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A smile broadened across her face. “Nicole, let’s go over it so you understand what you’re walking away from before you dismiss it out of hand.”
I couldn’t be bought. It was a temptation I had to resist.
“It’s what your father would have done,” she said.
I looked up from the paper. Invoking Daddy was a low blow. “He never would have sold. He wouldn’t want to be part of destroying what we built,” I argued.
“He wouldn’t make a decision like you have to make without understanding the ramifications, is what I meant.”
I took a breath. “Of course. You’re right.” It didn’t mean I was agreeing to help Benson undo everything we’d accomplished, but Rosa had a point. Daddy would have been disappointed in me if I couldn’t articulate the pros and cons of a decision. “What’s in it?”
“It’s long, and I think you should read it through, but the short version financially is that the company will continue your current salary and benefits, including the loan payments. At the end of six months, you will receive a two-hundred-thousand-dollar bonus—”
“Cash?” I asked, interrupting her.
“Yes, cash, and the company will assume all remaining liability for your educational loans. You wouldn’t owe anything after that, and your COBRA health insurance payments would also be borne by the company for an additional year.”
I nodded. “That sounds like a lot.”
“It is, and I know Mr. Benson would love to hear that you’re agreeing to stay.”
I sat back in my chair. Another thing Daddy would have told me is not to make a snap decision. “I haven’t agreed, yet.”
She nodded at my addingyetto my answer. “It also doesn’t allow Mr. Benson to terminate you without cause. And this is the good part: they can’t diminish your duties either.”
“So they can’t fire me a month early and keep me from getting the money?”
Rosa nodded. “Or getting the education loan paid off. Nicole, it’s only six months.”
The numbers were huge, and I was tempted. I was seriously considering selling Benson my soul. Did that mean I was the same as a prostitute of sorts? And we were only haggling about the price? What would Daddy think of that? Would he have allowed his daughter, his only child, to become a corporate whore to the Bensons?
It was too much to process. The retention agreement deserved a thoughtful reading. But I’d have to put up with Benson’s idiocy for six months. Merge us with Smith’s? How could anyone have a worse idea?
I rose from the chair and gathered the papers she’d given me. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s a good idea,” Rosa replied with a genuine smile.
* * *
Josh
Rosa arrivedat my open door. “Mr. Benson?”
“Please, let’s make it Josh.”
She nodded. “I wanted to tell you Nicole stopped in this morning.”
I didn’t care to acknowledge my disappointment. “And did she budge when you mentioned the retention bonus?”
Rosa had suggested yesterday that she thought Nicole might be overreacting.
“Not exactly, but I think you might be able to persuade her.”
Itsked. “So far she hasn’t shown a willingness to listen.”
I could understand her position. I’d certainly take it personally if somebody bought out Benson Corp.
“I thought it worth mentioning—a lot of people here identify quite closely with her,” Rosa added.
