Page 24 of Brutal
“Yes, and telling me what they’re up to is supporting me in my day-to-day work,” I counter, bitterness seeping into my voice. Fuck, I don’t need this right now. I think about the pills in my desk drawer and how much I’d love to pop one right now.
I don’t particularly want to give Caroline extra reasons to quit, though.
“Can I be honest with you?” she asks, and while her voice is careful, I can tell she’s going to say something that’ll probably piss me off.
I grunt in assent, waving a hand in her direction to tell her to go on.
“Oliver isn’t the problem.”
I ball my hands up in fists at my sides, but I don’t interrupt her. Of course he’s the fucking problem. Everything here would be perfect if that fucking snake wasn’t doing something behind my back.
“As long as you’re in top form and have the support of the shareholders, they can’t do anything,” she says.
I snort. “But I don’t have the support of the shareholders, is what you’re saying.”
“I can only go by what I’ve observed, but….” Her brows furrow. “You’ve blown off a lot of meetings lately, Mr. Brutal. You missed the last shareholder meeting, too.”
I grimace. “Not on purpose. I had to meet with…”
No matter what I say, it’ll sound like a stupid excuse. Especially since it is a stupid excuse. We’d just saved Chase’s girl a few days before, and maybe I’d been really fucking jealous and I’d gone to my little friends for some moral support. Only somehow time had completely disappeared.
I probably shouldn’t have washed the pills down with champagne.
“Whatever the case,” she continues. “Your business is your own, but I like my job. I like this company.” She shrugs, adding frankly, “And I like my pay and bonuses. So I would hate to have to start job hunting because my boss got himself replaced.”
How the fuck would they replace me? I’m the founder of the company!
I catch her smile, and I realize she was making a joke. It’s not funny though.
I shouldn’t have done an IPO. But Chase and his team of lawyers had gone over everything so thoroughly, assuring me that this was the best way for me to grow the company.
That had been almost ten years ago now, so mostly they’d been right.
Except now I have to worry that some old-money fuckers will decide they don’t like me anymore, and they’ll steal everything I built out from under me.
Exhaling slowly, I nod to her. I’m pissed at her, but at least she’s telling me this shit up front. It might only be because she wants the money, but that’s basically everybody. Nobody decides to stick around me because they like me.
It’s always about the money.
“Mr. Brutal,” Caroline says, seeming to choose her words very, very carefully, “Perhaps what you really need is a vacation? A proper one?”
I glare at her. “You just said everybody’s noticing how I’m blowing people off. You keep telling me that I can’t miss any more meetings. I don’t think dropping everything will win me any favors.”
She gives me a knowing smile. “What luck that your assistant thought fit to clear your schedule for the next two weeks.”
“What the fuck? Without telling me?” I start to get up, but she’s got this steely look of determination on her face that I’ve never seen before.
“Mr. Brutal, you look like death warmed over on a good day. Half the reason you blow people off is because you’re tired and overworked. You need a vacation,” she says, and while her voice is even, her face is guarded with apprehension.
She thoroughly expects me to explode, and she’s not wrong to be worried. It’s not like I’ve never lashed out at a woman before. It’s not like I’ve never hit a woman before.
But I’ve never taken the full measures of my wrath out on anyone at the workplace.
I can’t blame her for being wary, though.
I sink back down into the chair. “All right,” I say, taking a deep breath. “All right. I’m listening.”
“You’ve been volatile, irresponsible, and you’re making it very easy for people to dislike you,” she says.