Virtue and Vice

Chapter Fifteen

A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks to all who voted and commented like crazy on the previous chapters. The story has definitely picked up momentum with a lot of you and people are really running off with all kinds of ideas and possibilities on the next chapters. It's fun. LOL!

As always, please vote and comment if you like it.. I really, really appreciate it. Thanks! =)

***Dedicating this chapter to another fave WP author of mine: greenwriter. I love her work The Transient Wife which features a tough female lead also named Cassandra.***

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“I thought I’d get you to sign this before we release the company newsletter on Monday.”

I stared at the folder Tamara handed me, feeling uneasy at what I knew it contained.

“It’s been revised to six months,” she added, answering my unspoken question.

I looked at her for a minute, unsure how to best approach the situation.

She emailed me a meeting request with no stated agenda. Since Sebastian’s revelations yesterday, I haven’t decided yet how I was going to deal with Tamara.

She didn’t look annoyed or exasperated—as always she looked pleasant and professional.

“Can I ask you something, Tamara?”

I wondered where the courage came from but now that I’d asked it out loud, there was no going back.

“Of course. What is it?”

I took a deep breath. “Do you think I deserve this job? And I’d appreciate an honest answer, without fear of repercussions—just your own personal opinion.”

She raised a brow, rolling a fountain pen between her fingers. “Didn’t I do a pretty speech of it on your first day here?”

“Yes, but that was before... you know...”

She just raised her brow again, prompting me wordlessly.

“That was before Sebastian told me what he’d done. Now, I can’t help but question everything.”

I lowered my eyes to the folder again, wondering if a time will come when I would stop second-guessing everything that had happened in my life because someone had a hand in it other than me.

“I have tremendous respect for Sebastian,” Tamara started slowly. “He has a vision and he has a drive most people can only envy. He doesn’t kid around and he certainly doesn’t suffer fools. If someone’s not good enough to work for this company, they wouldn’t be working here if he had anything to do with it. I’ve never known him to have biases—he doesn’t give an inch even to people who’d worked for him for years. You perform well, you get rewarded generously. You slack off, you get the boot. He’s always been black and white about that.”

I grimaced, unable to help myself. 

She won’t be the only one to think it unfair that I’ve gained advantage because of my personal association to the boss.

“When he came to me about you, I was appalled,” she continued, smiling wryly. “I thought to myself, if he was going to pull strings, he can do it in some other department. I didn’t want to be told who to hire. He didn’t explain to me his motives. He just told me that he knows someone who would be an asset to the team. He didn’t tell me I didn’t have a choice about it although I’m pretty sure that was all between the lines. He just handed me your CV to look through. The next day I told him I’d take you on.”