Page 10 of Her Secret Santa

Frustration mounts on my uncle’s features, his nostrils flaring wide as he tries to steady himself.

“Thank you for your input, Landon,” he says before Landon can offer any morecomments. “We're unfortunately out of time here, so I'll have to adjourn this meeting.”

Thank fucking Christ.

I don't think I could have survived another minute of this bullshit.

“My decision stands,” I say as I stand and button my Dormeuil suit jacket. “If anyone has concerns, you're welcome to email me.”

None of them have the guts to argue with me personally, not even Landon, unless he has Pax at his back. My uncle will probably have words with me later, but I'm not budging. I meant what I said, and I don't have time to fuck around about festivities.

The boardroom empties quickly, everyone funneling out to head straight back home. I really don't see why today needs to be a half day for anyone, but my uncle would hear none of it when I insisted on a full work day.

I take a moment to gather myself before marching out of the room as well, Pax hot on my heels.

“You have the PR meeting next, Zade.”

I'd be lying if I said the thought of blowing it off hadn't crossed my mind. I shove a hand through my dark hair, annoyed and wanting nothing more than to go the hell home.

“I'm headed there now, or would you like to walk me to class yourself?”

Getting snippy with my uncle is something I don’t like to do, but I'm at wit’s end here.

“That attitude won't get you far,” he warns.

“Got me where I am today. Maybe my employees could use some attitude, too, instead of being lazy little shits. I mean, how can they expect me to take their holiday parties seriously? We're all adults, and I'm paying them to work, so I expect them to do their fucking jobs!”

We reach the door just as I finish my rant, but it swings open before I can lay a hand on the knob. Pax nods to the woman standing in the doorway, side-eying me like he knows something I don’t.

Her lips are coated in red lipstick and pursed as she glances over me, serious yet unimpressed. The heavy makeup around her eyes doesn’t hide the wrinkles cropping up there. Her black hair is back in a slick bun, and she's dressed in a tidy skirt suit. She doesn’t look like much, but I can tell there’s some steel in her spine.

I refuse to look away when she holds her hand out.

“Mr. Hawthorne, I presume?” She has a firm handshake, authoritative. “I'm Gabriela Rockwell. I'll be your new PR manager, starting today. Please, come in.”

My hackles rise at being welcomed into an office in a building that I fucking own, but I step in nonetheless.

“Gabriela, look.” I glance around the office, annoyed to see she rearranged the fucking furniture from the standard way I keep all empty offices. She even brought in a potted plant and a personalized coffee mug. Sure, she’s a consultant, not anemployee, but seeing her make the space so obviously her own rubs me the wrong way. “It's kind of you to have come out on my uncle’s request, but you're really not needed. Let’s wrap this up now and get back to more important things.”

She ignores me and takes a seat in the leather chair, settling herself before even looking at me again. Smiling kindly, she offers Pax a seat, gesturing to a chair on the other side of her desk. Any other day, I might be amused by this, but today I'm just fucking annoyed. I want for her to say something, but she just looks me over like she's assessing me, pushing her glasses down as if trying to decide whether I'm worth her time.

“I give you about a month,” she says, bluntly.

I raise a brow in bored disdain. “Excuse me?”

“You've become a modern day Scrooge.” Her voice is dry and business-like. “Your image is in tatters, you're running your stocks into the ground, and you're acting like a selfish, spoiled child.”

Theaudacity!One look at my uncle and it’s easy to see he’s eating this up. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.

“You can either step up, or I won't be surprised to see you removed from Hawthorne Enterprises entirely.”

“Removed?” The nerve of this woman. “I'm the CEO. I own the fucking company. I don't getremoved.”

Landon would probably cream his pants just at the suggestion. He's always been hungry for my position. And the only way he’ll get it is over my dead body.

“You do when you tank your entire business,” Gabriela rebuts smoothly.

I roll my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. She just keeps her bland, steady gaze on me, waiting patiently. Well if she’s so smart, what will she say when I break it all down for her?

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