Page 46 of Finding Love

The man’s eyes narrowed. “We’ve been having… issues with her.”

“Such as?” He waited.

Mark’s face grew beet red. “None of your damn business. I don’t need to justify replacing someone. I am acting CEO.”

“You were, for the past year. Now that I’m back, you are no longer in that position. It’s the reason you moved out of this office. Besides, if you were planning on replacing Lindsey, whoever you hired should be taking over her current office. But more importantly, I’d like to hear what your reasons are for firing an employee that has no marks against her in the two years she’s worked here. One whose employees all rave about her leadership.”

Mark’s eyes narrowed as he thought for a moment. “She has threatened to sue the company.”

“Over?” Ryder asked easily, wanting to play along with the man’s game.

After his meeting with the accounting department, Ryder had had a quick private chat with Lindsey. The woman wasn’t threatening to sue Gallant but rather Mark directly, for physical assault and harassment.

It appeared that about a month back, things had taken a nasty turn between her and Mark. Lindsey had even shown Ryder some photos of a few bruises and scratches on her arms and hands to back her claims against Mark.

She’d told Ryder how Mark had stormed into her office and had picked up and thrown a wooden pencil holder directly at Lindsey’s head.

Apparently, Mark had been fuming after the accounting department’s end-of-month reports to the board had shown more than ten thousand dollars missing from one of Mark’s accounts.

The missing money was what Ryder was currently looking into on his computer.

Ryder didn’t condone violence of any kind, even if it was Lindsey’s word against Mark’s. No one else had witnessed the incident. All they had were Lindsey’s photos, which she claimed the police and lawyers had copies of.

The assault was just one more thing he could use in the case to fire Mark. He was hoping he’d have enough ammunition to persuade the board that it was the best move. Most of the members were already leaning towards that move, but this would convince the others that were still on the fence. He had arranged for a private meeting with the board in less than an hour to discuss their next move. He hated to fire the guy without notifying them. After all, he was the one who had suggested leaving the man in charge while he was gone.

Ryder also wanted to find out why it appeared that Mark had gone unpunished by the board after the incident, but Lindsey apparently had been punished. When he’d left a year ago, she’d been in the larger corner office. Now, she was in the middle of the fifth floor. Her office was a small cubicle, and most of the employees under her had much larger stations. There were no doors, no privacy for the phone calls or meetings that the position required.

The move had been made to humiliate the woman and, by the looks of it, it had succeeded. She’d confided in him that she was looking for another job. Mark hadn’t fired her yet, but she’d suspected it was coming. She still had favor with a lot of the board members, which was probably why Mark had waited.

This was something he planned on fixing in the coming days, just as soon as he could find another empty office for the new mothers to utilize.

“A private matter,” Mark answered finally.

Ryder drew his eyebrows up slowly. “Since that matter took place on company grounds, it is not private.”

Mark’s eyes narrowed. “She’s lying.”

“Maybe about the pencils,” he said smoothly. He turned back to his computer. “But the missing ten grand”—he waved his hand—“is still indeed missing from one of your accounts.”

Mark’s face grew a deeper shade of red. “She probably pocketed the money herself to make me look bad.”

Ryder glared at him, not saying another word. His eyes bore into Mark’s until the man started to fidget.

I moved her out of the bigger office so she had some accountability. I hired Roy Gusset to replace her because I could no longer trust her.” Mark waved his hands as if he was shooing a fly away.

“And what did the board think of your decisions?” Ryder asked. Mark’s face grew brighter.

“I didn’t need to ask the board. I was acting CEO,” he practically shouted.

“Lindsey is the head of a department. Our bylaws clearly state that it takes a vote from the board for you to replace anyone, including her,” Ryder said. He continued to remain quiet but did a quick employee search on Roy Gusset in the system. The man’s name and data were already in the company database.

When he saw the connection, Ryder’s anger grew, and he shut his laptop and stood up. He moved around until he was standing directly in front of Mark.

“The man is your brother-in-law,” he growled out.

“So? He’s more than qualified,” Mark shot back. “More so than that bitch you hired two years ago.”

Ryder slowly fisted his hands and had to take three deep breaths before he got his anger under control.