Page 36 of Dirty Big Sins

After a brief power nap,Vincent and I parted ways with plans to get back together for dinner later that evening. As Julie and I walked into the restaurant, I couldn’t help but notice I had a little extra spring in my step, despite the soreness everywhere else.

How the man had been able to both drain and energize me kind of blew my mind. However, that bright shiny moment came to a halting end the moment I made my way into the kitchen to find that fucking hack of a chef back at my stove, where he was barking orders at the rest of the staff that I’d handpicked over the last two weeks.

“What the hell is going on here?” Maybe I should have thought through my approach, but I wasn’t accustomed to having my direct orders in a kitchen disregarded. To say I was livid was beyond an understatement.

From the corner of my eye I caught a smug grin across Zack’s face as the crew of cameras and television staff were already in the process of filming the goings on. He was going to make me do this in front of our entire audience.

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Fine. I could compromise. They wanted more drama. I could give them that. What I couldn’t do was allow this travesty to continue. Contract or not, this fucker was not staying in my kitchen.

“We are prepping the lunch menu as you directed. The new wait staff has arrived and our guinea pigs are scheduled to be here at twelve o’clock precisely. In your absence this morning, I took the liberty of holding our first team meeting and defined the roles for today’s run through.”

I desperately wanted to knock the smug smile off his face. For the first time since meeting Vincent, I truly understood the appeal of a good physical brawl.

The right thing to do in this case would have been to pull the sous chef into my office to discuss this situation in private instead of in front of the rest of the staff. However, when I saw the sous chef I had agreed to give a trial to this week enter the room with his dirty apron covering him and an armful of pots and pans, I completely lost my shit. That man had come highly recommended and with a stellar background that no one else rivaled and the fucker pretending to be in charge had reduced him to a dishwasher?

Oh hell no.

“Did you think I was joking last night when I fired you?”

Everyone in the room froze at my question. Well, with the exception of the camera crew. I could see them moving and making adjustments to make sure they captured this from every angle possible. This was going to get ugly.

“Excuse me,” he started, “but as I explained to you previously, there is a contract in place between me and the network that supersedes your wishes.”

Julie sucked in a breath behind me. It was the only sound in the vast kitchen and I was sure everyone heard it.

“I don’t give a fuck.” Oops. That would have to be edited out later. Despite my anger, I did need to be a tad more careful. “The network has absolutely no say so over what happens in this kitchen. While they can and likely will dictate the content of the television version of Zia’s Kitchen, they have zero rights when it comes to the day-to-day operations ofthisgoddamned kitchen. Now if you’d like, I can call security and have you escorted off the premises, or you can muster whatever pride you have in that puny body of yours and get out now.”

Instead of tucking tail and running like I’d hoped, this joker turned on my choice of chef and spat. No, seriously he actually spit in his direction. Although thankfully not hitting him or anyone else.

“This is the cook you think can take my place? What a joke. His experience is nothing compared to mine. I have run three two-starred kitchens and twenty other startups that were a hell of a lot better than this one. What has this guy done? A specialty kitchen for keto dieters? Is that what you call quality? He’s a hack at best.”

I could see the anger building in the other chef’s expression and I took several steps in his direction to place myself between him and this asshat jerk.

“I asked you a question,” I repeated. “Are you leaving or am I calling security? Wait. Never mind. Security it is. Julie.”

“Already on it, boss.”

“I’m calling the network and my lawyer.” He pulled his phone from the front pocket of his apron, another thing I didn’t allow inside these walls. “You’ll be off this show by the end of the day. Mark my words.”

I all but laughed in his face. I didn’t know what to expect from the powers that be when it came to the show, but I was starting to not care. This man made me so angry and I wasn’t going to allow him to run roughshod over my staff for the sake of good TV.

Okay maybe ‘not care’ was a little strong. But at this rate, the restaurant had better long-term potential than my fledgling television show that the network still hadn’t bothered to officially renew for season two.

I had to protect my restaurant’s success in every way possible and allowing this jerk face to stay in my kitchen another minute longer was going to ruin the positive momentum we had thus far created.

“That’s where you’re confused. I’m not talking about the show. If the network producers want you in it, I’m sure they will find a way and I’ll either deal with it or I won’t. This, however, is about the restaurant and you were not invited, not hired and are absolutely not welcome.”

If it was at all possible, the chef’s face turned three shades darker to the point I thought he was going to blow. Fortunately, security came rushing through the door with both Gabe and Nina on their heels.

“What is going on in here?” Gabe demanded, looking none too pleased at the interruption to his day.

Dammit. That had not been my intent. He already knew too much and had been forced to get involved too many times. I feared he would soon hit his limit of drama as well. Only if that happened, it wouldn’t be that chef who would feel the brunt of the blowback, it would be this one.

“It’s all under control,” I offered, first looking at Gabe, then back at my intruder. “Isn’t that right, chef?”

His anger all but vibrated the air between us as he stood there and seethed. However, I saw the moment in his eyes when he finally realized he had no choice and relented. Relief swept through me. I didn’t care if it was temporary. I’d take whatever I could get.

“Yeah, we’re done here for now. But I promise you that you haven’t heard the last of me. I will be back.”

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