Chapter 6
919words
In the days that followed, Ellie's life transformed from a company job into a constant state of being headhunted.
Her LinkedIn inbox was flooded with connection requests from various VPs and CEOs.
Headhunters caught the scent of blood in the water, leaving breathless voicemails about "once-in-a-generation talent."
The most formal invitation came from Omnicom, Apex's largest and most fearsome competitor. They didn't send an email. They sent a car.
Ellie met with their strategy director, a sharp-eyed woman named Jessica, at a ridiculously understated expensive restaurant downtown. Over seared scallops, Jessica laid out the terms: a director-level position, a team of twenty people, and a salary that was twice what Ellie was currently making—even after Davis had doubled it. It was the kind of career-defining leap that would normally take a decade to achieve.
A month ago, Ellie would have been overwhelmed with gratitude. She would have signed the contract on the spot.
She listened politely, her system-enhanced brain calculating various variables. She looked at this position, seeing not the honor it represented, but the gilded cage it would become.
She would still be an employee. A well-paid, powerful employee, but ultimately an asset owned by someone else.
And the system wasn't designed to make her a better employee. It was designed to maximize her own return on investment.
"This is an extremely generous offer," Ellie said, her voice smooth as silk. "I need a day to consider it."
Jessica smiled, confident. "Take your time. We don't miss talent when we see it."
Ellie didn't take a day. She took an hour.
She didn't return to her apartment, but went back to the Apex office. She walked past her desk without a glance. In her hand was an expensive, heavy piece of paper folded in half. Inside, she had written two numbers in clean, crisp black ink.
She didn't knock on Davis's door. She walked straight in.
He was on the phone, barking orders. He looked up, annoyed at the interruption. When he saw the expression on her face, the annoyance vanished. It was the look of a debt collector coming to collect. He hung up immediately. "Ellie. What is it?"
She said nothing. She unfolded the paper and slid it across his massive, polished desk. The paper stopped directly in front of him.
Two numbers stood out starkly on the paper.
$350,000
$1,200,000
Davis stared at the two numbers, his brow furrowing in confusion. "What is this? Budget projections?"
"No," Ellie said, her voice devoid of any emotion except the cold, hard certainty of fact. "It's a choice."
She pointed to the first number with a perfectly manicured finger. "Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the annual salary Omnicom is offering to get me to leave."
Davis's face paled slightly. He thought doubling her salary had bought her loyalty.
He was wrong. He opened his mouth to speak, to argue, to negotiate.
Ellie tapped the second figure with her finger, interrupting him. The sound was like a judge's gavel coming down.
"One million two hundred thousand dollars," she said, her eyes locked on his, "is the annual consulting fee your company needs to pay to my new company in order to retain my services."
The breathtaking audacity in that statement sucked the air from the room. He hadn't just lost his star player; she was demanding he pay four times the price to keep her on the field, and not even as a member of his team. She wasn't asking for a raise. She was issuing a ransom note. She was submitting an invoice for the acquisition of herself.
Davis leaned back in his chair, his gaze firmly locked on the woman before him. The timid, eager-to-please girl he had hired was gone, replaced by this terrifyingly composed business goddess.
He saw her walking into the Sterling conference. He saw her effortlessly dismantling his former senior designer in public. He saw the clients' awe. He saw the results she delivered. He was a pragmatist, a pilgrim at the altar of power and profit. And Ellie held all the cards.
He could let her go to Omnicom. His biggest competitor would get his most powerful weapon, and he would have to face her on the battlefield. Or, he could swallow his pride, write a check that would pain even himself, and keep that strategic weapon aimed at everyone else in the world, not at himself.
There was really no choice at all.
The long, tense silence stretched out. Finally, a slow, reluctant smile crept across Davis's face. It was a smile of defeat, but also one filled with profound respect.
"When does your new company open?" he asked.
"It's already open," Ellie replied.
She turned and walked out of the office, never looking back. She walked past the open workspace, rows of cubicles, humming lights—the entire world she had just transcended.
She didn't need to clear her desk. There were no personal items there. Her old life had been erased so thoroughly that there was nothing to pack up.
Ellie walked out of the lobby of Apex Marketing, stepped onto the bustling New York sidewalk, no longer as a former employee, but as the founder and CEO of her own company, with her first client being the very company she had just left behind.
The rules of the game had changed. She was no longer just a player.
She had become the one moving the chess pieces.
