WANT (completed)

ch. 44 | Business, Not Pleasure

CASSANDRA'S POV

I wait in the security line at Rhodes' Enterprises, glad that I showed up early today. I have three meetings and a lot of work to get done, as I can't seem to say no when someone asks for help or if I can take something off their plate and add it onto my own instead.

My phone buzzes in the pocket of my blazer and I swipe it out, stepping towards the metal detector as I hand my badge to the security officer.

Asa 8:12am
Good morning, beautiful. Meeting this morning went great. I won't be in at Rhodes until later this afternoon. We can get a late lunch in my office?

I smile at his message as I go to drop my bag on the security belt. These new security protocols were added in recently, but were much needed with our growing company and the amount of threats that many businesses — big and small — have been receiving as of late. After all, safety is always first.

Just as I'm about to walk through the detector, another security officer holds his arm out to stop me.

"Uh, excuse me, Miss Rhodes. Your badge says you are not cleared to work when swiped," he informs me.

"Please, call me Cassandra. Do you think you can give it another try?" I ask, knowing that I should be cleared.

"We have. Four times. It keeps declining."

I shake my head, knowing that it must be a mistake. Why wouldn't I be cleared to work? That makes no sense. There isn't any reason for me not to be.

Thankfully, he holds up his walkie-talkie, giving me a genuine smile. "Don't worry, I can call it in and see if they can just verbally waive you through."

I smile, stepping to the side as I thank him, allowing the others behind me to get on with their day. They have busy days as well, and likely need to get to work as soon as possible. There is no need for me to hold the line up.

After a few seconds, the officer looks over at me, giving me an apologetic look this time, "Mr. Reynolds will be down in a second. He said he needs to escort you up," he informs me.

Jonathan Reynolds? That's odd. He's one of our attorneys, and works for the legal department. I couldn't possibly understand why he would need to escort me up, unless he needed something?

After a few minutes, Jonathan walks out of the elevator, waving me in and allowing me to walk through security with my things.

"Hey, Jonathan. What's going on?" I ask the suited man who is easily ten to twelve years my senior. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, glancing around the crowded lobby before leading me towards the elevator.

"Let's talk upstairs, Cassandra. There's a few things...we have to discuss actually."

- - -

Jonathan leads me into a small conference room right next to his office. As soon as I step inside, I notice Deborah from Human Resources sitting in one of the seats. She smiles at me, a bit too politely, but I return a smile out of respect.

What is going on that Human Resources and one of our attorneys need to be involved? I've never been anything but nice to everyone here, so I couldn't see anyone reporting me for anything. Is this just some routine thing that I don't know about?

"Please, take a seat, Cassandra," Jonathan gestures to a seat as he steps around the table to sit across from me. As soon as he does, he's pulling out a few things from a folder, putting them down in front of him.

"Can you please tell me why I'm here today, and why my badge wasn't working? I have a busy schedule, and I understand that you two are only doing your job, but I need to know what is happening," I say as politely as possible. I'm a bit annoyed, simply because I know that this is going to throw my entire day off.

Jonathan glances at Deborah, who gives him a small nod. He looks down at the papers in front of him, before sliding one over to me. "This is employee health wellness form. We will need you to get this completed and returned before you can begin working again."

I stare down at the sheet, before looking between him and Deborah, shaking my head in confusion. "I don't understand? I just did one of these when I got hired."

"That was six months ago, Miss Rhodes," Deborah informs me, looking down at a what looks like some kind of spreadsheet through her glasses. She's a bit older than Jonathan, but a very nice woman that's been working in HR for years. "And it seems like you have been asked to complete this from someone higher up. Typically, we require employees to get these done once every two years, unless someone has a reason to request otherwise."

"There is more...we will also need you to complete this mental health wellness form as well. We do believe you are fit, mentally and physically, but as the request came in from someone higher up, we legally have to ask you to complete these both before you can do anything work related. This includes working from home as well, so I highly suggest you reschedule your meetings until you can get these both filled out and turned into HR," Jonathan slides the other form over to me.

I grab it off of the table, feeling the anger boiling inside of me. Zac. This has to be Zac's doing. After how he was going on and on about Asa and me falling off the wagon again yesterday, it most definitely is him. There isn't anyone else who would doubt me, because no one else has any reason to.

"This is ridiculous, Jonathan. You know that there is nothing wrong with me, and Zac is just playing a petty little game in spite of me. Are you seriously going to require me to complete these before I can get back to work? Isn't this illegal or something?" I gape, so stunned that this is even happening. How is this allowed? I can't imagine this happening to anyone else, but suddenly I'm not so sure.

Jonathan gives me a sympathetic look, much like the one that Deborah is giving me through her narrow glasses.

"I'm sorry, Cassandra. The request came from someone who we cannot say no to. If there is reasonable doubt, they can absolutely request this of you, and I am in no position to deny them that. I've already checked the legality of it, and it is legal," he informs me.

Deborah slowly gets up, grabbing her things off the table. "You will need an escort back downstairs, and I am actually heading that way now for a meeting with a new hire. I can take you down, if that's alright with you? Unless you'd rather me call security?" she asks, clearly trying to be nice, but also infuriating me even further.

I quickly stand up, grabbing my things as well as the forms. "I'll follow you down. Thank you for the offer. Jonathan? You and Deborah will have these back in your hands with full signatures later this afternoon. I'll be heading straight to the hospital. I have many things to worry about and these certainly are not getting in the way of all that I need to do," I inform them, as if I have something to prove to them. Much of my disappointment towards my brother is being deflected to them, not at all purposely, but I can't help it.

How could he do this? Does Zac seriously think that there's actually something wrong with me that he needs me to get a mental evaluation? I can't believe him.

He just doesn't believe that I can be happy without ruining it for myself? Or does he really think that Asa has driven me to the same things that Ethan had? I was in a bad place already when all things fell apart with Ethan, but this? This was way out of line, even for Zac.

As soon as I'm off the elevator and out the door, I'm already on the phone with someone at the hospital to get myself in for a quick evaluation. Unfortunately, my primary care won't be able to fill these in for me today, but they were able to fit me in at the urgent care department this morning, so I grab a cab straight there.

- - -
a/n: hi friends!! how is everyone today? what are your thoughts? do you think that Zac is right and that something may actually be going on, or is he just being an ass about things?

can't wait for the next update xo