Chapter 3
It was an employment contract dated April 14, 2010. Signed by Arthur Sterling, the founder of Landmark Travel Partners, long before the firm was acquired by private equity.
"Arthur Sterling hired me as an equity-track account manager," I explained, watching Gable scan the paragraphs. "He drafted an individual employment covenant. Paragraph Fourteen, Subsection C: *'In the event that Landmark Travel Partners undergoes a change in corporate control, restructuring, or acquisition, the Employee's restrictive covenants shall be null and void unless renewed under a mutually executed retention agreement within sixty days of said acquisition.'*"
Gable’s mouth opened slightly.
"When your private equity group bought Landmark eighteen months ago," I continued, "your transition team sent around a DocuSign link for the new employee handbook and restrictive covenants. I didn't sign it. I replied to the HR director at the time, noting that I had an existing grandfathered agreement and requested a formal retention review. Your HR team never followed up. They were too busy re-banding salaries and cutting customer service heads."
Gable looked up, his face losing the last of its color. "That's... that's a clerical oversight."
"It's a legally binding carve-out," I said. "Osborne’s general counsel spent the weekend reviewing it. I have zero restrictive covenants, Damian. None. I can walk out of this building right now, walk across the Chicago River to Osborne’s tower on Wacker Drive, and log into my email as an unrestricted executive."
"You can't solicit Harrington," he said, his voice dropping into a ragged whisper.
"I don't have to," I replied. "I haven't called Jocelyn Fairbanks once in seventy-two hours. I haven't sent her a single text. I haven't answered a single one of her emails. And yet, she froze all bookings on your dashboard by eight o'clock this morning."
I stood up from the leather chair. I didn't pick up the pen. I left the thirty-five-thousand-dollar memo sitting under the fluorescent light, an irrelevant scrap of paper that had arrived two weeks too late.
"My two weeks' notice is on your desk," I said, pointing to the final document in the folder. "Effective immediately, I'm taking my accrued vacation days for the remainder of the pay period. My company laptop and building pass are with Opal at the front desk."
"Emmett, wait!" Gable stood up so fast his leather chair banged against the credenza behind him. "Fifty thousand. I'll make the increase fifty thousand! I'll give you the Vice President title here! We can announce it at the all-hands meeting this afternoon! Parker can report to you!"