Page 89 of The CEO I Hate

Lyle glanced from Damien to me to Liam, then held his hand up dismissively. “Don’t get me involved in whatever this is.”

At that, Damien’s jaw dropped, as if he was finally realizing this might actually end badly for him.

“But…but…” he stammered, “you’re the one who brought me in! You wanted me here!”

“Because I thought I’d need help straightening out the mess the new writer had made of season two,” Lyle answered. “But it wasn’t a mess after all.” He turned to look my way, nodding slightly. “So,” he said, gesturing back to Damien, “looks like I don’t need you. If you’ve screwed this gig up for yourself, that’s your problem. I won’t be sticking my neck out for you.”

“Why are you still standing here?” Liam snapped. He still hadn’t raised his voice, but I hadn’t missed the way his entire body coiled like a snake about to strike.

Damien grabbed his crap and marched through the door, staring Liam down. I half expected him to utter something ridiculous, like “you’ll be hearing from my lawyer,” but he probably knew better because he just left.

Liam was on the phone in an instant to security at the front desk. “Throw him out of the building,” he growled. “I don’t care if he lands in the Pacific. And he isneverallowed in again, is that clear?”

Jerome, Kait, and Tanya walked through the door a moment later.

“So,” Jerome said. “We saw Damien walk out while we were walking in. He looked pissed.” He glanced around the room, noticing the tension. “Umm…What happened?”

Nobody said anything.

Ash let out a soft huff from where he’d settled near my feet, like even he was waiting to see what would happen next. His body was still tense, ears up, eyes tracking Liam. He hadn’t moved from his spot since Damien left. Like he wasn’t quite convinced the threat was over.

“Mia,” Liam snapped, hanging up his phone. “We need to talk. In my office.Now.”

30

LIAM

Ikept myself as controlled as I could while we walked down the hall, all too aware of staff milling around who might see us. But inside, I was a volcano about to erupt. I could only hope I could get the two of us behind a closed door before my top blew.

Finally, we reached my office. I opened the door, and Mia slipped past me to step inside. I turned to Carl, seated behind his desk, phone held between his hands. “I don’t want to be disturbed unless the studio is burning down, got it?”

He nodded once. “Understood.”

I marched into my office and closed the door. Then, at last, I turned to Mia.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded.

She looked surprised for a moment, then she frowned. “So much for thinking you’d brought me in here to comfort me, huh?”

“Don’t change the subject.” I clenched my teeth, anger bubbling up inside me. I couldn’t help it. The image of Damien’s smug, predatorysmile was there before my eyes every time I blinked, like it was burned into my brain. “I’d be shocked if this was the first time that piece of shit got out of line. How long has he been acting like that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Since day one.”

“And were you ever going to tell me?”

Mia blinked at me, stung. “Really? That’s what we’re doing? You’re going to blame this on me?”

“I’m blaming it onhim,” I insisted. “But if you’d told me what was going on, I could have gotten rid of him that much sooner. Why would you keep that to yourself? Mia, he could have hurt you. He could have—” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

Fuck!

Anger and bile and rage boiled in my gut at just the thought of what he might have done. I felt sick.

“I’m well aware of what could have happened,” Mia snapped.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” I seethed. I wanted to take her by the arms, to shake some sense into her, to demand answers as to why she hadn’t turned to me for help. “Why didn’t you tell me you were being harassed by that jackass?”

“Why are you yelling at me?” she shot back.