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A moment later, I was standing in an empty office, completely baffled.
It wasn’t done like this. In a normal situation, I would be getting Dad to call this jerk and get him back in here with the threat that we’d pull out of the deal if he didn’t cooperate.
A middle-aged lady with a short bob and a fair sprinkling of gray hair appeared at the door. “Mr. Benson?”
I stood. “Josh, please.”
She approached and we shook. “Rosa Pasquali.”
“A pleasure.” I gestured to the seat.
“No, I have to go out to lunch. Mr. Berg told me you’re in charge now, so I thought I should give you this.” She handed me a folded single sheet of paper.
I Quit as of today.
N. Rossi.
“Is this…?” I asked.
“Nicole Rossi. Yes. She was quite upset. I wanted to give you…”
I waited.
She held out a manila folder. “I mean, I need you to sign her termination paperwork, since technically, she works for you.”
I took the folder and ran a hand through my hair. This was getting more fucked up by the minute. “No.” I didn’t bother to open the folder.
“No?”
“I’m not signing this until I talk with her.”
The CEO and COO just up and leave? This wouldn’t work. No way.
* * *
Nicole
I’d walkedout of Uncle Ernst’s office and almost upchucked my meager breakfast for the second time today.
Poof, the family company was gone? Just like that?
How could Ernst sell the company my grandparents had started, and Mom and Daddy had grown?
I’d only been gone a week and out of touch for a day or so.
Lara’s opinion of Uncle Ernst was spot on today. He was a fuckhead who hadn’t made more than a half-assed attempt to contact me in the Caribbean. All he’d ever cared about was how many dollars he could wring out of the company, not the legacy that had been built to pass on to the next generation.
And combine our stores with Smith’s? That was a joke. There was no overlap at all. Smith’s sold bulk generic food to cost-conscious buyers. We carried specialty items for discerning shoppers and supported local growers.
No wonder Josh was so rich. He and his family were a bunch of corporate vultures, buying up vulnerable businesses and dismembering them.
To think I’d been attracted to him made me want to puke. Beneath the smooth exterior, he obviously had the morals of a snake.
I refused to be a part of dismembering Rossi’s, so I wrote the note I had to write and left it on Rosa’s desk. The sticky note said to deliver it to Uncle Ernst when his door opened.
My tears began as soon as I closed my car door and started home. Now Casa di Rossi was where I needed to be. It would soon be all that was left of what my family had built. Three generations of work, and all we had to show for it now was an old house and six acres of orchard. I drove slowly, blinking back tears the whole way.
Chapter 11
