“I terminated his employment.”
Eleanor stared.
“You fired him.”
“It was a management decision.”
“For stopping when I collapsed.”
“For abandoning a professional responsibility.”
Her expression hardened.
“Abandoning.”
Gavin tried to defend himself.
“Mrs. Halston, I understand how emotional this may feel from your perspective, but companies cannot function if employees decide personal impulses are more important than client obligations.”
Her eyes became cold.
“Personal impulse?”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“You just called preventing someone from d/y/ing a personal impulse.”
Gavin swallowed.
“I’m speaking in operational terms.”
“Then let’s speak operationally.”
One of her attorneys opened a folder.
Gavin appeared confused.
Eleanor turned toward him.
“You have been negotiating with Halston Capital for six months.”
I stared at my boss.
Nobody in the agency had known anything about those negotiations.
“My company has been conducting due diligence on Mercer & Field for a potential acquisition.”
