"I don't know. I was never told a reason, and probably never will." Pattison sighed. "What a week, Claire?!" He laughed. "Julia left me, and now I've lost my job."
"Julia left you?"
"It's complicated." Pattison sighed.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not like you have it easy."
"Thank you for your help on Wednesday night."
"It's alright."
"I really do owe you. The drinks are on me, of course. But, if there's anything else I can do, give me a shout."
"Thank you for your kindness."
"It's nothing comparing to what you did for me. God, I'm so sorry for my state last week."
"It's nothing. Look at my state today." Pattison laughed. "How are we so miserable?"
"Honestly, I've decided to put all the blame in the universe on Mr Moore." Claire laughed.
"That's one tactic."
"Your firing, do you think it's Mr Moore's temper tantrum? Or is it serious?"
"He hasn't fired me before so I'd say that it is pretty serious."
"What a pr*ck." Claire declared.
Pattison laughed.
"As much as I'm agreeing, I also know that he isn't as bad of a person, he's just a pathological liar."
"No, Mark, no excuses for that man."
"Claire, he has ears everywhere! Do you want to get fired?" Pattison asked in an exaggerated whisper. He was already tipsy.
"I had a job interview on Friday. No one knows about it. Not yet." Claire said carefully.
"Ooooh."
"He is going to receive my resignation letter this evening. Any time now."
"Now I'm really glad that I was fired. He's going to lose his sh*t." Pattison laughed. "Where is it at?"
"X6 Global."
"Yep, that's definitely gonna make him lose his sh*t. You picked the biggest competitor."
"Yeah, slightly intentionally."
"He may try to sway you."
"Or destroy me."
"Yeah, it's about 50:50 on that one. So, what did they offer you?"
"Much more than Diamond Corp ever would."
"Good for you. I don't think he saw that one coming."
"He didn't foresee what's coming his way this week."
"Do you have some sort of an evil plan?"
"At least half of the department is going to resign by Friday, starting from tomorrow. Almost all of them have new offers, either at X6 Global or other main competitors. This will take down over two hundred million by the end of this week, and a total of about 2 billion Pounds worth of contracts within next few weeks, unless Mr Moore has an entire department of specialists on standby."
"God, you're sneaky." Pattison laughed. "I might feel a little sorry for him."
"I don't."
"And I thought that you were warming up to him."
"I don't think I'd ever be able to get along with him."
"Honestly, go for it. Go for X6 Global without hesitation."
"I never expected you to say that."
"If you stay at Diamond Corporate you will be subject to continuous emotional abuse. As many good deeds that Mr Moore did, he still is a barely functioning human."
"I appreciate your honest advice. I'm currently awaiting an angry call any minute now."
"It's up to you if you want to go and see him after the call. He might offer you better benefits than before but he might not match what X6 already is offering you. He might have an angry outburst. Who knows. He became completely unpredictable."
"I received some advice from my mentor for a time like this. If I don't intend to come back I should lay out the most outrageous demands so that I can shift the blame onto him. I think I might do that."
"What demands were you thinking about?"
"Quadruple the salary?"
"I like that. Get some company shares."
"I'm thinking 20%"
"Definitely. Also no break clause and indefinite employment."
"That's a good one." Claire nodded. "Full autonomy over the department so he can't fire my people."
"Yeah." Pattison encouraged her. "And don't buckle, don't give up."
"Of course not!" Claire laughed.
She looked at her phone as it started ringing. She was surprised to see 'Gabriel' pop up. She didn't remember ever saving his contact details. She waited for the phone to stop ringing.
"Aren't you going to answer?"
"No, I think he needs to brew for a little while." As the phone stopped ringing, she checked the communication history for the contact. There was one text that she didn't remember.
'I'm sorry for running late. I'm stuck in traffic. Order whatever you like, it's on me.' was the last one and it was from the previous week when they were meeting in the restaurant.
The phone started ringing again. Claire quickly put it down on the table and ordered herself one more drink. "For courage!"
"For courage!" Pattison raised the toast.
"Now, I'm very nosey, so please forgive me. What happened with Julia?"
"I was working too much and she was angry that I didn't have time for her. The past few weeks were mostly either arguments or silent treatment. Honestly, I don't blame her. At times it was as if I was married to Mr Moore and couldn't leave his side for days at a time."
"I'm so sorry."
"Aren't we miserable?" Pattison repeated again as he sighed. "I think that'll be enough. I do hope to see you some time again, Claire."
"Same, Mark, same." Claire patted him on his back and paid the bill. They both got into two different taxis and started heading home.
Claire's phone rang for the tenth time. She sighed and decided that she needed to confront him.
"Hello." She answered the call while closing her eyes as if hoping that the next time she'll open them the nightmare will end.
"Claire, I wish to speak to you." His voice was calm and cold. It was worse than if he was yelling, and Claire knew that.
"You are speaking to me now."
"I wish to speak to you in person. Where are you now?"
"Now?" Claire straightened up in the seat. "I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow."
"No, it cannot."
"Why the urgency?"
"Claire, where are you now?"
"I'm in the taxi, heading home."
"Can you take the detour and stop by my office?"
"But it's late…" Claire whined, her slight drunk state was making it difficult to compose herself.
"Claire. I will be waiting." Gabriel disconnected.
Claire sighed and asked the driver to change the destination. It only took about twenty minutes, but also it was getting late. Claire was wary of entering the building at almost 10 pm as there were barely any employees in, meaning that there were going to be no witnesses to what was about to happen. She made her way to the thirty-sixth floor first to refresh herself and to make sure that she was sober enough for this.
Her expectations were rather clear about what was going to happen. It'll start as silent rage and questioning, and then he'll explode, at first demolishing everything around him, until he will get her. She was trying to think of an escape plan, but her mind wasn't clear enough for this.
She took her phone and send a message to Gina and Zoe: 'Nice knowing you. I'm about to enter the tiger's den.'
Both were quick to respond. Zoe with encouragement, and Gina with worry.