Page 35 of The Re-Proposal

“What?” I startle when I realize I’d said that out loud.

He points at me. “What are you talking about?”

“What areyoutalking about?” I lift my hand in the same way.

We stare each other down, arms extended, trigger fingers cocked like cowboys in a Western.

Vargas blinks a few times. “I’m talking about the online articles on your takeover yesterday.”

“There are articles?”

He swings the cell phone around to face me. “The HODs took their grievances public.”

“They signed an NDA.”

“Not their secretaries.”

I scoff. “They want to play games? I have their sins in black and white.”

“Shoot back and get hit by your own bullet.”

I crook a finger at him. “Explain.”

“This is different, Bolton. Our PR team has never handled a crap-storm like this before. It feels intentional and organized.”

“So what?” I casually walk around my desk and sit, shaking my mouse. The background on my computer screen is Abe and Regan.

“So what?” Vargas mocks. “You seem quite unaffected by the fact that people are literally calling for your arrest.”

“Arrest?”

“They say you’re abusing your power. They’re calling you a heartless billionaire who steals from the poor to line his own pockets.”

I snort.

“It’s too hot in the news. Mass-firing is a cuss word to these types. They’re making it sound like you committed genocide.” He raises his phone.

“Why should I be bothered about what some troll in his mom’s basement has to say about me?”

“It’s not just one person, Bolton.” Vargas shakes his head.

“Fine. Two people.”

He rolls his eyes.

“Come on, Vargas. If I was afraid of a public shaming, I wouldn’t have started this business.”

“It’s one thing if the business community knows you as the Grim Reaper. It’s different if public sentiment sways against you. Do you know how easy it is for you to get cancelled these days?”

Unaffected, I click open my email.

Two hundred messages.

With a sigh, I go through the trouble of clicking them all until they say ‘read’. Vargas will look through them later and forward the most pressing messages to my attention.

“Employees are talking about a walk-out.”

Those words prompt my eyes up.

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