Page 56 of Dirty Big Sins

“I insist,” he said. “If you can turn the network around and get them to publicly back you, then we might have a chance in hell of salvaging this situation with minimal effort. It would be a win-win all around.”

I nodded my agreement. He was right, of course, although I didn’t relish being essentially blindsided by the network executives. This game they were playing was wreaking havoc on my emotions and getting incredibly hard to fake. I half wanted to tell them to go fuck themselves at this point. Not the most productive attitude, but damn wouldn’t it feel good?

Julie set down her iPad as Gabe and Nina slipped back inside the restaurant.

“You ready?” she asked.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded as she made a few taps on the screen until the video conferencing app popped up and the executives who held my entire future in their hands appeared on screen.

“Zia,” one of them said tightly in a gruff greeting.

“Bob. Tony. Thank you for making the time to talk to me. I know this is— ”

“Let me stop you right there,” Tony interrupted. “Our lawyer insisted that we have this meeting to cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s, but our position on this untenable situation has not and will not change. We have to cut you loose.”

“But it’s my show. And the second season we have been filming is going to be even better than the first. If anything this publicity will bring in new viewers who are curious.”

“At what expense? We have a reputation and a brand to uphold. We already warned you during the divorce scandal that we wouldn’t tolerate anything else that would bring a negative light down on the network. Professionally and personally we find your behavior reprehensible. A woman who can’t keep her legs together for ten minutes is not someone we want to do business with. Women like you are easily replaced.”

My mouth dropped open as the shock of Tony’s words hammered through me. My heart raced and beat wildly inside my head. The shock had my mind spinning as I tried to gasp the gall of this man’s words. What the hell century were we in? Before I could think it through, my honest reaction came tumbling out.

“Excuse me? How dare you.”

“What Tony meant was— ”

“I know exactly what he meant, although I can’t believe he actually said that. It did, however, sound like a formal invitation for a lawsuit.” I was fuming mad and all the stress of the month came pouring out. “I have done nothing but work hard for this show, always giving one hundred and fifty percent. I have actually tried to keep my personal life as private as possible and except for a couple of bumps in the road, I think things have gone exceptionally well.”

“Whoa,” Bob interjected again. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There is no reason to end this relationship as hostile adversaries. Zia, you have to understand our position. This is far more than a bump in the road. Our network has a very specific brand, which is why your contract included language above and beyond other networks. No one went into this with blinders on, least of all you. Now, we have to work on damage control in order to protect the company that we built. This is not personal. It’s business.”

“Tony’s insults felt intensely personal, thank you very much. I also don’t believe replacing me is as simple as you state. I am the creator of this show. Me. You should probably have the lawyers check that contract again. You can exercise the morality clause for reasonable cause, but you can’t replace me without my approval. I would still be the producer and I will have the final say so as to programming changes such asZia’s Kitchenwith no Zia.”

“Then consider this your official notice of show cancellation. We were on the bubble anyways. The ratings were not quite where we expected a freshman show to land and the only thing we were waiting on was to see if the show received any award nominations this season. It could have potentially saved you. As it is, we are exercising our full legal rights to cancel the show. We wish you the best and hope that once you have overcome these tenuous circumstances your career will once again return to a level worthy of your talents. Goodbye, Zia.”

Before I could get in another word the square with Tony and Bob in it disappeared and I was left alone in the virtual conference room.Well, shit. That had certainly not gone as I’d hoped. I clicked to leave the app and pushed the iPad away. Tears that I refused to shed burned at the edges of my eyes. I needed a drink. And a proper pity party to get past this. The show had been a gamble in the first place and I’d understood just how fleeting it could be. But getting fired for having kinky sex with Vincent while in Italy had never entered my mind as a reason for it to end. Until those fucking pictures had shown up with a letter demanding money.

Fucking Dante. If he was responsible for this, I was going to kill him.

“I’m so sorry, Zia. For what it is worth those guys are total assholes and I hope you sue them and take them for everything they are worth. Hell, maybe you could end up owning the studio and then you could fire their dumb asses for being such pricks.”

A twinge of a smile picked up the corners of my mouth a tiny bit. This was no laughing matter, but Julie’s assessment of my former bosses had been spot on what I needed to hear right now. That pity party was going to have to wait until after I saved this restaurant opening. Then I’d take a vacation and drink like a fish for a week. I didn’t have the money for that kind of thing, but I did have a social media platform I could leverage. Brands were always contacting me and asking me to work with them. I’d been hesitant because I didn’t have the time to thoroughly vet the offers. That was about to change.

“I still don’t know what I’m going to do to salvage this restaurant,” I whispered, almost afraid to say the words out loud. If anything I should be working on my positive affirmations to get through this.

“I might have an idea.”

Oh, Lord, save me. Julie had brilliant ideas that were usually extremely effective, but they were also normally well outside my comfort zone and often had me at the mercy of some third party that I couldn’t fully trust.

“I don’t know if I’m up for something crazy. I mean, trust me, I want to do everything I can to fix this mess. I’m just not sure I’m can handle anything wild at this point.”

“Oh ye of little faith. Trust me, I’m thinking it might work and I promise it won’t be too painful. Plus I already took the liberty of testing the waters just a bit.”

“Now I know I don’t want to know. I can tell by the look in your eye I’m not going to like it.”

“I’d like to hear what this plan is.” Gabe strode through the balcony door and reclaimed his seat at the table. “Unless you have something alternative in mind.”

Fuck.

I didn’t. My local contacts in Vegas were still fairly limited. Although Vincent had offered his PR team to assist. Maybe they had a solution.

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