Page 77 of My Boss's Sons

Ihad never seen my mom project so much power and authority. I felt a wave of sickness at the idea of how much she’d given up over the years to be our mother.

“Choice one. You sign your name at the bottom of this resignation letter and you walk out of here with your head held high, even though you don’t deserve to. It saves the company some time and trouble and you can retire peacefully.” Mom tilted her head to the side and smiled. “Choice two is my favorite. You act like an asshole and you get treated like an asshole. We fire you, effective immediately. We make a public statement regarding the firing, bring to the forefront the issues we need to work on as a company, like the sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. You retire in shame with nothing to your name except all the fond memories of what you once were.”

Dad swallowed as he looked over the papers and thatgulpsaid it all. He ran his hands down his face and threw his arms around Mom, hugging her. “I’m sorry, Mary. Please, let me explaineverything to you and make it right. I’ll get therapy. I’ll be better. You can’t do this, though. This company is my-”

Mom’s eyes were strained when she pushed him away. There was so much pain on her face as she reached back and took out another stack of papers from her briefcase. “Divorce papers. I’m done with you, Gerry.”

Dad went to his knees and wrapped his arms around Mom’s legs. “Mary, no! Don’t do this. I can make it right. I can fix this!”

Mom snapped her fingers and a handful of security guards rushed in. They pulled Dad off of her and held him as he turned himself into dead weight. “Make a choice, Gerry.”

“I can’t! I won’t!”

Mom put her hands on her hips and nodded. “Choice two it is. Effective as of right now, you’re fired, Gerald. You’re no longer allowed in this building and you’ll be charged with trespassing if you ever come back. Someone will pack up your office and drop it off at your house.”

“You can’t do this to me! I made this company what it is!”

“Exactly, Gerald. You made this company what it is. You filled your highest positions with men you could manipulate into letting bad things slide. It’s going to take a lot of work to clean up the piles of shit you’ve kept around for so long. Lucky for me, I’ve got free time and until I have grandkids, I’m going to use it to help around here. I just think it needs a woman’s touch.”

“Don’t do this, Mary! I love you! You know I love you! Please, Mary!” Dad’s voice faded as the guards hauled him out of his office. His shouts could still be heard from down the hall, but they turned angry. “Let go of me, you piece of shit! I paid your salaries! I gave you this job!”

“Tiff? Be a dear and shut that door, will you?” Mom moved towards Dad’s chair and ran her fingers along the back of it. “Call the board and tell them Gerald chose the hard way. They mightwant to start cleaning up their acts now because this entire place is about to be under a microscope.”

Tiffany hurried towards the door. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And Tiff?” Mom sat down slowly, letting her body melt into the opulent leather. “You chose correctly. I’ll be glad to keep you on, but if I see you take one wayward step out of line, you’re gone. Your lies helped hurt my kids. You’re good at your job, though, and I’ll need someone I can depend on. Should I forgive you?”

Tiffany glanced at us and then down at her feet as she nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry for what I did. It won’t happen again.”

“Lovely! Bygones, then. After you call the board, go home and rest up. We’ve got a mess to clean up.”

As soon as the door shut behind Tiffany, mom rested her elbows on the desk and let out a bone deep sigh. I pulled her up and into my arms, hugging her tightly. “Are you okay?”

She hugged each of us as tears streaked down her cheeks. “I love him, but I won’t let him hurt you boys. I should’ve stepped in years ago.”

“Mom, that was…amazing.” Alex shook his head. “I didn’t know you had that in you.”

I agreed. “I will gladly work for you. All this time, I thought Dad was the CEO that I strived to be like, but fuck that. It’s you.”

“Okay, okay. That’s enough excitement for one day. Watch your language.” She wagged her finger at us, all signs of the CEO replaced by just one hundred percent Mom. “I saw your father’s face. I didn’t raise you boys to resort to violence. Now that I’m your boss, I’ll send you all to anger management as part of your training if I need to.”

Alex hugged her again. “As the only kid who didn’t punch his father today, I’m exempt from that, right?”

Mom cupped his face in her hands. “You’re exempt because you’re fired, honey.”

I snorted. “She’s already making much better business choices than Dad.”

Alex frowned. “What the hell?”

“You don’t belong here, Alex. I know all about your studio.” She laughed at his surprised expression. “I know everything. The sooner you all realize that, the better. You’re fired, too, Ethan.”

Alex laughed. “Ha. I’m not the only one.”

“If you think about it and decide you really want to be here, I’ll rehire you, Ethan, but I don’t think your heart’s in this. Take a month or two and just think about what you want.”

“I do want this, Mom. I…” Ethan looked away. “I don’t know what else there is. I just figured this is where I’d end up.”

“Well. Change of plans.” Mom turned to me. “And you, Noah. You’re going to get sick of me because we’re going to run this ship together. I’m not leaving until I die or one of you gives me grandbabies. Maybe that’ll incentivize you to hurry up and make babies.”

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