The Fine Print (Dreamland Billionaires #1)(5)

“I’m sorry,” she whispers under her breath.

I ignore her apology and refocus my attention on Joyce.

“Some big changes are happening at Corporate that we will be reviewing over the next week. They’re going to be keeping a close eye on us this quarter.”

“Great. Just what we need,” Zahra mumbles under her breath as she scribbles in her notebook.

“Do you have a problem with Corporate?” I’m not sure what I expect to hear or why I even care.

She laughs to herself, and I’m hit with another weird feeling in my rib cage. “The real question is who doesn’t have a problem with Corporate.”

“Why?”

“Because The Kane Company Board is filled with a bunch of old men who sit around talking about how much money they’ve made, without actually discussing the important matters at hand.”

“And you’re an expert on board meetings all of a sudden?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to draw conclusions based on how they treat us here.”

“And how’s that?”

“Like we don’t matter as long as we make them billions of dollars a year.”

If she notices my glare, she seems unbothered by it. “Aren’t employees paid not to complain?”

She directs her smile at me. “Sorry, that’ll cost the company extra, and seeing as most of us make minimum wage, silence isn’t part of the deal.” Her voice is light and airy, which only annoys me more.

“It should be if only to prevent you from spewing more ignorant statements.”

She sucks in a breath and returns her focus to her notebook, finally giving me the quiet I wanted.

“This next quarter is going to be different from the last one.” Joyce’s eyes brighten.

A few crew members grumble under their breath.

“Oh, come on. It’s the truth.”

Zahra makes a noise in the back of her throat. She scribbles some notes across her notebook, but I can’t make out the words in the dark.

“You don’t believe her?” What the hell are you doing, man? She finally shut up and now you’re asking her questions?

Her head snaps in my direction, but I can’t make out her expression. “Because nothing good can happen now that Brady’s really gone.” Her voice cracks.

My molars smash together. Who does she think she is to call my grandfather Brady? It’s insulting. “The park has performed better in the last year alone than ever before, so I find your statement baseless.”

Her knee bounces in an annoying fashion. “Not everything is about a bottom line. Sure, the park performed better, but at what expense? Small wages? Cheaper health insurance benefits for employees and unpaid vacation days?”

If she’s trying to appeal to my humanity, she might die trying. People in my position don’t lead with our hearts because we would never be satisfied with something so ridiculous.

We don’t seek to make the world better.

We seek to make it ours.

I readjust my position in my chair to look at her. “Spoken like someone who knows nothing about running a multibillion-dollar industry. Not that I’m surprised. You do work here, after all.”

She reaches out and pinches my arm. Her small fingers lack the strength to do any real damage.

“What the hell was that for?” I snap.

“I was trying to see if this was a nightmare. Turns out this whole train wreck of a conversation is very real.”

“Touch me again and you’ll be fired on the spot.”

She freezes. “Which department did you say you were from again?”

“I didn’t.”

She smacks her forehead with her hand as she switches between English and a foreign language I’m not familiar with.

“What department do you work in?” I counter.

She sits up taller with a grin like I didn’t threaten to fire her a second ago. Bizarre. “I’m a beautician at The Magic Wand Salon.”

“Great. So at least you don’t do anything important enough to be missed.”

Her chair creaks underneath her as she recoils. “God, you’re such an asshole.”

Joyce couldn’t have planned my entrance any better than this. She calls out my name and everyone’s heads turn in the direction of our dark corner.

I rise from my seat and look over at Zahra with a raised brow. Her head hangs low, and her chest shakes. From laughter?

What the hell? She should be apologizing and begging for her job.

Joyce calls my name, and my head snaps in the direction of the stage.

I turn toward the crowd and walk away from Zahra. There’s only one thing I need to focus on, and my goal has nothing to do with a woman who dared to call me an asshole and laugh about it.





3





Zahra





I slam the door to my locker shut.

“What’s got you all upset?” Claire takes a seat on the bench across from me and puts on her flats. Her dark, shoulder-length hair curtains around her face, and she shoves it out of the way.

“I met the biggest jerk this morning during the meeting. And you won’t believe who it was.”

“Who?!”

“Rowan Kane.”