Surrendering to Us by Chelsea M. Cameron Read Free Book Online Page B

get the company back on track, and make sure that no other shenanigans were going on. It was a pain in the ass, and it almost felt like a violation.
    They had ordered a review of nearly each and every piece of paper, every file and more background checks on employees that probed deeper than the initial checks. I called it the Inquisition in my head. It had to be done, but it was such an invasive process. They’d even looked into me, though they didn’t tell me about it until after the fact.
    There was a list of questionable employees that they wanted to get rid of, but they didn’t want to do it all at once, so as not to make it look bad. Instead they had been doing it gradually, and replacing those people with ones they had handpicked. In addition to the people they’d hired to do the investigation, they’d hired a headhunter and had spent plenty of company dollars wooing (stealing) rising stars from other tech companies.
    It wasn’t my idea, and I thought it was a little underhanded, but I was overruled, so now I was along for the ride.
    Without Lucah and the potential for groping, meetings had gone back to being dull again. Except when I walked in, everyone’s eyes turned toward me. They’d all been talking, and had immediately stopped upon my entrance. At least Dad was here, since the first item on the agenda was the final interviews.
    The first interviewee was, to put it delicately, a portly fellow who barely fit into the chair provided for him and burped (loudly) several times while answering questions, and never excused himself. The second was better, but he definitely leered at me a few times, and even though he was qualified, he set off my icky vibe. The third was Violet Cooper. She swept into the room with her head held high, and a smile on her face. She shook everyone’s hand, including mine, and she gave me a firm grip. This girl had obviously had handshake lessons.
    Violet sat in her chair, crossed her ankles and folded her hands in her lap. I glanced quickly around the room, and most of the men were definitely sitting forward in their chairs and looking much more lively than before. Even Dawn, the head of Human Resources, perked up. This could be interesting. I wanted to give Dad a look, but I resisted.
    “So, Miss Cooper, where do you see yourself in five years?” Hal got to ask the lead-off question, and then everyone got to alternate. It was an intense type of interview, but it was designed that way. If you could get through this, then you could probably hack working here. I’d been through it and I still remember how terrified I was beforehand, almost to the point of throwing up.
    “I see myself on the other side of this table, sitting with all of you. It’s been my dream to work here, and everything I’ve done in my life has led to this point. It’s not just that I want to make a lot of money, or have a fancy house. I want to work for this company because it’s a fantastic company. You’re doing good things here, important things, and I want to be a part of it. When I was a little girl and we’d come into the city, I’d stand on the sidewalk and look up at this building and swear to myself that I would work in it someday.” Oh, she was good. She’d definitely rehearsed that speech before coming in.
    The questions kept firing and she kept nailing her answers. It was almost like she was putting on a performance of the most perfect interview. When she was done, I wanted to stand and give her a round of applause. Instead, she thanked everyone for their time, and hoped they would consider her and swept out of the room. There was silence after her exit.
    “Impressive,” Hal said, looking down at his notes. I hadn’t made many on her. There just wasn’t much to say. No wonder she’d made it past the first round.
    “She was very impressive,” Dad said, nodding. “Especially for being so young.” He threw a wink in my direction that I hoped no one else saw. There was a brief discussion