Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77816 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77816 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Mr. Voss, your services with this team are no longer required. There is a security guard waiting for you outside. He’ll escort you to your office where you’ll have sufficient time to pack any personal belongings, and then you shall leave this property and not return.”
Holy cow. I look around the table quickly and see that this is no surprise to Luca, whose gaze is pinned on Hendrik. Matthieu’s eyes are wide and Nash… a low-level smile of “gotcha” on his face.
“You can’t be serious,” Hendrik sputters. “You cannot unilaterally fire me without hearing my side.”
“I asked you very specific questions, Mr. Voss, and you refused to answer them. You also seem to believe that I’m setting you up in some way, when I was merely trying to get your side of the story. I cannot have someone on this team who doesn’t understand the basic tenets of professionalism, teamwork and accountability. Your behavior is unacceptable, and it’s costing this team. You’re done.”
Brienne stares at Hendrik, waiting for further objection. He looks wildly around the table, his gaze landing on Luca. “And you agree with this?”
“It wouldn’t matter if I did or didn’t,” Luca says quietly. “Brienne is the boss, and we answer to her. But for the record, I do agree with it and helped her arrive at this conclusion. I appreciate her asking for my consideration.”
Hendrik looks to Matthieu who now stares down at the table in front of him.
Then he looks to me, and I see a plea within, asking me to intervene. No matter how badly he treated me—made me doubt myself—I still feel sorry for him. I can’t save him though, nor would I try. I expect Brienne wouldn’t respect it.
Without another word, Hendrik slowly stands from his chair as if anticipating someone will say this was a big joke. No one moves. No one says a word, and eventually, Hendrik walks out the door.
Brienne isn’t finished though. She turns her regard to Matthieu and waits for him to look at her. When he finally does, she asks, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
He swallows hard. “Honestly, I’m afraid to say anything.”
It’s amazing. I’ve never heard him sound so humble before.
Brienne’s eyes glimmer with satisfaction. “I’d say you’re on your way to learning then, because sometimes, it’s best to keep your mouth shut.”
“I’ve learned my lesson,” he says hastily.
She shakes her head. “No, you haven’t. It goes beyond disrespect. You directly disobeyed instructions relayed to you by your chief strategist in Jeddah. You placed full blame for a poor finish on her, without looking inwardly at yourself, or even acknowledging the dozens of factors that can make or break your race. You’re immature and you don’t deserve to sit in one of my cars at this time.”
I glance at Nash who’s staring at Matthieu with an unreadable expression, but I can tell by his relaxed demeanor that he’s not shocked.
“Matthieu… I’m moving you over to development where you’ll work with our design engineers to develop and test our upgrade packages on the car. You’ll keep your same salary, which is exponentially more than what you’d normally earn in that position. It is my hope, that with time, you’ll learn the benefit of teamwork because this is not an individual sport. Maybe one day, you’ll earn your way back onto the competitive track.”
Matthieu looks crushed, but he nods his acceptance. “Can I ask who will replace me?”
“I don’t have an answer,” Brienne replies as she nods toward the door. “But if you’ll excuse us, we are going to have a meeting about that very thing.”
He stands and to my surprise, looks to me. “I’m sorry, Bex.”
That’s it. No further words of remorse or regret, but honestly… it’s enough because he sounds genuine. Whether he’ll change his ways remains to be seen.
Without being told to do so, Nash rises from his chair as well and follows Matthieu out the door. I watch him retreat, gaze pinned to the door long after it’s closed.
When I glance back to Brienne, she’s staring at me. “I wanted Nash in this appointment in case Hendrik or Matthieu tried to dispute facts, but his place isn’t here as we discuss who to put in the empty car seat. That’s for top management. Unfortunately, we do not have a chief engineer at this point, so the three of us will have to brainstorm.”
“Francesca Accardi,” I blurt out. “I think now’s the time for a woman to join the top tier.”
Brienne’s smiles with her approval, and I glance at Luca, who looks amused as well. It’s clear they’ve already floated that driver between themselves and wanted to know what I thought.
“She’s a prime consideration,” Luca says. “Let’s discuss pros and cons, as well as a few other candidates.”
Luca pulls out folders from a briefcase on the floor and passes them to me and Brienne. “I’ve got all the prospects here for us to review.”