The Termination Clause

I got blacklisted by my boss’s girlfriend.

She screamed at me over the phone.

“You’re his subordinate! A female subordinate! Don’t you have any goddamn boundaries? Hitting on your own boss after hours?”

But the multimillion-dollar contract in my hands was set to expire tomorrow.

When I tried calling back, my number was blocked.

My boss was MIA. No one at the company would answer.

The next morning, my boss, Leo, showed up at my front door, company seal in hand.

I yawned. “Leo, you’re a grown man. Don’t you think you should have some boundaries?”

I leaned against the doorframe.

“Showing up at your female subordinate’s apartment this early? A little inappropriate, don’t you think?”

1

We were finalizing the terms of the contract when the door to Leo’s office creaked open.

His girlfriend, Chloe, peeked her head in. Her eyes landed on me and instantly froze.

Her eyelids were puffy and red. Her voice, thick with unshed tears, was a careful whisper.

“Leo… am I interrupting?”

My hand, resting on the printed agreement, went still.

Leo froze, a statue of pure awkwardness. He snapped out of it and moved to take her hand, but Chloe flinched back, a single, perfect tear tracing a path down her cheek.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffled, her voice trembling. “I didn’t mean to doubt you… It’s just… I hear things. People say that bosses always end up falling for their indispensable assistants, and I just get so scared…”

I said nothing. I simply closed my laptop.

Leo’s face flushed, a chaotic mix of red and white. His words tumbled out in a rush. “Chloe, don’t be ridiculous. We’re just talking about a contract. That’s all.”

“A contract…”

Chloe’s quiet sniffles blossomed into a full-blown sob.

“I know Avery is brilliant. Not like me. I can’t help you with anything; I just get in your way. But… but does talking business really require a closed door?”

Leo’s brow furrowed. He glanced from the weeping Chloe to me, then back again.

His gaze finally settled on me, heavy with an unmistakable plea for me to just make this easy for him.

“Avery, look… Why don’t you step out for a minute? Let me clear this up with her.”

I stood, gathering my files from his desk.

“Fine,” I said. “But Mr. Henderson is waiting for the final version. If we don’t have it locked in by 9 a.m. tomorrow, the penalty is fifteen percent of the total project value.”

I paused at the door, turning back to him.

“And Leo? My salary doesn’t include a line item for mediating your relationship drama.”

With that, I pulled the door open and walked out, leaving behind the image of Leo’s stunned face and the sound of Chloe’s escalating cries.

2

The office was eerily quiet.

Chloe had started as the front desk admin two years ago. Last year, she became Leo’s girlfriend and had carried herself like the First Lady ever since. She viewed any female creature that came within a ten-foot radius of Leo as a mortal enemy.

Somehow, she still had a flock of supporters.

Right now, she was leaning against the reception desk, “sharing” something with a few colleagues. Her voice was a syrupy-sweet confection, punctuated by delicate giggles behind her hand. But her eyes were like hooks, flicking in my direction again and again.

“Oh, Avery just works so hard, it breaks my heart,” she sighed, loud enough for me to hear. “A girl has to take care of herself, you know? If Leo knew how much she was pushing herself, he’d blame me for not looking after you better.”

She let out another little laugh. “My Leo is just too soft-hearted. He always feels like he owes his hardworking employees so much. I’ve told him a million times, ‘Don’t be too nice to your subordinates, honey. You don’t want to give them the wrong idea.’”

The air around me grew thick, the gazes of my coworkers sticky with a mix of curiosity and malicious glee.

I ignored it all, pouring every ounce of my focus into the contract revisions.

An hour later, I had checked every clause, every word, every comma. I clicked send.

Recipient: Leo Miller.

The moment the email left my outbox, a pair of exquisite stilettos stopped beside my desk. Chloe leaned down, holding Leo’s phone in her manicured hand.

“Great work, Avery. You’re such a trooper,” she chirped, her smile a mask of pure innocence. She wiggled the phone. “Leo left this with me. He didn’t want me to worry.”

She leaned in conspiratorially. “It was just a precaution, you know, in case any little bees tried to buzz around my husband…”

She pulled back, her eyes wide. “Oh my god, Avery, don’t get me wrong! I wasn’t talking about you! I’m sure you were just sending a work email.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was perfectly pitched to carry across the entire open-plan office.

From the next cubicle, I heard a choked-off snort of laughter.

Someone else muttered, dripping with sarcasm, “Well, well. When the real girlfriend has to come mark her territory, you know someone doesn’t have any boundaries.”

“Seriously. Director at twenty-eight? You think she got that with just her ‘work ethic’? Please. We all know what kind of ‘ethic’ gets you that kind of promotion.”

I smiled, leaning back in my chair.

“Chloe, the word you used was ‘husband,’” I said, my voice calm and clear. “When was the wedding? I must have missed the invitation.”

3

Chloe’s face turned a blotchy crimson. She stood there, neck rigid, unable to form a single word.

Finally, she shot me a venomous glare, spun on her heel, and clip-clopped away in a fury.

Around me, heads ducked in unison as everyone suddenly became intensely interested in their work.

I ignored them, my attention returning to the screen.

Time ticked by. The sky outside my window bled from gray to black. The office emptied out until I was the only one left, but the door to Leo’s office remained shut.

The company seal I needed never appeared.

At 8 p.m., I dialed Leo’s number.

“Hello?”

I suppressed the knot of anxiety in my stomach. “Chloe, please put Leo on the phone. There’s an urgent contract that needs his attention.”

A light, musical laugh echoed from the other end.

“Oh, Director Reed, still trying to talk business with a man this late? My Leo is already fast asleep.”

My grip on the phone tightened. My voice dropped three degrees. “This contract is worth tens of millions of dollars. The final deadline is 9 a.m. tomorrow. The company cannot afford the penalty fee.”

“Oh, what a shame,” she cooed. “But work is never-ending, isn’t it? And a man’s health is the most important thing. I just couldn’t bear to wake him up right now. You’re so capable, Director Reed. I’m sure you can figure something out on your own, right?”

She hung up before I could reply.

I immediately redialed. A cold, robotic voice met my ear.

The user you are trying to reach is unavailable.

I tried again. Same message.

She had blocked my number.

4

I switched to the messaging app and sent Leo a text.

[Leo, the Henderson contract is due at 9 a.m. The penalty for default is catastrophic for the company. Please call me back ASAP to get the seal.]

A red exclamation mark appeared next to my message.

[This user is not accepting messages from you.]

Perfect.

I picked up my desk phone and started calling the other executives.

The VP’s phone rang twice before he declined the call. A second later, a text came in.

[Avery, it’s not that I don’t want to help, but… you know how it is with Leo and Chloe. It’s not really my place to call him right now, is it?]

The CFO actually answered, his voice thick with sleep. “Avery, calm down, calm down. It’s just… Leo is… well, you know. Chloe is on the warpath. And as important as this contract is, Leo’s home life is more important, right? Just wait. We’ll sort it out tomorrow. Tomorrow.”

“Mark,” I interrupted him, “at 9 a.m. tomorrow, the conversation won’t be about the contract. It will be about how we’re going to pay a ten-million-dollar penalty.”

The line went dead silent. Then, a dry chuckle. “I’ll… I’ll see what I can do.”

And then, nothing.

Out of options, I opened the company-wide group chat. I typed out a message and sent it to all staff.

[URGENT ALL-STAFF: The contract for the Henderson Group's multi-million dollar project requires the official company seal by 9 a.m. tomorrow, or we will face catastrophic default penalties. I am currently unable to reach Leo. If anyone has a way of contacting him, please assist. This is critical to the company's survival.]

The chat remained a digital graveyard.

A few seconds later, Leo’s profile picture popped up. But the words were pure Chloe.

[@Avery Reed, sweetie, I know you’re just trying to help the company, but Leo is really not feeling well today. He needs his rest. Sending messages like this so late at night is just going to make everyone worry.]

Another message followed immediately.

[And… a multi-million dollar contract? I’ve never heard Leo mention it. Avery, you have to be so careful. You don’t want to get scammed by someone on the outside. If the contract turns out to be fake, Leo would feel just terrible for you. And if the company lost that much money… how could you ever bear that responsibility all by yourself?]

Every word was a poisoned dart.

Before I could even type a response, a small gray banner appeared at the top of my screen.

[You have been removed from the group by the administrator.]

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