Page 48

When three of my colleagues asked me to go with them to lunch at the start of my second week, I immediately agreed, happy to make some friends. They were sitting at the back of the room, so I hadn't interacted with them much. Elena, Alina, and Danielle were friendly enough. When we all sat down to eat at a local burger restaurant, I found out Danielle wasn't actually a broker; she was the assistant to a few members of management.
"We thought we'd get to know the new hire," Alina said. "Your test score made waves."
"I figured only HR and the bosses would know that," I said before taking a bite of my burger.
"Usually that’s true, but I think this was a special case. Anyway, we're happy to have you on board."
"How long have you been with the company?" I asked.
"Ten years," Danielle said.
"Wow, that's a long time."
She shuddered. "Yeah, and don't try to guess my age.”
"I've been here for five years," Elena said.
"And I've been here for six," Alina added.
I smiled. "That's good news. Means you're happy with the workplace, right?"
They all nodded.
"Yeah. I worked at three investment companies before I came here, and this is by far the best one," Alina said.
Elena nodded. "They're far more relaxed than everyone else in the industry. I don't know if it's because the brothers set it up or something, but they're not so big on hierarchy."
"My boss hates that," Danielle said.
"Who's your boss?" I asked.
"Cyrus," she said. "He keeps complaining that this isn't a real financial services company. I mean, the guy's old as dirt. He's worked in the industry for a long time, but he’s such a dinosaur. I think he can’t get over the fact that his own company went belly up.”
I raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“He ran his own financial services company until nine years ago. It kept underperforming, and most of his clients came to Sterling Investments. Chase convinced Cyrus to join the company. I swear to God, he’s been complaining ever since.”
I didn't know this guy at all, but I was already pissed at him. The Sterling brothers had worked themselves to the bone. They didn't deserve to have anyone bad-mouth them—especiallywhen it sounded like they saved his ass.
"Anyway, Hannah, tell us more about you. How did you even apply to this place?" Danielle asked.
The tips of my ears went red. As a rule, I hated lying. Even if things were atrocious, I preferred to know the truth rather than a well-meaning lie. But I couldn’t possibly tell them I knew the Sterling brothers from outside of work.
"I was looking for something new, and Sterling Investments is intriguing.”
“We definitely love it,” Alina said.
We spoke a bit more about the office, right until it was time to get back.
***
Having friends at the office paid off. If I was honest, it had been a while since I’d had a social life. After Gary and I separated, I was too busy keeping the inn afloat to stay in touch with any of our friends, let alone meet up with them.
Besides, interacting with other employees was beneficial, as I'd found out all sorts of secrets, such as which were the best break rooms. There were about six spread throughout the floors. Depending on where they were situated, they had different views. Some didn't have windows at all, but those weren't used anymore.
I rarely ate at my desk. I usually grabbed my lunch from the cart that catering sent up and started hunting for a seat in one of the break rooms. That's how I met a ton of my colleagues.
Today, I tried a new break room on purpose, figuring I’d meet new people. It was pretty late for lunch, though—two o’clock—so I wasn’t sure how many were still eating.