He Chose His Ex, So I Chose My Empire novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: I Don't Get Picked

I kept my thumb on the elevator button.

"No," I said.

The COO blinked at me over the whiteboard.

"Laurel, I don't think you heard..."

"I heard. You want me back in that boardroom pitching against her so eight people can decide, again, whether I'm good enough."

"It's a fair vote this time."

"It was supposed to be a fair vote last time."

Jo made a small noise behind the whiteboard that might have been a cheer.

"If the board wants to talk to me," I said, "they know where I am. Dogpatch. Second floor. Bring your own chair."

I took my thumb off the button.

The doors closed on his face.

...

They came at ten the next morning.

The COO and two board members.

One was the older woman in the grey suit who'd underlined something during my pitch.

The other was one of the men who'd nodded at Legacy Tower like he could already see his name on a floor.

They did not bring their own chairs.

They stood in the middle of our bare concrete in their good coats and looked around at the brick and the folding tables and the space heater.

The grant writer's dog photo watched them from the windowsill.

"Well," said the man. "It's very authentic."

"The toilet works," Jo said helpfully. "Most days."

I'd put out three chairs from the church sale.

I sat at the head of the square with my team on either side of me.

That was on purpose.

"We'd like you to come home," the COO said. "The board feels mistakes were made. We'll rerun the vote. Your proposal, fully considered."

"And if I win?"

"Then the Initiative is yours to run. As our senior director."

"And if I lose?"

He hesitated.

"Then we'd find a place for you."

"Under Sabrina."

"Under the president, yes."

The woman in the grey suit was watching me, not him.

"No," I said.

The man laughed, short and surprised.

"You can't be serious. You're in a warehouse."

"I'm serious," I said. "I'm not coming back to compete to be picked. I did that for a month. I didn't like how it was scored."

"So what do you want?"

I slid a single sheet of paper across the folding table.

One page. No slides. The housing director would have approved.

"I want the Legacy Initiative to come here," I said. "To First Key. Harbor Light keeps its name on it and its gift. My team runs it. My model. My partners. Sabrina has nothing to do with it."

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