and met with each division, asking them to speak with him on any personnel issues they might have. One thing he’d learned was that people who didn’t want to listen, wouldn’t, no matter how many training sessions and lectures they were given.
For the rest of the morning, Jake reviewed every memo and directive his office had sent out the past two years, every training session he’d taught, and made a spreadsheet of the past five years of complaints and settlements, which, Jake was pleased to see, were minimal, and none for any type of harassment.
And much as he hated to do it, he put out feelers with headhunters to get a sense of what was out there. Just in case. Because he didn’t have a good feeling about the way the wind was blowing.
At two o’clock, he took a deep breath before opening the door to the conference room. His gaze swept over the long table and found Erica and Oliver, an empty seat between them. Grateful that they were there, he nodded to the other division heads and joined his friends.
“Thanks for saving me a seat.”
“Aside from a killer tan, you look sick. Do you know what this is all about?”
“Somewhat.” He sketched out Clarke’s visit earlier.
“That’s nuts, to blame you.” Oliver’s eyes flashed. “You work your ass off. It’s not your fault Sterling is a low-life cheating bastard.”
“Sterling is Clarke’s best friend. I’m sure he’s more than happy to cover up his indiscretions, and who better to dump on than the gay guy?” Jake straightened his files. He’d come prepared to defend himself, but he wasn’t sure of the enemy he was fighting.
Clarke swept into the room, followed by a fortysomething man Jake recognized as one of the firm’s attorneys and a woman in her midthirties, her hair pulled back from her face in a tight knot, and wearing a black suit with a white shirt. A diamond pendant winked at her throat. Clarke took his position at the head of the table with the other two flanking him.
“Who’s that?” Erica whispered to him.
“Not a clue,” Jake answered, but he didn’t have a good feeling.
“Probably Sterling’s replacement,” Oliver said in his ear.
“Hmm.” Jake grunted. He wasn’t so sure.
The room quieted down, and Clarke cleared his throat. “I have some sad news to report. Richard Sterling passed away this morning. I just got off the phone with his wife. We will be making a statement to the press, and of course you’ll want to send your condolences to the family.”
Jake didn’t have to like the man personally to feel sorry for the tragic loss of life and the devastation his wife and children must be feeling. Over the years he’d met Elizabeth numerous times, and she’d never been anything but pleasant.
“Which brings me to this meeting,” Clarke continued. “We’ve begun the hunt for a replacement for Dick. It won’t be easy because he was one of the premier financial consultants in the world, but we’re confident we’ll find someone.” Clarke tipped his head to the woman. “But now I want to introduce you to Renée Schneider. She’s going to be our Vice President of Human Resources, a new position we’ve created. Renée will report directly to me. She’ll be responsible for managing the hiring and firing of all personnel, as well as working with employees once they’re hired to groom them, so they become loyal Precision employees. She’ll evaluate and revamp all our training, and manage and supervise the human-resources division. I’m sure you’ll all give her your full cooperation as she begins her tenure with Precision.”
Jake sucked in a breath, barely registering Erica’s shocked expression and Oliver’s smothered curse. If it wasn’t such a huge betrayal of trust, it might’ve been amusing to see everyone else at the table turn to stare at him. Clarke deliberately didn’t meet his eyes, and Jake’s hands curled into fists.
“I need to get out of here before I say something I’m going to regret.”
Ollie put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t give them any excuse to label you as noncooperative. You don’t want to lose your job.”
Didn’t he? This was such a huge knife in his back, Jake wasn’t certain he could ever recover. He barely paid attention to the rest of the meeting, when the lawyer spoke about the possible lawsuit and settlement negotiations.
“Thank you, everyone. That’ll be it for today.”
At those words, he pushed away from the table, shook off Erica’s and Oliver’s hands, and strode out of the room.