The Billionaire’s Desire (His Submissive #9)(14)
Author: Ava Claire

Mia just stood there, clearly unaccustomed to anyone giving it to her straight. But she didn’t move toward the chair–she slowly brought her phone back up, glaring at Missy. “I’m sorry about that. This lady’s freaking insane and–hey!”

I was sure my eyes were playing tricks on me because there was no way that Missy just snatched the phone from Mia’s hand. But she was right there, towering above the girl, holding the phone so tightly I was surprised it didn’t crumble between her fingers. I heard the muffled sound of whoever was on the other end before Missy won the staring stand-off and ended the call. She tossed the phone on the conference room table with a splat and returned to her seat.

Mia was still standing, fuming, but after a minute she yanked the chair back and sat down.

“Now, I’m going to introduce you to the team that will be working on your case,” Missy started. “I’m–”

“I don’t care who you–” She flung her hand. “–or anyone else in this room is. I just want to find out if I’m gonna get what I paid for.”

Missy’s dark eyes flashed, but she gave our new client a smile so sweet it was poison. “Very well. You can review contact information at your leisure. We’ll get right to it.”

Mia blew a bubble with her gum and popped it with an obnoxious snap. I unscrewed my bottle of water and took a long gulp.

“We’re here because of one reason and one reason alone. You are single handedly destroying your career.”

I nearly spat up my water. I wasn’t the only one surprised by Missy’s bluntness. A couple of gazes jumped from the folder before falling dutifully back down. And Mia–well, if she turned any redder, I was sure her head would explode.

“What did you just say to me?”

Missy calmly put one hand on top of the other. “I’m not gonna blow smoke up your ass. I know that the people around you tell you what you want to hear. That you’re okay. You’re a rebel. You’re trendy. You’re just being young, wild, and free.” Her tone darkened. “I’m here to tell you the truth. This little grunge number you’re rocking? You look like something the nineties threw up. Without our help, the only thing you’ll be is a one liner in comedic routines. The only singing gigs you’ll be offered is jingles for commercials. And as far as acting? A  p**n  parody of Carolina, California.”

I was holding my breath, somewhere between ‘OH MY GOD…just…wow’ and ‘Oh my god did she just tell a client she was a hop, skip, and a jump away from doing  p**n ?!’.

But Mia wasn’t holding her breath. I could tell from the way her body shook that she was breathing overtime, her tiny framed hunched over the table like she was contemplating lurching to the front and clawing Missy’s face off.

This situation was going from bad to worse in record time. No one else was saying anything so I opened my mouth. “Miss Kent, I think what Mrs. Diaz is trying to say is that your career is at a critical tipping point and we’re here to ensure that you tip in the right direction.” When Mia whipped to face me, still angry, still confused, I clarified. “Towards success.”

I saw the fight in her eyes flicker, her breathing dialing down a notch. I gave her an uneasy smile and a nod before I turned to Missy. “We’re here to help, right?”

Now Missy was the one that looked like she was ready to step in a ring, ready to go a round or two with me. “You’ll have to forgive Miss Montgomery. She hasn’t been with the company for very long.”

Don’t do it, Missy. I’d just given her an out. Mia was calming down and we could move forward.

“I meant exactly what I said,” Missy continued, going dark just as I feared she would. “I’m not gonna tiptoe around anything. You are going to do, say, and go where we tell you or you’re going to fail.”

The gasp of horror that hissed from Mia’s mouth made me feel more than a little sorry for her and I scrambled to fix things. “Miss Kent…Mia…”

But she was already up, kicking the chair out of the way, throwing a grown up tantrum that had everyone gaping at her.

Bad, meet Worse.

“I’m not gonna sit here and let you talk to me like that. Do you know who I am?” Spit flew from her mouth like rain. “DO YOU?!”

“Today I do,” Missy said, crossing her arms nonchalantly. “Without us, in five years you’ll be that girl that was on that show. Another child starlet that hit eighteen and lost their damn mind.”

Mia stormed from the room, leaving silence in her wake. I knew Missy was opinionated. It was her M.O. But that ‘get in line or get out’ attitude wasn’t one size fits all. Mia came in combative, gearing for a fight. The last thing she needed was to have someone give it to her.

Missy pushed her chair away from the table. “She’ll be back.”

I guess that was her way of concluding the meeting because everyone else followed suit, pushing back and filing from the room. I hung back, waiting until it was just she and I.

“Can I have a minute, Missy?”

She didn’t say yes, but she turned to face me, clearly still unpleased that I dared to interrupt her during the meeting. As much as I wanted to tell her that I was trying to fix her fallout, do her a favor, I tried to alleviate the tension instead.

“I just wanted to say that I spoke up because I felt that the dialogue was headed down a negative path,” I explained. “She deals with negative day in and day out, people trying to be armchair psychiatrists when no one knows what’s behind this except for Mia.”

“And I don’t care what’s behind it,” Missy said curtly. “I’m not here to be her friend or her confidante. I’m her publicist.”

“I get that, but why can’t we be understanding of her specific needs and–”

“I’m sorry, aren’t you a secretary? What value is your opinion in this matter?”

She may as well have spit in my face because the sting of her words sliced just as deep as hocking a loogie would have. I guess our second ceasefire lasted a few hours longer than the first but was it progress if I was back to hating her guts?

Missy left the room, probably off to brag about how she’d just schooled both me and Mia. My hands were shaking, my eyes filling with what I refused to admit were tears. I left the conference room with my eye on the bathroom down the hall. I would make myself decent before I had to walk through Missy’s territory.