“I’m done here. I have a company to run. How about you wait until the company is actually in danger of failing before you all freak out and show your faces here again!” River yelled at them.
The board members gathered their things and made their way out of the office. It was clear to them that River wasn’t going to be someone who could look at things reasonably. If they decided to take him out of control of his company, it wasn’t going to go over nicely. The board really had to think about what they wanted and what results would come from removing River if any.
The public would always associate River Anders with his company. It wasn’t likely that removing him was going to make very much difference when it came to the bottom line. George knew that River was the best one to run the company, but only when River was running things with a clear head. It was obvious that River didn’t currently have a very clear head for running his company.
“You let them in my office?” River said angrily to Edward.
“We had to talk with them. It was better to get it out of the way first thing.”
River stewed in his anger as he sat behind his desk and tried to figure out what to do next. He didn’t want his company to go under any more than anyone else did. It was River’s vision and hard work that had made the company what it was; he wasn’t going to let everything just slip away.
“I need a drink,” River said as he pulled an old bottle of Scotch out of the cabinet behind his desk. “Do you want one?”
“It’s nine o’clock in the morning.”
Edward’s judgmental look at River certainly didn’t help him calm down at all. River had never felt like so many people were against him before. Why couldn’t anyone see that this was all not a big deal? It would die down. Business would get back to normal. There wasn’t a need to freak out and change everything; they simply had to make some small tweaks to get things running smoothly again.
“Is that a no?”
“River, we need to make a plan. If you could make a public statement about the allegations being false, that would really be helpful.”
“Have you been talking to Mariah?” River said as he sipped on his Scotch. “I don’t need you or anyone else telling me what is best for me. I know the deal here, Edward. I know what is going on. I’m just the latest story trend. It will go away soon.”
“No, I haven’t been talking to Mariah much, but if she made the same suggestion, that’s even more of a reason you should do it. You hired Public Waves to help you manage this crisis; let them actually manage it. Do what they are telling you to do.”
“Edward, we are friends, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then listen to me when I say this. I will not apologize for anything. I will not make a public statement. I will not put my son’s privacy in danger. This is my company. This is my life. I will not be bullied by you or Mariah or anyone else. I have made up my mind!”
Edward sat down somberly across from River as he tried to think of a plan that might work. It was clear that nothing they said to River was going to make him want to talk to the press. They were going to have to figure out a different way of attacking their problem.
River poured himself a second drink and quickly took in the alcohol. He wasn’t normally the kind of guy that drank while at work, but River couldn’t get himself calmed down. His life was spinning out of control, and it didn’t seem like there was anything he could do to gain the control back. River wasn’t used to living life without firmly being in control.
“I’m going to let you go for now. Let’s try to think of something that will help. OK?” Edward said as he watched his friend close to self-destruction.
Edward just looked at River and waited for him to respond. When it was clear that River didn’t intend to answer his friend, Edward made his way out to the reception area to discuss things with April. They couldn’t let River self-destruct over this. There had to be a better way of addressing the rumors than to bring Jackson into the public eye.
“Keep an eye on him. He’s a wreck,” Edward said.
“I heard. I talked with Mariah, and she said he was pretty angry yesterday. Perhaps it’s just the change from being in jail?” April offered. “Maybe we just need to give him some space?”
“I don’t know what is going on. I haven’t seen him this angry for a really long time. He was drinking Scotch already this morning. I don’t have time to deal with him. I’m going to try and mend this deal with Wholesome Foods. They wanted to talk to River, but that’s probably not the best idea. I’m going to fly out there and meet with them and see if I can calm their nerves.”
“They want to hear that River is sorry for punching the governor. I don’t think he’s sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m fine with lying to them. He’s sorry. He’s terribly sorry. Now let’s finish this deal,” Edward said as he laughed.
“I’ll let you know how things go here on the home front. Good luck!”
River felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. Nothing seemed to be working out as smoothly as he had pictured it while he was in jail. He held his ear up to the door and listened while Edward and April talked about him like he was a teenager, and they were trying to keep him from ruining his own company.
He hated the feeling of losing his company, but he was confident it wasn’t going to happen. Unfortunately, the more he thought about the bad press he was getting, the more River felt hopeless. If he didn’t come out and publicly deny the claims that he had taken advantage of Kimberly, then people were going to keep believing that it was the truth. He hated that Kimberly wouldn’t come out on her own and admit that the story wasn’t totally truthful. Certainly, she had to feel bad that River was left to defend himself. But the more River drank, and the more he thought about everything, the less he felt like he understood.
His anger was getting out of control as the morning pushed on, and the final straw came when he yelled at April and threw his pen at her. Never in all the years they had worked together had River ever screamed at April like that. It scared her, but it scared River as well. It was a big red flag to him, and he had to get out of the office.
Dealing with as much stress as he had been dealing with was exhausting. He hadn’t expected things to be so hard on him. River had made so many plans for when he got out so he could really build his company up. But everyone around him seemed to think he was on the wrong path.
He gathered his things and stormed out of the office. Soon, he found himself sitting at the bar of a local dive and drinking his sorrows away. He couldn’t even stand to go visit with Jackson, even though it was his first day back from jail, and he had promised Kimberly he would go. Jackson didn’t need to see River in such a crappy mood. Jackson didn’t deserve to have a father that acted like River did, so River decided he just couldn’t go and visit.
The day quickly turned to night, and when River woke up the next morning, he couldn’t stand the thought of going back into work and dealing with Edward and April again; so he didn’t. Instead, he flew out to Atlanta and let his favorite driver take him back to the dance club that he frequented when he was there on business.
The Black Kitty Lounge was just one of those places that River could behave badly, and it didn’t matter at all. The women loved him, and they loved to give him attention. All he had to do was walk in the door and the dancers were excited to see him and quickly lined up for the chance to dance for him. There was a simplicity in their interactions, and River needed that in his life at that moment. He couldn’t deal with the complexities of his real life for another second.
But as River walked through the doors, he didn’t feel the same as he normally did. His attitude was down, and his confidence didn’t radiate like the women were used to seeing. As he made his way to his normal table, one of the girls who served drinks was there waiting for him. Instead of feeling relieved and relaxed while he sat down at the club, River felt horrible. He couldn’t get his problems off of his mind, a
nd he feared there wasn’t going to be a way out of it all.
“You look sad,” she said as she cleared the table. “What can I get for you?”
“A pitcher, and see if Renee is working, I’d like to see her in the back room,” River said.
“She’s here. I’ll get her.”
River felt sick to his stomach as he waited to see Renee. She was the woman who always loved to give him some extra attention when he came to visit. He had come all the way back to Atlanta thinking that he would feel better as soon as she wrapped her lips around him. But as he sat there, all River could think about was Mariah. She had called him at least a dozen times in the last 48 hours, and River hadn’t returned any of the calls. He felt like shit.
“Hey baby, want to go to the back room?” Renee said as she sat next to River.
“Actually, I think I’m going to pass today,” River said as he handed her a couple hundred dollar bills. “It was good seeing you, though.”
River wasn’t in the mood, and he got up to leave the club. It had been a mistake to show up there. He shouldn’t have come. Nothing was going to make him feel better until he dealt with everything that was going on. And he certainly couldn’t let Renee wrap her lips around him when he couldn’t get Mariah out of his mind.
“Hey, watch where you are going,” a large man said to River as he accidently ran into him.
“Sorry man,” River said without looking up.
“You think you’re better than me? You think you can take all the women from me. I paid Renee good money, and the second you show up, she runs over to you.”
“Fuck you!” River said as he looked up at the guy.
“Oh, yeah?” The man said as he swung at River and connected right to his eye.
Chapter 19
MARIAH
“I didn’t do anything, Dad. I seriously just suggested that he either apologize or make a statement against the allegations. Now, he won’t return my calls at all,” Mariah said as she sat down with her father.
As much as Mariah wanted to show that she had control over everything, she had finally decided to reach out to her father and get his help. If anyone knew how to deal with a moody client, it was her father. Mariah looked up to him for his ability to calm an agitated client or convince someone to do something that was in their best interest. He had always been able to handle her so well, even through her horrible teenage years.
“Something must have happened. His entire life is going down the shitter, and he’s not even communicating with his public relations firm. It doesn’t make sense.”
Mariah and her father had been going round and round discussing River and his press all morning long. It certainly wasn’t helping them figure out a good solution. But without River being involved, or approving them going forward, there wasn’t much else that Public Waves could do for their client.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I don’t know. Maybe it’s all just too much for him? I know he didn’t assault that woman. She was here in our office. She sat next to him and talked kindly to him. It’s just a newspaper’s version of the truth. It isn’t the actual truth. But he absolutely refuses to make any sort of statement.”
William Waves had dealt with hundreds of difficult clients over the years. Yet it still baffled him when a client wouldn’t take part in repairing their own image. It was like they gave up before there was even a fight.
Clients sought his company out. They knew that the press was going to be bad for them, and they knew that they needed a team on their side. But when things got tough, many clients just wanted to put their heads in the sand and pretend like they could get themselves out of trouble. But the truth was, most people didn’t really know how to handle bad publicity. That was the whole reason companies like Public Waves even existed.
“What’s the truth?” Mr. Waves asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if you know the truth, leak that to a newspaper and let them run with that. It’s important to at least get another version of the truth out into the public so people can evaluate it.”
“But River won’t agree. He has a son with Kimberly and doesn’t want that son hurt.”
Mr. Waves paused as he thought about what would be best to do next. He knew that coming out and going against his client was risky. But he also was paid to do a job, and that job didn’t stop just because the client had become too overwhelmed to participate. That was why they hired a company to help them in the first place.
“Write down the truth for me. I’ll decide what to do next,” Mr. Waves said as he left Mariah.
Mariah needed to find River more than ever. She didn’t know what to do. If she told the truth to her father, he was going to leak it to the press, and River would have to explain things to his son. Everything was a disaster, and Mariah felt herself becoming more and more overwhelmed with each passing minute. She had never dealt with a case all on her own before. All of her work over her first year at the firm had been under the direction of her father or another senior associate. It was much more stressful when she was responsible for the outcome of a case.
“Mariah, there’s a call for you,” Jennifer yelled from the front desk.
“Take a message.”
“Um, it’s the chief of police in Atlanta, Georgia. He insisted that he talk to you.”
Mariah had no idea why the chief of police in any city would want to talk to her. She hadn’t broken any laws, and she certainly didn’t intend to start. Then it hit her; perhaps the alleged incident between River and Kimberly had happened in Atlanta. Maybe he was calling to let her know that they were going to file charges against River for the assault.
Wait … No. The incident had happened in Portland, Oregon. Mariah had absolutely no idea why the police were calling her, but she decided there was only one way to find out.
“Hello, this is Mariah Waves.”
“Hello ma’am, my name is Chief Balkan, and I have a young man here who requested his one call come to you. I thought it would be best if I handled it to help avoid any further press on the matter.”
“Press? What kind of press has there already been? Who do you have?”
Mariah took a deep breath and swallowed hard as she waited in anticipation for the man to tell her who had been arrested. Mariah had abruptly remembered that the first time River had called the office after hours line, he had been in Atlanta.
“I’ll let you talk to him.”
There was a long pause as the chief handed the phone to the person who was there with him. Mariah looked at her phone to check one last time and see if River had returned any of her calls. There were no text messages or calls from River; there were several calls from a number in Atlanta, though.
“Mariah, I need you to come bail me out without telling April or Edward,” River said in a soft tone.
He spoke so softly that Mariah could hardly tell it was River. When it sunk in that it was River, she wanted to yell at him. He had seriously gotten arrested only days after getting out of jail. Oh, he really had not learned his lesson at all while he was in jail.
But Mariah felt like there was something wrong with River, and she wasn’t about to deny him when he had reached out to her. She could go and help him as his publicist. That is what a good publicist would do.
River was obviously out of control. Mariah didn’t know why he had gone to Atlanta or how he had gotten arrested, but it wasn’t something the man she met two months before would have done. At least, that was what Mariah thought. She had to admit, though, that she really didn’t know River all that well. She only knew him from what he had told her; maybe he had a lot more issues than she had thought he had.
“You’re in Atlanta? Is there a particular place I need to go to get you?”
“The main holding area is near the downtown courthouse. You’ll need to go to my house and get ten thousand dollars for the bail.”
“You keep ten thousand dollars in cash in your house! River!” Mariah yelled.
; “Yes, it’s in my bedroom under the nightstand. Just move it out of the way, and you’ll find it.”
“What’s the alarm code to get into your house?”
“Oh, I don’t have it on,” River said reluctantly.
Mariah let her head fall into her hands at what she heard. River seriously didn’t understand anything about keeping himself safe. It was no wonder some mystery person had found out about River’s past and leaked it. River didn’t do a damn thing to keep his past private, and he sure as hell didn’t do a thing to keep his home safe.
“You didn’t even turn on your alarm? God, River, we really need to work on your home security. And let me guess. There is a key under the front mat?”
“It’s in the flower pot to the left of the door.”
“Jesus!”
“Sorry, I’m just a trusting guy,” River said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, look where that has gotten you,” Mariah snarled back at River as she grabbed her things from her office. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thanks. Please don’t tell April or Edward. I don’t know what’s going on at my company, but I don’t want to give them any more of a reason to get rid of me.”
“They are getting rid of you?” Mariah asked.
She had heard from April that there were rumblings of getting River out of the company. But Mariah didn’t think they would move so fast. She honestly thought it was just a scare tactic to get River to spend more time in the office and participate more in the company issues. But if they were threatening to kick him out and saying it to his face, that was much more serious.
“Nothing positive yet, but the board is making some moves.”
“Alright, we can talk about it when I get there. Try not to get into any more trouble until I arrive.”
It didn’t take Mariah long at all before she was on a plane and making her way to Atlanta. Luckily, her father had entrusted her with a corporate credit card for business expenses. She certainly wasn’t about to let River sit another moment in a holding cell in Atlanta. If the press got wind of what was going on, the one-time punching incident with the governor would now be turned into normal behavior for River. Mariah couldn’t let that happen.
Breaking the Rules: A Billionaire Romance Page 16