"It's over between us." She said.
"What's over?" Alex said.
"Nothing. It was nothing. We were seeing each other and then--"
"You know what that means at Drummond Melanie: instant dismissal for both of you."
"It's done now. There would be no point."
"Those things are never really over. Besides, it's not up to you. Drummond Corporation is very clear and fair regarding these issues. If you are becoming romantically involved with someone you work with, then one of you has to resign. It's that simple. If you break that rule then you both resign. You've broken the rules already, both of you. So unfortunately for you, when we get back to LA, both you and Mitch will be looking for new careers."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There's no reason to punish Mitch for something that ended."
"When? When did it end Melanie?" Sebastian pursued the question.
Three days before our plane went down. The truth didn't sound good.
"It's not important."
"It is to me." Alex said. "What did he do to you?"
"It's none of your business and he didn't do anything to me."
"I'm your boss, Melanie. So yes, it does concern me."
"You just told me I was fired, so no, you aren't my boss, and no, it doesn't concern you."
"Don't forget that there's more than one Drummond here." Alex said. "You aren't fired yet."
Melanie's whole body was shaking with emotion. She wanted to tell the two men where to stick it but she had to hold back. There was a lot of money riding on this and not only her job. For all she knew, her mother had already been made homeless or was in some hellhole of a care facility being mistreated by underpaid staff.
"I thought I had broken the famous Drummond rulebook when I had a relationship with another single, emotionally unattached person of the opposite sex. So now I can break the rules?"
"It's Sebastian's word--"
"My name's Alex."
"It's his word against yours and against Mitch's. There are no grounds for dismissal there."
"So you would lie to your own company? To your own father?"
"Yeah little brother, what kind of CEO does that?"
"The rule needs to be reformed. But for now, we can only work around it. It's patently unfair."
"I'll do better than that Melanie." Sebastian added. "You don't need the job. If you want to, I'll help you get a better one or retrain--"
"This isn't an auction." Melanie shouted. "I'm not for sale to the highest bidder here. Just because we're all desperate to sleep with each other…"
Damn. She shut her eyes tightly. This damned island. This stupid situation.