Chapter 28
My stomach felt like it was twisted into knots, nervous for the upcoming confrontations. I was once again seated in the conference room, wanting to get this over with. Security had just messaged Alana to inform her they had escorted Adam, Alan and Fiona to individual rooms, and had them under observation to ensure they did no damage.
“God, I feel sick, I muttered. I hated this type of confrontations with a passion. Because of who these three people are, and their very nature, this is going to get nasty. Or at least they will get nasty. However, I am going to keep this strictly on a professional business level. Alana will be doing the talking as she is the head of HR, but having the CEO and COO present,
as well as the new ‘business partner will lend weight to what is about to go down.
No matter what, I need to maintain a cold professional demeanor! I took a deep breath, let it
out, and instructed Alana to proceed. We were starting with Fiona. Alana called the security
guards that were with Fiona. She came strutting into the conference room as though she
owned the place, an arrogant sneer on her face.
The sneer, and her steps faltered slightly when she saw that it was not only Alana, but me
and three other individuals. That didn’t stop her though. Nope. She decided to approach the
meeting with full–on aggression from the very start.
“Alana, I object to being put on work suspension without pay. I have done nothing wrong, and I
am absolutely furious at your treatment of me. I demand you reinstate my position, and my pay, effective immediately!”
Alana’s expression remained impassive as she instructed Fiona to sit where indicated. “Sit
there Fiona. The status of your employment is percisely why you are here.” Alana shuffled the
papers in front of her, She passed a set of documents to Fiona, a set to me and one to
Jonathan, and kept the other set in front of her.
Fiona glanced dismissively at the papers in front of her and flicked them away from her. Alana
simply put them back in front of Fiona, tapping her finger on top of the document to draw
attention to the cover page.
“Fiona Fredericks, Marketing Assistant. Immediate Dismissal With Cause.”
I have to confess, my heart did a little happy dance as I watched comprehension flash across Fiona’s face. Does that make me a bad person? Maybe. But when you’re cleaning house the first thing you do is get rid of any vermin that might be contaminating the area. And in my opinion, Fiona is vermin.
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“What the f**k is this?” she screeched. “You can’t fire me, my father won’t let you! You can’t do a damn thing to me! My father is a Board Member, he’ll have you fired for this.”
Alana’s ice–cold voice gave evidence to her professionalism as she didn’t allow one shred of emotion to show. “On the contrary, I can, and will fire you. I have the full backing of the Fredericks Design Co. sole owner and CEO, Anna Fredericks, as well as that of the newly appointed COO, Jonathan Proctor.”
“There is absolutely no reason for you to fire me! This is ridiculous. I’ll go to the Labor Board. I’ll sue this company for every dime! I’ll f**king ruin you!” Fiona stood up and tried to walk out the door only to find the security guard blocking her way.
I decided to make my presence, and authority felt. “Fiona, if you walk out that door without understanding fully why you are being terminated, you won’t have a leg to stand on when your go to the Labor Board.” I smirked at her as she shot me a look of pure hatred. Of course I knew she would use the ‘I’ll go to the Labor Board‘ threat. Fat lot of good that would do her. Fredericks Design Co. had an airtight case for firing her with cause.
Reluctantly, she sat back down at the conference table, staring daggars at both Alana and me.. “Get on with it then. Let’s get this farce over with.”
Alana ignored Fiona’s attitude and got on with the process. “Please open the document before you to the first page. Your termination is justified by the number and severity of your breach of company rules, guidelines, and protocol. You will see the reasons for your immediate dismissal itemized in order of infraction.”
“Seven separate occurances of you offering s**** favors to potential clients in exchange for procuring a contract. The most recent complaint came from Mr. Bradley Gray, who is present here in this meeting. He has offered audio/video proof of your solicitation.”
Fiona was beginning to turn a bit white, as she realized her indescretions were not longer going to be swept away by her daddy.
*You also went on the business trip to Gray Industries with Adam Rivers, when you both knew, and were officially notified six months ago, that you were no longer permitted to travel on behalf of Fredericks Design Co. and prohibited from meeting directly with clients.
Then there are the multitude of fraudulent expense account claims that you submitted in ant attempt to steal money from the company.
Alana flipped to page two, and continued to detail the list of infractions.
“There are also over a dozen instances when you deliberately misrepresented yourself as the owner of Fredericks Design Co. Add to that your s****l activities on company premesis with a
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member of your department, all caught on video, by the way, and the physical altercation with three other staff members. Your treatment of fellow employees is beyond appalling. HR has received multiple complaints regarding your behavior.”
“That doesn’t even take into account your lack of productivity as proven by the job.
performance audit just conducted on you. That alone is reason enough for dismissal.” Alana flipped her document closed, folded her hands together and placed them on top of the report. Her gaze was fixed on Fiona, waiting for her response.
Fiona was flipping back and forth between the pages of the report, desperately trying to formulate a response. I struggled to keep from laughing when she did manage to respond.
“Where’s the proof of any of this? I don’t see a damn thing that backs up these allegations. I can sue you for slander and libel! You have no proof of any of this.” Her voice was filled with anger as she tried to take control of the situation.
“On the contrary. We can prove each and every statement.” Alana slid a legal sized envelope over to Fiona. “Copies of letter of complaint from the clients you offered s**** favors to, copy of the job performance audit, transcripts of your calls from office phones to potential clients. where you claim to be the owner of Fredericks Design Co., and don’t worry, we do have the security audio/video of each instance. There are also still photos, taken from the security camera footage from the employee’s office which clearly shows the two of you. during business hours.”
having s*x
Fiona opened the envelope and went through the contents, practically fainting when she saw the photos of her and Adam. The photos were from different days and times spanning the last five years. Proof that their relationship had been going on long before Adam met me. Proof that he, they had targeted me, all to get their hands on Fredericks Design Co.
Fiona lifted her head and stared right at me. I am sure she was wondering if I had seen the photos. I wasn’t going to volunteer that information. Let her ask. If she’s brave enough. I returned her stare, my expression totally impassive. Meanwhile, I could see she was struggling to figure out if I knew it was Adam in the photos with her.
“As you can see, we have all the proof we need to terminate you with cause.” Alana spoke again, cutting through the tension. “The termination is effective immediately.” She slid another envelope over to Fiona, this time it was a regular letter size on, with Fiona’s name typed on the front.
“Your final cheque is enclosed. It covers time worked until five today. It also includes any vacation pay accumulated up to today, as well as any bonus’s and commissions earned. A separate cheque is there from our pension fund which gives you your contributions, with
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accrued interest. You are to sign this form indicating you have received all monies owed.” Alana slid that form to Fiona too, and waited for her signature.
Fiona opened the envelope and looked at the cheques. “Anna, you can’t do this to me. I’m your sister. How can you fire me like this? What am I supposed to do? How am I going to support myself?” The more she talked the louder and shriller her voice became as she realized she was done here at Fredericks Design Co.
Now I spoke up, leaving no room for doubt on my feelings. “Fiona, I didn’t do anything to you. You have brought this on yourself. You should have been fired long ago. The only reason you were still employed here is because you had a Board member pulling strings for you behind the scenes. Those strings are cut. Now take you cheques, sign the form indicating you received them, and go with the security guards to collect your personal items.”
Anger and frustration radiated off of her as she slashed her signature on the f
form, gathered her purse, and stomped out of the room. “You will pay for this, Anna. You just wait. I’m not done with you, bitch.” she muttered on her way out the door, a security guard on each side of her.
One down, two to go.
