Chapter 4
Antonio stared at me.
After a moment, he suddenly smiled.
"Fine. You want me to beg you, is that it?" he said.
Gwen looked up at him.
But he only looked at me.
Antonio continued, "I can add your name to the next project report. If you want to be listed as the second author, the corresponding author, or even apply for an individual contribution award, we can talk about it."
I watched his lips moving.
I felt calm inside.
Before, if he said we could talk things through, I would feel a spark of hope.
Now I knew that when something was taken away, anything given back later was only charity.
My phone buzzed on the desk.
It was a message from the tech director of our partner company, Cole Bennett.
It read: [Ms. Dixon, I heard there's been a change to the author list. Are you still the one presenting at next week's project defense? Our investment committee is relying on your explanation for the third phase's failed results.]
I typed: [I've left the Starling Project Team. Dr. Gwen, the first author, will be handling things from now on.]
I hit send.
Less than ten seconds later, Cole replied with a question mark.
Then a call came through.
I didn't answer. I passed the phone to Gwen.
"It's for you," I said.
Gwen stared at the name flashing on the screen, her hand hovering in the air, not quite reaching for the phone.
Antonio took the call for her.
"Mr. Bennett, this is Antonio," he said.
The voice on the other end was calm and steady.
"Mr. Torres, I got a message from Ms. Dixon saying she won't be at the defense next week?" Cole asked.
Antonio glanced at me.
"She's not feeling well, so we'll make some adjustments within the team," he said.
Cole paused for a moment.
He asked, "So who's going to take responsibility for the failed data in phase three?"
Antonio said, "Gwen's the first author. She'll handle it."
The sound of paper shuffling on the other end stopped.
"Dr. Clark? But according to all our past meeting minutes, she's only attended two meetings. She left early once and didn't speak at all the other time," Cole said.
Gwen's eyes welled up with tears.
Antonio's face darkened.
Cole continued, "Also, the parameter lock issue was flagged by Ms. Dixon back in December. If she's not here, we'll have to reassess the project's risks.
"Mr. Torres, make sure your team confirms everything and send me a new presenter statement by nine tomorrow morning."
The call ended.
The only sound left in the office was the hum of the air conditioner.
Antonio gripped the phone so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Gwen's tears finally fell.
"Antonio, did I mess everything up for you?" she asked.
Antonio opened his mouth, but didn't say anything right away.
It was the first time I'd ever seen him hesitate in front of Gwen.
I stood up and grabbed my coat from the back of the chair.
A ceramic cup sat on the desk.
It had a crack running down its side.
Antonio had chipped it three years ago when he brought me coffee during an all-night proposal revision.
He said he'd get me a brand new set once the project wrapped up.
I picked up the cup and tossed it into the trash.
The cracked ceramic hit the bottom with a dull thud.
Antonio whipped his head around to look at me.
"Eloise," he said.
I opened the drawer and tossed my last box of antacids into my bag.
"Remember to take over the project access at three this afternoon," I said.
With that, I walked to the door.
And Cole's email had already landed in the project team's shared inbox.
The subject line was impossible to miss: [Urgent: Confirmation of Presenter Change and Core Technical Lead for Starling Project.]
The first name on the recipient list was Gwen.
*****
At 2:50 PM, the conference room was packed.
When I walked in, carrying my laptop, the noisy room fell silent all at once.
Antonio was sitting at the head of the table.
Gwen was seated to his right, her eyes still puffy, with a pile of printed documents spread out in front of her.
She had clearly been crying.
And it was pretty clear she hadn't made much sense of those papers.
I plugged my laptop into the projector.
As soon as the screen lit up, someone cleared their throat softly.
"Ms. Dixon, no need to be so formal. We're all on the same team here." It was Sidney Wood.
He had been on the project for six years and was always the one to smooth things over.
I had revised his promotion defense materials line by line last year.
Today at the award ceremony, he had clapped the loudest for Gwen.
I opened the handover folder.
"Better to be formal now, so we don't have to argue about it later," I said.
Sidney looked a bit embarrassed and ducked his head, flipping through his notes.
Antonio leaned back in his chair, his face cold.
"Let's get started," he said.
I clicked on the first item.
"The shared files have been archived to Server A, and access will be transferred to Mr. Torres. The data falls into three categories: raw samples, processed results, and anomaly records."
A structure diagram popped up on the screen.
Every module had the person in charge listed right there.
And most of them had my name next to them.
The room got awkward real fast.
Gwen stared at the screen, her pen poking at the paper over and over.