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“I hear you.” I replied, adjusting my tie, and pocketing my phone as we neared the tower. Chaos was a good word to describe what was happening outside the front door to the tower. Crowds of people swarmed the entire sidewalk and fire lane, impeding foot traffic and the flow of cars. “Jesus Christ.”
“I agree, sir.” Franklin said as he parked next to the curb where police were helping to keep things as orderly as possible. He walked around and opened my door after police pushed people back enough to create a walkway into the tower and I was assaulted with the camera flashes of the paparazzi and the shouts of everyone to look their way. I smiled and gave a little wave as I walked out into the crowd.
“Mr. Jones!”
“Is it true you and Ms. Valentine were high school sweethearts for ten years?”
“Why the rush for the wedding?”
“Is Ms. Valentine pregnant?”
“You were photographed last month with Sue Lin, were you and Ms. Valentine together then?”
I listened to the barrage of questions and could tell I had one chance to get ahead of Veronica and paint the truth for the people curious and took it.
I held my hands up to get everyone to quiet down for a moment and spoke out loudly over the crowd. “Ms. Valentine and I started dating in kindergarten, it’s true. She was the best part of me, my better half if you will. But we fell apart before college thanks to some circumstances out of our control alongside of my own teenage stupidity. But we’ve reconnected recently and decided we’ve lost enough time together, so we’re not wasting a second more. Cora and I will be married this weekend and I will spend the rest of my life wooing and earning that woman’s love because I am so incredibly unworthy of her grace and forgiveness from past mistakes. But I assure you, there is nothing in this entire world that would keep me from her again, and no one will ever compare.” The crowd erupted with more questions and shouts of excitement as I raised my hands again to calm them. “I don’t care if you’ve somehow deemed me worthy of your time and want to spend it camped outside of my building for fleeting glances of me coming and going,” I laughed softly, “I assure you though, I’m not every exciting or entertaining.” The crowd laughed good heartedly and I continued. “I do however ask a few things of you all. I ask that you don’t make all of my dedicated employees late to work as they try to come and go, and I also ask that if you’re going to wait around for Cora, that you are respectful to her and her space.” I let my smile fade from my face as I embodied the powerful CEO I really was, “Because I will not tolerate her being hackled or disrupted discourteously for one second. And believe me, you do not want to see what I’m capable of when that woman’s happiness is at risk.” The crowd fell silent but looks of pure delight crossed the faces of everyone gathered. I nodded and gave a small smile to them again, “Thank you for your time, now I have some businesses to run.”
I walked away through the front door, leaving the crowd’s shouts for more behind me and rode the elevator upstairs to my office where Reid and Dexter were both waiting for me.
“What?” I snapped as they watched me closely.
“Her story broke five minutes ago, but she sold it to a different publication.” Dexter said with a grimace.
“One without the rest of the information with it.” Reid said.
“Fuck.” I growled, shoving open my office door and throwing down my briefcase and turning on the multiple tv monitors on the media wall. Sure enough, Veronica’s story was plastered across the headline of an hourly gossip stream.
Billionaire Playboy Maverick Jones caught cheating with his assistant Veronica Meyers a week before his wedding. Is his almost wife Cora Valentine going to stick by his side through yet another cheating scandal?
“I’m really starting to hate that cunt.” Dexter said from behind me, and I grunted in agreement. I grabbed my phone and dialed the editor that I had worked with yesterday and she answered on the first ring.
“Mr. Jones, I know why you’re calling, and I just want to assure you that we are on it.” She said in place of a greeting.
“On it how?” I bit out.
“Your story will go live any second now, my team is working tirelessly to push it out on every single platform we have as well as flooding it with traction from every employee and asset we have. Our story will be pushed hard and therefore should be the one that is seen most. It has the most information with it, which is what people crave.” Someone spoke to her in the background, and she came back to me. “It’s live. Our story with the security footage and statements is live, it would help to have your own team push it as well.”
“On it.” I said and I turned to find Dexter and Reid already on it, both on their phones giving orders. “Didn’t she violate her contract with you by selling it twice?”
“She did, my guess is she got word somehow that we sold out on her and she took her chances somewhere else.”
“Get me what information you can on that, please.” I said.
“Will do Mr. Jones. We’ll work this diligently to make sure it ends favorably for you.”
“See that it does or the deal on the wedding exclusive is off.” I bit out and hung up, tossing my phone on my desk, and then rubbing my temples. “Fuck.” I cursed again, agitation running up my spine, knowing this was going to negatively affect Cora and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.
I dove headfirst into work on shutting Veronica down and destroying her, putting all of my other work on the back burner and before I realized it, the lunch hour was nearly upon us. I had commandeered Reid’s assistant for a few projects where she could be spared because I had yet to get another one hired.
It turned out, hiring a male personal assistant was harder than expected, most candidates were either underqualified or not a good fit for the role here at Jones.
Tanya, Reid’s assistant opened my office door and walked in, carrying a large take-out order, and set it down on the table as I eyed her curiously. “I didn’t order anything.” I said, standing up and walking towards the delicious smelling lunch she was laying out. She paused, confused and unsure of what to do as she eyed the containers.
“If you didn’t order it, then who did?” She asked, almost like the food could be poisoned.
“I did.”
I turned and in the doorway to my office stood an angel.
