He doesn’t argue, though I can see he wants to.
The moment I enter the building, I head straight to Janice’s office.
Even though I know I’ve made the right decision, it’s still hard to tell her I’m quitting. This place has been my life for years.
She peers down her glasses at me over the desk, steepling her fingers together. “I understand things have been very tough for you lately, but nobody wants you to leave, Lexi. We’re trying to work alongside you to rectify the issues. Didn’t the time off help?”
I laugh. “Right. You really rectified it when you took the word of James over me. Even though I’ve been here longer and have proven my worth over the years.”
She sighs, pulling her glasses off and massaging the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know how things got so tangled between you two, but there has to be a way you can work together.”
I shake my head. “How am I supposed to work in a company that I don’t trust to take care of me? It doesn’t matter, anyway. I’m done. I can’t keep putting myself through this.”
She scowls. “It’s not that simple. You can’t just leave. We’re in our busiest period right now. You’re needed.”
My stomach should sink. Usually it would, but I channel Casey, tilting my head slightly as I draw my brows together. “I’m needed? But my performance is a liability. That’s what my file said, right? How can I be needed? You can’t have it both ways, Janice. Either I’m bad at my job and I deserve to be written up or you can’t live without my input.”
Her cheeks flush, the first reaction I’ve ever seen from the woman in the years I’ve been with the company. “You’re under contract.”
“So call my lawyer. I don’t care about contracts. I’m walking. This environment is so toxic it is endangering my pregnancy.”
I see the ripple of panic at those words. “A doctor has said this?”
I give her a thin smile. “Suddenly now you care about my pregnancy? You didn’t care when you dragged me into this room and tore me down. It doesn’t matter, anyway. I didn’t walk in here asking for permission to leave. I’m telling you. I’ll hand over my work to Tasha and then I’m gone. Call it mutual consent, tell everyone I pitched a fit and you had to let me go if it makes you feel better. I don’t care.”
“While I’m sympathetic to your situation, your contract clearly states you have to give two weeks’ notice.”
“And I’m sure all the bad publicity you will receive when I scream from the rooftops about how I was harassed while pregnant will be worth the ten whole days you’re demanding I work.”
She blanches. “No one has been harassing you.”
I flinch. She doesn’t know what’s been happening, and even if I told her now, she wouldn’t believe it. “Did you ever stop to think why James suddenly decided I couldn’t do my job after years of no issues?” Janice opens her mouth, but I speak before she can. “I’ll make sure my desk is cleared out by the end of the day.”
I stand, using the arms of the chair to lever myself up. Her eyes drop instantly to my bump. “At least give me until the end of the week. Just so we can make sure everything is in order before you go.”
It sits on the tip of my tongue to tell her to go to hell, but I can’t do that to Tasha, to my team. My friends. It’s them who will suffer when I’m gone, not Janice. Sure as hell not James.
It’s only three days and then I’m free. “Fine. But if anything interferes with my pregnancy in that time I’m walking. I am not risking my child anymore for a job that doesn’t appreciate me.”
I don’t wait for her reply. I leave the room, heading back to my desk. Tasha lifts her head over the cubicle. “Everything okay? Is she still giving you shit?”
I wince. This is going to hurt. We’ve been friends the entire time I’ve been at the company. “I just quit.”
She stares at me for a moment and then blinks. “Likequitquit?”
I rest my hand on my bump. “I can’t do this anymore, Tash. I’m exhausted.”
Her eyes soften. “Nothing is worth that, but shit, I’m going to miss you so much.” She comes into my cubicle and hugs me. “I can’t believe you’re leaving.”
My throat feels tight, my heart heavy, like I failed somehow by not continuing to stand up for myself. “We’ll still keep in touch. We’re friends.”
“Damn right we are. Plus, I want to see how beautiful your baby is.”
I snort. Then become serious. “Be careful around James.”
“Right? The man is a snake.”
“No, Tasha. I mean it. Don’t be alone with him. Not ever.”
