Page 113 of A Bossy Surprise

“And they believed you?” Arthur says. “Those fools are more gullible than I ever imagined.”

Maurice waves a hand in the air. “What is important is that I was able to convince them of that. I also promised to bring over your best people. I have to admit, at the time I made that promise I had no idea how I was going to pull it off, but you all made it so easy for me.”

“What the actual fuck are you talking about?” I’m starting to lose my patience with this idiot.

He chuckles. “Well, I knew I needed an inside man. So I have been working with Gabrielle. She had been Jerry’s deputy for years. She figured that once he retired, she would head the news division. As we all know, that didn’t happen.” He looks at Adam. “Instead you installed your girlfriend in that position.”

“That’s not what happened,” Arthur interjects. “Kayla earned the position. I didn’t even know about her connection to Adam until after I had promoted her.”

“I don’t believe that, not for a second,” Maurice counters. “And even if it is true, it worked to my advantage. Gabrielle was pissed having to take orders from a kid after the two decades she’s put in. I didn’t have to work hard to convince her to join my cause. She found out about the two of you weeks ago, but we kept it to ourselves until a couple of days ago.”

“So it was the both of you who told everyone about us?” I say.

“Yes, it was. We informed GNN staff of your relationship and fanned the flames of the outrage that followed. We induced them into believing that this place won’t stand for much longer with this level of unprofessionalism.”

“There’s no way you peeled off most of our stuff with that,” Adam says.

“You’re right. That tactic didn’t work with everyone. For the ones it didn’t work with, cold hard cash did the talking. We offered them twice what they are making here and they were all too happy to jump ship,” Maurice explains.

“You can’t do this.” I step up to Maurice.

“It’s too late, I’ve already done it.” He smiles and turns to Adam. “The day I met you, I knew you would drive this place into the ground. And you’ve done just that.”

“You vindictive asshole,” Kayla says. “He didn’t do that. You did.”

Maurice shrugs. “Be that as it may, GNN is going to cease to exist in a matter of weeks’ to months tops. I’d like to see how you explain this to your advertisers and parent company.” He turns around and walks out of the room.

All three of us rush to Human Resources and have them call our staff to make sure.

Most of them don’t answer their phones. The ones who do apologize, but let us know that they are leaving us.

The last call to make is to Consuela. I want to make that call personally.

I pull out my phone and dial her number and put the phone on speaker.

At least she has the decency to answer.

“Consuela, we are missing you at work this morning,” I say.

She takes a deep breath. “I was hoping to speak with HR and hand in my resignation before I spoke to you.”

“So it’s true?” I ask

“Yes, it is,” she says.

“Can you explain to me the sense behind leaving GNN after a night like last night?”

“Last night was amazing and was definitely the highlight of my career so far.”

“So why leave now? We can do much greater things together here.”

“I’m leaving because although last night was a high, I still have a lot I want to accomplish in my career. NNA is offering more, and quite frankly, they seem like a more professional news outfit.”

“If it’s about money, we can talk about that.”

“It’s not only about money. I want to work somewhere that garners respect. Once word gets out that you promoted the mother of your child into a position she did not deserve, GNN will be the laughingstock of the news community.” I look over Kayla and her face falls. “I’m sorry I can’t hitch my wagon to that.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that? I didn’t make Kayla Head of News. Arthur did, and it was because she earned it. You’ve worked with Kayla for months now. You know she is thebest of the best. Do you really think she doesn’t deserve the office she occupies?”