Page 89 of A Bossy Surprise

She looks slightly terrified. “Would you mind if I jump in ahead of you? Arthur is supposed to be going into a meeting with Mr. Grant in five minutes and I forgot to get copies of these documents they will need.”

I step aside and gesture at the machine. “Sure, go ahead.”

“Oh my God! Thank you so much. You are a lifesaver.” She starts feeding her papers into the machine.

“So, Mr. Grant is in? I had heard he wasn’t coming into the office today.”

“Yeah, I heard the same thing, but he got in about 30 minutes ago. Apparently, there’s some sort of emergency. He, Arthur and the Accounts Team are probably going to be locked away in that meeting for the rest of the afternoon.”

“Oh, okay. Cool.” I shrug. I’m aiming for nonchalance, but I’m not sure whether I achieved it.

Olivia makes her copies, thanks me one more time, and then runs off.

I wonder what’s going on. Whatever it is, it must be serious if it’s coming after his trip toGrant Media HQ.

All I want right now is to go to Adam and ask him what’s going on, but that would be the wrong thing to do. I’ll let him meet with Arthur and the accountants first. Then I will approach him.

I am antsy for the rest of the afternoon. It’s only when I see that Arthur has emerged from the meeting, looking a little worse for wear, that I know Adam is free.

I walk in to his office and he’s sitting at his desk staring out of the window. He doesn’t even realize that he’s no longer alone.

“Hey.”

He jumps as my voice pulls him out of his reverie. When he sees it’s me, a weak smile appears on his face. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Not much. Why didn’t you tell me you were back in town?”

“I’m sorry. Things have been crazy. I didn’t want to call you until things settle down.”

“I walk over to him and sit in his lap. I run my hand through his hair and ask, “What’s going on?”

He takes a breath. “I don’t want to keep things from you, so I’m going to tell you, but you have to promise not to breathe a word of this to anyone.”

“Sure. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

He takes in a deep breath. “I met with my father last night, and he wants me to get rid of GNN and come back home. As in sell it or shut it down, and he wants it done immediately.”

I jump up as if I’ve just been electrocuted.

“What?”

“Yeah, he doesn’t think GNN will succeed even if given time.”

“So what are you going to do it?”

“I mean, I told him no, but at the time I was speaking from a place of emotion. I’m not sure that fighting him on this would be the wisest thing to do or that it even would work.”

“So you’re really considering this?”

“He asked me to get rid of GNN. I said no. The only other option he has is to get the board to force me to do it. If we decide to go down that route, both of us will be called into a board meeting to make our case, and he’ll probably win. If that happens, it will be bad for me, professionally.”

“How?”

“I will be the SVP who took over another company and drove it into the ground.”

“But that’s not what would’ve happened. Then will have made you give it up.”

“That’s not how the story will be told. It will be ‘Spoiled Billionaire Heir Runs News House into the Ground’. I might even get demoted, and that would be the final nail in my coffin. I’m not sure if I want that on my record. It might be wiser to just cut my losses and move on.”