"I am bringing in someone competent to oversee this exercise," His father settled back against the seat, laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. "A supervisor, who will make sure things are done according to procedure and who will also review any and all ongoing projects. Also, this person will serve as the interim head of division."
"What?" Ryan was on his feet before he realized what was happening. "You're giving him my job? Is this a fucking joke?"
"Her," The response had him confused, until his father clarified. "Ms. Bhatt will be resuming duty effective today. Meanwhile, you are demoted to team leader, until you can prove you are done wallowing in self-pity and ready to -"
"Are you kidding me?" The sound of flesh hitting wood reverberated through the room. "You dare sit there on your high horse and tell me you're taking away everything I've worked for because you fucking think I feel sorry for myself? What sort of dick move is this?"
Unmoved by his son's outburst, Bradford held his stare. "Be grateful that's all I'm doing. You cost this company a huge loss, and the only reason you're not out on your ass is because you are my son. Your questionable life choices brought you to this point and I can no longer sit back and watch you waste your life."
"I was heartbroken" The words were forced through clenched teeth, rage threatening to erupt at any moment. "Try a little empathy sometime, Dad."
Un-fucking-believable!
The door edged open and Hailey peeked in, brows furrowed. "Is everything okay? We heard yelling."
A quick study of the faces of both men caused the frown to deepen. She pushed the door wider and stepped in, crossing to stand beside her twin. "What's going on?"
I need out of here.
Ryan's fingers tightened into fists with the urge to break something.
"Ask him." he growled, brushing past her and stalked out of the room. He marched on autopilot along a short hallway, and down a sweeping stairs leading to the foyer not stopping until he reached his car. Resting his hands on the warm top, he lowered his head, forcing air through constricted airways.
I'll be damned if I let him win this time.
He'd poured blood, sweat, and tears into that division and Bradford Silverton was fucking delusional to think he'd just roll over and let some...unknown woman take over. He wasn't giving this up, not without a fight.
"Ryan, wait!" Hailey's voice had him raising his head.
She burst through the front doors, and came to stand beside him.
"I can't believe dad would do something like this." She leaned against the car, huffing in disbelief. "This is ridiculous."
Ryan calmed at her presence. Just knowing he had her on his side helped lift some of the anger. "Does anything he does still surprise you?"
"No, but this..." she broke off and gave him a searching look. "Maybe if you finally tell him what Nicky..."
But Ryan was already shaking his head. "No way, I'd rather cut off my dick than give him a chance to use that against me. And you know he will still think her cheating was somehow my fault."
Hailey was the only member of his family who knew the truth about his ex. She'd been out of town when he'd called her, broken and devastated and had flown back the next day.
The exact details of that day remained blurred to Ryan. He could remember leaving the apartment, Nicky's pleas ringing in his ears. He remembered walking into a bar, and ordering a drink, then two and a third.
Everything after that was a mystery.
"Okay," Hailey said. "So what happens now?"
"I'll figure it out." He glanced at her as a thought occurred to him. "You're in HR, tell me, have you heard of a Ms. Bhatt in the employee list?"
"I don't think so. There are over five hundred staff in our Boston office alone. I'll have to look through my database first, No first name?"
"He didn't give one." Ryan tried to imagine what the woman would look like. Probably one of those uptight, stuck up new age bitches with an over bloated sense of their own importance that had flooded the job market in the past few years. Wearing impossibly tight suits that restricted basic movement, and high heels no sane person would dream of wearing, flaunting designer labels as if that was meant to impress anyone.
The kind that believed in getting special treatment by virtue of their gender and not actual, fucking hard work and diligence.
He was not against women in the workplace. Hell, his mother was the founder of a successful event planning company and Hailey was a Vice President at Silvercorp. But these new types of women were so hung up on themselves and had no qualms fucking or cheating and lying their way to the top.
Crap. He needed to do some research before meeting this woman. He was a firm believer in knowing who the enemy was beforehand and with any luck, he would find enough to gain some leverage over her.
"I could do a Google search." Hailey offered, pulling out her phone.
"There's probably a million Ms. Bhatt's out there." Ryan pointed out. He dipped a hand into the pocket of his jeans, pulled out his cell and speed dialled his executive assistant.
"Lola, where are you?" he listened for a moment. "Good. Schedule a department wide meeting in one hour. Anyone, whose ass is not in the conference room by the time I get there, is fired. Got that?"
He glanced at the time. Six fifteen a.m. By now traffic would be a bitch with the flow of Monday morning commuters. He would have to shower and get dressed at the office, no time to make it back to his condo. Fortunately, he kept a set of work clothes handy at the office, for situations like these.
He ended the call and met his sister's look. "I need to go in."
"Let me know how it goes. I'll try to reason with dad." She stepped aside so he could get into the car.
"Don't bother."
The Jaguar roared to life. Ryan steered the car out the extensive driveway of his parent's home, the sleek black paint gleaming in the morning light, and joined the main road.