Sleeping With The CEO-Chapter 330: New Beast

When the dragon of Haven group had been on the prowl. Firing PAs left, right and centre. Making people cry on a daily basis with just a few well-timed insults. Padma had endured and she had survived.

Offering up replacement after replacement for the fired personal assistants, like a priestess offering sacrifices. It had been a tough time. But she had made it through, and because of that Padma had naively believed that she could handle whatever the future threw her way. That come what may, she would be able to take the hits and keep on moving. That she was professional enough to deal with all manner of problems. To make matters even worse.

When Emily had returned from her time off, and Derek had gone from acting like a fire-breathing dragon to a docile kitten. Padma had thought that there would no longer be any problems with Haven Group leadership. That she did not need to prepare for future storms.

In a way she had been right. With Derek as the CEO and Emily as his PA, things had run smoothly. And because of the trickle down effect that leadership had. Things going well at upper management, had meant that the lower levels were also doing well.

Everything just falling into place because they’d had a good leader. But then of course things had changed and the very storm that Padma had thought that she did not need to prepare for had come, and it had found her completely unprepared. But in her defense there was no getting ready for what had befallen Haven Group.

What Padma was now starting to realize could be the beginning of the end for Haven Group, had started with a simple email. One that had come from the now former CEO of Haven group, Derek Haven himself. It had not had a subject, so Padma had been completely unprepared when she had opened it, and read the contents. She had nearly fallen out of her chair when she had realized exactly what the email meant. Derek had quit, no warning, no nothing. He just hit Padma with the news out of nowhere.

As shocked as Padma had been and as much as she had wanted to protest. She had put her feelings aside, and gotten the paperwork for Derek’s resignation ready. And after his departure, she had been the one to handle all of the behind the scenes stuff that had cemented Sebastian Haven as the new CEO of Haven Group.

Doing so had felt as though evil had knocked at the door and Padma had been given the task of letting it in. But even as she had felt in her heart of hearts that Sebastian Haven would be an absolutely terrible CEO, Padma had still held on to hope. She had prayed that Sebastian would prove her, and almost everyone at the company wrong.

That he would be like that race horse that looked a few seconds away from keeling over before the race, but once it was on the track it just came alive and finished first. But so far all that Sebastian Haven had done was to prove Padma’s gut instinct right.

Making her feel like a fool for daring to hope that there was something in him that would actually make a great leader. Since Sebastian had come into power. Haven Group had gone downhill so fast that had Padma not had a front row seat to it all.

She would not have believed that anyone was capable of messing up a company that had been running for generations in such a short period of time. But it seemed that Sebastian was an over-achieving idiot because he had managed it.

The sexual harassment cases were through the roof. Reports coming from men and women, no one was safe. It seemed that every single lecherous individual who had even a shred of power. Was now feeling confident enough to behave inappropriately at work, because they knew that the new head honcho, saw unwanted advances as nothing more than a bit of light teasing.

The man had put Padma in charge of intimidating those who dared to come forward. She knew that it was common practice in other companies. That HR handled things like this on a regular basis.She had never had to do it with Derek as CEO.

But under Sebastian’s leadership, Padma was quickly finding that she did not have the stomach for it.

Instead of scaring people into quitting, as Sebastian had greatly hinted that she should do. Padma had instead found herself putting them on suspension with pay.

Dropping her own hints to them, begging them not to return. She had no idea how many would read between the lines and save themselves. But she hoped that the majority got the secret message. And as though the sexual harassment cases were not enough, Padma was also dealing with something else, that was unprecedented.

People were leaving Haven Group at an alarming rate and their replacements were nothing to write home about.

"Did you hear about Cheryl from PR?"

"No, what about her?"

"She quit,"

"Oh, did you hear about Bob?"

"You mean Bob from accounting?"

"Yes, that Bob. He quit too,"

"Did you hear about John from security?"

"Let me guess, he quit,"That was what conversation had become at Haven Group.

Normally when there was a new boss, even the laziest of employees pulled up their socks and worked as hard as they could. Desperate to make a good first impression. But instead of sticking around, people, good, hardworking people, were abandoning their posts.

Most of them doing so without even having any other jobs lined up. That was how dire things were looking. But Padma had worked at Haven Group for a long time. She had started as an intern and worked her way up. She could, and she would endure this. That was what she kept telling herself as things got bad.

But then of course there came the moment that made it clear to Padma that this was not a battle worth fighting. At eight o’clock in the morning, Padma was standing outside CEO Sebastian Haven’s office. Staring at the awful new door that he’d had put in.

She was still in the white suit that she had worn to work the previous day. But it was now adorned with ink and coffee stains, and her hair was a mess. All courtesy of her having pulled an all-nighter in order to finish the paperwork for the very questionable gentleman that Sebastian had insisted on hiring to be part of the building security. Hand raised to knock, Padma stopped when she heard voices coming from inside.Voices that she recognised as belonging to Lucas and Sebastian.

"Why has my pay not been doubled yet? What does a CEO have to do for people to realize that when I say something, I mean it?"Sebastian said, and Padma leaned in closer, desperate to hear more. Was he seriously doubling his salary? Where would all the money come from?

There was a nervous laugh from Lucas’s end. "It would have been done, sir, except for one thing. The accountant who was supposed to do it quit,"

Ah, Bob from accounting, Padma thought, realizing instantly who Lucas was talking about.

"Well, tell the finance department to put another accountant on my case and have it done by the end of the day," Sebastian said.

"Sir, we can’t do that..." And that was as far as Lucas got. freeweɓnøvel~com

"You are absolutely right Lucas. You cannot do that. Do you know why? Because I’m firing you. As of today you are no longer my PA. Get out,"

Padma staggered where she stood. Had he really just fired Lucas? Years of loyalty. And that was the thanks that the young man got.

Report forgotten, Padma backed away slowly. And once she got to the hallway, she began running, not stopping, until she reached her office. Taking a seat, she opened up her laptop and began typing her resignation letter.

As she did so, Padma could not help but feel sorry for whoever would replace her. But she had finally reached her breaking point. This was it. If Sebastian could fire someone as close to him as Lucas, then who was she? She would rather jump off a cliff than be pushed.

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