“Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because I knew you’d be angry.”
“I’m not angry,” he lied, feeling a surge of warmth when she leaned into him just a little as he stroked her warm cheek.At you, he added silently. “We can discuss how we’ll conduct ourselves in public later. Just do whatever feels most comfortable for now.”
“Okay.” She tugged her blouse down and centered her waistband as she stepped out of the car. “I hope you can maintain that mindset going forward because they’re going totalk about us a whole lot more now. Marriages are part of the public record.”
“I could always issue some Q4 layoffs,” he muttered.
“Please don’t do that. If you fire anyone who looks at me funny, people really will talk.”
They shouldn’t be looking at you at all, he thought, though he smiled and nodded for her sake.
Let her think she’d won. She wasn’t ever going to see any of that paperwork.
Jay turned and headed into the building at a brisk clip that she must have adopted in the city. A man held the door open for her and Nicholas rolled his eyes as he wiped her lipstick from his mouth. Her little fan club would be very disappointed when they found out she was off the market.
He took the same path as Jay—my wife, he thought, which raised goosebumps on his arms—stepping aside to dodge an intern who was padlocking her bike. The usual clutch of kiss-asses from sales and marketing were hovering by the door, comparing numbers, though they swarmed him like lemmings when he came in through the door, eager to schmooze.
Nicholas maintained a bland look and nodded until he didn’t feel like nodding anymore, and then he made an excuse and left. Stacey was on her way to get her morning coffee and shot him a wary look before hurrying down the hall with her mug, her face slightly pinched.
He watched her with a lifted brow and then grimaced when he saw something worse coming down the hall—Harold, his least favorite executive.
“Mr. Beaucroft, hey—how was your weekend?”
“It was fine,” he said, with a note of irony only Jay would have understood.
“I spent the weekend in Malibu. But I’m sure yours was much more eventful.”
Was it supposed to hurt that he wasn’t burning the midnight oil in overpriced surfer hell like a burner frat boy with a trust fund? “The weekends just fly by.” His smile thinned. “Was there something you wanted? I have a meeting in twenty minutes.”
“I just wanted to check in. If I need something, I’ll ask your secretary.”
“That’s what she’s there for,” Nicholas said, adding silently,for now.
He headed for the stairs, and on his way to the office he saw the man swagger over to Jay and Annica’s station. He leaned over to talk to Jay, and whatever he said didn’t appear to please her, because her shoulders tensed and the smile vanished from her face as she responded.
Nicholas sat down at his desk and drew in a breath as he looked around his domain. The room still smelled like the lemon carpet cleaner the janitors were so fond of. Usually, he was able to ignore it, but now it stung his sinuses like a brand.
His eyes went to his computer. He frowned. A newspaper was tented over the keyboard, arranged so that even the mouse was covered. It wasThe Hollybrook Herald. That was even stranger. It was a puff-piece pamphlet paid for with city dollars by people who thought that local change was terrifying. He never read it if he didn’t have to. Why the hell was it on his desk?
Maybe one of the janitors was reading it, he thought doubtfully.
Then his eye caught on the title of one of the articles.
LOCAL CEO CAUGHT IN TABOO SCANDAL
Hollybrook, CA—Early last week, an anonymous source revealed that Nicholas Beaucroft, local philanthropist and CEO of Beaucroft Assets, has allegedly been involved in a clandestine relationship with his older stepsister, Justine Varens, for the last nine years.
This revelation sent shockwaves through the community, particularly in light of his father’s sexual misconduct, for which he stood trial for several months following multiple allegations from his employees. The anonymous source, claiming to be a part of the young CEO’s inner-circle, hinted that the affair began with the family’s tacit knowledge, albeit against their approval.
Since Varens is an employee at her stepbrother’s firm, the nature of this relationship has sparked concerns on the morality of Beaucroft’s actions and the implications of his perceived nepotism with regard to how it might potentially affect the running of his corporation. This is notthe first timethat this concern has been raised. In 2015, an ex-employee of BA wrote an open letter to the CEO, alleging that BA was a hostile work environment with little to no amenities.
One employee, who did not wish to be named, said of the incident: “When she [Varens] first came here, nobody knew who she was or how she’d gotten the job. She started as [Beaucroft’s] secretary, but then they swapped her out to the CFO. Now, she’s vice-president. A jump up the corporate ladder like that doesn’t just happen. Other people’s careers have been toppled just so she could glide ahead. But I guess some people don’t care who they stop on as long as it means they’re climbing to the top.”
A shareholder, who also wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said: “As someone with a stake in the company, who has relied on his investments in the past, this news is incredibly distressing. CEOs are supposed to be the figureheads of the companies they lead. They’re the face that everyone sees. If Nicholas chooses to conduct his personal life with such a flagrant disregard for his own reputation and conduct, that, to me, raises serious red flags about his ability to steward his own corporation. But then, he’s always been a little too comfortable strongarming people into handshake deals.”
The news has caused other shareholders to wonder if Mr. Beaucroft ought to step down. The anonymous shareholder continued: “We have an expectation that company executives are always operating in good faith. If a CEO’s behavior compromises that public face in any way, even during their so-called private lives, the shareholders have a right to know these details because the effects can be so public. When an executive’s personal life impacts corporate governance and throws his moral and ethical values into question, he’s saying he doesn’t care about the rules or the people he's dealing with.”
