He Quit, Sold the House, and Became Her Biggest Client's Boss

After more than ten days of him still not being satisfied, I slammed my hand down on the desk.

Elise, who'd been playing deaf and dumb all this time, called us into her office at once.

"Toby, what are you shouting about?"

"Rudolph is the Design Director. You do whatever he tells you. The day Director Simmons is satisfied is the day I sign your resignation request!"

Rudolph let out a smug little snort, and before he turned to leave he ordered me to brew him a coffee and bring it to his office.

I folded my arms and looked at her.

"Elise, is this what you call keeping work and personal life separate?"

"Toby, whether you accept it or not, he's the Design Director now. If you humiliate him in front of everyone, how is he supposed to command any respect later?"

"You've vented, so go. It doesn't look good, you in here alone with me."

Five years of marriage, and for the first time I felt like I was suffocating in the same room as her.

"I'm going by the law either way. Thirty days at the most and I'm out, right on schedule. Tell him to do what he wants with that."

Before I started at the new company, I still had to move and sell the apartment.

I didn't have that kind of time to waste on them.

On my last day, the only things left on my desk were a water cup and a laptop.

Elise had a meeting at headquarters today, so she'd signed off yesterday, and my exit paperwork had already cleared.

After saying goodbye to each of my coworkers, I gathered up my last two belongings and went to leave.

Only to find Rudolph and a few others blocking the doorway.

"I suspect there's company confidential material on your personal computer. The tech department is taking it now!"

That computer held every bit of work I'd poured into these years. I kept it on me coming and going, and there was no way I'd let them walk off with it on their own.

"I'll cooperate with an inspection, but I'm not handing it over to you!"

Rudolph curled his lip into a sneer. "Your computer's also got a lot of new design templates and fonts on it, doesn't it?"

I froze. Those were the portfolio pieces I'd been preparing for interviews once I'd settled on leaving. I hadn't told a single soul.

And the only person who could unlock my computer was Elise.

Rudolph raised his voice.

"Some people have no professional ethics at all. The company spent all these resources training her, and she won't even hand over the core files in full."

"If everyone acted like this, how would the department ever get any work done?"

All these days I'd wanted nothing but to leave fast, but that didn't mean he got to walk all over me.

"This is my personal computer. The templates and fonts on it are my own original work. They have nothing to do with the company."

"You have no right to take my private designs!"

The coworkers around us spoke up too. "Exactly. Who doesn't know how much Toby's contributed here? Most of the proposals were original work, done by his own hand. What's there to take away?"

"If you ask me, some people just enjoy making things hard for others!"

Rudolph couldn't keep face, and he barked the order. "What are you standing around for? Go grab that computer!"

"If you cause damage to company property, can you afford to pay for it?"

He pointed at the coworkers around us. "Anyone who wants to resign with him is welcome to come help him!"

Every one of them dropped their heads and pretended to work.

Two security guards pinned me down, and Rudolph unlocked my computer with no trouble at all, using Elise's birthday.

He tapped at it a few times, careless. "Nothing worth looking at, really." Then he held it out to me.

But I was pinned and couldn't reach to take it.

He smiled, and let go. The computer hit the floor.

A foot came down on the screen, and it shattered into pieces.

"This way nobody has to worry you're hiding something!"

The coworkers all sucked in a sharp breath. Everyone knew a computer meant as much as life itself to a designer.

I broke free and lunged, and drove a fist straight into Rudolph.

"Who told you to touch my computer? Have I been too easy on you?"