Finding Salvation- A Runaway Novel

Chapter 2

Elle stared at her boss in complete horror.

"Ms. Miller, really, I assure you, this unfortunate turn of events shouldn't set you back at all."

Elle blinked at the complete idiocy of the man standing in front of her, who also happened to make more than twice as much money as her.

"Mr. Burgess, with all respect, the loss of Maria to the team will be severe. With the project deadline approaching, any change in personnel will set us back."

Mark Burgess, the ass, just laughed.

"Really Miller, I promise you, switching out one secretary for another won't make much of a difference."

Elle clenched her jaw, making a concentrated effort not to lose her temper. The ass always acted like all women were interchangeable and had never even attempted to understand the value they held. She shouldn't be surprised.

She'd always been a good judge of character and trusted her dad's old adage.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

Burgess has been more than clear about the fact that the only value he saw in her was in her ass. The fact that she did good work and always met her deadlines and projections were inconsequential in comparison to her cup size.

Still, she was fuming.

Maria was a godsend and losing her organization skills in the middle of a project while the company was undergoing an external audit was going to be hell.

"Your department's replacement, Anne Severt, should be up here later this afternoon. She was in the general pool downstairs, so she should already understand somewhat what goes on up here. Lucky for you, no training required."

Elle's brows exploded into her hairline before she could hold back the expression.

Luckily, the asshole, having delivered his bomb of bad news was already headed back towards his corner office, where he would reside doing god knows what the rest of the workday.

Elle puffed out a breath of frustration.

The notion that a half trained receptionist who likely only knew how to answer the phone and transfer calls could replace Maria was laughable.

Elle had worked her ass off by that woman's side and knew that she would support the team anyway she could, but she also understood what they did, and that's not a given in forensic accounting.

An hour later Elle was still making sense of the mess that had been left on Maria's desk.

Organized chaos, that's what she'd always called it.

Elle had managed to work herself into a snit that had her team avoiding her. She wasn't known for her temper, but the stress of an upcoming deadline mixed with the fact that she had no idea where Maria had been on the list Elle had told her to work through. If she didn't figure out what contracts had already been sent to the lawyer and what emails had been sent, the new girl wouldn't be able to get anything done.

Ten minutes later, she was all but growling into the phone as she argued with IT for the third time that she needed them to reopen Maria's portal and email and grant her access to her files. The asses were either completely incompetent or actually enjoyed the true rage they were insighting.

"Mrs. Miller?"

Elle looked up reflexively and saw a pretty brunette holding a box of her personal belongings and eyeing her like she'd rather be anywhere else.

Elle sighed again and just decided to hang up. She'd quickly determined that the IT department was just as useful on the phone with her as off.

"Please, call me Elle, and it's miss."