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The light turns green. I make a left. “You’re welcome, but you owe me one.”
“I’ll be sure the girl isn’t too respectable if that makes you feel better.”
I bark a laugh and almost miss the turn into my apartment’s parking lot. “You’re a saint, Tasha. Where would I be without you?”
“Unemployed,” she deadpans.
I laugh again. Natasha was my father’s assistant once. He’d joined the company as a low-level sales representative. Then, he met my mother, the heiress of Moreno Masterpieces.
After a whirlwind romance, my parents got married, and my father rose in the ranks of the company. Sadly, he died when I was eleven.
Natasha stayed on with the company doing random administrative work until I took over.
When I saw her application to become my assistant, I threw all the others away. I’d grown up around Natasha. She was good people. And someone in my position could use all the good people they could find.
“There’s another matter I’d like to discuss with you,” Natasha pitches her voice low. If it weren’t for the fact I knew Natasha had her own office, I’d think she was trying not to be overheard.
I put the car in park, killing the engine. I picked up the phone and pressed it closer to my ear. “What is it?”
“Brigette.”
I scowl at the sound of my ex-girlfriend’s name. “What about her?”
Natasha sighs. “She’s filed an HR complaint against you.”
She can’t be serious.
“What could Brigette possibly have to complain about?”
“She says she’s afraid you will fire her now that you’ve broken up. She says you threatened as much the last you spoke.”
“Jesus Christ.” I throw my head against the headrest and pinch the bridge of my nose. “We broke up months ago. And I never threatened to fire her.”
What I’d said was that Brigette only had the job at the company because I arranged it, long after we started seeing each other. I told her now that we weren’t together, she needed to start pulling her weight if she wanted to keep her spot on the sales team. I wouldn’t be vouching for her anymore. Her fate was in her own hands.
“I believe you, Adam, but the company still needs to do everything possible to ensure she doesn’t take her complaints public and further smear your name.”
Great.
“Does my grandfather know about this?”
I swear I can hear Natasha’s wince through the phone’s earpiece. “He is the one who requested I speak to you about it.”
The fact my grandfather wasn’t the one to call me is both a reprieve and an omen. He’s growing tired of me. If I’m honest, he’s been getting tired of me for a while. I seriously need to mend that bridge before he does something foolish—like hand the reigns of the company over to my cousin, Phillip, instead.
“Got it. Thanks, Natasha. I’ll handle it.”
“I know you will.”
I end the call, but I don’t get out of the car right away. Instead, I lean back against the headrest and grip the steering wheel, trying to clear away the stress Natasha’s call has induced.
It isn’t her fault. She’s just the messenger. I’m the one who’d been stupid enough to hang out in a Vegas hotel with a pornstar.
I’m not knocking the profession. Cassandra Star is a nice enough person. But I’d been given a clear warning from my grandfather to clean up my act and keep my personal life above board. If I couldn’t do that, then I should at least make sure my antics stay out of the press. Add in this mess with Brigette, and I find myself grateful that I’m half a world away from Spain where the rest of my family lives.
There will be a time for me to deal with my problems, but it’s not today. Because today, I have business to attend to, and I can only pray it’s successful. If it isn’t, I don’t know how I will convince my grandfather to keep me on as CEO.
