Page 25 of The CEO I Hate

“If we’re gonna light an entire silo on fire, it’s dramatic. It’s visual. Sothatshould be the season finale.”

“I guess that could work,” Tanya said quietly.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Jerome said. “We can make it into the finale.”

“Really?” Mia said, underlining the word silo on the board. “That’s all you want the season to build to?”

Tanya looked between us, clearly unsure of whose side to take. Jerome and Kait shifted in their seats, suddenly very interested in the notes between them. It was like they’d been instructed to avoid confrontation at all costs.

But not Mia. She squared up like I’d invited her out to the parking lot to brawl. Her eyes blazed with challenge. “The silo fire is effectivebecauseit’s a red herring. If we drop it midseason, we can build to something bigger. Something the audience won’t see coming.”

“Last time, we collapsed a building on one of the crews. If we go with the silo, we can target one of the farming families. Make it more personal.” Mia shook her head. Part of me was annoyed by the way she assumed she had all the answers. But the other part—the one I didn’t care to analyze too closely—was a little turned on at her grit and resolve.

“If we blow the silo fire on the finale, we’re telling the audience that the biggest payoff is a misdirection,” Mia said. “We need a finale that will actually advance the plot to season three. Unless you don’t want a third season?”

Mia’s gaze locked with mine, challenging me to argue. Suddenly, it was as if all the air had been sucked from the room. Paula just watched us, sipping her coffee, her lips pinched in amusement. The rest of the room fell silent, everyone clearly waiting for me to blow up or back down. I clenched my jaw, my eyes never leaving Mia’s.Dammit! She had a point, and I knew it.

I exhaled sharply through my nose. “Fine, we put the silo midseason. But there better be something damn impressive happening during the finale.”

Mia’s lips curled into a slow, victorious smile. The look on her face was pure triumph, sharp and hot enough to burn. “It’ll blow your socks off,” she replied.

“Good.” I wanted to wipe that lingering smirk off her lips in all sorts of interesting ways. My body responded to my thoughts, my cock twitching in my pants, and I knew I needed to remove myself from the room.

From Mia and that fiery stare.

I got to my feet. “I’ve seen enough for today. Keep fleshing out the season, and I’ll check in tomorrow.”

I nodded to Paula. Mia had already turned back to the whiteboard, and I couldn’t resist taking a moment to check out her ass again before darting out the door.

I picked up my phone as I walked down the hall. “Carl,” I said. “Get the head of maintenance on the phone. I want better signage posted throughout the building, especially at the entrance to point people in the right direction for each department. Oh, and we need more signs pointing toward the bathrooms.” A beat as he scribbled down my instructions. “No, I don’t care where they get them from, just have them up by the end of the day!”

I hung up, feeling marginally more in control of my day.

Until I looked up.

The mutt was sitting at the end of the hallway, waiting. Tongue out. Tail wagging. Like he knew I’d be back.

Goddamn it.

8

LIAM

“Ijust want the two of you to know that I’m getting the raw end of the deal here.” My youngest brother, Connor, dropped into a chair across from me with a sigh that was part exhaustion, part exasperation. I rolled my eyes, already familiar with the routine.

“You complain about this every time,” Finn—the middle brother—cut in, staring at the menu even though he ordered the same thing every time we ate here.

“Yes, but I want you toacknowledgeit,” Connor said, his voice carrying the dry edge he’d perfected over the years.

“Complaints acknowledged, received, and filed away for next time,” I said, deadpan.

“I don’t think you two appreciate that I have to fly to LA twice as often as you fly up to San Francisco for me.”

“Those are the breaks,” Finn said, clapping Connor’s shoulder. “You’re the one who chose to set up shop three hundred and fifty miles away.”

I met with my brothers once a week, rain or shine, to grab lunch and catch up. It was a long-established tradition at this point. The one appointment on my calendar that was never moved or rescheduled, no matter how busy I got. How busyall threeof us got, because Lord knew we all had plenty on our plates.

Finn handled the movie-making arm of Nexus Media, Connor ran the video game branch, while I held down the fort at VeriTV Studios—the branch of the business that had started it all and that I’d founded back in college. Three brothers, three branches, all part of the same media empire we’d built from the ground up. We traded off who got to pick the restaurant, which meant that any time it was my turn or Finn’s, we were in LA, only schlepping up to San Fran every third week, when Connor gave us no choice.

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