by C. J. Thomas
“No, we’re not saving it. We had to drop it. That was part of the deal,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to let go of that, but it was part of his lawyers’ demands.”
“How so?”
“They said they would work with the press to get your name cleared, as long as we kept the harassment out of the media on our end.”
I felt like a deflated balloon, though I knew I had no reason to. I had still won. “Oh, I see.”
“I thought you would want it that way,” Patrick said. “I mean, you’re free and clear, now. You can get the company back on track. It shouldn’t take too long.”
“No, I agree. You don’t have to explain your motives to me. Thanks for working so hard on this, Patrick. You did me a solid.”
“Hey, you brought me to the Azores with you. That alone was worth the work.”
I chuckled. “Then I guess I should tear up your bill when it comes my way?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Live it up,” I advised, “because when tomorrow comes, I’ll have even more work for you.”
“Oh, not even a little time to rest and reflect?” Patrick quipped. I knew him better than to believe he would ever rest on his laurels. The man lived for work. Something we had in common.
“No time at all. There’s a matter I need your help on, and it might be a little delicate. It will be an ongoing project, let’s say.”
“I’m intrigued.”
“I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow,” I promised. “I still have to make sense of what I want in my head. It’s all happening at the same time.”
“Understood. You relax, too. You’ve earned it, after all this shit.” His voice dropped to a near-whisper. “What about her?”
I rolled my eyes, sighing. “What about who?”
“You know who. Are you going to reach out to her, now that it’s all over?”
“How do you know she didn’t fall at my feet this morning, begging my forgiveness?”
“Kid, there are a lot of things I know about women. One of them is that they won’t fall at the feet of a man who’s just come out of jail in the same suit he was wearing when he went in.”
I laughed in spite of myself. “Fair enough. And some of what I need you to do involves her, now that you mention it.”
“Oh, well, now I’m intrigued.”
“Tomorrow.” I hung up, feeling recharged, refreshed and ready for battle.
Life wasn’t anything without a battle, I decided. I needed something to fight for, something to win. Why bother, otherwise?
I made a phone call after that. I had to know what things were like at Madison, but it wasn’t like I could call Kenzie.
“What the hell did you do?” She didn’t bother to hide in an empty conference room or bathroom anymore, I noticed. I could hear people talking behind her, phones ringing.
“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “He was the one who leveled false charges against me. In defending myself, his crimes came to light. Now he’s the SEC’s problem.”
“Well, it’s everybody’s problem,” Stephanie complained. “We’re going nuts over here. People are crying, people are quitting. It’s a nightmare.”
How did she think things went when Reed had me charged? I wondered if she even listened to herself when she spoke.
“So I take it Kenzie’s not standing up to the challenge,” I said. I hated hearing it, hated saying it even more.
“Oh, no. Just the opposite. The girl’s got balls of steel. Everybody thinks so.”
“Really?” I grinned. “What did she do?”
“She already has the lawyers drafting a press release. She sent out a company-wide memo stating that none of us are to talk to the press under any circumstances and that we shouldn’t talk about our jobs even on social media. Absolutely nothing. If stockholders call, we’re to direct the calls directly to her office, and she’ll take care of it. The photographers and reporters have flooded the building all day, but she’s cool as anything.”
That’s my girl. She could do it. I knew she had it in her. She might not have known it, but it sometimes took a drastic situation to prove to us what we were truly capable of.
“People are still quitting, even though she’s putting up such a brave front?”
“Let’s face it. A lot of the guys Reed hired to work in upper management were buddies of his. They had a job in name only, otherwise they occupied office space barely enough to keep the wheels on their chairs from rusting up and falling off. That was pretty much it. When Kenzie made it clear, via email of course, that she wouldn’t take any of that and would review performance reports starting tomorrow, they started dropping out left and right.”
I threw my head back, laughing heartily. “I can just imagine how pissed off they were,” I said, wiping tears from my eyes.
“You don’t even know the half of it. If I never hear the word ‘cunt’ again, it’ll be too soon.”
“That, I don’t like,” I snarled. It was typical of the sort of man who would be friends with Reed, though. They were all the same—men without a hint of class.
“They’re gone, so they’re nothing to worry about. I think she really enjoys this, you know? I made it a point to walk past her office once or twice, and she sounds like she’s in it to win it.”
“She’ll win it,” I predicted. I was surer than ever of what I wanted to do. “Hey, thanks for everything you did,” I said. “Really. I don’t think you would be in any danger of losing your job now, since you have a new boss.”
“Good thing, too. No way I could keep looking into records without somebody finding out.”
“Hey, you went above and beyond. I’ll make sure to take care of you somehow.” I felt like I owed her something for the extra risks she took. For some reason, I was more committed than ever to making sure the scales of justice balanced out.
After I got off the phone, I checked the stocks for Madison. Just as a five-year-old could have predicted, the prices had plummeted throughout the day after the story broke. A shame they couldn’t have waited until after the trading day finished to take him in. I wondered how low it would go before the closing bell rang.
It was all working out just the way I wanted it to. Once the price of the stock dipped low enough, the company would be in dire straits. Panic would spread. Stockholders, those who were left, would be desperate for leadership.
While Kenzie might have been a perfectly effective leader, they didn’t know her name. She was a young woman without much legitimate experience. There would be no confidence.
That was where I would come in. First, I needed to talk to her. I would rather work with her than against her—if it came down to one or the other, however, I knew what I would have to choose.
CHAPTER 45
Kenzie
Did I want the job? Did I, really?
Another late night on my first day as CEO. I’d staggered from the office around eight o’clock, the adrenaline finally wearing off and leaving me exhausted, beaten up, worn down to the nub. There was nothing left inside me, I was sure.
I’d practically crawled up the stairs to my apartment, remembering the complete lack of sleep the night before, to find an impromptu party waiting for me. Just the girls, takeout and a lot of wine. I’d needed it, desperately. I had even cried. A lot.
“Why are you crying?” Emery had wrapped her arms around me, followed by Chandra, then Chloe. I had wept in the center of their little circle.
“It’s all so much. It’s just too much at once,” I admitted. “I don’t want to fail anybody. I’m so tired. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You can,” Emery had assured me. “And you will. You have what it takes. You made it through today, and you kicked ass. You’ll do it again tomorrow, too. And the next day.”
“Right, and things will get better,” Chandra had promised. “Things will blow over. And by that time, you’ll be ready for anything. Trial by fire, right?”
“You’re stro
ng enough,” Chloe had whispered. “You can do it.”
I loved them to pieces, but wasn’t so sure at the time. I was too exhausted to think straight—mentally, physically, emotionally. I had begged out of the party by ten o’clock and slept straight through until seven. The sleep did me good, and by the following morning, I was up and ready to give my all to another day.
Still, caffeine was my best friend as I waded through a pile of emails. Paula had been honest about what she’d forwarded, at least, before the IT guys stepped in. It was a huge relief, as I didn’t want to lose her. She was far too big an asset to me, knowing much more about how the company ran than I did.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that Fate was having a good laugh at my expense. There I was, just a pawn in a man’s game, and I’d wound up sitting at the top of the food chain. It couldn’t have been scripted better than that.
At least I could dress like an executive, thanks to the clothes from Aaron. My pinstriped suit and Ferragamo heels made me feel like the badass CEO I wanted to be. Everything that had happened in the weeks preceding my impromptu promotion led up to it, I realized.
I didn’t feel like a badass behind my desk and I tried to decide how to best placate the stockholders. They were becoming a real problem, fretting and whining.
I could understand why. I couldn’t force people not to sell their stocks, obviously.
Calls came in from around the world, from people with last names I’d only ever heard on the news or talk shows. They all wanted to know what they should do. Were we planning to restructure the company? Who would sit in my position in the long run?
I wanted to laugh, scream, defend myself. Dammit, I was planning on sitting in that position until somebody pried my ass out of the chair with a crowbar. No way I would navigate the company through the toughest, most stressful time it had ever experienced and then step aside to let some man take over just because he had a little more experience—or a penis.
I ignored such questions, telling myself that giving them any of my time or energy would only sap the energy I needed to keep things afloat.
A lot of the management team had quit on the first day. Good riddance to all of them. I heard them calling me a cunt when I made it clear that I’d be reviewing performance reviews, recent projects, and more to make sure we didn’t need to tighten up our main group.
Within minutes, an uproar had started. Just as I’d expected when I sent the email. It was the easiest way I could imagine to get rid of a lot of dead weight.
I could promote the people who deserved it, the ones who would work as hard as I did. I even considered offering Paula a job, as she’d assisted Reed since day one and had plenty of experience with what the team did.
I needed some women on my side, I knew. I would start with her, if she wanted the responsibility.
When the panic had finally settled, and it became clear that it was either sink or swim, I’d settled in very nicely. I could see that and appreciate how quickly I’d taught myself the ropes. I was still far, far from feeling comfortable, but I was getting comfortable with being a boss.
That was the first step, I was sure.
Stepping up, standing in my power as a leader. Accepting the challenge instead of crawling under my desk to hide from it—not that I hadn’t considered doing that more than a few times.
Once I knew how to stand up for myself and make my voice heard, the rest would come along with it.
Paula came in, knocking on the open door before entering. She looked much more positive than she had the day before when she had spent the first few hours crying off and on. She even wore a genuine smile.
“Good morning,” she said. “Here early, I see.”
“Not so early,” I pointed out. “I slept in, practically. I want to make it a point to get here as early as possible every morning so I can get a jumpstart on the day. I would love to get my inbox taken care of before the real work of the day begins.”
She chuckled. “Oh? Who taught you that business technique?”
Aaron, of course. I relied on everything he’d ever explained when it came to running a company. I even considered changing company policy to the one he followed, allowing employees to go home once their work was finished. I wanted healthy, well-rested, well-compensated employees. They were more efficient and more creative.
I chose to ignore the question, as the answer would have taken too much time to explain. Pulling a pen from the bun in the back of my head, I signed a few documents. One of them was the statement to the press, written by the legal team.
“This sounds good,” I said, reading it over before signing. “Who will deliver it?”
“Well, they want you to do it.”
I took a deep breath. Don’t let her see you’re nervous. Step up. Stop second-guessing your worthiness. “Okay. I’ll just need to know when to show up.”
“Great. I’ll call head counsel when I get back to my desk. Otherwise, you have a few phone messages. One of them is from your mother.”
I gasped, hands over my face. “Oh, God, I never called her. She must be losing her mind.” Of all the people I could forget to call. She was probably just as confused as the rest of the world.
Paula laughed. “I’ll call her back and tell her you’re very busy, but you do want to speak to her.”
“Thanks.” I peeked at her through spread fingers and she laughed again.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. You’re already far ahead of where some assholes thought you would be today.”
I rolled my eyes, leaning back in my chair with a sigh. “Let me guess. Some ex-employees.”
“The very ones. I hope they know they don’t get a severance package or unemployment if they quit. Idiots.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, they saved us a lot of time and trouble. Probably the only worthwhile thing any of them ever contributed to the company.” Paula was still smiling when she left.
I archived a few emails after replying to them, then scrolled through Reed’s email folder to make sure I didn’t miss anything sent to him. I didn’t think there was a person in the world who didn’t know what was going on, but someone might have forgotten and hit “send” after addressing a message to him.
The box was basically clean except for a few pieces of very dirty spam. I wondered how much of my ex boss's work day had consisted of jerking off to porn in his office. Few things would surprise me less.
He had no business running a company like Madison Media Group. It needed someone with brains, talent, heart, drive, compassion, vision.
Someone like me, in other words.
Amazing how quickly I’d gotten used to the idea.
I was just about to close out his account and switch back to my own when I noticed my name on one of the folders beneath his inbox. I looked up, where I could see just outside my office door. The back of Paula’s head was visible from there.
“Hey, Paula?” I decided to dial her rather than calling out for others to overhear.
“What’s up?”
“Do you have any idea what’s in these subfolders under Reed’s inbox?’
“No, I never looked in those. He password protected all of those and somehow managed to set up rules where emails with certain keywords went directly to those folders. They were the messages I wasn’t supposed to see.”
“Oh. Gotcha. Thanks.” I needed to know what was in there. Why would he have an entire folder set up just for me, unless there was something fishy going on? It made my blood boil, knowing that he had so many secret things set up behind-the-scenes.
What would he have used for a password? Sure enough, when I clicked the folder, I was prompted for one. Stumped, I started going through a list of common options. When Password123 worked, I nearly cried. How stupid could he have been? Still, it made my life easier.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Dozens of emails. I started at the beginning, the first email sent just after he received my resignation letter.
I would never forget tha
t day.
He’d sent an angry email to a few of the members of his team, who all replied using rather misogynistic words. Assholes. I read on, and my jaw fell further and further until it practically rested on my chest.
He’d planned the whole thing as a revenge act on Aaron. I knew it. He was obsessed with getting back at him by hiring me. Not one mention of my qualifications or how much he needed me. It was all about Aaron.
Well, the joke was on him. Prick.
Another folder. This one named, not surprisingly, Aaron. The same password worked, and this time I saw a huge folder filled with emails to various publications in Madison Media Group’s network.
I gasped when I realized what I was reading. He’d orchestrated Aaron’s arrest. It was all him. He’d put the plan together ages earlier—years ago, according to one email sent to a reporter at the tabloid that first broke the story. He was only waiting for a reason to put it into action since he knew Aaron resented him for taking the Madison deal away at the last minute.
And I was that reason.
I set the whole thing in motion without knowing it.
I couldn’t believe it, but it was all right there. How could I have imagined he would sink so low? I’d known he was common trash, little better than an insect, but I wouldn’t have believed it if the proof wasn’t staring me in the face.
Even though Aaron tried to tell me.
My heart ached.
He was right all along.
His innocence, the way Reed used me to punish him.
Sure, Aaron had started it, but only because Reed had stolen the company out from under him five years ago. He’d wanted to get a little of his own back by poaching me once he found out how valuable I was to Reed’s company.
I still resented being used. I wouldn’t get over that too easily. But knowing how big a part Reed played in everything made a difference.
I heard a noise at the door as I stared at my laptop screen, completely transfixed. “Yes?” I could only imagine it was one of the remaining members of the management team, if not the entire team. They’d been on my ass all day, looking for guidance.