I opted to stay in my office and sent a quick email to congratulate him instead of joining them, since it would have been unprofessional of me to do nothing. Then I went about the rest of my day, thinking that was the end of it.
It wasn’t.
“Milly speaking,” I said into my desk phone. It was 5:30 p.m. and I was just about to start wrapping up.
“Hey, Milly, it’s Jasmine. I’m sorry to bug you so late, but your father would like to see you in his office right away. Are you able to come up?”
I tapped the screen of my cell and watched it come to life; no missed calls or texts. How weird. He never got in touch with me through Jasmine.
“Uh, yeah, sure. I’ll be right up. Is everything okay?”
“I don’t have any of the details, dear.” She sounded apologetic.
“Okay, no worries. See you in a bit.” I grabbed my access card and phone before heading out.
A few minutes later, she led me into my father’s office. I walked in thinking it would just be us, but there were two other people already in the room. Margaret was seated in one of the chairs facing my father’s desk, and Zac was standing to her left, his arms crossed.
The glare I got from him when he saw me could have cut through glass.
Uh-oh.
“Thank you, Jasmine.” My father dismissed her before motioning to the second, empty chair in front of him. “Take a seat, please, Milly.”
I did as I was told. No one said anything right away which flared up my already rising levels of anxiety. It really didn’t help that Zac looked like he wanted to flip everything he could get his hands on over and set it all on fire.
“Alright. I’m going to ask you a few questions that I am sure you will answer truthfully and to the best of your ability,” my father said as he looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite decipher.
He paused, waiting for me to agree. I nodded.
“Were you aware, while working for them, that Yuval Digital was the exclusive advertising and PR agent for Emerson Blu?”
“Um… no, I don’t think so.” I tried thinking back to see if it had ever come up in any discussions or meetings.
“But in all fairness, Yuval is massive. They have a bunch of really big accounts… and it’s not like I kept track of all of them,” I clarified.
I don’t know why I was already getting defensive. I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Did you know, prior to submitting your application for a job here, that Emerson was looking to expand into the Canadian market and that we were one of the participating bidders for their business?”
“No, I didn’t…”
“So, you had no idea that there would be a potential overlap on this account during your transition? None of your former coworkers mentioned anything about it to you at all?”
“No.” I was so confused.
“Do you know who David Bruman is?” This time it was Zac who asked.
“Dave was my boss at Yuval. Well, technically my boss’s boss. Why?”
“We’re in a bit of a predicament after our first meet-and-greet call with your old firm this afternoon.” My father pursed his lips and thought for a moment before he continued. “We’re supposed to be working with them quite closely over the next few months… Zac is of course the primary owner of the account, but the business and workload is so large that he had selected a senior associate to be part of his team as the secondary contact and to help out with the campaign.”
“Okay, great. What does any of this have to do with me?”
“Well, David Bruman is Zac’s counterpart on the US side. This is his account, and for whatever reason, he is dead set on you being the secondary contact that works with them,” my father revealed.
“Oh.”
Wait, what?
“We tried to convince him against it, setting up a private call after the meet and greet, but he’s insisting on you. He says that he already knows how you work and he trusts you.”
I didn’t say anything for a few seconds. David and I had gotten along and worked extremely well together during my time at Yuval; he’d become a friend. Leaving that had been the hardest part about quitting, and I’d hoped we would get to work together again one day.
But this I had not been expecting.
“Okay… so then what’s the plan?” I knew one thing for sure, Zac was never going to actually let me work on this account. I just didn’t know what they wanted me to do about any of this yet.
“There isn’t one. We’re assigning you as secondary per their request. Margaret was informed of all this a few minutes before you got here, and she’ll make sure any of your current open accounts are taken off your plate so you can concentrate on this,” my father said.
There was no way. I looked at Zac to confirm he wasn’t going to allow this to happen, but he was avoiding my gaze, his jaw clenched.
Why the hell wasn’t he saying anything?
“And of course, for the time being while you work on the account, you’ll report directly to Zac, and he’ll provide me with feedback,” Margaret noted. “This is a really great opportunity, Milly. You lucked out. Don’t let me down.”
If I declined, just because I didn’t want to work with Zac, it would come off as unprofessional and probably leave a bad taste in Margaret’s mouth. If I accepted…
“Of course, I’ll do my best.” The choice was easy. This was exactly the kind of opportunity I’d been hoping for. I just couldn’t believe they were handing it over to me so easily. Or so soon.
Zac being involved was an inconvenience, but I’d take what I could get.
My father hesitated before giving me an apprehensive smile, then exchanged a quick look with Zac. They thought I was going to be a disaster.
Margaret was the only one who talked on the elevator ride down to the eighteenth floor, blissfully unaware of the tension that had sucked all of the oxygen out of the metal box. I got out after her, and Zac followed last.
“My office,” he said as he walked past me and into the room. I followed him inside, closing the door behind me.
“Listen,” I started, “I get that this isn’t ideal for either…”
“Cut the bullshit, Amelia,” he cut me off, his voice strangely calm. “I don’t believe for a second that you didn’t actually know about any of this.”
I honestly should have seen this one coming.
“I’m not really sure what your motive is yet though, so you’ll have to help me out.” He picked up the black stress ball on his desk and started to toss it as he continued. “Whether you’re trying to get back at me for firing you—” Toss. “—or you feel like I’m a threat to your career so you just want me out.” Toss. “Maybe you’re jealous of my relationship with your old man?”
He caught the ball and looked at me, waiting.
“I don’t consider you a big enough threat to try and sabotage you, Zac. You’re giving yourself too much credit if you think you’re worth all that effort.” I tilted my head and gave him a mocking, gentle smile.
It worked. His expression remained neutral, but his ears turned pink.
Hah.