Free The Ultimate Merger by Delaney Diamond

 
    Chapter One
     
    Sabrina Porter stormed in and
slammed the door to her windowless office. She didn’t give a damn if they
heard. Slapping the sheets of paper in her hand onto the desk, she blinked back
tears of anger.
    It’s so unfair , she thought. 
    She had worked harder on the Japanese
project than her co-worker, Devin, but he was the one sitting back in
his chair, smiling like a Cheshire cat, hoarding the accolades from the senior
analysts. He was the one they decided would be the lead on the merger. And
why? Because she didn’t play golf?
    Too wired to sit down, she paced
the floor with a fist jammed into her hip bone.
    A soft knock shifted her attention
to the door. Before she could answer, Ernestine, the assistant she shared with
Devin and four other analysts, poked in her head.
    “Is it safe to come in?” she asked
with a timid smile.
    Sabrina gave a curt nod.
     “How’re you holding up?”
    Ernestine pushed her gold-framed
glasses up on her nose and clasped her hands in front of her. She’d been
working at Global Investments, Inc. since the formation of the company fifteen
years ago. Despite the difference in their ages and the fact that Sabrina was
one of her supervisors, they’d become friends when the firm hired Sabrina two
years ago.
    “How am I holding up? You took
notes in the meeting. They gave the Japan project to Devin. That fu—” She
closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Then she took
another deep breath and let it out slowly, too. “That freaking brown-noser.
Apparently, you don’t need any real skill or intelligence at this firm to
handle a multi-million dollar merger. All you need is a penis!”
    Ernestine’s pale cheeks reddened to
the same shade of her hair. She cleared her throat. “You might want to lower
your voice. You don’t want anyone to hear you, do you?”
    Sabrina let her head roll back and
stared up at the ceiling, knowing Ernestine was right. “No, I don’t,” she said
in a heavy voice. She walked over to her desk chair and collapsed onto it.
“It’s just so unfair. I work twice as hard as Devin does—three times, even, and
I produce good work. I’ve been here two years, Ernestine. Two years, and every
time a major deal is in the works, one of the male analysts gets it. Why am I
even here? Did they have to fill a quota?”
    Ernestine lowered onto the chair on
the opposite side of the desk. Her sympathetic gaze connected with Sabrina’s.
“Your work will be recognized eventually. You’ll see.”
    “When? I thought that busting my
butt would get me recognition, but it doesn’t seem to matter. As far as the
senior analysts are concerned, I might as well have gone to Jane Doe University
and not even bother to come in to work every day. I’d get the same amount of
respect.”
    Ernestine took a deep breath before
responding. “You’re going to get even more upset when I tell you what I’m about
to.”
    Sabrina sighed. “Lay it on me.”
    “They’re moving Devin into a bigger
office. One on the same hallway as the senior analysts.”
    Sabrina slumped back in the chair
and stared in disbelief at her co-worker. “Are you kidding me?”
    “I wish I were. I was told to start
coordinating the move with the building facilities manager.”
    “Unbelievable.”
    Sabrina shook her head. She worked
so hard, but it all seemed for naught. Two years ago she’d finished magna cum
laude with an MBA from the University of Chicago. She’d hoped to land a job in
a firm where she could work her way up in her specialty—mergers and
acquisitions. However, even though she consistently churned out excellent work,
she never received any of the exciting projects nor received the respect granted
to her male counterparts.
    “Why don’t we go out for a drink
tonight?” Ernestine offered. “Seems like you need it. We’ll go to Giovanni’s
and listen to music.”
    “You won’t drink with me.”
    “That doesn’t mean we can’t go out.
I’ll have