“Come in,” Nancy said, her voice less angry than it had been over the phone.
Macie’s heart kicked up a notch. She knew she wasn’t getting fired. There was no way Nancy would let her graphics department be down by two. They were barely getting things done as it was. The department couldn’t run with only three other people. Pulling up her metaphoric big-girl panties, Macie opened the door to the lion’s den.
The man sitting at Nancy’s desk had an eerie familiarity to him. His thinning blond hair bordered more toward a bright white tint. Piercing gray eyes lasered into hers. Even the heart shape to his face was familiar. Macie broke his gaze to find its biological match standing to her right. Shit. Nancy stood off to the side by one of her many filing cabinets. Macie turned toward her boss whose own steely gaze softened to graphite as it met Macie’s.
Nancy wouldn’t have been stupid enough to fire her, but the owner of the station would have no issue leaving the graphics department shorthanded. She had to act fast, be smart, and she had to be prepared to hear him deliver the final blow she knew was coming. Why else would she be there? The boulder in her stomach grew into a mountain. How was she going to survive?
“Ms. Regan?” Mr. Leffler asked. He leaned on Nancy’s desk, his fingers steepled under his chin.
Macie swallowed and nodded. Let him think she was afraid. She wasn’t. Sure, she was afraid of not having a paycheck, but she wasn’t scared of this man. He was just a man. It didn’t matter that he owned the station. It didn’t matter that he was Alex’s father. It did matter that he could fire her, but that was something she’d have to deal with. She made the decision then and there to be honest, and not to take any shit.
“Can you explain this?” he asked, turning the computer monitor toward her.
Macie leaned in to get a better look. It was one of the posters she’d made for an upcoming appearance featuring Alex at a charity 5k. Her eyes darted around the screen. There wasn’t anything different. The colors were the same, the people, the city setting behind Alex, even the stupid grin on his face were all the same. There wasn’t a single... then she noticed it. On the banner behind Alex’s too big head someone had added “Fuck Off, Alex” in black.
“My patience is thin, Ms. Regan. Explain this or lose your job.” Mr. Leffler tapped on the screen at the offensive writing.
“Clearly someone manipulated the image after I sent it,” Macie said. She reached for the mouse and clicked over the words to enhance them. Leffler leaned away. It was like he was offended to share the air with her. Macie shook her head. “If I had to guess, I’d say someone with a touchscreen used their finger to add that to the banner.”
“And you didn’t do it,” Leffler said, more as a statement than as a question. He glared at her to emphasize his point.
Macie stood and crossed her arms. If she was going out, which it looked more and more like it was going to happen, she might as well go out with a bang. “No. If I wanted to tell Alex to fuck off, I would say it to his face.” Leffler sat back, his eyes wide and mouth open. “Besides, if I would do something so childish, don’t you think someone with a degree in graphic design would be more creative and...” Macie snorted. “And would do that so much better? That’s amateur, and childish.”
Leffler nodded.
“She has a point,” Nancy said, stepping beside Macie. A sense of pride soared through Macie. Nancy was taking a stand and it was for her. “Just look at the rest of the piece for proof.”
“I can prove it anyway,” Macie added. She pulled her tablet out from under her arm and opened it. Within a few seconds, she’d accessed her desktop. “Here,” Macie said, turning the tablet around, “this is my desktop in my office. She touched the file folder to open the documents and then tapped the file for the graphic. She opened each one and pointed out that none of them had the obscenity. “See?” Then she opened the email to the sent file and found the copy she emailed Alex. She opened that graphic, which clearly didn’t have anything on the banner either. “I didn’t do that.”
“How do I know that’s your desktop?” Leffler took her tablet and flipped through a few more files. Macie didn’t really care. She wasn’t stupid enough to keep anything personal on her work computer anyway. “And how did you access it?”
Macie smiled. Her remote access program was a secret Lauren gave her, and one she wasn’t going to share. So she lied. “I backdoored my tablet to the PC.”
Leffler nodded. “So you’d just tell Alex to fuck off?”
“Pretty much.” She shrugged, knowing that statement might come back to bite her in the ass, but there was no reason to lie about it, either. She’d had no problem telling him off in the newsroom the other day. It was already documented. Macie didn’t think she’d get fired over it, either, or anything else for that matter. She’d proven her innocence.
Leffler handed her the tablet. “Good. Somebody needs to, but don’t make it a habit.” He smirked, taking at least twenty years off his stern face. Macie could really see the family resemblance now. “If you have any issues with my son, don’t take his shit. I like people who stand up for themselves and aren’t afraid to say what’s on their mind. That’s the type of person that makes it in this industry. The other people who make it in this business are the ones who keep their friends close but their
