Devil in a Suit

I motioned for the other members of my executive board to relay any other important information to me. I took any bad news with a deep breath, telling myself that I could change the results. I had to. At least I finally had an idea in mind that I could implement.

When the meeting ended, Brittany lingered behind as everyone else left. “Thank you for taking the interns with you,” she told me sincerely. “They need as much exposure as possible.”

“I want them to succeed. I also want them to know what they’re getting into,” I replied as I gathered my things. Usually, Molly handled my emails, but I wanted to type up the one that I would send to Madison and Sara about their new assignment. I wasn’t going to pit them against each other, but only one idea would be good enough to help my company out. Bragging rights were at stake.

“It’s nice of you,” Brittany said as a smile crept across her lips. “Getting soft, Mr. Ashland?”

“Never,” I replied as I turned to face her. I gave her a pointed look, hiding the grin that threatened to appear. I wasn’t getting soft. I was trying something new.

“I’ll send the interns an email about your good idea.”

“I get them from time to time,” Brittany laughed softly. “They’re a good resource. We’d be foolish to not use their brains while they’re here.”

She had a point. Interns could contribute a lot to a company, and we had a good pair of them. I was curious about what Madison would come up with. I wasn’t going to help her because I didn’t want to interfere, and I doubted she would need the help anyway. I had already seen some of her ideas, and they were high quality.

“You don’t think they’ll get scrappy, do you?” I asked Brittany. She was around both of them more than I was. There was always tension between Sara and Madison. The last thing I wanted to do was cause even more drama between them that could lead to some sort of fight. I needed them to focus on the assignment more than their rivalry with each other.

“They’re adults. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them,” Brittany said, patting my arm before waving goodbye to me.

I watched her head out of the conference room to get back to work, leaving me alone. I wanted to go see Madison, but I had an email to write. I headed to my office and turned on my desktop, bringing up my email once my computer came on.

I didn’t make my message that complex. I told them that the company needed creative ways to outdo competitors and to basically come up with a game plan to pull that off. I made sure they knew that the company needed their help and would greatly appreciate whoever’s idea we used. I had to add that little element of competition in there. Hopefully, this wouldn’t backfire on me, and I actually got something good out of this. Only time would tell, though. I clicked on the send button, shooting the email to both of them.

Now, I had a conference to prepare for.

Unlike the gala, I couldn’t have Madison hanging on my arm at the conference. I had to treat her and Sara equally, which wouldn’t be all that easy. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Sara. Well… I wasn’t a huge fan of her because she focused more on flirting with me than doing her work, but I wasn’t going to shut her out of a good opportunity. I was still her boss.

Honestly, there was no telling what could happen at the conference because Brandon would probably be there too. Tension would be high, and I had to handle it in stride without exposing Madison and I’s secret. It would be a challenge, but since when did I back down from one?

Chapter 15

Madison

The business conference was a lot different from the gala. There was no music or drinks in sight. Instead of tables, there were booths where businessmen were promoting their products, services, or general knowledge. People flooded the convention center, talking to one another and delivering their best pitches. I had practiced one for my business idea, but of course, that wasn’t at the forefront of my mind.

It was torture not being able to hang around Tyler like I had at the gala. Here I was stuck with Sara, who was a constant thorn in my side. Hearing her talk about Tyler made me even more annoyed, but I couldn’t show that. I didn’t want her to get suspicious of us.

“So, it seems like you and the boss have turned a corner,” Sara commented as we walked past a few booths.

I felt my body threaten to tense up at her words, but I forced myself to relax. She was just jealous because she preferred when Tyler and I were fighting. It made her think that she had an edge over me when it came to his attention.