Page 13 of Alice and the Billionaire Boss

He looks up, sees me, and leans back in his chair. He doesn’t smile.

“Why?” I say.

He turns his swivel chair from side to side. “I’m guessing you’ve seen the article?”

I walk into his office, with Damon following behind me. “Yeah. I’ve seen the article. Why did you do it?”

Marama also enters, drawn by our raised voices. I hear Damon murmuring to her, and her intake of breath as he tells her what’s happened.

“I was talking to a friend of mine who’s a reporter,” Craig says. “I thought it was off the record.”

“Bullshit,” I snap. “You know I favored Genica. You wanted to force my hand.”

“No,” he says, but I know I’m right.

“Why Sunrise?” Damon asks, as he and Marama come to stand on either side of me. “Even the article mentioned the issues they’ve been having with their workforce.”

“I’d never sell to Sunrise,” I snap. “I don’t like their CEO.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Craig asks.

“She’s a bitch, and I’m not letting MOTHER within a mile of her.”

He gets slowly to his feet. “She said she’ll offer twice what Genica or any of the other development companies would pay.”

“Even if that is the case,” Marama states, “Kip’s the project director, so the choice is up to him.”

“This is nothing to do with you,” Craig snaps. “Keep your fucking nose out.”

“Whoa,” Damon says.

“Craig,” I say sharply as Marama reddens. “That’s out of order. We’re a team. We all get a say. And I don’t care what that article says. I’m not going to let you force my hand. Nobody’s going to think twice about me going back on a deal with Sunrise after all the hassles they’ve had recently. Money isn’t everything. I’ve made the decision. I’ve already spoken to Jack Evans. I’m selling MOTHER to Genica.”

He glares at me. “You arsehole,” he says bitterly. “I should have known you’d shaft me. You said we’d discuss it before you made a decision.”

“Marama’s right—money’s not always the most important thing,” Damon says.

Craig glares at him. “Oh, fuck off. I might have known you’d take your brother’s side. Do you even have a brain of your own?”

Damon’s eyebrows rise into his hairline. “I think you should take that back,” he says carefully.

“You can’t do this,” Craig snaps at me. Jesus, I actually think he’s close to tears. “I’m a member of the team, and I get to have a say in what we do with our work. Why would you sell to a company that’s offering half what Sunrise would give for it?”

“This is for everyone,” I say, confused as to why he’s so upset.

“Don’t quote Tim Berners-Lee at me,” Craig yells, getting to his feet. “I bet the people he thought were friends didn’t screw him over like this.”

I try to suppress my temper, recognizing there must be an undercurrent beneath all of this. He’s never spoken to any of us like this before, and it’s not like him. Is it the money he’s worried about? Whilst, if we sold MOTHER for higher price, we’d funnel most of the money back into the company, it would inevitably lead to some of the cash filtering through to the staff.

“Craig,” I say, “if you’re having money problems, maybe you’d like to go down to my office and we can discuss this in private?”

He slams his laptop shut. “Go fuck yourself.” He picks up his laptop.

Damon twitches as if he’s going to move and block his path, but I put a hand on his arm, and he stays put. Craig strides past, out of the room.

We fall quiet and stare at each other.

“Holy shit,” Damon says eventually. “That came out of nowhere.”

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