“Have you offered her the PA job?”
“Yes.” Travis sighs as he starts scrolling through the emails on his phone. “I did.”
“You told me I would be allowed to interview my own assistants.”
“You weren’t here. I was.” His fingers tap out a message on the screen.
“You didn’t even tell me you scheduled one!” She glares at me, and her grip tightens. “Sit down. Your interview isn’t over.”
“Don’t be rude, Jessica,” he says, but he’s distracted and clearly uninterested in the conflict that his wife would like to draw him into.
Exactly how much time constitutes the few minutes before Lander will arrive?
“I know you’ll be happy with my performance,” I say, trying to gently wriggle my arm free without further ticking her off. “If not I’ll completely understand if you feel the need to let me go. When I come back Monday we can play it by ear.”
“I can’t let you go since you don’t even have the job yet!” Her voice is escalating, but she sounds more panicked than angry.
Travis sighs, puts the phone back in his pocket. “I just gave her the job. And no one is letting her go . . . not unless I decide it’s necessary.”
“For fuck’s sake, she’s my assistant, T!”
As soon as the words escape Jessica’s lips, she presses them together until I can’t see her lips at all, as if she’s hiding the instrument of her impetuousness.
For the first time I notice the dark clouds that can be seen gathering outside the penthouse’s massive windows. It’s almost as if Travis summoned them up himself.
“Nothing is yours.” Travis’s voice is surprisingly calm, almost casual. “Not this home, not the limo, not the clothes or the jewels or even your friends, who only want to hang out with you because you married into my family. It’s my wealth that pays for everything. It’s my name that elevated you. I’ve given you nothing, Jessica. Without me, you are nothing. Everything in your life is on lease. The girl is hired. That matter is settled.”
Jessica’s hand drops from my arm. And for a brief moment I’m too shocked to move. In my neighborhood it’s not uncommon to come across men who occasionally throw drunken punches at their wives and girlfriends, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a man stab a woman to death with words.
Because Jessica is definitely dying—right here before me, she’s bleeding. Travis has used insults to cut open every artery.
I shift my weight awkwardly from foot to foot, my eyes bouncing between Travis and Jessica before settling on the latter. “I really look forward to working with you, Mrs. Gable,” I say softly, as if my own feeble words might serve as gauze and Band-Aids. I then turn to Travis and add, “And for you, Mr. Gable.”
Before either of them can delay me longer I back out of the room and then rush to the door. Hopefully they’ll attribute my haste to a desire to escape an uncomfortable situation.
“Bell!”
I turn to see Travis standing in the hall. “Please remember, this job pays very well. It will be worth it.”
Really? Worth watching you demean and humiliate your wife for your amusement? But then, there will be other rewards , I remind myself. Rewards that have nothing to do with money. Yes, it will be worth it.
“Don’t disappoint me, Bell.”
“Oh, Mr. Gable,” I say solemnly, “I may be many things, but I’m never a disappointment.”
And I mean it. To Travis I won’t be a disappointment at all.
To him? I’ll be a disaster.
chapter seven
L ast time I saw Jessica she wasn’t more than nineteen and I wasn’t even in middle school yet, not nearly on Jessica’s radar. Jessica hadn’t been quite so . . . strained back then. Her voice, now so thin, was rich and robust as she bemoaned Nick Foley’s fate from the witness stand.
And Jessica had been such a perfect witness. A sweet-faced girl from a good family, what could she gain from testifying against my mom?
Nothing. That’s
“Yes.” Travis sighs as he starts scrolling through the emails on his phone. “I did.”
“You told me I would be allowed to interview my own assistants.”
“You weren’t here. I was.” His fingers tap out a message on the screen.
“You didn’t even tell me you scheduled one!” She glares at me, and her grip tightens. “Sit down. Your interview isn’t over.”
“Don’t be rude, Jessica,” he says, but he’s distracted and clearly uninterested in the conflict that his wife would like to draw him into.
Exactly how much time constitutes the few minutes before Lander will arrive?
“I know you’ll be happy with my performance,” I say, trying to gently wriggle my arm free without further ticking her off. “If not I’ll completely understand if you feel the need to let me go. When I come back Monday we can play it by ear.”
“I can’t let you go since you don’t even have the job yet!” Her voice is escalating, but she sounds more panicked than angry.
Travis sighs, puts the phone back in his pocket. “I just gave her the job. And no one is letting her go . . . not unless I decide it’s necessary.”
“For fuck’s sake, she’s my assistant, T!”
As soon as the words escape Jessica’s lips, she presses them together until I can’t see her lips at all, as if she’s hiding the instrument of her impetuousness.
For the first time I notice the dark clouds that can be seen gathering outside the penthouse’s massive windows. It’s almost as if Travis summoned them up himself.
“Nothing is yours.” Travis’s voice is surprisingly calm, almost casual. “Not this home, not the limo, not the clothes or the jewels or even your friends, who only want to hang out with you because you married into my family. It’s my wealth that pays for everything. It’s my name that elevated you. I’ve given you nothing, Jessica. Without me, you are nothing. Everything in your life is on lease. The girl is hired. That matter is settled.”
Jessica’s hand drops from my arm. And for a brief moment I’m too shocked to move. In my neighborhood it’s not uncommon to come across men who occasionally throw drunken punches at their wives and girlfriends, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a man stab a woman to death with words.
Because Jessica is definitely dying—right here before me, she’s bleeding. Travis has used insults to cut open every artery.
I shift my weight awkwardly from foot to foot, my eyes bouncing between Travis and Jessica before settling on the latter. “I really look forward to working with you, Mrs. Gable,” I say softly, as if my own feeble words might serve as gauze and Band-Aids. I then turn to Travis and add, “And for you, Mr. Gable.”
Before either of them can delay me longer I back out of the room and then rush to the door. Hopefully they’ll attribute my haste to a desire to escape an uncomfortable situation.
“Bell!”
I turn to see Travis standing in the hall. “Please remember, this job pays very well. It will be worth it.”
Really? Worth watching you demean and humiliate your wife for your amusement? But then, there will be other rewards , I remind myself. Rewards that have nothing to do with money. Yes, it will be worth it.
“Don’t disappoint me, Bell.”
“Oh, Mr. Gable,” I say solemnly, “I may be many things, but I’m never a disappointment.”
And I mean it. To Travis I won’t be a disappointment at all.
To him? I’ll be a disaster.
chapter seven
L ast time I saw Jessica she wasn’t more than nineteen and I wasn’t even in middle school yet, not nearly on Jessica’s radar. Jessica hadn’t been quite so . . . strained back then. Her voice, now so thin, was rich and robust as she bemoaned Nick Foley’s fate from the witness stand.
And Jessica had been such a perfect witness. A sweet-faced girl from a good family, what could she gain from testifying against my mom?
Nothing. That’s
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