Page 12 of The CEO I Hate (The Lockhart Brothers #1)

Did you get flowers to Cruz for his engagement?

Yes , Carl wrote back about thirty seconds later. He thanked you and said he’ll be back at the end of the week.

I grumbled. I would have liked him back sooner. Get one of the PAs to start preparing the agenda for next Monday’s meeting.

“Okay,” Paula said. “I’ve gone through what was left of Lyle’s notes. Managed not to have an aneurysm as I did.”

The table snickered .

“And it looks like he planned for the season to open with a funeral.”

“So, we immediately get the big reveal of who died last season?” Jerome asked. “We don’t want to draw that out some more?”

“I worry if we draw it out,” Mia cut in, “we’ll run the risk of losing some of the audience.

We have to remember they’ve been waiting since the end of last season for answers.

I’m not saying we should resolve everything right away, but we need to provide some answers even as we pose new questions.

We want the viewers to leave the first episode satisfied but eager for more. ”

“I agree,” Paula said. “We should add some sort of twist in there to keep audience engagement.”

“Maybe one of the deaths is unexpected?” Kait threw out.

“The audience already knows a group of firefighters die from the old timeline because of that memorial plaque we’ve shown glimpses of on the wall of the firehouse.

But what if we lose someone in the fire we showed from the new timeline as well? ”

“Difficult to do because contracts have already been settled with most of the actors,” Paula said.

Kait clicked her tongue. “Right.”

“What if in the new timeline, someone is badly injured from the fire?” Mia suggested.

“I do think there should be serious consequences from that fire, not just the one in the past. And an injury that takes that firefighter out of the job creates a lot of high-stress drama, depending on what the recovery process looks like.”

I glanced up from my phone, studying Mia across the table. I knew she was pulling from her own experiences with Jake. People often said the best writing came from personal experience, and there was no doubt Mia would craft a compelling narrative with that.

“I like it,” Paula said. “Let’s get it on the board. ”

Mia jumped to her feet, walking over to the whiteboard. “Okay, so last season ended with dual fires, one in each timeline. We saw a building collapse, but the audience doesn’t know in which timeline. We also know there were four casualties in the fire from the old timeline.”

“Right,” Jerome said. “So that gives us our first episode of season two. Show the aftermath of the fires. The funeral reveals who we lost in the old timeline. And we can intersperse that with the injury from the new timeline.”

“Perfect,” Mia said. “And Tanya had that great idea about the team finding that keychain at the arson site, which I think works to start layering in clues. We can carry that keychain thread all the way through the season as they try to track down the arsonist.”

I glanced down at my phone again while the table kept talking. Carl had sent a meeting invite. I scowled at it. I didn’t okay this for Friday.

What is this?

That pitch meeting you keep promising Damien Alverez.

What pitch?

The one for that new show idea. Something about a colony on Pluto. Space. Aliens.

God, I’d forgotten. It was the kind of thing I’d usually pass on, but Damien had caught me at a networking event and name-dropped just enough people that I’d promised to take a meeting with him.

I wanted to cancel, but this damn meeting would have to happen, wouldn’t it? Because I couldn’t afford to piss anyone off right now and have them turn around to the press with the Lyle mess already hanging over me.

“I still really want us to light a silo on fire,” Tanya said, pulling my attention back to the table. “Lyle wouldn’t let me do that last season. ”

“That’s such a great visual,” Mia said, adding it to the board. “You know those things can just spontaneously combust?”

“I know!” Tanya said excitedly, hopping out of her chair. “That’s why it’s so cool, because it could be related to the arsonist, but it could also be another red herring.”

“How about we use that for our midseason finale?” Mia suggested.

The table agreed enthusiastically. I couldn’t help but be impressed with how quickly Mia had gotten everyone working together.

Though I was a little pissed she seemed to be making a full-time job out of ignoring me.

Everyone else was at least shooting me looks to see if I approved of what I was hearing, but Mia was acting like I didn’t exist.

“Okay,” she said. “I know at my interview we talked about giving Cade a larger arc. But we also need to talk about the other characters and their?—”

“Doesn’t that scream more of a finale thing?” I cut in.

“Excuse me,” Mia said, pausing her writing to glare at me.

“If we’re gonna light an entire silo on fire, it’s dramatic. It’s visual. So that should be the season finale.”

“I guess that could work,” Tanya said quietly.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Jerome said. “We can make it into the finale.”

“ Really ?” Mia said, underlining the word silo on the board. “That’s all you want the season to build to?”

Tanya looked between us, clearly unsure of whose side to take. Jerome and Kait shifted in their seats, suddenly very interested in the notes between them. It was like they’d been instructed to avoid confrontation at all costs .

But not Mia. She squared up like I’d invited her out to the parking lot to brawl. Her eyes blazed with challenge. “The silo fire is effective because it’s a red herring. If we drop it midseason, we can build to something bigger. Something the audience won’t see coming.”

“Last time, we collapsed a building on one of the crews. If we go with the silo, we can target one of the farming families. Make it more personal.” Mia shook her head.

Part of me was annoyed by the way she assumed she had all the answers.

But the other part—the one I didn’t care to analyze too closely—was a little turned on at her grit and resolve.

“If we blow the silo fire on the finale, we’re telling the audience that the biggest payoff is a misdirection,” Mia said. “We need a finale that will actually advance the plot to season three. Unless you don’t want a third season?”

Mia’s gaze locked with mine, challenging me to argue.

Suddenly, it was as if all the air had been sucked from the room.

Paula just watched us, sipping her coffee, her lips pinched in amusement.

The rest of the room fell silent, everyone clearly waiting for me to blow up or back down.

I clenched my jaw, my eyes never leaving Mia’s.

Dammit ! She had a point, and I knew it.

I exhaled sharply through my nose. “Fine, we put the silo midseason. But there better be something damn impressive happening during the finale.”

Mia’s lips curled into a slow, victorious smile. The look on her face was pure triumph, sharp and hot enough to burn. “It’ll blow your socks off,” she replied.

“Good.” I wanted to wipe that lingering smirk off her lips in all sorts of interesting ways. My body responded to my thoughts, my cock twitching in my pants, and I knew I needed to remove myself from the room .

From Mia and that fiery stare.

I got to my feet. “I’ve seen enough for today. Keep fleshing out the season, and I’ll check in tomorrow.”

I nodded to Paula. Mia had already turned back to the whiteboard, and I couldn’t resist taking a moment to check out her ass again before darting out the door.

I picked up my phone as I walked down the hall.

“Carl,” I said. “Get the head of maintenance on the phone. I want better signage posted throughout the building, especially at the entrance to point people in the right direction for each department. Oh, and we need more signs pointing toward the bathrooms.” A beat as he scribbled down my instructions.

“No, I don’t care where they get them from, just have them up by the end of the day! ”

I hung up, feeling marginally more in control of my day.

Until I looked up.

The mutt was sitting at the end of the hallway, waiting. Tongue out. Tail wagging. Like he knew I’d be back.

Goddamn it.