“He’s an utter asshole. Treated me like just another employee. And his daughter, too. Like we were there just for show.”
I stare at that line for a full ten seconds.
Like we were there just for show.
That’s what gets me. Not the asshole part. I canlive with that. But the accusation that I treat my kid like she’s just some other employee, there just for show? Oh, that pisses me off to no end. Because there’s not a fucking grain of truth to it.
Not one.
My phone buzzes. Gianna.Did you read it yet? We need to talk strategy.
I text back.Conference call in ten. Loop Elena and Valentina.
Matteo’s watching me from across the test kitchen. “Bad?”
“Kells ran a hit piece. Former staff talking shit.”
He mutters something in Italian that roughly translates to questioning Kells’s parentage and life choices. “You want me to call them? The staff he quoted? I can get them to retract.”
“No.” I set my phone down. “That’s exactly what he wants. A messy rebuttal tour where we look defensive and give him more content.”
Matteo frowns. “So we do nothing?Niente?”
“We do exactly enough,” I reply. “Nothing more.”
The call connects at nine forty. Gianna’s on video from her home office. Elena’s audio only from her car. Valentina’s at FHG headquarters.
“Walk me through options,” I say.
Gianna pulls up the article on her screen. “Option one: full rebuttal. We provide context for each termination. Jeremy’s theft. Alicia’s safety violation. Matilda’s abrupt resignation.”
“Which makes us look petty,” Elena, my counsel, cuts in. “Airing former employees’ issues publicly never plays well. Even if we’re factually correct.”
“Option two,” Gianna continues. “Ignore it completely. Let it sit. Hope it gets buried under the nextnews cycle.”
“That’s not an option,” I say. “Silence reads as confirmation.”
“Agreed.” Elena’s voice is crisp. “Which brings us to option three. Minimal engagement. Single statement. No details or defense. Just values.”
Valentina, my PA, is already typing. “I can draft something. One sentence. Maybe two.”
“Make it one,” I tell her. “Short enough that it can’t be quoted out of context.”
Elena hums approval. “Something about privacy and focusing on the work?”
“Close.” I lean back in my chair. Think about this like I’m plating a freshly cooked steak. What’s the core element? What can I strip away and still have it land? “We’re here to support our teams and their families. The work speaks.”
Gianna nods. “Clean. Doesn’t engage with the bait.”
“That’s it?” Valentina sounds skeptical. “One line?”
“That’s it.” I’m firm on this. “Kells wants a food fight. We’re not giving him one. Staff who know us will see it for what it is. People who don’t won’t be convinced by a paragraph defending bathroom break policies. As for Matilda, we don’t acknowledge her at all. Kells wants me to bring up Ben. We won’t take the bait.”
“What about department heads?” Gianna asks. “They’re going to want to respond. Especially Matteo and André. Their teams are being accused of running sweatshops.”
“Tell them no.” My voice goes flat. Hard. The tone I use when a line cook tries to argue about the kitchen setup. “No clarifying DMs. No texts to former staff. No off-record coffee chats to set therecord straight. We hold the line or we don’t hold it at all.”
Elena makes a note. “I’ll send the memo. Any violations and they’re undermining legal strategy.”
