Chapter 57: Chapter 57 Consequences of Defiance
Author
The next day, Susan stormed into Elara’s office. Her face was red with anger.
"Elara, did you fire me?" she demanded. Her hands were on her hips.
Elara looked up and smiled coldly. "Susan, you broke several company rules. I didn’t make these rules. Maybe you should ask yourself how you got here."
She leaned back in her chair. "Mark told you, right? You’ll get your full payment. Everything by the book."
Susan was furious. "Why fire me? You’ve only been here a few days! You only got this job because of daddy’s money. Now you think you run the place!"
Her voice got louder. "That lying woman set me up! Did you even check the facts before you threw me out?"
"Oh?" Elara smiled bigger. She saw people gathering outside her office door to watch. "Susan, are you sure you want me to show all the proof right here?"
Susan looked worried for a second. Then she got confident again. Even if Elara knew about her thing with Jack, she wouldn’t dare tell everyone.
But Elara wasn’t planning to mention Jack at all.
She made a quick phone call. Soon, someone from the main hotel came with a flash drive.
"Elara , here’s what you asked for," the worker said. He handed her the drive.
Elara put it in her computer. Her lips curved into a small smirk. "Want to see what’s on this?"
Susan’s heart was beating fast. "Stop lying! If you have something, show everyone now! Or I’ll sue you!"
Elara was shocked that someone could be this stupid.
She opened the video. It was the same proof the head of housekeeping had given her. It clearly showed Susan following a client into a private hotel room. Both of them came out much later. The times were clear for everyone to see.
Elara knew Susan might not have actually done anything bad with the client. But it looked terrible.
"This is a lie!" Susan looked around at all the people watching. "Listen to me! I was just talking business with the client!"
"You couldn’t meet in the meeting room?" Elara asked calmly. "Or in the restaurant? You had to book a hotel room?"
Susan felt really wronged. She had thought it was weird that day too. But the client had wanted to see their best suite. They ended up talking there.
Susan had flirted with the client, sure. But they hadn’t done anything physical.
The watching coworkers whispered to each other.
"We were just talking business! I would never cheat with him! I have a boyfriend! Ask Jack if you don’t believe me!" Susan said desperately.
Complete silence.
Elara just smiled. She was surprised that someone would be stupid enough to rat herself out.
"Jack? You mean Manager Jack knows about your boyfriend?"
The office grapevine was going to have a field day with this.More people were gathering outside the office.
Susan was digging herself deeper with every word.
Finally, Jack arrived. He glared at Susan. "That’s enough! Firing you was my decision. If you’re not happy about it, take it to HR in downtown!"
Susan looked at him helplessly. "Jack, you..."
Jack looked at the crowd. "What are you all staring at? Don’t you have work to do? Move along!"
He gave Elara a long, hard look. Then he walked away without looking back.
Last night, his wife had blown up at him at home. Now there was this mess at the office.
Jack knew that Susan’s career here was toast.
Susan collapsed into a chair. The coworkers who had been trash-talking Elara with Susan were now scared out of their minds.
Just days ago, Susan had badmouthed Elara behind her back. Now she was being fired.
The thought of crossing Elara made them nervous.
Elara didn’t know that she had just made everyone respect her without even trying.
Later that day, the office buzz was all about what had happened.
"Dude, you won’t believe what happened in Finance today. Lillian approved my expense reports in like two seconds. I already got my money," one employee whispered to another in the hallway.
"Keep it down! If Lillian hears you, you’re screwed. But yeah, same here. Wasn’t she the queen of red tape before? Always finding excuses to delay our stuff?"
Elara’s lips curved into a small smile. So this was Lillian’s way of kissing up?
