And now that Grady is out of the scene, getting Lana out of her contract with Bad Boy Publishing is going to be a fucking walk in the park. I just hope she fucking forgives me for everything I did.
“THIS IS FALSE! ALL OF IT!” Grady screams as the audio comes to an end, and the silence in the whole convention room is so deafening that you’d be able to hear a pin drop; well, I mean, you’d be able to hear a pin drop if Grady hadn’t entered full desperation mode.
I’m sorry, buddy, but you’re pretty fucked right now. And there’s no way out of this.
“You played me,” he hisses, taking wide steps toward me and balling his fists. “You fucking played me!”
“Yeah, and so fucking what? Are you going to fucking hit me, little man?” I laugh straight into his face, placing one hand on his chest and pushing him back. He stumbles back awkwardly and he almost falls down on his ass. Rage washes over his face, and I can tell that he’s ready to charge me.
Well, if he wants it that much, I can crack his skull.
Lucky for him, it seems I won’t get that chance because right now, there’s someone walking up the stairs and onto the stage.
Abby Cleveland.
32
Abby
“Babe, I probably would back up a few steps from Logan before he hits you in the jaw for getting in his face,” I say with a smirk as my heels click on the stage as I walk towards Logan.
The crowd is eating it up - and why wouldn’t they? This is the stuff that Naughty Angel books are made of, if you ask me.
Yeah, I’ve learned a lot since we started this company. The indie publishing business is a tough one. You need grit. And strength. I’ve been lucky. I had Aidan. I can’t imagine the people that get into it on their own.
“What are you doing here?!” Grady sneers at me, but I can see the fear on his face.
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to be asking you that in just a few minutes,” I respond back cooly. Sure, I’m wearing sexy, I got the heels, the pearls. But if I can go toe to toe with this asshole if I need to.
Oh yeah, in case you don’t remember, I used to date this asshole before I found the love of my life. That’s right. Grady and I used to date back in the day. I caught him cheating on his desk with another author. My career wasn’t doing too well - it was probably because Grady was fucking other girls. But that’s the day I decided to go about it on my own.
With my PA at the time, Cheryl, who is still with me, and of course with Aidan, we built Naughty Angel Publishing. Into what it is today.
Only one thing was left to do before we could really expand however.
I had to take down Grady and Bad Boy Publishing.
“Jennifer, can you please come up on stage,” I say turning to her.
She comes up with a smirk.
“Remember her, Grady?” I ask, facing him. “You thought she was the wife of the Romance Guild CEO at one point, when a simple internet search would have proved otherwise.”
He blanches as I continue. “But you were so ready to get something from Naughty that you jumped at the chance to find a way to destroy us. You totally fell into the trap that she suggested where you’d extort poor Logan Kane into stealing a manuscript.”
Grady is silent.
“What you didn’t know, is that Logan is fiercely loyal. And he came to me before he delivered it to you. And if he hadn’t come to me wasn’t even a worry because unlike your company, I know the people that work for me are happy. And loyal,” I say, delivering a strong condemnation of Grady’s practices.
But it’s time to end this here and now.
“I don’t know how you became CEO of Bad Boy after everything that went down, babe,” I say and pause, “But in this state, whatever you did was enough to warrant your arrest for blackmail and extortion.”
On cue, two special police officers walk onto the stage from the back.
“Now wait just a second!” Grady protests.
That’s when I see Anders. He storms up the crowd and towards the stage.