Oh Christian, your bias is showing.

She knew how much he hated P.R. – he had never made a secret of that. But what she never thought was how he could actually be somewhat childish about it, to the point of only hiring college graduates to make up his public relations team – and with no one clear leader among them.

Jane cleared her throat. “Hello, I’m Jane.”

“Hello.” They answered her simultaneously, like students meeting the school principal for the first time, their apprehension evident in their tones.

It was quite...cute, and despite the seriousness of their situation, Jane couldn’t help smiling a little.

Seeing it, Christian’s P.R. staff allowed themselves to smile back, just a little as well.

“So...I was told there was a crisis?”

The P.R. team nodded.

“Is it about the security breach?”

Everyone looked relieved, and she said gently, “I know everything about it. Agent Thornton of the FBI has explained all the pertinent facts to me.” Of course, she conveniently neglected to inform the P.R. team that it was so because she had initially been considered a suspect.

What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them, she told herself, and besides, it wasn’t like she was out to hurt Christian.

“About the crisis then? I might be able to help since I used to work the P.R. team at AMC.”

There was a second of silence, and then everyone started babbling. A picture slowly started to form, and Jane was both shocked and dismayed. Apparently, someone had leaked the security breach to the press, and whoever this was, the person seemed determined to whip the media into a frenzy about the issue.

“And what’s the position Christian wants you guys to take?”

Silence.

She frowned. “Have you at least been given a debriefing of what’s going on?”

Silence.

“When’s the last time Christian spoke to you guys?”

There was a bit of mumbling and looks being exchanged, and then a girl volunteered hesitantly, “Maybe a few months ago? It was our company’s anniversary, and Mr. Ravenhearst told us to keep doing a good job.”

A few months ago? She smiled encouragingly at the staff. “That’s great.”

Nobody smiled back at her.

“Or not so great?”

“We don’t really have much to do,” another girl mumbled, “except answer emails from players messaging customer service.”

Oh.

Jane squared her shoulders. “Well, that’s all going to change. Christian needs you guys more than ever now, so we’ll make sure you have your president’s back. Okay?”

She knew those were pretty big words, but she also knew she had done the right thing when she saw Christian’s P.R. team start losing their frazzled expressions. She could feel their energy levels rising and knew it had come from finally having a sense of purpose and knowing that their efforts were being recognized.

“Let’s get to work then.”

Using AMC’s emergency response plan as a pattern, Jane divided the P.R. team into small groups and gave each one a set of tasks. Soon, it became evident to them that a P.R. disaster was just around the corner, and it would happen if they didn’t act soon.

“Let’s schedule a press conference then,” Jane decided. She knew she might be meddling too much, but she also knew that this was her forte, and Christian, for all his great attributes, was not a people person. His time was better spent in the work lab, where he had been locked in with his I.T. team for days.

“Is there any place in this building we could hold it?”