Page 69 of The CEO I Hate

“What is it?” I demanded, pulling back enough to get a good look at the screen.

“Watch the video.”

I hit play. Lyle, my former showrunner, stood there giving an interview at some red carpet event downtown.

The woman interviewing him held a mic between them. “Will there be any future for you andEnd in Fire?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Lyle said. “The studio and I have been in touch recently, in fact. We’ve had some long conversations that included an apology on their part.” He winked and whispered that last bit like he was sharing a secret. “You could say they’re begging me to return.”

“Begging?” the interviewer said. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

“That I’ll be returning to the writers’ room for season two after all?” he said, flashing a dashing smile at the camera. “You bet.”

What the fuck?

“You’ve heard it here first, folks!” the interviewer said excitedly. “Can you give us any clues about what to expect in season two?”

“We’ve got some very juicy storylines coming your way,” Lyle said. “And I’m glad we could put our creative differences aside to really make this production shine. Most of all, I’m so grateful for the fans who have supported us—supported me—in this journey.”

The interviewer turned to the camera. “This has beenThree, Two, One, Action!with all your behind-the-scenes scoops.”

Paula took her phone back. I could feel my blood pressure rising, the pulse in my forehead throbbing. “What fucking apology is he talking about? Did you reach out to him?”

“Like hell I did!” Paula said, sitting down in the chair across from my desk. “That little weasel? Why would I want to invite him back here to take my job?”

“Then what is he talking about?”

“He’s obviously talking out his ass!” Paula said. “And putting the show in a very tough position.”

I rubbed my face with both hands.Shit. We’d been deliberately in “nothing to see here” mode with the press ever since he’d left the show. In every public statement, we kept it bland and boring and simply said that it was a mutual decision to go in different directions.

No matter how sorely I’d been tempted, I hadn’t gone public to trash him for his diva fit or for abandoning the show and its fans.

As justified as that might feel, it would have hurt us more than him to reveal to the world at large that Lyle had left us scrambling with no clear plan for season two. No, we’d made the call to keep all that under wraps as we tried to figure out how to steer the ship without him.

We couldn’t completely stop the fans from speculating, of course, and worrying about what the show might look like with someone new in charge, but we’d done our best to make the transition look smooth and seamless.

And it had been working. The fans’ panic had given way almost completely to excitement and anticipation, especially after the sneak peek at GeekCon. Now, just when it felt like things were finally back on track, Lyle had popped out of the woodwork to turn everything upside down again. What a disaster.

“God! What is he doing? Did he honestly say webeggedhim to come back?”

“That’s what he said,” Paula confirmed. “But after the way he acted, I wouldn’t beg him for water if I was in the fucking desert.”

We were in agreement about that. “The show doesn’t need him. We’re better off with the current writers’ room.”

But on this point, Pauladidn’timmediately agree, and worry shot through me like a bullet. She had her lips pursed, her finger tapping at her chin.

“What?” I complained.

“Wedon’tneed him,” she said. “I just want to make that abundantly clear. But?—”

“I don’t want to hear any damnbuts,” I growled.

“I know you don’t. It’s just…The fan boards have gone wild since the interview aired. It’s all anyone can talk about.”

I gritted my teeth. I could feel my molars caving to the pressure.

“The fans are ecstatic.Theywant him back in the room.”

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