Ten weeks. Ten weeks to the day, I’ve been waiting to get a response. My hands shake as the message finally appears.
Betty
Did you demand that I be put on the Brewed shoot?
6.Christopher
Tuesday
The penetrating sound of Tony’s voice, coming from the HR meeting room, crawls under my skin, leaving me desperate to both find out what’s going on and seek some kind of shelter.
This is the second time in two hours that Tony’s been in with HR. He’d been pulled in just before lunch for the first meeting, and was then held in another room for a thirty-minute break, only to be summoned back in.
The morning had already gotten off to a frosty start following Tony’s foul-mouthed rant at being taken off the Brewed account. Pietro had pulled us all into the boardroom before it escalated further. Sara grabbed something from the printer before following behind, her oversized heels clapping loudly with every step.
“I’ve just got off the phone with Kirk,” Pietro began, not waiting for any of us to take a seat. “Keeping you on the campaign is a deal-breaker, Tony.”
Sara slid a piece of paper across to Tony, a last-ditch effort to retain Brewed.
“We can always try Chappell Roan’s team.” Panic is etched in every line of his face as he passes the lone document over to Pietro. Clearly, I’m not worthy of receiving a copy myself. “She’llalready be in New York for the VMAs and her old hitHOT TO GO!would be perfect for Brewed.”
Pietro dismisses the document outright, pushing it to one side.
“Tony, I’m sorry, but we’ve already changed artists once at the eleventh hour. The shoot is this weekend, and I’m not prepared to switch again.”
Tony opens his mouth, but Pietro is far from finished. He raises his finger.
“You’ve done a good job finding a replacement at short notice. No one can take that away from you. The CEO of Brewed even called me personally when he’d heard Alexander Morgan’s name was in the mix; apparently his ten-year-old’s a massive fan. And I’m not going to throw that away just because there’s been a request for a change in personnel for the shoot.”
“But why?” Tony’s arms are crossed like a petulant teenager. He locks eyes with me. If looks could kill, I’d be cremated right here.
“I don’t know.” Pietro’s attention turns to me.
“Beats me.” I shrug my shoulders, a pang of guilt engulfing my heart.
The shrug sets Tony off, and he rises from his chair.
“You’ve been plotting to get this campaign back ever since I took over.” His fist comes down on the table.
“Sure, because I’ve got nothing better to do with my time than call up whoever works with Alexander Morgan and conspire to have you kicked off the campaign.” I lift my brows.
If only he knew the truth.
“I wouldn’t put it past you.” Venom underscores every word from Tony’s mouth.
“Stop!” Pietro shouts. Tony sinks back down into his seat. “Tony, I want you to share everything you’ve been working on for the campaign with Chris and loop him in with all the relevantpeople. Sara, for the rest of the week, I want you to solely focus on assisting Chris.”
“But…” Sara stutters, looking helplessly at Tony.
“Is that going to be a problem?” Pietro screws up the paper beside him and launches it into the bin.
“No.” Her head drops forward.
“Good. Then we’re done here.”
Pietro had left me with them, and I didn’t know if Tony was going to launch himself at me, right there. But thankfully he just got up, slammed his fist down on the table once more, and left.
Which to be fair, wasn’t too far off the reaction I’d had last night.
