Written in the Stars
By Tvdfanpam
Chapter 34
More Interviews
By lunch time Ana and Kate had met with ten staff members. Ana was exhausted and very hungry. Her stomach had growled during the interviews and Prescott had to bring her juice and a cereal bar. Two people were fired that had lied on their resumes and two gave notice. Both had accepted jobs with other companies and the other six would be reassigned to other departments once Ana and Kate had concluded their meetings. Ana was glad of Kate's input; she was surprisingly calm and asked good questions to draw out the employees' best traits and skills. Connie Prescott acted as Ana's assistant and was very helpful. Ana was thinking of asking her to be her permanent assistant since Mia turned her down.
Kate was in her element, glad she took the job! She loved it so far and couldn't wait to talk to the authors and read manuscripts. That was on the agenda for next week after they sorted out the employees.
Christian and Taylor showed up at noon promptly and escorted the ladies to the waiting car to take them to lunch. Christian had booked them at The Pink Door in the private dining room that looked out over the Marketplace.
Ana was ravenous and ordered a salad with organic lettuces, spaghetti with a white sauce and grilled chicken and sparkling water. She had a hard time eating red meat; it would turn her stomach. So far so good, no vomiting but nausea would hit at odd times. Kate had the house specialty: lasagna and Christian had surf and turf. The security team had spaghetti and meatballs! They had a toast with sparkling water to their first day. Ana and Kate were both anxious to get back to work and since Christian had meetings all afternoon, lunch was eaten and they were back to their respective offices within an hour.
Kate was coming out of the ladies room on the second floor when she bumped into a woman going in. "Excuse me." Kate said. "I'm Katherine Kavanagh." She extended her hand to the tall woman in a designer suit. She looked at Kate's hand, not taking it.
"Elizabeth Morgan, head of HR. Or I was but it looks like you and Mrs. Grey are firing half my employees." She blocked Kate's way out of the door. Kate pushed past her and turned.
"Your meeting is next Ms. Morgan. Don't be late." She turned and walked down the hallway into the boardroom. "Bitch troll in the bathroom." Kate said as she sat down beside Ana. "I just met Elizabeth Morgan, she's going to give us hell."
"Head of HR. After reading the employee files, I don't know what she did exactly. It doesn't look like she tried to match up employees to the right job, there were several insurance claims that haven't been processed and I couldn't see where she ran one background check or drug test on any employees. I hope she isn't an industry spy. The three authors that left last year all went to the same publishing company with a better offer." Ana fretted, wringing her hands as that thought came to her.
The door opened and Elizabeth Morgan came flouncing in and sat down opposite Ana and Kate before they could even acknowledge her. "I will just make it easy on all of us and tender my resignation. I felt like I was wasting my time in this inferior company anyway. I had an offer to go to Amazon and I turned it down because my parents were friends with Jerry Roach. He wanted to hire anybody who walked in the door and did even when I recommended not to and he wanted to publish everyone who gave him a sob story!" Elizabeth was on a roll now. "I was embarrassed to tell people where I worked!" She flung a typed statement across the table at Ana and Kate who had sat there listening to her rant.
"One question, Elizabeth." Ana said quietly. "Why didn't you note the complaints about Jack Hyde? One employee had reported that he was stalking her last month and yet he was still here this morning. Did Mr. Roach know about it? Why wasn't there anything in his file? There was nothing about his misconduct with any of the staff in any of the employee files. Several of the staff said he told sexually explicit jokes in the employee break room and one woman said he asked if she wore thong underwear or bikinis."
"Jack asked out one of the assistants and when she turned him down, he followed her home to ask her why she said no. She said let's just be friends so he left. He was harmless. Half of the girls here thought he was a publishing god!" Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I went out with him once, he took me to dinner and then we shared a cab afterwards. They must have been exaggerating."
Kate knew a lie when she heard one and nudged Ana under the table. Ana understood the signal to stop asking questions. Connie Prescott had been texting on her phone for Drew Reynolds to confiscate Elizabeth Morgan's computer and work phone out of her office. He was headed to her office while Elizabeth was still in the conference room. Prescott texted Kate to have Elizabeth fill out the exit interview questionnaire and paperwork to keep her in the room as long as possible.
Kate flipped through a stack of files after she casually glanced at her phone. "We would like to have you fill out this paperwork then we will discuss a severance package with you." Elizabeth took the paperwork and began filling it out. It should take her 10 minutes or so then they would offer her a severance package. Normally, they would offer three months' salary and the option to take their 401K in a lump sum. Insurance would be continued for the three months' time as well. After that time, if the former employee still hadn't found a job, they could elect Cobra for their insurance and apply for unemployment.
Elizabeth Morgan glanced at the figure on the offer and signed her agreement. She stood up and shook hands with Ana then Kate. "I'll go clean out my office ladies. It should take me a few hours. I will pop back in before I leave."
"No need. Drew Reynolds packed up your office while you were in here. He is waiting in the hallway with your personal effects." Kate said pleasantly. Elizabeth paled. "He will escort you out. Please hand over your ID Badge." Kate held out her hand so Elizabeth handed it to her. Ana stood up to walk her out.
"Remember you signed an NDA Elizabeth. No talking to anyone about your job here at SIP or about anything related to work at SIP." Ana reminded her as she held the door open. Drew was standing there with Sawyer holding a box and they handed Elizabeth her briefcase and purse and walked her out of the building. "Prescott, we need to change the locks on all the doors by end of day today. Text Drew to have someone follow her to see if she goes to see Jack Hyde."
Prescott nodded and picked up her phone to do as Ana asked. She turned to Ana. "Mrs. Grey, Mr. Grey wants you to call him before your next meeting." Ana sighed as she picked up her phone and stepped out of the room.
"Hey baby. How are you feeling? Are you tired?" Christian asked his wife, he had been anxiously awaiting her call. She looked tired after lunch and he was afraid she would overdo it on her first day in the office. "Do you need to wrap it up and go home for the day?" He was a nervous first time to be daddy.
"Yes dear, I am tired." She couldn't stop yawning. "We just met with Elizabeth Morgan. You were right to have us wait to interview her later in the day. She resigned; while she was meeting with us, we confiscated her computer and phone. We will find out soon if she was in contact with Jack Hyde after he was fired this morning. If so, she will be in violation of her NDA and we won't be required to pay her severance package."
"Baby, I hope you had someone follow her to see if she went to see Hyde after she left." Christian paced his office. "There is no telling what we will find on his computer and phone. Ana, you probably need to go home and take a nap." He no sooner said that then he heard his wife yawn loudly in the background.
"Yes, I will go home. Kate and Prescott can finish the two interviews for today. I am going to offer her the job of my assistant. I like her Christian and she is really efficient and thinks ahead."
"That's a great idea Ana. She has a business degree and she will be able to protect you if anyone gets past Sawyer and Reynolds." Ana rolled her eyes at that comment.
"Drew will bring the computers and phones over to Grey House for the IT staff to go over. Sawyer is waiting to take me home. Oh, and I think we will have the locks changed on all the doors in case a disgruntled ex-employee tries to sneak back in after hours."
"Okay baby. I will see you tonight. I have a meeting at 5:00 pm with Ros then I will be home for dinner. Have a good nap. I love you."
"Love you too. See you later." Ana hung up with Christian and walked back into the conference room. "Kate, you can stay and wrap up the last two meetings. Connie, would you please follow me into my office?" She nodded then followed Ana out. They went to the third floor and to Ana's new office. It was Jerry Roach's old office and Ana couldn't wait to redecorate it. It was old school with minimal decorations. "Would you consider being my assistant Connie?" Ana asked after they were seated. "I was impressed with you today. You handled yourself very well in stressful situations and had the foresight to have someone confiscate Ms. Morgan's phone and computer while she was in the meeting with us. Plus, you are very efficient. You knew what I wanted before I did."
Prescott sat there stunned for a moment. "Mrs. Grey I certainly enjoyed working with you today. Ms. Morgan should have insisted that she attend those employee meetings with you as head of HR and when she didn't, I knew she wasn't 100% invested in her job. I will consider your job offer and let you know in the morning." She took the sheet with the salary and benefits information from Ana after Ana asked her about her experience and background. They chatted for a few more minutes.
"I am done for the day. You may sit in the meetings with Kate if she needs you or you may go home." Ana picked up her purse and followed Connie out of her office and shut the door and made sure it was locked. The ladies went back down to the conference room where Kate was working. "Kate, I will see you tomorrow. Connie can stay and sit with you for the last two meetings if you need her." Ana yawned again.
"That would be great. Two heads are better than one." Kate smiled at Connie. "See you tomorrow mama; go take a nap and take care of my little niece or nephew." Ana blew her a kiss and walked out.
Sawyer was waiting for Ana and he took her briefcase from her and escorted her out of the building and helped her into the car. Ana was asleep before they pulled out of the parking garage. "Mrs. Grey, we are home." Ana blinked and sat up.
"I guess I was more tired than I thought." She said yawning again. Sawyer helped her out of the car and carried her briefcase up to the Penthouse. "Just put that on the sofa. Thanks, Sawyer. I am going to bed now. You can go back to Grey House or to the security office or whatever it is that you do when I sleep." Ana yawned, unaware of her ramblings. She went into the bedroom and took her shoes off and laid down on the bed. She didn't hear anything until Christian came in two hours later.
"Baby, Gail has dinner ready. Are you hungry?" Christian was rubbing Ana's back. She slowly turned over and opened her eyes. Her rumbly tummy was his answer.
"I feel like a newborn. All I want to do is sleep and eat." Ana complained then her eyes teared up. "I hate feeling tired all the time. I hope this passes soon."
"According to what to expect when you're expecting, that is perfectly normal. Your body is growing another person, of course you will be tired. That is hard work." He kissed her forehead and gathered her onto his lap. "Baby, let's go feed the baby. We can take a bath or watch a movie after dinner or go back to bed."
"Okay. Thank you Christian for taking control of the meeting with Jack Hyde. CEO Christian was so hot!" Ana straddled him and kissed him passionately. "Let's have a quickie before dinner." She said, trying to get his belt undone. "That nap energized me now I want sex."
"Whatever you want Mrs. Grey, we aim to please." He smiled as he kissed his wife.
A/N: thanks so much for reading and reviewing!
