Robinson laughed. “Well, that’s a given.”
The two men quieted down for a moment until Robinson spoke again. “I know you want to keep Ari. After this stadium is over, maybe we can move her to some lesser projects, letting her work in the background. Eventually, we can phase her out. Give her another generous severance if we have to. We’d give her an excellent recommendation, naturally. We got what we wanted out of her.”
Phase me out? I dropped my head. I thought Chicago, Maurice and his lies were the past. Instead, they were haunting me like ghosts, circling me until I’d eventually give in to them. All because of one ambitious fuck.
“I see. I’ll say she’s doing a damn good job of making Porter look good. Polishing him right up,” Riddle said. “He was a diamond in the rough before.”
“More like a lump of coal. But women do that, you know,” Robinson said. “Being nurturers and all that jazz. Ari looks like she has that motherly vibe, you know, that a lot of women like her have.”
Riddle chuckled, lowly. “That’s true. Porter ought to thank his lucky stars I hired Ari. I love the boy like my son but he’s not exceptionally talented. He’s lucky that I was friends with his grandfather. I owed him one.”
Robinson laughed. “Finally, you realize that. Well, it was nice having a woman around while it lasted. And it was nice to see a nice, round ass around here. Gayle has passed her prime.”
They laughed. Two men, old enough to be my father, laughed. I felt bile rise in my throat as two men that I respected, instead of talking about my work, were talking about my ass. Bella was right. Misogynistic to a fault. I wasn’t here to bring my design skills to the firm or my perspective. They brought here me to make Porter look good and polish him up in time for the partnership and in front of the Serranos. I thought I was here to redeem myself, to show that I had what it took in this industry. To show that Maurice and his lies would not stick and that I was a damn good architect with vision, depth, and a clear point of view.
I guess I was wrong. Dead wrong.
Slowly, I put my hand on the door of the conference room and entered. Riddle and Robinson, like deer caught in headlights, quieted their laughs, and stiffened their bodies as their gaze moved from questioning to lightly horrified. Their faces were clearly wondering what I had heard. Trust me, I’d heard enough.
“Excuse me, gentlemen. My iPad.” I pointed as I grabbed it. The two of them nodded as I moved between the two of them to retrieve my tablet. My heart was beating so fast that I feared my rib cage would shatter. I turned on my heels and left the boardroom as fast as I could, the words repeated in my head like the chorus to a terrible pop song. Liability. Reputation. Phase me out.
Before I knew it, I was in front of Greer’s door. Without warning, I threw it open, slamming it into the wall. Greer looked up from his computer and smirked, his face the picture of unashamed arrogance.
“You’re a grimy son-of-a-bitch! You had no right to go digging into my past! Who the fuck do you think you are!” I could feel my blood pressure rising, making me dizzy. I held on to the chair in front of Greer’s desk to steady myself. He wasn’t going to get rid of me that easily.
Greer folded his arms. “I absolutely had every right to investigate you. I mean, what person up and leaves one of the nation’s most prestigious firms to come work for this place? It’s like moving from the penthouse to the ghetto. Especially when they had been doing so well. It had to be something major.”
“Who told you?” My voice was shaky. “No one at the firm knew what was going on. LSB would never let that happen. It would ruin them.” We had all signed NDAs which was a condition of my severance package. No one would risk being fired.
“Oh dear,” said Greer in the most patronizing way possible. “Money makes anyone talk. A little green, a little gift of gab, and I was able to get all the information I needed. Didn’t take much to get them to open up. By the way, Maurice says hello.”
I wanted to crumble at the mention of his name. “Maurice? He’s a liar and a thief. Greer, you can’t believe him. Even you can’t be that stupid.”
Greer gave a flippant wave. “Oh yeah, I’m sure he’s lying. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that he’s believable, Ari. His story is convincing. And just convincing enough for the partners to believe.”
“You’re pathetic!” I yelled, not caring who in the office heard me. I was seething. “You know you’re not going to get this stadium design, so you sink this fucking low. Such a coward!”