Mr. Billionaire, I'm Back!

Chapter 27: The Blame Is Finally Properly Placed

After some deliberation, one of the statesmen called for attention. Then, once everyone had settled down, he looked at Joanna and asked her if she had anything to say in her defense. All eyes turned to Joanna, and in a manner that was unnaturally calm given the situation, she said, "Good afternoon, Sirs. Thank you so much for agreeing to hear my case. I have three points to make, and then you can go about your day.

"First, I indeed signed the contract with Blan Real Estate with Eric Holland, but as Holly already said, I was only doing what I had been told to do. The general manager had someone tell me to do what I did, so I did it. If I didn't do it, I would have been guilty of insubordination."

When the people in the room heard what Joanna had to say in her defense, they were shocked. She is so bold - they thought.

"Second," Joanna continued. "I checked the company's regulations, and it says that the person who gave the order is responsible for the outcome. This is the only reasonable way to do business. If businesses weren't done this way, every employee would be afraid to take direction from their superiors, and there would be anarchy.

"Now, let's see who is directly responsible for this partnership." Then, like a magician revealing their trick, Joanna opened her briefcase and revealed the contract. She laid it out for everyone to see and pointed to the bottom. "There, you can see my signature along with Mr. Holland's, but let's take a look at who had the authority to draft it. As you can see, if you look at where I signed, I only signed as a 'Witness.'"

Joanna ran her finger up the page, and everyone gasped when they say that there was a third signature on the contract. It was Robin Devine's signature. He had been the one to draft, authorize, and sign the document. This signature was the ace that had been up Joanna's sleeve, and by waiting until now to pull it, she had revealed Mike's dark side for everyone to see. Joanna looked at Mike, smirked, and said, "Who do you suppose should be the one to tell Mr. Robin Devine that he is fired, if this is a fireable offense, which Mike believes that it is?!?! Surely, not me, for I have insisted that this is nonsense since the start."

Mike looked like a shell-shocked soldier that had just returned home from was. His face was pale and had a sickish-sweaty tinge to it.

All the events that had taken place up until now had been a part of Joanna's plan. First, she'd set up Mr. Holland, and then she'd set up Mike – and they'd both fallen neatly into her traps. They were both so predictable. Thus, she'd known what they would do in advance, and she'd made preparations. If Mike wasn't so dumb, he might have saved himself, but after receiving the contract from Robin, he hadn't even taken the time to read it! Therefore, he had nobody to blame except himself.

This is why she was so calm – Mike realized, and he shuddered - She is ten times more crafty than I would have guessed!

Joanna smiled as she turned back to the statesmen, and she said: "My third point is the culmination of the first two. If you look at the evidence, you should see that I am innocent." Joanna bowed to all the people present to show her respect for them, and they returned her bow.

Everyone looked at Mike with expressions that showed how disgusted they were with him. Some of them were even openly dissing him. Not only had he failed to get Joanna fired, but he'd done severe damage to his reputation. And as Mike met each of their eyes, he felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He could not leave, though, because there was still one matter to discuss.

Robin had signed the contract, but no one had enough authority to reprimand him. That being said, a trial had been initiated, and for it to end, Mike would need to admit that he had been wrong all along. And that his motives had not been good.

There was one other option, though, and this is the one he chose: Mike confessed that he had been careless and that he had not read the contract before he passed it on to Joanna.

From then on, people didn't think as highly of Mike as they had. They had seen how vindictive he could be, and they didn't like it.

***

In the luxury powder room of Stellar Entertainment – When Mike told Sarah about what had happened, she practically lost her mind.

Sarah was Stellar Entertainment's most popular star. Globally, she had 40 million fans. With her family's background and the help of Robin and Mike, she could usually get whatever she wanted, and if she offended a lot of people, they knew better than to try to get revenge on her.

She shouted into the phone: "What the f**k, Mike?!?!? Why are you so incompetent?!?!?!" And she ended the call before he could reply.

The make-up girl by Sarah's side didn't know why she was so angry, but she knew to give her the space she needed to vent. These outbursts were increasing in frequency, and the people around her were beginning to get used to it – which proves the adage: You can get used to anything.

The make-up girl tried to make herself look small, but she caught Sarah's eyes, and Sarah shouted, "Hey! What are you doing? Don't you know that it's time to apply my make-up? What are you? Retarded?"

The make-up girl was so nervous and afraid that she nearly wet herself. "N-No," she stammered. "I'm n-not. I'll s-start now. I'm s-sorry, Miss Devine. I'm r-really sorry!"

Sarah couldn't suppress her anger anymore. She tore at the poor girl's hair and slapped her hard on the face, and she didn't stop until hair clung to her fingers in bloody clumps. "I'm telling you," she shouted, "if you make a mistake ever again, you won't find another job in the entertainment business ever again, and you'll be lucky to walk away with your life!"

The make-up girl was crying and trying to apologize, but nothing that came out of her mouth was coherent. "Oh, pull yourself together!" Sarah hissed. Then she put her hand on the girl's chest and pushed her so hard that she fell backward off her chair.

The make-up girl went silent, and Sarah didn't even care if she was conscious.

After a few minutes had passed, the girl forced herself to sit up, and she promised Sarah that she would never make a mistake again.