“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. Iwill 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 seriouslythin. 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?”
She pales and nods. “Yes, it was all me. I changed the presentation when Cora wasn’t looking because I wanted to embarrass you.”
“I see.” I press my lips together. I know she’s lying, but I don’t want to push it in front of the other employees. Not when Katherine is looking so ravishing and alluring. “I need you to follow me, Miss Jenkins.” I step to the side and head to the elevator. My brain ticks with ideas of what should happen next.
“What do you mean, follow you? Where are we going?” She hurries behind me.
“We’re going to go to my office, and I’m going to discuss exactly what I think should happen to your position.”
“What do you mean? I thought you were going to fire me?”
“I admire your honesty, and so I would like to discuss exactly what caused you to want to denigrate my name like that.” I look back over at the other three employees who are still just standing there. “The three of you are dismissed. You may leave early for the day. However, I will have a conversation scheduled for you all with HR tomorrow. I want to ensure that something like this never happens again.”
“Mr. Heathcliff…” Cora says, stepping forward. “It’s really, it’s not what you think I just got…”
“It’s fine, Cora. I’m sorry.” Katherine gives her a look and then looks back at me. “Cora and the others have made me feel so welcome as a new employee, and I’m sorry that I’ve potentially gotten them into trouble. It was not my intention whatsoever.”
“What was your intention, Katherine?” I gaze at her as we wait for the elevator. “And do I really want to know?” The ding of the elevator breaks our gaze, and I reluctantly step forward. “Are you going to join me?” I usher her in and wait to see what she will do.
“Against my own volition.” She glares at me as she steps inside, and I can’t help but laugh as the doors close, and we just stare at each other. I study her face, and not for the first time, I think that she is absolutely stunning. I remember the first time that I met her and the way she’d made my cock twitch, but that was nothing compared to what she was doing for me now. There was something about Katherine Jenkins that turned me on in ways I didn’t even think were possible.
“I am not sure what I’m going to do.” I stare at Katherine as she sits in the chair across my desk and says nothing. I’m about to ask her to explain to me how she convinced her coworkers to create such a PowerPoint, but debate against it. I know that if I’m going to interrogate her, then I need to be smart about the direction of the conversation.
