“Richard…”
“I’ll give you equity.”
I looked across my kitchen.
Bills sat on the counter.
Normal bills.
Electricity.
Insurance.
Tuition.
Strange how ordinary paper could feel comforting after the week I’d survived.
“I appreciate it.”
“But?”
“But I don’t want Gavin’s chair.”
Richard was silent.
“Why?”
“Because I spent four years trying to become important enough for people like Gavin to respect me.”
I looked toward the window.
“I don’t want to spend the next four becoming him.”
Richard laughed softly.
“That may be the best reason I’ve heard for offering you the job.”
I turned him down anyway.
Monday morning, I went to Halston Tower.
Not because Eleanor had saved me.
Not because she owed me.
Because I wanted to know whether the opportunity was real.
The interview lasted six hours.
Twelve executives.
Three case studies.
Financial scenarios I barely understood.
Management situations I understood immediately.
