I felt like I was going to throw up. Lucille’s eyes seemed to darken slightly as they swept across the room toward me and a vile curve came to her lips.
“I know that we will work extremely well together and bring Royal and Company to new levels of success,” she said. “That will take effort and dedication from all of you. I know that there are certain ways and operations to which everyone is accustomed, and some of them will need to change. That means that we are all starting fresh. I don’t know you or what you are capable of, so you will need to prove to me that you are of worth to this team and the contribution that you can make. This is a beginning for all of us. Everyone is on level ground now.” She looked directly at me and I knew that that comment was for me. Lucille went back to looking at the rest of the group. “I will be shaking up things around here to make sure that we are all able to reach the potential that I know we have. You may have already noticed some of the changes that I have made in an effort to make our shared work environment healthier. A healthy work environment encourages a healthy team and I know that all of you will not just get accustomed to the changes, but will embrace them and the benefits that they will bring.”
Bitch, where are my doughnuts?
Chapter Three
Lucille
“Are you sure that these reviews are accurate?” I asked.
The papers spread out on the desk in front of me were nothing short of infuriating and I could only hope that I would find out that they were as absurd as the rest of the way that my ridiculous new husband had run this company. New husband. That made my skin crawl and a chill run down my spine. There was no romantic motivation in the reaction. I had never been one of those women who envisions the perfect wedding and the dreamy man standing at the end of the aisle. Instead, I thought only of power. I always knew that I was going to marry the man who was going to put me in the best position in life, and it just so happened that I ran across Walter Royal. I had no difficulty convincing him that we were so perfect for each other that there was no point in dragging out our courtship or engagement. He was all too eager to jump on my offer of marriage during our visit to his island over the weekend. Exorbitantly wealthy and notoriously generous, he was exactly what I was shopping for when I attended the industry event several weeks before, even if he was more than twice my age and had the type of health philosophy that led him to believe strawberry ice cream counted as a serving of fruit. It was just an added bonus that he was the boss of my biggest rival.
Snow Whitman. Just the thought of that name made my muscles tense and my hands clench. She had been the bane of my existence since the first day of college when I walked into my first class and saw her sitting in the front row, already gazing admiringly at the professor. Glossy black hair and piercing blue eyes seemed to transfix the young male teacher and I knew in an instant that she was going to be intolerable.
“Yes,” Mr. Glass said.
That was it. Just “yes”. Fantastic advisor.
“How can she possibly have this many accounts?” I asked, sifting through the pages of her file and reading the names of the companies that she had worked with in the last few years.
“She is highly sought after,” Mr. Glass said matter-of-factly. “She has been an enthusiastic contributor to projects since she was first hired and it didn’t take long for her to start getting her own accounts. Now new clients often ask for her to be involved in their campaigns.”
“Why?” I asked. “What makes her so amazing?”
I didn’t really want to hear it. Actually, I already had. I had been hearing it for years. All through that first class when the professor couldn’t seem to get three sentences out of his mouth without praising her or asking for her opinion on what he was saying. In the classes that we shared in the years that followed when the professors just mimicked what the first had done, seeming to fall deeper and deeper under Snow’s spell. Out in the world as we competed for positions at the best agencies and then feuded for the highest-paying accounts. I’d had my mind set on working for Royal and Company from even before I went into the university. Even then it was the best advertising agency in the area and I wanted only the best. Of course, it wasn’t me who got the prime position. Snow walked into the agency and charmed Walter Royal into offering her the position along with a perks package that was far beyond anything that any other entry level position should have offered.
I looked down at my hand and saw the massive diamond on my finger sparkle in the light. Now I was the one with the perks package. There might be a few elements of the – job description that I wasn’t entirely fond of, but I could deal with it to get me right where I was right then. Besides, Walter was going to be away for weeks on his retirement vacation. I was only thankful that I had been able to convince him that he should go on his own rather than bringing me along so that I could get to know the company and the employees. I realized that Mr. Glass was talking, droning on about all of Snow’s attributes, and I forced myself to check back into the conversation. As much as I didn’t need to hear another speech about her perfection and all of the ways that she made the world a better place, I wanted to know what it was about her that had lured in these clients and landed their accounts. To me, she wasn’t an asset. She was the competition and a stumbling block in the way of my success. When I could identify what about her was so appealing and reflect it for myself, then I could eliminate her and finally take the success that was owed to me.
“Her creativity is unsurpassed by anyone else. She’s the best in the industry.”
“No, she’s not,” I muttered.
“Excuse me?” Mr. Glass said.
I looked up at him again, shaking my head.
“Nothing. So, she’s creative? That’s what makes all of these people fall all over themselves for her? Isn’t creativity a basic job requirement of advertising?”
“There’s something different about her type of creativity. It’s like she sees things in a completely different way than other people. She’s able to grab the attention of the clients and convince them that she knows exactly what that specific demographic needs so that she can create a campaign that will be irresistible to them.”
“That’s it?” I asked, dumbfounded by the level of trust and confidence that that seemingly unremarkable skill had instilled in even stony, emotionless Mr. Glass. “She is considered the best in the industry because she can convince clients that she can make a good campaign? Silly me, I thought that that was what everyone in advertising was supposed to be able to do.”
“If you would like a more in-depth understanding, I can bring you the files for her most recent account.”
I felt my frustration increase.
“I thought that I specifically requested that you bring me all of the information about her. Why did you leave that out?”
“Miss Whitman is still working on this particular account. She just landed it two weeks ago and has been working on it intently since. The files on it are in her office.”
I drew in a breath to calm down, reminding myself that my goal was to try to appear as disarming and beguiling as Snow to these people.
“Could you please get them for me so that I’m able to look over them?” I asked as gently as I could. “I would really like to get the full perspective of all of the employees and projects within the company so that I can make the best plans for our team moving forward.”
Mr. Glass’s expression didn’t change. I didn’t know if it was because I hadn’t impacted him enough to have an emotional impact, or if this man simply didn’t have emotional reactions at all. He gave a single nod and turned, leaving my office without another word. I let out a sigh of exasperation as he closed the door.
I don’t think I’m cut out for this bullshit.
I heard a knock on my door and I smoothed my hair back.
“You can come back in, Mr. Glass,” I called.