Page 55 of Hers to Hold
“Do I?”
“It’s a complete lie!”
The senior official grunted. “I can come back later.”
Yates held out his hand to stop him, but his stare remained on Kady. “Don’t go anywhere. I may need a witness.” The sickening blue-green vein in his forehead thumped. “Ms. Martin, you have some nerve,” he said in a threatening tone.
“I could say the same about you and this article,” Kady snapped back. “How dare you take my notes and spin them this way. We discussed this. I was going to—I am—writing a different story. We’ll be forced to write a retraction.”
“We won’t be forced to do any such thing.” Yates stood. “What you don’t understand, Ms. Martin, is that there are other forces at play than your idealistic dreams. There’s a place for the truth and there’s a place for—”
“Hype? Clickbait?” Kady sneered.
“You’re done here, Ms. Martin. Pack your things. You’re fired.”
Kady sucked in a breath. “You’re firing me?”
Yates’s head dipped to one side in a look of tired annoyance. “That’s what I said.”
“Unjustifiably!”
“Mr. Andre,” Yates addressed the senior official, “you heard Ms. Martin’s accusations against me. That I’m a liar.”
“You’re still well within your rights as her superior to fire her with or without cause.”
Kady’s struck Andre with a fierce gaze. “Does this company not value honest journalism?”
“Watch yourself, Ms. Martin.”
“I dideverythingthat was asked of me, sir. Mr. Callaghan was an unwitting participant in this fraud and that’s what I intended to write. To claim the opposite is a deliberate deception.”
“I believe you heard Mr. Yates. I’d rather not have to call security and make this even more embarrassing for you.”
She wasn’t going to get anywhere with Andre. He was obviously going to back up Yates regardless of the truth. Kady raised her chin. “Fine. I’ll go to social media. Clear this whole thing up. Challenge your assertions. And since I was in the meeting and I have a source, you and your paper will look like fools.”
Yates chuckled while Andre spoke, “Young lady, I think you better stop right there and not say something that you’ll regret. We have an entire legal team at our disposal. You’ve got nothing.”
“Are you patronizing me?”
He came within inches of her, expanding his chest, forcing Kady to take a step back. “Our lawyers will bury you. Keep talking,sweetheart.”
Kady smiled. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Drew Callaghan suesyoufor slander.” She about-faced and tore out of the room.
Jimmy was standing by her desk, wringing his hands. “I guess I don’t have to ask how it went. Your face says everything.”
Kady ripped an oversized bag from behind her chair and dropped it on her desk. “I’ve been fired.”
“Really? That’s insane.”
“Is it, Jimmy? After what I’ve been through these past few weeks. I can’t say I’m surprised anymore.”
“What was the reason?”
Kady triumphantly grinned, although she still felt like a loser. “I called Yates a liar.”
“The article wasblatantlyfalse.”
Kady shoved a few personal belongings into the oversized bag. She hadn’t taken time to decorate her desk since she’d spent most of the time outside the office. “I still can’t believe he wrote it.”
