Of all the precarious situations Ellen had found herself in, and there were quite a few of them, this was the most bizarre.

She just had to take a minute and appreciate the irony of her slim figure, perfectly sheathed in a Calvin Klein dress-and-blazer combo and gorgeous Giuseppe Zanotti pumps, sandwiched between two fat, sweating men bundled up like sausages in their cheap three-piece suits.

The one on the left – his name was Earl, could you believe it? – refused to look at her and instead adopted a look of bored disgust as he gazed over the top of her head at his colleague on the other side. Bob, on the other hand, struggled keep Ellen’s attention while simultaneously sympathizing with his difficult companion.

“Listen, Ellen,” an annoying bead of sweat had run down to the corner of Bob’s nose and was stuck therem “I understand why you are doing what you’re doing. It’s what any sensible businessman… er, businesswoman, would do.”

“I know, Bob. That’s why I did it.”

“But you must understand that it probably isn’t the healthiest thing for the overall business relationship between our two firms.”

“Honestly, Bob,” Ellen turner her back on Earl and faced Bob headlong, “I could give two shits about our business relationship. Nor does my superior. Your client was unhappy with the services you were providing and we offered them better services and quicker results. They did what they thought was right.”

Bob sniffed. “I can hardly think that they left us and went to you the very next day without any persuading on your end.”