Like a Boss - Annabelle Costa Page 0,61

the bar near work and I get a beer, and I don’t even lament the fact that nobody is trying to hit on me. I’m content to sit back and let Jenna complain about her love life. Of course, she has no idea about me and Luke. Not unless Nathan spilled the beans.

“I can’t believe John was cheating on me,” Jenna moans. “I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” I said. “He was really smooth. A good liar. How were you supposed to know?”

“I think you have the right idea, Ellie,” Jenna says. “It’s better to stay single.”

I avoid her eyes. I feel guilty I never told her about me and Luke. But she must know how it would look. Luke is my boss. Nobody would believe we’re really in love.

We’re ordering our second round of beers when I see a familiar face walk into the bar. It’s Rita Barnes, who used to be a programmer at our company before moving on to a different job. Way back when, Rita and I used to be good friends. We drifted apart after she left Mediapp, but I’m thrilled to see her.

“Rita!” I stand up and wave my hands around to get her attention. “Rita! Over here!”

Rita lifts her beer and catches sight of me. When she turns, I realize she looks tired and old. She has bags under her eyes that weren’t present years ago. “Ellie…” she says. “My God, is that you?”

I nod and gesture for Rita to join us. She obliges hesitantly, and she and Jenna exchange introductions. “What are you doing around here, Rita?” I ask.

Rita takes a long swig of her beer. “Job interview.” She sighs. “It didn’t go well.”

“The other job didn’t work out?” I ask, surprised. She had been so excited about the job at the time.

“It worked out fine at first,” Rita says. “Until the company got bought out last year. We all ended up losing our jobs. I’ve been out of work for the last six months.”

Jenna’s eyes widen. “Bought out? By who?”

I grip my beer glass and pray to God that she’s going to say the name of some company I never heard of. Or any other company besides…

“Thayer Industries.” Rita takes another swig of beer. “They’re the worst company in Boston. Hell, in the whole country. That’s what they do, you know. They buy out companies, strip down the waste, and fire everyone.”

“Fire everyone?” Jenna’s face is white as a sheet. I can’t even imagine how I must look.

Rita nods. “They hire new college grads who will work for a quarter of the salary. They kept a few people around, but they had to take huge pay cuts.”

“That’s… horrible,” I manage.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard of the guy who runs the company, Lucas Thayer,” Rita says. Yeah, I may have heard the name a few times. “He’s a monster. He’s got a reputation in the business circles for being a heartless, ruthless bastard, and let me tell you, it’s a hundred percent true.”

“Oh?” I say.

“He has zero compassion,” Rita says. “There was a woman at our company who was a single mom with two kids and he figured out a way to say she was breaking her contract so that she didn’t get any severance pay. He’ll turn up the demands and the hours so everyone quits. He provides health insurance because he has to, but he uses horrible policies with practically no coverage and gigantic deductibles.”

I want to cry out, Luke wouldn’t do that! But suddenly I’m not so sure. Maybe he would. You don’t get so rich by being nice. You get rich by being a heartless, ruthless bastard.

“And when he drops the ax,” she adds, “he’s always conveniently out of town. Better yet, out of the country.”

I swallow hard.

“I met Thayer once,” Rita goes on. “He has fantastic PR, so you’ll never find a bad article about him. But Facebook, Twitter… they’re all full of stories about how awful he is. There’s even a Reddit thread about him. There was a meme on Instagram where people were photoshopping him to look like he’s the devil in hell. The guy’s actually in a wheelchair—he’s a quadriplegic or something. He’s bitter and wants to destroy everyone else’s lives too.”

Jenna and I exchange looks. Finally, she says, “He always does this? With every company?”

“Always.” Rita frowns at us. “Why so interested?”

I want to tell Jenna not to say anything, but before I can kick her under the table, she blurts out, “Mediapp