“But you are meant to serve as his distraction, and yet he was photographed with another woman.”
“Photographs can be misleading, as is the case with this situation. From what Asher told me, Katrina blindsided him.”
“Perhaps blinded by her would be a more accurate description. She is exactly the type of woman we wanted for her, but he refused to listen. And now we are stuck with you, a nameless, PR girl who can’t even hold his attention for two months. Not to mention, one who was embroiled in her own scandal with a maniac of an ex.”
I plaster a fake smile on my face. “I am sorry to have disappointed you all in that regard. I did, however, garner a lot of positive press in London and with other events, and plan to continue to do so in the future. Asher and I will be attending the symphony this Sunday, and our team is meeting right now to discuss strategies to boost positive press for the event.”
“This is your last chance,” Janet snaps. “We gave you a contract, and we expect you to pull through. If this appearanceis anything less than exemplary, we will move forward with stripping Mr. Langford of his shares.”
I sit up straight. “Have you told him that? Or are you telling me here and now because there are no Langfords present?”
Conrad and Gregory both scoff. “No Langfords present?”
“Sorry, I meantrelevantLangfords present,” I bite out.
“You’d better watch your tongue, girl,” Conrad growls. “You are not in a position to be smart.”
Because Asher isn’t here. Because if he were, no one would dare to be this bold. But that’s okay, I don’t need to hide behind Asher. I can handle these assholes on my own.
I straighten my shoulders. “I am in the position to speak truthfully. And truthfully, the rise in interest and revenue in Asher and many of the businesses that Langford Holdings owns is up since our relationship became public. I don’t have the exact metrics in front of me since that is Emily’s area of expertise, but I know she’s happy with the numbers. So, how about you look at those before you go around slinging threats. We all know how well Asher responds to threats.”
“You’ve grown quite brave in your speech since clawing your way up to this position,” Alan, the man I almost ran into with Daphne, says. He’s one of Janet’s lackeys who always agrees with her and always backs her against Asher. I can’t stand him. “We will remember it when this all comes crashing down. You’ll be lucky if any company in New York will hire you when it’s all over.”
My gut clenches at the thought. These people aren’t Asher, but they still hold a lot of damn power. And they’re actively trying to strip Asher of as much of his as they can.
“I am confident that when this is over, Asher will hold all his current shares—that is the point of this whole endeavor, after all. And while we have had some rough waters recently, I can assure you that I will turn those around and give you exactly what you want.”
“And what is it you think we want?”
To destroy Asher.
But they don’t know that I know that. So, I give them the answer they think I know.
“You want good publicity for Asher. His sordid history and indiscretions made many investors and CEOs of your subsidiaries nervous. You need to appease them, and so far, we have. As I said, Asher and I have received a lot of positive publicity, minus a couple of snags along the way, which is to be expected with someone of Asher’s level of wealth and fame.”
“Then this is your last warning. Deliver, or you will not only lose your job, but you will also lose everything you value. As I said, we can make sure that you never work in this city again.”
It takes all my strength to keep from rolling my eyes. These walking corpses have no idea how the world works anymore. I know the world of the rich and powerful moves more slowly than for the rest of us, and I know these people still have a lot of power and influence, but they forget that social media is the new media, and they can’t control it. At least not completely. They only have an idea of how powerful social media is and how much I can use it to my advantage.
An idea springs to my mind. Something big. Something that is exactly what the team is looking for, and something that the board won’t be able to turn their noses up to.
“Okay,” I say agreeably. “I have kept things somewhat toned down since I didn’t want to come out aggressively swinging with Asher’s and my relationship, but if you want a spectacle, I can give you one. That’s literally what I’m best at.”
Conrad raises a brow. “A spectacle?”
I give him a saccharine smile. “A spectacle. I’ll make sure everyone falls in love with Asher and me and our love story.”
“You say that like it’s easy, like you can just manipulate public opinion.”
“That’s literally my job.”
“That you’ve been failing at.”
“As I said, I have gone for a soft-launch type of approach, but if aggressive is what you want, I’ll give it to you.”
“Fine. Do it. And if you fail, we’ll ruin you.”
“I won’t fail.”
