First to Fall

“Are you sure?”

“Completely.”

Peridot sat in a rather tastefully furnished office room along with her girlfriend, and a man sitting across the table. Appearing to be in his mid-forties, he sported a clean cut hairstyle, and short, trimmed beard which appeared to already be turning grey. Bookshelves took up the entire left wall, with law and psychology books. This man talked with full confidence, and even had a doctorates degree from an Ivy League school. He must know what he’s doing, Peridot decided.

“Although, I will be honest and say you’re the first client who’s actually done something about it on their own. This makes things a little more complicated on your end.”

Part of Peridot’s plan to deal with her mother, which she shared with Lapis, was to go see a law attorney. A few days ago, she finally found the solution to getting out of this mess, and it was staring right at her in the face while she was overthinking this whole time. In her closet, she remembered the employee contract she had printed out herself during her time at Diamond Co.

She had signed an official agreement, followed by the Human Resources department.

Though it would be much easier to erase all of her existence in Diamond’s files, Peridot realized she no longer wanted to take that sort of route. There was no point. It would just open up another hole for Diamond to discover, no matter how good she was with getting away with these sort of things. On top of that, Diamond was accusing her of stealing valuable information, that she had no knowledge of. Eventually they would catch up again. If she wanted to end and bandage all ties, she needed a law attorney to talk with first.

Dr. Doug Maheswaren was his name from what Peridot researched beforehand. Along with his degrees, he worked as a cop before law. Hopefully he had a sense of justice, Peridot thought, if she had any luck.

“According to subsection two, no employer shall withhold pay from any employee or client without consent.”

Peridot read on.

“An employee/client who thinks their employer has violated section five has the right to file a complaint within 24 months (two years) since the last alleged violation.”

“Does your previous employer have any sort of written consent that you provided?”

“Nothing. I never signed any consent form to withholding my pay.”

“May I ask you a question?” The attorney looked up from the contract copy Peridot scanned and printed out before her appointment. “Why did you not question or decide to leave the moment when your employer withheld your first paycheck? Diamond Co. is a very reputable company for treating their employees with respect. But with that said, the largest corporations have faults. You’re early in your career, have a clean record thus far, and seem to have the ability to find work easily.”

“This might be hard to believe,” Peridot hesitated, yet looking at him straight in the eyes. “But Yellow Diamond, the CEO of Diamond is my mother. I realize ‘Diamond’ is not the most common last name, but you can look at my birth certificate.” It was not the most uncommon last name either. 

“And she did not want to pay her own daughter,” he said unfazed, without hesitation, glancing again at her file. Peridot did not need any more proof. “Sometimes it’s family who can be the worst.”

The blonde nodded, “It wasn’t like I could just get up and leave. And I was under eighteen when I started working for my mother’s company. At that age, I didn’t exactly know what to do about it. I didn’t know my options and thought I was completely trapped.” And with Yellow Diamond threatening her, she still was, in a way. “My girlfriend, Lapis Lazuli, is the only other one whom I’ve shared the situation with. All I want is to end ties with Diamond for good, and not have it end up on my record. If it’s possible to keep the hundred thousand dollars which was withheld from my salary, it would be optimal. But I understand if that is not an option.” Lapis listened quietly while the other two talked.

“And are you considering going to court with this?” the Dr. Maheswaren asked seriously.

“No, preferably not.”

Sighing, he replied, “I’m afraid what both parties have done is illegal. If you had sought a lawyer rather than taken initiative, the solution would have a much clearer path for you. Because nothing was officially accepted or signed, apart from your employee packet which mentions pay, it is looking worse for Diamond. Why are you coming in today, after so much time has passed?”

Peridot and Lapis both looked at each other. “My mother was threatening me. She thinks I not only stole a large sum of money, but a confidential project they’re working on which would revolutionize technology. She described the project like that, with those words.”

“And have you?”

“No, I have no clue to what she’s talking about.”

“What do you recommend we do?” Lapis asked curiously.

“If they have no proof of you taking the project, they cannot make an official claim to say you stole it. My recommendation is to talk to your mother again. Offer to return the money you’ve kept safe, in exchange for her to drop the situation. But stand firm in that you never took anything else. Document everything.”

Peridot planned to anyway.

Taking Dr. Maheswaren’s advice, Peridot and Lapis talked through it over lunch, about what the blonde should say. They came to conclusion that it would be easiest to send the money back to Yellow Diamond, but to also explain truthfully why she took it in the first place. Yellow Diamond owed Peridot that much to listen to her own daughter.

Unable to distract her anxious mind completely, Peridot inhaled her chicken salad and fries when the food came to the table. Naturally Lapis teased Peridot for her stomach being a vacuum.

“Are you ready to do this?” Lapis asked her as they sat on the edge of Peridot’s bed. Gunther laid in Lapis’ lap, curled up and comfortable.

“No,” The thought of talking to her mother was terrifying. But why did she even let Yellow Diamond have this much emotional control over her in the first place? Peridot let out a long groan, “I guess so,” before dialing a familiar phone number. Pressing the phone up to her right ear, Lapis sat on her other side with a hand on her leg.

The phone answered with silence in the background. It made this phone conversation increasingly more awkward.

“Um, hello?”

“Peridot,” a sharp, commanding voice immediately responded.

“Hello to you too mom.”

“So are you finally willing to comply?”

Just as usual, she was right to the point. Peridot knew how to arrange her words just so, in case Yellow Diamond was recording this as well. She had written down, and practiced word for word what she would tell her mother.

“I will give you $100,000 to make up for what you’ve lost.” If she did not specify giving it back or taking it in the first place, maybe Yellow Diamond would not be able to point a finger at her in the future.

“And will you be returning the project as well?”

“As well? Are you assuming I am returning the $100,000 to you? No, I am giving it to you. If anybody is to return anything, you should be returning my earned pay. I worked two years at Diamond, and the employee contract that was signed by both parties said I would be. Ignoring that is illegal. As for a project, I don’t have it because it doesn’t exist. It’s fictitious, something you made up to bring me back home.” Peridot knew personally Diamond wasn’t working on any projects like mother described, after spending countless hours researching.

The blonde continued. “I know we did not have much of a relationship when I was growing up. I… I wish we had,” that was not entirely true, but whatever, maybe it would help. “I understand now. You wanted me to work at Diamond so we could share something in common. That has to be the reason, because I have never seen you away from your work. I also understand why you weren’t paying me, though it was illegal in the first place. You thought I would be living under your wing forever, and were planning to care for me my entire life. But threatening me to remain at home is rather unreasonable, don’t you think? I’m a legal adult now, and want to be respected like one. I don’t need to lean on your support and constant watch like a child. I have my own aspirations and goals, and finally my own life.”

Silence on the other line. Peridot could just imagine her mother’s eyes bulging out. Lapis looked amazed.

“Do you really believe I see you as a daughter anymore?”

Ouch. Those words were not supposed to burn like that.

“Maybe in the past, you did. All I want is to live my own life.” Apart from you.

Yellow Diamond was thinking the exact same thing. “You’re just like your father. You even look and sound like that good for nothing son of a bitch. And now you are going to leave for the exact same reason he did.”

Her father? Peridot had not given him much thought. He and her mother divorced when she was just a toddler. All she knew is that he walked out on them. Did he leave because Yellow Diamond was such a control freak? How much different would her life have been, if he had decided to take her with him?  

“If that’s the case,” spoke her mother, “then like your father, you are no longer part of this family and want nothing to do with you. Don’t bother with the money,” she sighed before her voice regained its cold composure, “I don’t care anymore.”

That was a little extreme, even coming from Yellow Diamond. Did she even care to begin with? Honestly Peridot did not expect her to say that. Strangely enough, the words did not sadden her. Maybe she was ready for them, preparing years just to hear this.

“What family?” Peridot blurted out, without thinking. After all, it had been only her and Yellow Diamond, with a few distant relatives they never talked to.

With that, the other line ended the call, and that was that.

“Peridot…” Lapis said worriedly, hand still on her leg. She rested her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“That was a more difficult conversation than I had anticipated,” spoke Peridot, unemotionally, almost robotically.

“Peridot, I heard everything.”

“I’m sorry you had to hear that.”

Lapis hugged her waist. “What can I do?”

“Don’t leave.”

“I was never planning on it.”

Peridot did not feel remorseful. Perhaps she had grieved over it long before. In the end, she gained her own freedom to live out her life. She did not care about the money anymore, and neither did her mother. Just like her father, Peridot knew she would be written out of her will and inheritance, and potentially even her last name. Yellow Diamond had the potential to act like that. 

But none of that happened. She never heard from her mother again.