Nights with My CEO novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Offer

Merrill's assistant caught me at my desk at ten past ten.

"Mr. Dunwoody would like a word," she said. "In his sitting room on thirty-three."

I looked across the floor.

Colby's glass office was empty.

"Is Mr. Sargent invited?"

"Just you."

Gwen mouthed, Don't go, from three desks over.

I went.

The sitting room was behind a door marked CHAIRMAN, a small, dark-paneled room with a leather sofa, a cabinet of golf trophies, and a crystal bowl of butterscotch candy.

Merrill sat in a wing chair with his legs crossed at the knee.

He had changed his bow tie.

"Jacqueline," he said warmly. "Thank you for coming. Sit. Butterscotch?"

"No, thank you."

"You're quite right. They're awful."

He smiled.

It was the smile of a man who had made a very large number of people feel small without ever raising his voice.

"I'll be direct," he said. "I'm too old to be anything else. I saw you this morning with Mr. Callender."

"I saw you see us."

"Then we understand each other." He took a folded paper from the arm of his chair. "This is a separation offer. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a glowing reference, and an early release from your non-compete so you can work anywhere in the country."

I looked at it without taking it.

"That's three years of my salary."

"It's four, in fact. I did the math." He leaned back. "You're a bright young woman. You've had a hard weekend. You've also, apparently, made friends in very high places. I'd like to convert that into something sensible while it's still sensible."

"What does the paper say I'm agreeing to?"

"That you were never wrongfully treated. That you leave voluntarily. That you'll say nothing about the work of this firm, particularly the Calder matter, to anyone."

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