Page 13

An awkward laugh escaped me. “I’m sorry, what?”
My eyes flicked to Calvin, who was typing something, undoubtedly getting other work done. I knew he was still mad about the house, but he’d perfected treating me with painful indifference.
“Due to a decreasing workload, we have had to make some difficult decisions?—”
“I’m the CEO’s daughter,” I said. “You can’t fire me.”
This time, Calvin spoke. “Technically, you’re the CEO’ssisternow. And I need to play fair. Dad kept you on despite you having nothing to do, but we have shareholders to answer to and your salary is losing us money.”
“B-but you could transfer me.”
“Do you have an HR degree that I’m unaware of or something else useful? Last I checked, you got your degree in English.”
“It’s still a degree.”
“It’s not enough. You’re the one with the least amount of work. You have to be let go. It’sfair.”
I heard his words, but I didn’t believe them.
He didn’t have a lick of guilt on his face, and I knew there was nothing I could do to get him to change his mind. Our parents would be on his side. HR was literally on this call. I was getting fired.
“O-okay. Is there any severance?”
“I consider the last few months you were employed without doing anything as severance. As of today, you will be paid out for your last paycheck, and your health insurance coverage will end.”
“Shouldn’t it go to the last of the month?”
“It will not.”
Fuck.I had medicine Ineededto be on, and it had been over six months since I last saw my specialist. According to their policy, I was due for a visit. I hadn’t planned it yet since it was expensive, even with insurance, but without it, I was fucked.
“What about extending it past my last day? Cobra, I think it is?”
“Cobra benefits and your package are expensive,” Cora said grimly. And then she said a number that was more than quadruple the amount of my current premium.
Oh, I wasdouble fucked.
This was the worst-case scenario. Not only was being without health insurance going to make my medication impossible to get, but I also had way too many bills to count. Owning an old house had expenses, and my only option was to take out loans to be able to fix it up when something went wrong. Not only that, I had expensive land taxes and day-to-day bills.
Ineededa job.
And it had already been nearly impossible to getthisone.
“Calvin,” I said softly. “You know what this will do to me.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have pursued homeownership, Amy.” His voice was cold and calculated. “It’s obviously too much for you to handle.”
Cora cut in to tell me to turn in my stuff by the end of the day, and that she was sorry to see me go.
I was in a state of shock. I had no idea what I was going to do, and the hurt festering in my chest was worse than when Levi Hensen kissed me to get back at my brother. Sure, technically, I’d screwed Calvin over by getting the house, but he was amillionaire.He didn’t need it. He’d bought his mansion when he was twenty-one with the help of Dad.
After my screen cut to black, my breath turned shaky. Numbly, I packed my laptop into a box and then sat on my couch.
I hadnoidea how I was going to get out of this kind of trouble.
Chapter Two
After droppingoff my stuff to the receptionist at Calvin’s stupid office, I came home and immediately went back outside. My other neighbor, Mr. Buford, was an old man with mobility issues, and I often helped him with his garden. I took out my frustrations on the dried weeds I had neglected to get to.