Emerson Chadley

Emerson, a character in the Surrender series, is one of your colleagues. He is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Emerson has short brown slicked hair, hazel eyes and light skin. He wears a grey suit with a white shirt and a grey stripped tie.

Personality
To his coworkers and people that he feels are beneath him, Emerson is a self-serving, stubborn, manipulative bully. He belittles his peers to make them feel bad about themselves. To Luis and others that he believes will raise his status, he is pleasant, helpful, but shrewd, full of compliments and praise to flatter the others into helping him.

Book 1

 * Chapter 1: An Introduction
 * Chapter 3: A Whole New World
 * Chapter 5: The Question
 * Chapter 9: Third Time's the Charm
 * Chapter 15: Joy Ride
 * Chapter 17: The Talk

Your Character
When you arrive on the first day of your job, Emerson introduces himself and tells you that no one knows more about running a campaign than he does, bragging that he wrote his first PR (public relations) piece when he was in middle school. He shows you where your desk is located.

He often scolds you and Malorie, saying that you both are just gossiping and wasting time. In Chapter 15, he steals the speech you wrote and claims it as his own, while having the audacity to order you to edit and revise it. He states that he is Luis's criminal justice guy, and that you stole his ideas and claimed them for yourself. When you stand up for yourself, Luis overhears and Attorney defends you and puts Emerson down, Emerson is quietly livid.

In Chapter 17, he accuses you of making him look bad in front of Luis for what happened earlier in Chapter 15. He says if you weren't dating Attorney, you wouldn't have the courage to pull that stunt on him, and that Attorney is the reason you got your job as a speechwriter: because Luis only hired you to gain points in Attorney's favor and solicit donations from him/her. You have the choice stay professional and let him continue to walk all over you or to call him out in front of everyone. If you choose the first, nothing changes in the dynamic of your professional relationship with him. If you choose the second, you call him out on the nepotism that was used for him to get his job. You tell him that he is not your manager and should not be in charge of overseeing your work. Malorie also pipes in that the only person that Emerson officially manages is the mailroom intern. Other coworkers also begin to stand up for themselves, and when Luis comes out of his office to see what is happening, Emerson cannot come up with a single project he has worked on from start to finish without stealing the ideas off another. Luis fires him, and it is your choice to kick him to the curb or to save his job so Emerson owes you. If you choose the first, Emerson remains fired. If you choose the second, everyone including Emerson is shocked. Luis agrees to give him a second chance and Emerson keeps his job.

Malorie Jacobs
Malorie Jacobs is Emerson's coworker and fellow intern at the mayoral campaign office of Luis Hernandez. She believes Emerson got his job because his father pulled strings to have him work there. She doesn't believe he has a pulse for what is popular and what is not, stating that he was trying to convince her that MyPlace was making a comeback.