything I’d neglected: my family, my marriage, myself.

That was the failure I wanted to face and fix.

Jane’s expression hardened, eyes turning cold. “You’ll regret this.”

Oh, I had regrets, but firing her wasn’t going to be one of them.

“Jane, please read the severance agreement. Please stop addressing Sebastian.” Stacy was like an unmovable stone who kept pressing Jane.

Jane stood up abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the wooden floor. “You’re making a huge mistake,” she said to Stacy, then picked up the manila folder and stomped out of the office.

“Well, that went as well as it could.” Stacy closed her laptop and smiled at me. “I have crafted a message about her departure to the company. I’ll send it to you shortly. Take a look at it. Review it.”

I nodded. “Will do.”

Stacy got up, and I gestured for her to sit back down. “Please.”

She did as I asked.

“How long have you worked here?”

“Fifteen years.”

“Dad spoke highly of you.”

Warmth flickered in her eyes. “Your father was…special. You’re a better leader, but I think he was a better businessman, more cutthroat.”

“Is that a compliment or a diss?” I mocked.

Stacy laughed. “Definitely a compliment. How is Abraham doing?”

“He’s got a few weeks to months left.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Sebastian.” Stacy was sincere in her condolences.