The Day I Fired My Husband Novel

2 With Carter out for the day , Lexi's boredom quickly reached its peak . She drifted out of the general manager's office again , a ghost of chaos haunting the cubicles . She floated through the office , a wal- king , talking disruption . One moment she was poking at a designer's freshly rendered graphic , leaving a smudge on the monitor . The next , she was leaning on a programmer's keyboard , inserting a string of gibberish into a line of code . You could feel the collective tension rise wherever she went .

People held their breath as she approached , only to exhale in a rush of relief and frantic damage control after she'd passed . Her tour eventually led her back to the break room kitchenette . She was apparently thirsty again . She picked up a disposable cup and held it under the water cooler spigot . I don't know if her hand slipped or if it was intentional . But she jerked . A full cup of water flew sideways , arcing through the air in a perfect , shimmering wave . It crashed directly against the wall beside the cooler . Right where the main circuit breaker for the entire floor was housed .

There was a loud , wet CRACKLE , a flash of angry blue sparks , and then ... nothing . The overhead lights died , Every computer monitor went black . For a few seconds , there was absolute silence . Then , the silence was shattered by a tidal wave of anguish and despair . " MY CODE ! I've been working on that script all morning ! I hadn't saved ! " " The pitch deck ! The client presentation is in two hours ! It's gone ! " " The quarterly reports ... they're due at two ... Oh my God , it's all gone !

" The head of IT , a perpetually stressed man named David , was the first one out of his office . He saw Lexi standing there , a look of pure , unblemished innocence on her face , and his own face turned a shade of mottled purple . His lips moved , but no sound came out . He clenched and unclenched his fists , a silent , internal battle against screaming . Lexi , of course , spoke first , her voice dripping with wronged fragility . 07-32 Chapter 1 07 32 C " What happened ? Is the power out ? " She gestured at the smoking , blackened panel. " That switch must be really cheap .

It shouldn't break just from a little water , right ? Why is our equipment so terrible ? " The sheer audacity of it , the masterful way she shifted blame , was almost breathtaking . The office manager , a man named Paul , came scurrying over . He took one look at the smoldering breaker , one look at Lexi , and immediately pasted a sycophantic smile on his face . " Lexi , are you hurt ? Did it scare you ? " he asked, his voice oozing false concern . " Don't you worry about a thing . It's not your fault . It was probably just some old wiring. We'll get it fixed right away .

I'll call maintenance , have them put in a new one , a waterproof one ! You just go back to the office and relax . We'll handle this . " Lexi pouted , clearly not entirely satisfied , but she turned and sauntered back toward Carter's office without another word . As soon as she was gone , Paul wiped a sleeve across his sweating forehead and started barking orders at the IT department . As he passed my desk , I stopped him .. " Excuse me ," I said quietly . " Does this kind of thing happen often ?

" He looked at me , recognized the visitor's badge , and a look of profound bitterness crossed his face . He motioned for me to follow him into the fire - exit stairwell . The heavy door clicked shut behind us . " You're from corporate , right ? The auditor ? " he asked , his voice low and conspiratorial . " Look , I probably shouldn't be saying this , but after today ... " He sighed , the sound echoing in the concrete well . " She's Carter's ... well , you know . She's his whole world . We can't touch her .

" " Carter's out of town today , so the queen has the run of the castle , " he continued , his face a mask of helpless frustration . " When he ' s here , at least he keeps her contained in his office ... " He leaned against the railing . " Last month ? She ' accidentally ' spilled a Venti latte . A very large , very hot latte . Right on top of our primary server rack . " My stomach clenched . " The entire company's data was corrupted . It took the IT guys a week of working around the clock just to restore it from backups . An entire week of productivity for the whole division , just ...

gone . " " And the consequences ? " I asked . A humorless laugh escaped his lips . " The consequences ? Carter said our IT department was negligent . That the servers were in an unsecured location . He docked the entire department's quarterly bonus . Said it was an ' object lesson ' in data security . " My heart , which had been sinking all morning , finally hit the floor . This was Carter's management style . Let a walking disaster area run wild , and then punish the hardworking employees who had to clean up her mess . Bravo , Carter . Just bravo .

Just then , the door to the GM's office opened again , and Lexi poked her head out . " Ugh , it's so boring in here ! Is the power back on yet ? My phone is about to die ! Are there any good snacks in the break room ? " No one answered . The only response was the deep , oppressive silence of a hundred people pushed beyond their breaking point .