Lacey certainly had a few wishes for whose desk she hoped would be vacant.
The door opened, and a woman walked into the room, Guy shuffling behind her.
Lacey’s phone clattered to the floor, but she didn’t even look to see where it had gone. Her eyes were glued to the tall figure at the front of the room.
Meredith Langham. Their owner. The Chair. Her red hair with its famous asymmetrical cut swung across the shoulders of a navy Versace trench coat. In Lacey’s entire decade at Langham & Co., Meredith hadn’t appeared in person once. Not for funerals. Not to hand out bonuses. Not even to put in a token appearance at the Christmas drinks.
Never.
Meredith Langham was not a Lean In kind of woman. She was a kick the ladder down behind you one. Meredith Langham was one of the reasons it was ten times harder for a woman to get into the executive suite than a man.
There was an audible sucking in of breath and jerking of heads as the rest of the room realized who was taking Guy’s place at the head of the table.
Guy stood diagonally behind the Chair, hands clasped behind him and body ramrod like he was on a parade ground at West Point.
Going by his buggy eyes, he either knew what was coming and was in shock, or else he had no idea what was coming and was bracing himself along with the rest of them.
Lacey’s mind raced through the possibilities as the woman took her time surveying the room as if she was memorizing every face. Was she going to fire Guy? In front of everyone? Would he be the next person added to the body count?
As far as Lacey knew, Guy had never harassed anyone. And she had no intel of him trying to cover anything up either. He’d only been in the job for a year. A year many women in the company had spent trying to determine if he was friend or foe. The consensus had been leaning toward friend, but that wouldn’t mean anything if Ms. Langham was out for blood.
Sell the company? Langham & Co. had been started by her father. According to urban lore, Meredith had bested her three brothers for the role of Chair through a coup that was bloodless in name only. And nothing suggested she was the type of woman who would sell when Langham’s stock prices had hit a record low.
“I apologize for not giving more notice of my appearance.” The woman’s English accent sliced through the charged room. “Please make sure that you note it for the minutes.” She nodded to Sheryl, whose hands had frozen midair above her laptop keyboard.
There were no minutes at these meetings, and Sheryl was a graphic designer who probably didn’t know how to open a Word document. Hopefully, Meredith wouldn’t ask to see the minutes afterward.
“First.” Meredith raised a long bejeweled finger. “Obviously, you’re all now aware that there is no longer any tolerance for people who can’t keep their hands or their misogyny to themselves. But it’s become apparent to me over the last few weeks that stance is not going to be sufficient if I want to salvage anything out of this organizational dumpster fire. So, starting now, there is a strict no fraternization policy. If you are currently fraternizing, you have three options. One. End it. Two. One of you is no longer here in thirty days. Three. Get married. If you don’t, both of you will be clearing your desks.”
Lacey’s gaze flicked across the table to Sam and Mei, who shifted subtly away from each other. Further up the table, an associate’s gaze tangled with his boss’s before they quickly looked away.
The place contained more fraternization than a frat house. And going by the glimmer in Meredith’s green eyes, she knew it.
“Second. As some of you may know, you have a sister company in the UK called Wyndham House. Unfortunately, while some of you can’t keep your hands to yourselves, some of your compatriots over the pond have been busy greasing the wrong palms. The result is I currently have two misbehaving children, not just one.”
Lacey had known Wyndham House was part of the Langham Holdings stable, but the two companies had nothing to do with each other.
“So, I’ve decided to merge you.”
Guy jumped behind her. A startled hop like a baby rabbit. So he didn’t know. Lacey forced air into her lungs. A merger might not impact her. People did mergers in