Bette walked into the emergency meeting with
the CAC board and felt very much like the time that she thought she was going
to be fired.  She pushed the thought
aside and sat down.  Fired, not in this
lifetimes.  She’d just closed another
deal with a huge up and coming artist to be shown exclusively at the CAC,
they’d be insane to let her go now.  Bette walked with the confidence that she knew
was all hers.

            “Franklin.” 
She acknowledged the man, who didn’t say a word.  He just looked at her oddly and they waited
until the other members had arrived.  She
sat, playing with the pencil that was on the pad before her.  Everyone walked in, silent and serious.  Bette began to worry, what was going on?

            “Good afternoon.  Bette, we’ve called this meeting for one reason, and one
reason only. Your conduct in the last months has been nothing but…” He
stopped, finding it harder than he’d thought. 
He didn’t like Bette Porter much, but she was good at what she
did.  He had to admit that much.

            “Exemplary?”  Bette offered with a smile that could charm most men, but Franklin wasn’t most men.

            “Atrocious.”  Franklin corrected and Bette leaned back, was this another witch hunt
for her head on the sacrificial table. 
She took a deep breath, she hadn’t done anything wrong.  At least, nothing that came to her mind.

            “We are terminating your
contract.”  He announced quickly, feeling
no remorse after having said it.  The
other board members nodded, lacky’s every last one of them.

            “I’d like to know why?”  Bette asked, getting up from the table and Franklin looked at the other board members, who
nodded.

            “We have come into some information
that you’d been engaging in sexual acts on the premises.”  Bette bit her lip; well she had done that, hadn’t she?  On more than on occasion to be precise.  It was in her contract, mostly for sexual
harassment charges, that the CAC wouldn’t be held accountable, but now it was
being used against her.  “We’ve given you
a full severance package, this month’s pay and the bonus that you’d have gotten
at the end of the year.  Please have your
office cleared out by the end of the day.” 

            With that, they all stood as if on
cue, walking out of the boardroom leaving Bette standing at the end of the table, head
hanging low.  She had done this to
herself, she licked her lips, the anger brimming and she pounded both fists
into the table, hard.