Chapter 129

“We have a lot to discuss,” Dawn called through the door.

Logan and I both froze.

Very softly, Logan cursed.

“We can’t be behind closed doors alone,” I whispered.

He glanced around, the gears in his head clearly turning. After a second or two, he dipped his head toward his desk.

“I’ll distract her, then you hide, got it?” he asked.

I nodded.

Logan lifted his hand and cupped my cheek. He rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip. My heart pounded in my chest. God, I wanted to kiss him again, forget the danger.

But then, his hand dropped away and the affection vanished from his eyes. He inched to the side and moved his hands away from me.

Slowly, he opened the door, but only enough for his face to fill the door. I took my chance and dashed across the room. I slid behind the desk and then slipped under it, hiding myself with his chair.

“Dawn, surely this can wait until later,” Logan said.

“Why should it need to? Are you so busy now that you cannot spare a moment to talk about the life quality of your own employees?” Dawn asked. “Unless you have some other reason you are trying to keep me out of this room. I notice your secretary is not at her desk…”

Logan sighed loudly. “She’s in the bathroom.”

“Odd,” Dawn said. “I was just there and I did not see her.”

I gasped, then covered my mouth with both hands to muffle the sound. She was calling Logan on his lies.

He responded coolly, though. Totally unfazed. “Do you make a habit of tracking employees’ bathroom times now? That doesn’t seem like a good use of your time.”

A moment of quiet passed. Logan clearly won this strange standoff between them.

“May I come in?” Dawn said. “The matter I wish to discuss does require some measure of urgency.”

Logan stepped back from the door, allowing Dawn into the office.

“As long as this isn’t about my secretary.”

“It does concern her,” Dawn said. “But it’s not only her.”

There was an inch clearance between the bottom of the desk and the carpeted floor. There, I watched the shadows of Logan and Dawn as they entered the room. They both stopped at the front of the desk.

“Out with it then,” Logan said.

“There has been a certain measure of… hostility in the workforce regarding the new rules. Not only has the improper behavior continued among your employees, there has now been some direct lashing out against the entire HR department. Me, specifically.”

“In what way?” Logan asked.

“Vulgar name-calling behind my back. A few emails from people trying to make some sort of stand. They even have a petition going to have me removed as the new policy’s overseer.”

Logan leaned against his desk. He stood almost as a shield, his feet firmly between me hiding behind the desk and Dawn’s looming form.

“Perhaps this is an indication that you should share the burden with the others in your department,” Logan said. “Drafting a policy which gives you and only you the power to deem who is in the right and who is in the wrong may have been an incorrect choice.”

Incorrect was putting it mildly. She was grabbing at power however she could get it.

My blood was boiling. These rules were supposed to help people – protect employees from being harassed – yet the only one who seemed to be really helped was Dawn herself.

“What’s done is done,” Dawn said, dismissing the criticism. “Now, we need to discuss how to bring the employees back into line.”

“Firing Mike from IT was too far,” Logan said. “He’s a good worker. Always put in overtime when asked to. He never asked for anything more than he was given.”

Oh, Logan. He had been listening to me yesterday, when I tried to plead Mike’s case. With those details, it seemed as if he looked into it even further. My heart warmed for him.

I should have known he was still on my side. He was a CEO first, but he was still someone who cared about me. I was a fool to doubt him.

“If we bring him back –” Logan said.

“Absolutely not,” Dawn cut him off.

“He’s a good worker who was well liked in the office,” Logan said.

“I will not undermine my own rules. If I do, then no one will take them seriously. They must be upheld to the full extent.”

“They are too strict already,” Logan tried to reason. “No one is taking them seriously now because you are pushing too far.”

“I appreciate your concern,” Dawn said in such a snide way that it was clear she did not appreciate it at all. “But I did not come here to discuss changes to the rules. I came here to insist you help me bring your employees back into line before there have to be more firings.”

God, she had power for all of a day and a half, and she was already abusing it. Thank God she wasn’t a queen or something. Heads would probably roll.

But this was serious too. The employees here needed their paychecks and their benefits. Losing those would put people’s livelihoods in danger.

I knew as well as anyone how difficult it was to survive without enough money. I was so tired of sleeping on my friend’s couches. Although that was better than staying at my parents’ house with them and Natalie.

“And how, exactly, do you propose that I help you?” Logan said. “As my advice doesn’t seem to be what you want to hear.”

“I need to borrow your assistant.”

Me?

“Hazel?” Logan said, confusion in his voice.

“Miss Whitaker, yes,” Dawn said, carefully enunciating my name, as if reminding Logan that was what he was supposed to be calling me. “She is competent enough, from what I can tell. Your performance reviews of her have been quite encouraging.”

Pride swelled within me. I knew I did a good job at work, but it was nice to hear that Logan thought so too.

Although I wished this topic had been brought up in another time and place, perhaps between Logan and I over dinner. Not with Dawn asking Logan for a favor while I was hiding under his desk.

“We need someone to be a champion of the new regulations,” Dawn continued. “Who better than the person who pushed so hard for them in the first place?”

“I highly doubt Miss Whitaker wished for the rules to be changed to what they currently are,” Logan said.

“The nature of the rules is not up for discussion or debate,” Dawn said. She spoke with a level of authority that I never would have dreamed using with the CEO of the company I worked. She must have been so confident the board would back her no matter what, if she considered herself about the CEO.

“If you want me to agree to lend you my assistant, you should show some respect.” Logan’s voice added its own edge. The temperature of the room seemed to dip lower.

“I don’t need your permission,” Dawn said. “I’m telling you that I am borrowing her. I’ve already secured the board’s support. Perhaps you would like to take up your issues with them?”

Logan did not reply for a long moment. Dawn seemed perfectly content to wait.

“What, exactly, do you need with Hazel?” Logan asked after a while.

“It’s simple,” Dawn said. “She’s going to help me convince the other employees to accept the new rules.”

That didn’t sound simple at all!

“She could refuse,” Logan said.

“That’s simple too,” Dawn replied. “If she doesn’t help me, I’ll fire her too.”