BRUNO
I leaned back in my chair at the board table. I couldn’t stop smirking. Smirk. Smirk. Smirk. Smirk. Ava was sitting across the table from me looking peaked. She’d been freaking out since we got the call that LSA’s board of directors wanted an immediate emergency meeting. But I wasn’t worried. And honestly, I thought maybe she was just straight-up embarrassed because there was no way we were hiding how we felt about each other after what had just happened in her office. People knew now. For sure. As far as I was concerned, she was always too worried about the appearance of propriety. One by one the board members appeared either via Zoom or around the table and I continued to smirk. Smirk. Smirk. Smirk. Smirk. It was a good day. My team had worked their magic and Ava was mine. I couldn’t think of anything that could dampen my high.
I was pretty sure not even fucking Charlie Albrecht with his pretentious ascot and the pompous way he clenched teeth when he spoke could get to me, until he took the seat next to Ava and said, “I called this meeting today because I believe the board needs to discuss improprieties of Bruno Difranco, our current CEO and Ava Childs, our current COO.”
Across the table from me, Ava’s eyelids closed slowly and she took a deep breath. I knew she was immediately lost to the belief that we were doing something wrong, that somehow the fact that we’d given in to the feelings we’d always had made us incapable of doing our jobs. But unlike her, I wasn’t quick to resign myself to Albrecht’s perspective.
“Oh fun,” I quipped. “Do we also get to talk about what a toolbag you are, Charles, or is this just a shit on Bruno and Ava party?”
Ava’s nostrils flared and she subtly shook her head at me. The silent message was stop it. Sorry, love. No can do.
As usual, Albrecht ignored me, moving instead to present evidence by opening his computer. Suddenly, projected on the screen at the end of the board table was an image of Ava and me kissing in the elevator in the Waldorf Astoria. “Those of you who are not here in person will find that this information has been emailed to you—and as you can see, it appears that Ms. Childs and Mr. Difranco are having an affair.”
The image was telling. No use in denying it. Cocky, I asked, “So?”
Albrecht turned to me, condescending as always, and with utter malice dripping from his words, he said, “Well, considering the board has expected Ms. Childs to serve as warden to your irresponsible tendencies, a sexual affair of this nature makes her incapable of supervising your waywardness.”
“Does it, Charles?” I snarked. “I don’t know if you heard, but this morning, James Baker’s name is on the Billboard charts. I am on target to meet the goal the board set for me.”
“Recklessly,” Charles stated matter-of-factly.
“What the fuck does that mean? Recklessly?” I snapped.
Turning back to his evidence, Charles brought up an image of Sam Tucker and Delilah and said, “As many of you know, Mr. Difranco has unearthed Sam Tucker.”
I looked around the room and caught a smattering of smiles. As I expected, the board was pleased with the resurgence of Sam, so I wasn’t sure where Albrecht was going with this nonsense.
“Despite his rebellious attitude, Mr. Tucker has an ironclad contract with LSA, and I will concede that finding him and enticing him to record again was a decent idea. However, the lynchpin in Mr. Tucker’s return was that he wanted to make a record with his daughter, a talent on her own.”
Fuck. I bit the inside of my cheek. I saw where Albrecht was headed—obviously he was going after the choice to offer Delilah a limited contract. “Ms. Child’s consented to having Delilah Tucker sign a contract, which only ties her to LSA for the record that she is currently recording with her father. Clearly, this contract favors elevating the board’s perception of Mr. Difranco more than the long-term success of LSA Records.”
I couldn’t help myself. “Oh Jesus. Fuck you, Charlie. Ava consented to that deal because it was the best way to build faith with the Tuckers, considering the way they were treated by my parents. Once Delilah sees how Ava and I run LSA, she’ll sign with us. I’m sure of it.”
“Once a gambler…” Charlie shrugged, playing innocent to the board members.
“That doesn’t even make sense. I’m not a gambler.”
Charlie looked back at his computer, but under his breath, he mumbled, “No, of course not. Just a drug runner.”
“You’re a twat,” I snapped.
His eyes snapped back to me, and as clear as day, I could see the poison lurking in them when he said, “Do tell us, Mr. Difranco, about the underage runaway who is currently recording without a contract?”
Ava put her hand over her eyes. Sure, it looked bad. But so what. So, fucking what? I hated that these motherfuckers were making her feel like we weren’t doing everything right. I hated that they were making her feel like our love was a problem. So what if I fucked, Ava? So what if she came all over my dick whenever I wanted her to? Why did that matter? I would have made the same decisions about the Tuckers and Eddy and Ava would have too. She was with me long before we started fucking, and she would be with me no matter what happened at LSA Records because she was mine. She was always mine. And the choices we made were the best ones. LSA was our company. It was in our blood. And this shitbag didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
I stood, and pointing at Ava, I said, “You—” She removed her hand to see who I was talking to and was startled to find me pointing at her. “Fucking stop it. You and I both know that the decisions you made were sound. You do your job better than anyone else. Don’t absorb this douchebag’s bullshit.” I couldn’t tell if I was getting through because she just stared at me blankly.
On fire, I turned and snarled at Charlie, “Say whatever you like, Albrecht. Accuse us of anything you want. I don’t give a flying fuck. I know I’m what’s best for LSA Records. And I’m proving it. So if you don’t like my choices, sell your fucking shares and get out. I’ll be happy to buy them.”
Albrecht gave me his devil grin. “That’s not exactly how this works, Bruno. We are the board of directors of LSA. If you don’t meet our expectations as CEO, we can fire you.”
I slammed my hand against the table. “The fuck you will.”
Albrecht jumped back as if I was going to dive across the table and slap his stupid grin off his face. But I wasn’t. Instead, I looked to Ava. She was close to tears. Goddammit. I had to cool down. Backing out of the room, I said, “If you’re stupid enough to do that—I promise, LSA will be out of business before you even put out one record worth my spit.”