Page 33 of One Taste
“How the hell did you turn hiring someone behind my back into havinga discussion about my life plans?”
“I’m just good like that.” She smirks. “That’s why I’m the attorney.”
Dad always said she didn’t stop until she got her way. Hence, the spoiled princess bit.
“Yeah, yeah. Tell me about the dude you hired. He better be good.”
“Well,” she starts off slow, “the resumé was stacked. He just finished a rebranding for fancy pet food made of organic everything. Before that a two-year contract withCBSout in California. There were several great references from four employers along the west coast. He was practically set to take a job withNBC, but the recruiter talked him into coming to interview here.”
“How’d yousteal him fromNBC?” I ask, impressed.
“What’s a better resumé builder?" She cocks her head. “Assistant to the VP of sales atNBCor Interim CEO of the prestigiousMidtown Advertising.”
I whistle. “Nice sell.”
She nods before smiling.
I point to the file sitting on her lap. “Are you going to show me the file?”
The moment she hands it over, I open it, ready to learn about the man I’ll be spending my time with starting next week.
“What the hell is this, Madison?”
The file is completely redacted. The name, address, phone number, and e-mail are blacked out. It looks like a top-secret mission briefing instead of an employee file.
Her bright, friendly smile from moments ago is replaced with her resting bitch face. The face she uses when she’s all business. “I don’t trust you. You’ll do something to scare him off. I know you, Sebastian. For as smart as you are, sometimes you can be stupid as hell.”
“Is the first thing you do in the morning decide how you’re going to piss me off?” I grit my teeth. “This is shit. I understand this company isbothof ours, but that doesn’t give you the right to make decisions without me, Madison. You want me to play nice? Then you better start doing the same damn thing.”
Tossing the bullshit file on the coffee table, it scatters on the office floor. I stand from the couch and head toward my desk, turning my back on my sister before I say something I’ll regret.
“Sebastian…” She says my name with the placating tone my mother uses. My mother only uses that tone when she wants me to listen to her, and it only works because she’s my mother. Madison will not get the same results. “Stop taking this so personally. Trust me. Read the credentials and qualifications. This is my company too. I want it to succeed the same as you.”
She makes a valid point, but she’s forgetting a major component. “How can I not take this personally? Someone is doing something to sabotage me. It’s working too. They are winning. And you want me to not take this personally?”
Madison stands and approaches my desk. “We’re going to fix this, Sebastian.”
“Yeah, how? What’s your magical plan?”
She leans her hip on the side of the desk. “I called Dad yesterday and told him about our discussion on Saturday. I want to hire a PI to take a look at things. Maybe this is all related back to the Faust girl, maybe she knew the people from the three accounts we lost, who knows? Maybe they pulled out because we lost a big account? Either way, it won’t hurt to find out why all of the sudden you seem to be the target of the trash media in the city.”
Her idea isn’t half bad. “I’m listening.”
“Dad gave me the name of a PI who is supposedly the best. I convinced her to squeeze us into her schedule this afternoon.”
“That’s great,” I say. “But we have no idea if hiring her is going to solve the problem. What if she can’t figure it out? Then we wasted moneyandI still can’t run my own company.”
Madison’s face softens. “We will get to the bottom of this, Sebastian.”
“Possibly.”
“I promise,” she says. “We’ll figure this out.”
“I’m glad you have faith.” I make direct eye contact. “But I’m still pissed off at you, and if I don’t like this guy, I’m firing him.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re not firing him.”
“That’s what you think.”
