Drifting Deception

Chapter Four

Wow, so you think I'm famous enough to bring down a thirty-billion-dollar empire, okay? Thanks for the compliment.

"And I'm the managing director of Super Spend," the greasy man, who I was going to say was John, butted in. "We too are expressing the same concerns."

I folded my arms. I was seriously struggling to see the part where I was doing anything irrational or out of the ordinary for a twenty-six-year-old.

Maurice placed a newspaper on the desk in front of us. The smell of the ink gave me flashbacks to my paper runs as a kid. Do people still read these things?

Bold ink displayed the words, Formula One Star in hot water after drunken incident at local spa.

I shook my head. How funny. Bet they thought their marketing team deserved a raise after that one.

I adjusted in my seat, feeling my palms sweat as I tried to ignore the negative thoughts that were starting to fill my head.

"Okay, I'll try my best to patch up my reputation, so your younger customers are not swayed into engaging in illicit activities," I said dryly.

"Henry!" Maurice snapped. "We've heard your apologies too many times now. But as the cliché saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and we're not seeing change, despite your promises."

"What do you suggest I do then?" I cursed. "At this rate, my behaviour is going to spark a reaction no matter what."

Maurice sighed before he shifted his eyes to the three other villains in the room. They returned the same sympathetic stare to him, not me.

"We're going to give you till the summer break to amend your reputation," Monica said. "Otherwise, I'm afraid Ritz Entertainment will have to drop our sponsorship."

Well, shit. An ultimatum with seriously dire consequences. I didn't think it would get that far. I was predicting them to just give me a warning. Not a whole threatening statement that would damage the wider company.

"I'm afraid Super Spend will have to withdraw our sponsorship by the summer as well," John said after a moment. "If nothing changes, of course."

I sighed, tilting my head back so I no longer had to look these imbeciles in the eye. How dare they come here and threaten to ruin Maurice's career as well as mine. Sure, maybe I was acting in a way that wasn't perceived as being "appropriate" by three middle-aged losers, but that didn't mean Maurice had to suffer too.

"We'll review everything over the summer break, and give you an answer in the second half of the season," John said.

"Very well," Maurice said, his tone shaky. "Thank you for coming here to explain this to us." I could tell by the worry on his face that even he didn't think they were coming here to threaten that.

The five of us stood from our chairs, and the three guests nodded.

"We will keep in touch Maurice," the third man—Jason said. "I will review all of the contracts between Santoro and the two firms and get back to you." So the quiet man who had made no contribution thus far was the lawyer. Good God, I couldn't believe the lawyers were getting involved in this.

Maurice thanked him before the three vacated the office and left us there to stand in silence.

"They can't be serious," I muttered once I heard the office door click shut. "That's bullshit if they're being serious."

Maurice pinched the skin between his brows. "Oh, Henry but they are. They are very serious, and it was only a matter of time before this happened." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed play on a video. It was in black and white, and the quality looked like something out of an early two thousand film, but there was no hiding that it was me and Emilia—my date to the dinner last night. We were in a club, running our hands all over each other and kissing like no one was watching. God, this was tame compared to what we did later on that evening.