ꨄThe Debutanteꨄ

55.

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Next Day

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Lucious stared back from his desk with a blank face. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as the person he looked up at finished their sentence.

"You quit?" He asked.

"Look, I'm sorry Mr. Lyon but I just don't think that Empire is the right place for me right now." Replied Tori. "I'm sorry that my time here was so short. It's unexpected, I understand." She said.

He stared up at her. "Did somebody put you up to this? Make you want to quit? Was it Cookie? Or better yet, Anika?" Lucious asked. Tori shook her head. "Neither, Sir." She replied. "It's my own decision, for my own reason. Neither one of them had anything to do with it." She said.

"So I hope you can understand. For now, I'll continue the rest of my work here until my time is up." She said, giving a head nod and turning away to walk towards the exit. Lucious stood up from his desk, following behind her. "Now, hold on. We have more than two weeks worth of work to get done with you. Tours, interviews, performances. And now you want to walk out?" He asked her, after she turned around to face him.

"I know that it's sudden. But I still have a notice." She said. His face the fell to flat, pointing at her. "We have a contract. Everyone does when they work at this company. You can't just up and leave whenever you feel like it, especially without giving me a damn reason. Now, I'm pretty sure I can take legal action for this." He said, narrowing his eyebrows. Tori stared down at his finger, then back up at him.

"For what?- For breach of employment contract." He said. Tori released a single chuckle. "Mr. Lyon, sorry sound brash, but I haven't breached anything within that contract. I read it closely when you gave it to me, and I remember what I read. I remember it clearly stating that either the employer or the employee can end the working relationship at any time, for any reason or for no reason, with or without advance notice. Now, out of respect for you and your company I gave you a two weeks notice, which is generous." She said.

He stared back at her. "So I'm sorry, but you can't take me to court. You could fire me on the spot right now, but after all you did say that my work is heavily needed at the moment. I do understand that this is frustrating for you, but you cannot take legal action for it." She said, putting her hands into her pockets. Lucious stared at her angrily.

"Now if you excuse me, I'll be getting back to work, since I should try to do as much as I can before I have to leave." She said, backing away. She turned to leave, then stopping and turning around. "Oh, and Mr. Lyon. My father is a lawyer, so I'm very familiar with how the law works. Just so you know." She said, giving a small nod, then turning completely and exiting out of the office smoothly.

Once she walked out, Lucious walked back up to his desk, then grabbing a glass that he was sipping liquor out of. He smashed it up against the wall, pieces of glass shattering in every direction. He was mainly angry because Empire has just began to take off mainly because of Tori being a new and first-ever job title addition to the company. The woman was good at her job and did a damn good job of keeping the artists out of social media obstacles. Now, she's leaving, which means that if Lucious doesn't find someone at her status to replace her soon, Empire will be right back to square one, and speculations about the companies ethics will be arising once the media find out that such a skilled employee is suddenly quitting after only about a month.

Tori grinned to herself as she walked down the hallway, hearing Lucious smashing items in his office out of frustration. Employees walking by eyed her in confusion and security headed to his room to check on him.