Page 80 of No Holds Barred

“Then why are we even having this conversation? Humiliation?” Hope’s lip quirked slightly, and Angelica knew without a doubt now that she was pushing to get a reaction.

“No. Both you and I can agree that Katherine’s skills are very good. But she lacks the training to be in charge of a restaurant.” Angelica hardened her stare. “Would you put her in charge of one of your restaurants?”

“That’s a ridiculous question to ask,” Hope fired back.

“No, it’s not!” Angelica raised her voice. “Would you put Katherine in charge of one of your restaurants?”

“No.” Hope cowered slightly.

“Then you’ve answered your own question. Now, Jess…” Angelica settled back down and faced the other owner of The Dorset. You’ve had time to think, what conclusions have you come to?”

“Uh…” Jess looked absolutely bewildered, like she had no idea what had just happened in front of her.

“You just put her in an impossible spot, Ange.” Leanne pointed at Jess. “You just made her the bad guy no matter what.”

“I didn’t.” Angelica again didn’t bother to look at Leanne. If she was going to cut Leanne from this show, then she would do it quickly and fully. She should have done this in Boston, but she’d been thrown off her feet too much to handle it—first with the car accident and then with the fact that Leanne was even there.

“This isn’t how you manage people.” Leanne again tried to break into the conversation.

“And I suppose you would know.” Angelica turned to her then. “Because you’re so experienced in the world of hotel management that you understand how to deal with complicated issues when livelihoods are at stake.”

Leanne’s jaw dropped.

But Angelica wasn’t going to stop. She’d been waiting for an opportunity like this for ages now, and she was damn ready to let everything spill out into the open. “You were protected when you worked for me from the hard, complicated choices. I made them. You ran the day-to-day and that was it.”

“I did more than that.”

“Yes, you created problems, Leanne. You didn’t solve them.”

Leanne’s jaw dropped, and so did Hope’s. Perhaps Angelica had taken this a step too far. She debated whether or not to backtrack, but decided against it.

“You consistently put yourself in the middle of situations where you’re not needed, and when you do that, you’re not there to help mediate, but to draw the attention back to you. When I first met you, I fell into the same trap.” Angelica looked at Leanne directly. “But I won’t do that again. Now, I’d like to get back to the topic at hand, which is whether or not Mel and Jess are going to terminate Katherine’s position here at The Dorset.” Angelica looked at Jess. “What conclusions have you come to?”

“Like Mel said, I just don’t see how we can make this work,” Jess finally answered

“Fine. Katherine?” Angelica folded her hands in front of her, staring Katherine down. “What would you like to add to the conversation?”

“I can learn. I’ve proven that I have the skills, I just need to learn more. I need this job. I’m a single mom, and I need it to pay for my bills.” Katherine’s eyes watered. Hope reached over and brushed her hand along Katherine’s shoulders.

Angelica kept her face impassive as she waited to see if Katherine had anything else that she wanted to add. When the silence went on for long enough, Angelica frowned.

“There was entirely another option,” Angelica said.

“What?” Mel and Jess said together.

“You keep Katherine on but not as your head chef.” She looked at Hope then, locking their gazes together. “You train her, you take over management until you hire another chef who can not only help teach Katherine the rest of the skills that she needs but how to manage a kitchen. And if she continues to learn, like she says she will, then you promote her back up. Instead, you took the easy way out.” Angelica put her hand flat on the table.

“We didn’t—” Mel started and then stopped. “We can’t do that.”

“You could.” Angelica kept her gaze on Hope. “But you won’t because it requires you to work. What I’ve discovered in the fewshort days I’ve been here is that you and Jess have no vision for the future of this hotel. You deal with the problems in the now and that’s it. You react, you don’t act.” Angelica pursed her lips. “And until that changes, The Dorset will continue to fail and flounder.”

“You can’t know that,” Leanne said.

“I can, and I do,” Angelica snapped at her. She was tired of this, and her patience had run out. “The problem here is management and not just the lack of vision but the refusal to dream. Nothing can solve that problem other than pure willpower.”

The silence was louder than Angelica had predicted it would be. Mel and Jess continued to stare at her with their mouths wide open, Leanne had her arms crossed in a pout, Katherine seemed to be lost in her head knowing she’d just been fired from her only source of income, and Hope stared at her. Those crystalline eyes boring directly into Angelica’s soul. Every once in a while, a car drove by on the street behind them, or a bird called, but that was it.

Angelica finally spoke, breaking that awkward silence. “I think both Mel and Jess have things they need to discuss. The three of us can meet later today, because this is something you’re going to have to decide before the end of the day.”