Page 99 of Culinary Chaos

Oh they really were fucked.

And not in the way she’d thought before.

“I’ll whip this kitchen into the best shape you’ve ever seen.” Hope’s voice was low, threatening. “Don’t you dare come in here again and throw this shit around. And don’t you dare treat me like I’m on my first job either.”

Angelica felt the full force of Hope’s anger—well, almost. There was a twinkle in Hope’s eye that told her she now knew exactly what was happening. Angelica poked her fingers at the paperwork again.

“You better figure out how we’re going to pay for this fine, since it’syourfault it happened in the first place.” That was an absolute lie, but what else was she supposed to say? Josef had handed her paperwork and intended for her to run with it, so she had.

“Failures happen all the time, Angel. You’d know that if you paid closer attention to the restaurants in your own hotels.”

Angelica gasped.

Angel.

She slowly straightened up to her full height. “Fix it, Hope. Now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Hope mimicked the tone of her employees, even daring to give a very slight bow. “Can’t have the Ice Fairy upset, can we?”

Oh, she was playing with fire now. Angelica breathed heavily, giving Hope the best glare that she could summon. Without another word, she gripped the paperwork and walked out. She needed air. She needed to breathe. What the hell was that all about?

“Ange! Ange! Wait up!” Josef jogged slightly to catch up with her.

Angelica spun on him. “What?”

“That was brilliant!” His enthusiasm leached into his words.

“Brilliant?” Angelica scoffed.

She tried to walk away again, but Josef caught up with her. “Yeah! That’s exactly what we need!”

“You need me to be a bully?” Angelica clenched her fists at her sides, rumpling the paper in the process. “You need me to be such a dick that no one would ever work for me again, not in my actual business and certainly not on the damn show.”

Josef’s smile faltered.

Good.

He needed reality to be slapped into him. Angelica took a deep breath before she launched into her next argument against this. “There are plenty of shows out there that are successful without this kind of drama, plenty of dual hosts that work together and get along well and easily resolve conflicts that happen. We don’t needthiskind of bullshit on ours.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Josef came closer, towering over her. “But you know what’s different about those shows?”

“What?”

“They have a female and a male lead.” Josef stopped there, glowering. “Not two women. Not two headstrong and competent women who know exactly what they’re doing.”

“So you want us to pretend we’re stupid?” Bile rose in Angelica’s stomach at that thought.

“No.” Josef softened his tone. “No, you don’t have to pretend to be stupid. But you do need to understand the rules you’re playing by now.”

“Rules?” Angelica shook her head confused.

“You’rewomen.”

“I’m fully fucking aware!” Angelica’s voice rose. “What’s your point?”

“Viewership loves a good cat fight.”

“Oh my God.” That sense of disgust filled her, taking over her entire body.