The CEO's Secret✔️

6: The Day Before

June 2009

C H A P T E R  S I X:

T H E   D A Y  B E F O R E

By the time the gala came around, Katie was completely exhausted. A few days ago in work, she remembered actually dozing off into a light sleep a couple of times while sitting at her desk. With Carrie gone and Catherine becoming even more hateful and seething by the day, work was beginning to totally take its toll on Katie.

She was at the point of exhaustion where if she stopped constantly working and took a moment to think about things other than the gala, she would break down in tears. But it was Friday then, the morning before the gala and soon everything would go back to normal. Her workload would still be more than she had at the beginning of the job but she would not have the burden of attending planning committee meetings or Catherine to deal with also.

"I told you to push the meeting with the caterer to review the final menu back by two hours yesterday."

"I did." Katie said, wondering what drama today's meeting would unfold for her.

"You didn't-"

"I would not have answered your question with 'I did', if I did not. I called your cell phone to tell you they could only push it back by an hour but you wouldn't answer. Then I contacted your assistant upstairs who told me you were not around. So after I made two attempts at telling you about the meeting- calling your phone and attempting to tell you in person- I asked him to pass on the message to you immediately."

"You made me miss my meeting."

"I didn't make you do anything." Katie spoke through her teeth then, unable to control herself or the anger that was beginning to bubble inside her. "If you had have picked up my call, you wouldn't have missed the meeting. And if your assistant didn't pass on the message that is not my fault, although I know you wish it was."

The look Catherine gave Katie right then was indescribable, it made every part of the young woman want to shake. She knew she had messed with the wrong woman but she could not stand to be treated the way she had been any longer.

"Go and get our coffees." Katie knew the order off by heart by this time. She looked over to Alice who only gave her a grim look before standing up and walking towards Katie.

"You stay here, she'll just have to manage by herself." Catherine ordered. Katie let out a breath through her nose, trying to contain herself as she began to walk out of the meeting room, everyone's eyes on her as she did so.

Catherine was absolutely livid about missing the meeting yesterday, so much so that everyone's heads seemed to be on the chopping board. She was ordering people around since she had gotten into work and all the people on the committee knew not to cross her at this point. She always got like this coming close to the gala, it was just 'stress' they would say, but not attending the review with the caterer for tomorrow's gala had tipped her completely over the edge.

"Little crossbreed." Katie thought she had imagined it at first, those terrible words being mumbled from Catherine's mouth but, how could she? Katie could tell by the complete silence that fell upon the room after the older woman uttered those words that she had heard correctly.

Katie had a choice then, one she did not want to make. She had never had to deal with people making ignorant comments about her race since many years ago. Katie was mixed race, and she was proud of who she was despite so many times before having trouble with people who wanted to make her race and ethnicity their concern. Deciding whether this time was worth putting her job at risk or not was tough. She could walk out the door, pretend she heard nothing or she could turn around and tell Catherine how she really felt about her. Katie chose the latter over the former, although her decision may have been the wrong one. She turned around, looking at every face in the room before stopping at Catherine's.