Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Jack
“Someone needs to tell this man that he’s not God’s gift to women, nor the sexiest man alive. Not even close. So my advice to all who want to work with him and/or be on his board of shareholders, watch out for your wives, they may succumb to his scorpion charms.”
The monotone voice of the Autoreader attached to the PowerPoint doesn’t lessen the harshness of the message, and the room has erupted into chaos as the PowerPoint continues to play, decimating the characters of every member of the board, including myself, in front of thousands of employees.
I can see shocked and bemused expressions on everyone’s faces, and I look around the room, until I see Joanna, so I can figure out what is going on.
I hear her before I see her. She’s loud and pissed, and she’s threatening to fire everyone involved.
That’s when I see Katherine’s panicked expression as she whispers to a man next to her.
He shakes his head vehemently and leans over to a young woman, who is wearing a bright red sweater and flared corduroy pants.
I’ve never seen either of them before, and I wonder what department they work in.
Then I see the elderly lady from the cafeteria throwing her hands up into the air.
She looks over and sees Joanna, and I watch as she goes hurrying out of the conference room with the other three behind her.
So Katherine was involved with this, was she?
I hold in a laugh as Marcus Benderford frowns at me. He’s one of the accountants at the company, and he has a sense of humor akin to a rock. “What is the meaning of this, Jack?” He fiddles with the gold cufflinks on his navy suit. “How dare they say such things about Shannon. She is a good woman.”
“Yes, Marcus. I know.” I don’t bother to tell him that the woman he is sleeping with, who is not his wife, had hit on me at every opportunity that she could.
Only because her late husband had been friends with my grandfather did I allow her to stay on the board.
And the fact was, she did have some good ideas when she wasn’t trying to seduce me.
“This is a slight to her character. She didn’t marry for money.
” He sniffs. “She is the epitome of a good woman. In fact…” His voice trails off as he notices the expression on my face.
I won’t be blatantly disrespectful of Shannon, but he knows that I’m not buying what he’s selling.
“What are you going to do to fix this, Jack?”
“I need to find out what’s going on.” I stand up and look around the room to figure out my best exit.
“I wasn’t painted in the best light myself, and this is my company.
” I let the last comment sit for a moment, and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
“I don’t want anybody in this room to think they have power over me, do you understand? ”
“Yes.” He presses his lips together and pulls out his phone. “I need to call…”
“Your wife?” I ask softly, and he goes a deep red.
It’s unfortunate that Marcus has allowed Shannon to interrupt his life and ruin his marriage.
What he doesn’t realize yet is that it’s also going to cost him his job, but I would let HR deal with that.
“Excuse me, I have to figure out what is going on here. I will speak to you later.” I leave Marcus sitting there, feeling hot, bothered, and guilty.
I don’t really care if he feels bad about what he’s doing.
He deserves to feel bad. I abhor cheating and men who treat women poorly.
His wife deserves better, but I also believe it’s none of my business to interfere in their relationship.
I have no loyalty to his wife, though I do feel sorry for her.
“Mr. Heathcliff, I want to apologize. I have no idea what happened.” My assistant rushes over to me, her normally stoic face flustered.
She can barely make eye contact with me, and I know she blames herself for what’s happened, even though I know without a doubt this isn’t her fault.
“I’m going to talk to the group in marketing.
I’m going to have them all fired…” She pauses and frowns.
“Aside from that, new hire, Katherine Jenkins…I suppose she had nothing to do with this.” The expression on her face is questioning, but I don’t give her the answers she’s looking for.
“I’m going to go down to their office now, sir, and I will take care of it. ”
“Don’t bother.” I shake my head. “I want to go and talk to them myself.” I give her a cold smile. “And I will take care of whatever firings that have to occur. I am the CEO, and it was my name that was just disparaged. I want to see what grievances they have against me that caused such comments.”
“I don’t see how they can have any grievances. You treat them so well. They’ve been highly disrespectful. I say we fire…” Her voice trails off as I issue her a warning look. I appreciate her help, but I do not need her to make any decisions for me.
“Don’t worry about it. I will take care of this.
” I say firmly and walk away. There’s nothing I want more than to get to the bottom of this incident.
I can still feel hundreds of eyes on me as I make my way out of the conference room.
“Charlie,” I call over to one of the directors.
“Entertain the crowds for me until I take care of this.”
“Yes, Jack.” He gives me a knowing smile. “Don’t worry. I, as well as everyone else, know that what was said wasn’t true.”
“Oh, knock it off, Charlie.” I chuckle slightly.
“No lies were just heard.” I shake my head and sigh.
“The problem lies in the fact that no truths like that should have been said in the first place.” Charlie’s face looks surprised by my admission, but the truth of the fact is that I know I’m a Playboy and I know how that looks.
Frankly, I don’t care what people think about me, but I won’t be made to look a fool in front of my company.
I head out of the room and make my way to the elevator.
I hear the nervous giggling and hushed whispers before I see them.
Katherine and her cohort of misfits are standing there in a huddle, each one looking nervous and uncomfortable.
I step down a little louder as I approach them, and their faces all look terrified as they see me.
It is very clear to me that all of them are in on this together, and I know that I should fire them all.
“Mr. Heathcliff, I am so sorry. I do not know what happened. Or how…” Cora’s voice is meek and demure as she makes her way toward me.
She looks like a scared mama bear and a much smaller character than she’d been when I’d first met her the week before.
“I think you should know that…” She swallows as I cross my arms and glare down at her.
“You think I should know what?” I clear my throat. “That I’m not the sexiest man alive.”
“Oh ah…” Her cheeks turned a deep red, and she looks down.
My eyes flitter over to Katherine, whose head is tilted high in defiance.
Oh, so she wants to play power games with me, does she?
I’m almost positive that my bio came from her…
it seemed too personal to not have. The others, though, had to have come from the other members of the team.
As far as I knew, Katherine hadn’t even met any of the other members of the board.
“I’m not quite sure what that means, Cora.
” There is no humor in my voice as I stare at her, and my lips are seriously thin.
I feel like a strict father or principal of a school.
The fact of the matter is that I do think that the slideshows were quite funny, but I can’t let them know that.
Not as the CEO of the company. If I hadn’t been, I likely would have been laughing hysterically, and I know my best friends would think this was a hoot.
However, I could not let them know. “Please tell me who is responsible for this.” I stare at Cora, and then I stare at the other two.
And then I look back at Katherine, who is still as defiant as ever.
“Is anyone going to tell me what occurred and who is responsible for this, because I would love to know if all of you will be engaged in looking for a job tomorrow?”
“What do you mean…” The young girl asks with wide eyes. I can tell by the expression on her face that she’s scared by what I’ve just said.
“I mean, who will be on the unemployment line within the next hour?” I shift my eyes and look at each of them for a couple of seconds before moving on to stare down the next.
None of us says anything, and the air is filled with thick tension.
Which, if I’m being honest, is how I like it.
I know that the best way to get people to talk is to make them anxious, and I can tell from the look on their faces that they are all extremely anxious right now.
I decide to remain silent for five to ten more minutes because I know that the longer I remain silent, the more likely it is that someone will break down and tell me everything that I need to know.
We stand there for about five minutes in dead silence, and finally, I look at Katherine again and just stare into her eyes.
She stares back at me in defiance, and then I notice her glance at her coworkers before turning to look back at me.
I can see her thinking and assessing the situation.
“Do I need to fire all of you?” I say simply and cross my arms over my chest. I watch the scared expressions flitter across all of their faces and then watch as Katherine steps forward with a downward expression.
“Fine, I will be honest with you. It was all me,” she shrugs nonchalantly. “I guess fire me. They had nothing to do with what just occurred. It was a silly prank I played, and I messed up.”
“Really? So you’re telling me that it was all you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“You just started and thought of all of that yourself?”