Chapter Ten: The First Day
Tuesday morning.
Simone arrived at the office at six-thirty.
She wanted to be there before anyone else.
The lobby was empty. Quiet.
Her footsteps echoed on the marble floor.
She rode the elevator to the top floor.
Harold’s old office. Now hers.
She stood in the doorway for a long moment.
The room still smelled like him.
Old books. Leather. Coffee.
She walked to the desk.
Ran her fingers over the wood grain.
Harold had sat here for thirty years.
Made decisions that shaped hundreds of lives.
Built something from nothing.
Now it was her turn.
She sat in the chair.
It was too big for her.
She’d have to adjust it later.
For now, she just sat.
Let the weight of the moment settle over her.
Her phone buzzed.
Patterson.
Security just called. Dererick is outside the building. He’s demanding to see you. Security is handling it. Don’t go downstairs.
Simone’s heart rate spiked.
She stood up. Walked to the window.
Looked down at the street.
She could see him.
Dererick. Pacing in front of the main entrance.
His suit was wrinkled. His hair unkempt.
He looked nothing like the confident man from two days ago.
Two security guards stood between him and the door.
He was shouting something.
She couldn’t hear the words.
But she could see the rage.
Another text from Patterson.
He’s leaving. Police are on their way. Stay inside.
Simone watched as Dererick got into a beat-up sedan.
Drove away.
She exhaled.
Her hands were shaking.
She sat back down at Harold’s desk.
Took slow, deep breaths.
Don’t let him take up space in your mind, Harold had written.
He doesn’t deserve that real estate.
She pulled out the letter.
Read those words again.
Then folded it carefully.
Put it in her drawer.
At seven-thirty, her secretary arrived.
A woman named Diane who’d worked for Harold for twenty years.
Diane stood in the doorway. Tears in her eyes.
“Mrs. Bennett. I’m so sorry about Mr. Harold. And about… everything else.”
“Thank you, Diane. Please call me Simone.”
Diane nodded. Wiped her eyes.
“Your nine o’clock is with the management team. I’ve scheduled them in the conference room. Also, there’s a woman from HR who needs to see you about Vanessa’s termination paperwork.”
“Send her in at eight-thirty.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Diane paused at the door.
“For what it’s worth, everyone is glad you’re here. Mr. Harold talked about you all the time. He said you were the best thing that ever happened to this family.”
Simone felt her throat tighten.
“Thank you, Diane. That means more than you know.”
At eight-thirty, the HR director arrived.
A sharp woman named Linda.
“I’ve processed Vanessa Price’s termination,” Linda said.
“She cleaned out her desk yesterday. Cried the whole time. Kept saying she didn’t know about the embezzlement.”
“Do you believe her?”
Linda shrugged.
“Hard to say. She definitely knew about the affair. Everyone did. But the financial stuff? Dererick kept that close. He didn’t trust anyone.”
“Not even his mistress?”
“Especially not his mistress.”
Simone signed the termination papers.
“What about other employees who helped Dererick?”
“We’re investigating. Three names have come up so far. I recommend suspending them pending the investigation.”
“Do it.”
Linda nodded. Left.
At nine o’clock, Simone walked into the conference room.
Six managers sat around the table.
All men. All older than her.
All looking at her with a mix of curiosity and skepticism.
She sat at the head of the table.
Harold’s seat.
“Good morning,” she said.
“I’m Simone Bennett. Some of you know me. Some of you only know what Dererick told you about me.”
She paused.
Let that sit.
“Dererick told people I was a housewife who didn’t understand business. He was wrong. Harold spent three years teaching me everything he knew. And I learned.”
She looked at each of them.
“I’m not Harold. I can’t be Harold. But I can be the leader this company needs right now. Someone who cares about quality. Someone who keeps promises. Someone who won’t steal from the people who trust her.”
One of the managers spoke up.
A man named Greg. Head of production.
“With respect, Mrs. Bennett. You’ve never run a manufacturing facility. You’ve never managed people. How do we know you won’t make things worse?”
Simone met his eyes.
“Because I’m going to listen. To you. To the workers on the floor. To the clients. I’m going to ask questions. I’m going to admit when I don’t know something. And I’m going to hire people who know more than me.”
She leaned forward.
“But make no mistake. I am in charge. The decisions will be mine. The responsibility will be mine. And if anyone here thinks they can undermine me or go behind my back like they did with Dererick—you should leave now.”
Silence.
Greg held her gaze for a long moment.
Then he nodded slowly.
“Fair enough.”
The meeting lasted two hours.
Simone asked each manager to present their current challenges.
She took notes. Asked follow-up questions.
Admitted when she didn’t understand something.
But pushed back when someone tried to feed her a line.
“You said production is down because of supply chain issues,” she said to Greg.
“But I reviewed the purchase orders. You ordered materials three weeks late. That’s not a supply chain issue. That’s a management issue.”
Greg’s face reddened.
“Dererick told us to delay orders. To save money.”
“Dererick isn’t here anymore. Starting today, you order materials on time. If you need approval for rush shipping, come to me. But don’t use Dererick as an excuse for poor performance.”
Greg nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
After the meeting, Simone walked the factory floor.
She’d done this many times with Harold.
But now it was different.
Now she was the owner.
Workers stopped to stare.
Some nodded respectfully.
Others looked away.
She stopped at a woman working a lathe.
“What’s your name?”
“Maria.”
“How long have you worked here, Maria?”
“Twelve years.”
“And how are things now? Compared to before Dererick took over?”
Maria looked around. Lowered her voice.
“He was terrible. Fired good people. Hired his friends. Cut corners on safety. We were all scared we’d lose our jobs.”
“You won’t lose your jobs. I promise you that.”
Maria’s eyes widened.
“You can’t promise that. The company’s in trouble.”
“The company is turning around,” Simone said.
“I need people who know what they’re doing. People who care about quality. People like you.”
She handed Maria her card.
“If you see something wrong—safety issues, quality problems, anything—you call me directly. Not your supervisor. Not HR. Me.”
Maria took the card like it was made of gold.
“Thank you, Mrs. Bennett.”
“Call me Simone.”
She walked the entire floor.
Talked to every worker who would talk to her.
Some were hostile. Dererick had loyalists.
But most were hopeful.
Harold had been loved.
And they’d heard she was like Harold.
By noon, Simone’s feet ached.
Her throat was dry.
But she’d learned more in three hours than she’d learned in three months of reading reports.
Back in her office, she found Robert waiting.
The COO candidate the board had recommended.
He was in his fifties. Calm. Confident.
“Ms. Bennett. I’m Robert Chong. Frank Morrison sent me.”
“Please sit.”
Robert sat. Didn’t fidget. Didn’t try to fill the silence.
Simone liked that.
“Frank says you’re the best operations person in the industry.”
“Frank is biased. But he’s not wrong.”
Simone almost smiled.
“Tell me why you want this job.”
“Because Harold Bennett built something special. And I watched from the outside while his son destroyed it. I want to help rebuild it.”
“You could work anywhere. Why here?”
Robert leaned forward.
“Because I read your ninety-day plan. Frank sent it to me. It’s ambitious. But it’s also smart. You’re not trying to be Harold. You’re trying to be better.”
“Can you handle working for a woman with no manufacturing experience?”
“Can you handle working with a man who tells you when you’re wrong?”
Simone studied him.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I need.”
“Then I’m your guy.”
They shook hands.
Robert started the next Monday.
That afternoon, Simone called her first all-employee meeting.
She stood on a platform in the warehouse.
Three hundred workers gathered below.
Some sat on equipment. Some stood in clusters.
All watching her.
She didn’t use a microphone.
She didn’t need one.
Her voice carried.
“My name is Simone Bennett. Some of you know me as Harold’s daughter-in-law. Some of you know me as the woman Dererick is divorcing. Some of you don’t know me at all.”
She paused.
“Here’s what you need to know. I am now the owner of this company. Harold left it to me. Every share. Every asset. Every decision.”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“I know some of you are worried. You’re worried about your jobs. You’re worried about the company’s future. You’re worried that I don’t know what I’m doing.”
She let that hang.
“Let me address each concern. First, your jobs are safe. No layoffs. No pay cuts. In fact, we’re going to start a profit-sharing program. When the company does well, you do well.”
Cheers from some. Skeptical looks from others.
“Second, the company’s future. Yes, we’re in trouble. Dererick stole money. He alienated clients. He cut corners on quality. But we’re going to fix this. Together.”
“Third, my experience. I don’t have any. Not in manufacturing. Not in management.”
She smiled.
“But I have something better. I have Harold’s training. I have a board of directors who are going to help me. And I’m hiring a COO with thirty years of experience.”
“But most importantly, I have you. The people who actually do the work. The people who know where the problems are and how to fix them.”
She looked out at the crowd.
“So here’s my promise to you. I will work as hard as you do. I will listen when you speak. I will keep my word. And I will never, ever steal from this company.”
Silence.
Then one person started clapping.
Then another.
Then the whole warehouse erupted.
Simone stood on the platform.
Tears streaming down her face.
She’d done it.
She’d faced them.
And they’d accepted her.
After the meeting, workers lined up to shake her hand.
To introduce themselves.
To tell her about problems that had been ignored for years.
She listened to every one.
Wrote down every concern.
Promised to follow up.
And she did.
That night, she worked until nine.
Reading through the issues workers had raised.
Prioritizing them.
Making a plan.
When she finally left the building, the security guard walked her to her car.
“Mrs. Bennett,” he said.
“I’ve worked here fifteen years. I’ve never seen the workers cheer like that. Not even for Mr. Harold.”
“They were cheering for themselves,” Simone said.
“I just gave them permission to hope.”
She drove home to the hotel.
Ate cold room service.
Reviewed her notes for tomorrow.
And fell asleep with Harold’s letter on her nightstand.
The first day was over.
She’d survived.
But she knew the real challenges were still ahead.
