Freeze Me Out, Lose Everything

I helped build our company from a cramped basement all the way up to an office tower. Then winter hit. It was fourteen degrees outside, my hands were raw from the cold, and all I asked was for our boss to turn on the office heat. "Are you here to work or to be comfortable?" Darlene Kessler snapped in front of everyone. "We're still growing. We can't afford heating bills. Declan, you're our top salesman. You should be setting an example instead of demanding special treatment!" Before I could respond, her assistant strolled in wearing a designer coat and carrying two first-class tickets to Santa Lucera. I laughed and pointed at the tickets. "So the rest of us have to freeze while we make you money, but you can afford to take him to Santa Lucera?" Darlene slammed her palm onto my desk. "You don't understand business! We're about to go public. Tristan has the looks and the image to represent us overseas. This is an international expansion trip!" International expansion? I was the company's top salesman. Since when did we have business in Santa Lucera? And what kind of major deal required a pretty boy who couldn't even speak the language instead of me? "Don't think a few good numbers give you the right to tell me how to run things!" she warned. "One more word, and you can forget about receiving a cent of this month's commission." I looked at her, blinded by her infatuation, and said nothing. Five days later, while she was sunbathing in Santa Lucera, a single phone call left her slumped in her lounge chair.