Rachel Riott (Preview)

Chapter 2

The rest of the morning came and went as Harold and Rachel finished their morning get-together as the workplace was coming to life. Employees filed in one by one until the entire office was finally alive, meaning the meeting was minutes away from starting. Rachel faced the inevitable as she prepared all her work, but she could still feel the tension in the air. Something was going to happen. She knew it was. Watching the clock as the arm ticked past second after second. She was actually getting nervous. The more time she had to sit there, the more she realized everything she had built, everything she strived for, was now hanging by the tiniest of threads. Then she watched as all the executives entered the building and flashed her their disapproving glares as they walked past her office.

Rachel's fate rested in the balance, as Harold returned to her isolated four walls. His eyes were hanging low as he wore the same look of concern Rachel wore on her face. This might have been their final moments together as he opened his mouth and said the words that Rachel inevitably dreaded to hear.

"They're ready for you." Harold's words echoed around the room as Rachel took a deep breath and rose from her desk.

It was now or never as she grabbed the flash drive and walked to the conference room. All eyes were on her as her steel-toed boots tapped against the floor. They announced her presence as she stepped up to the wall of glass that contained the conference room behind it. The investors could see her, and she could see them as she put on her best I hate you all face and swung open the door forcefully to the conference room.

"Let's make this quick; I already have enough on my plate today," Rachel said immediately upon entering the room, walking to the desk on the side with the laptop on top of it and plugging in a flash drive.

The room remained quiet, catching her off guard as Rachel looked at the audience of old rich men. Then, it suddenly made sense. Every man who sat around the table was the father of one of the many boys she had turned down in the past. This wasn't a typical board meeting; this was a hostile takeover.

"Let me guess, this is how you plan to kick me out of the company. You all banded together to try and stop me. You do realize I made this place, right?" Rachel asked, and all they did was smile. As she had expected, Thomas took the opportunity to stand up.

"We're well aware you built this place up to its stature today, but we can't have a CEO who goes around kicking the heirs of billion-dollar companies running around unsupervised. That would just be us asking for a scandal." Thomas said, grinning maniacally.

"Yes, like Tomas says, we can't have you running this place and having you still act out of control, so we have no choice but to oust you and replace you with Tom." Mr. Silver said from his seat. His son was the most recent one that Rachel had kicked in the chestnuts.

Taking it all in, Rachel merely shook her head, suspecting this was coming. The company had been split for ages between Rachel's loyalists and Thomas's; only hers were better at keeping secrets. Turning to the computer she had plugged her flash drive into, Rachel opened the files and then turned to the group again. Yet before she could say anything, Thomas interrupted.

"Don't you understand, Rachel, you're done here? You don't need to give us a presentation regarding this quarter. We'll give you a nice severance package." Thomas tried to explain, but Rachel only smirked.

"Thomas is right, Rachel. Just give up. That being said, you're still welcome to the party tonight; maybe one of our sons will be gracious enough to take a failure like yourself in as a maid with benefits or something." Mr. Silver cut in as all the other old men laughed at his comment, yet Rachel simply smiled.