Page 96 of The Grumpy Billionaire
He spun around and charged out the door. My legs failing, I fell into a desk chair behind me.
Rob sauntered out of his office. The look on his face told me he’d heard everything.
“Well, I guess that takes care of your conflict-of-interest issue. Now you can just reap the rewards of your good work.”
I glared at him, struggling to even speak. “Where did that interview come from? That was never supposed to air. That was supposed to have been trashed.”
Rob’s eyes darted off to the side. “I don’t know anything about that.”
I stood to face him. “And what the hell was that sensationalized crap—‘deepest secrets’—it’s not that kind of story, and you know it. It’s not an exposé. It’s a feature. That made it sound sleazy or something.”
“Chill out, Mara. It’s a promo. We need for people to watch. You didn’t do anything wrong. He never said it was off the record.”
I responded with only a nod.
Lifting my tote bag from the floor where I’d dropped it, I went back to the edit bay. I had some more work to do before leaving tonight—deleting every minute of the footage we’d shot with Reid from the editing system’s digital memory.
When I finished, I grabbed my purse and coat from my desk. Into my tote bag I swept the framed photos from my desktop and the few personal items I kept at work.
I went to Rob’s office and leaned into his doorway. He looked up from his monitor. “Leaving?”
“Yep. I’m all finished here, I think.”
Maybenot—I still held a tiny bit of hope this thing could be salvaged. It was worth a try. “Rob? I need to ask you for something. I want us to pull that promo—andneverrun the rest of that sound bite. Can you do that for me?”
Rob pushed away from his desk, leaning back in his chair. “Why? Hesaidit, didn’t he?”
“That clip was not a fair representation of him, of what he’s really like—he doesn’t even believe that stuff he said. That day—that meltdown—wasmyfault. And I think you knew he asked us not to use it.”
“It’ll be fine, Mara. Let us handle promotions—you just work on the stories, do your job and let me handle mine.”
My shoulders dropped along with my heart.
“Okay,” I said. “But you may not have a job for much longer. You can expect to be served with a huge lawsuit—probably tomorrow morning. Reid swore he’d shut the station down if any part of that clip aired, and I’m betting he’s got enough money and power to follow through on that. He’s certainly angry enough to do it. I wonder… do you think the GM will take the fall for this—or pass it on down the line to the news department?”
Rob’s answering expression was stricken.
I had one last thing to say before leaving. “And I don’thavea job to do anymore, because I quit. Have fun in court.”
Without another word, I walked out of the station, taking with me every one of the memory cards containing the raw interviews and b-roll of Reid Mancini. They were going to “accidentally” find their way into my microwave oven at home.
There was no way the powers-that-be at the station could do the story without them, even if they still dared to.
THIRTY-FIVE
Cardiac Care
Mara
Naturally, the series didn’t air the next week when the ratings period began.
As far as I knew that promo never aired again either. But then, I wasn’t spending much time watching TV. Or reading the paper.
Or talking to anyone, eating, getting out of bed…
I’d tried reaching Reid later that Tuesday night, but my calls went straight to voicemail, and he had not returned them.
Of course he didn’t want to talk to me, and I knew he’d never forgive me. But I’d at least wanted to let him know that the sweeps stories we’d shot wouldn’t be airing and he didn’t have to worry about losing his privacy. I had no idea if his lawyers had, in fact, filed suit against the station.
