New Job Explorations Pt. 03

I looked at him in shock.

-'What kind of photo's?'

-'The kind the your former boyfriend used to like. Fakes I think, looking at your face, but very damaging for your reputation. Posted last week. I will advise Margot to make sue this is resolved before going public with you, but I don't expect her to listen. Please call me tomorrow, yes?'

I didn't like him at all, but if Margot trusted him, I should too. I agreed to call him the next morning and he looked at me with shrewd eyes.

-'I assume you don't want Margot to know, do you?'

-'She knows about those guys and their perverted hobbies.'

He looked at me in surprise.

-'Are you sure?'

I confirmed my statement again and he nodded.

-'Then I can also assume Margot will be paying for the clean up?'

-'I might pay that myself.'

-'Ten grand is a bit outside your budget, I think.'

He sounded real condescending like he was talking to a little girl wanting to buy an ice-cream to expensive for her budget. I swallowed hard. This is an amount I would not be able to pay and my face might have actually resembled the little girls.

-'I'll discuss with Margot and let you know.'

-'Cool.'

Without as much of a greeting he left the room.

Seconds later Shelley came looking for me. She looked concerned.

-'You left with this Jan guy, Margot said. She was worried. I was worried too.'

-'No worries, I am fine. Jan had a bad surprise for me. It seems one of my child porn loving former boy friends is posting fake nude pictures of me on the dark web.'

-'Fuck, that is bad.'

-'I know. Jan said these might be damaging.'

-'We will have to brief Margot asap, but now it is time to get to the studio.'

.'Shit, what if they confront us on air with this?' I whispered.

-'This is not such a show. I think they won't even go in detail on the topic we fear most of all.'

-'Following your brilliant plan they surely will. I told them about the story that will be breaking and they will allow me to clarify it all.' Margot said appearing right behind us.

Shelley looked at Margot with a serious face.

-'Elisa's ex is posting fake child porn on the dark web using her face on the abused girls.'

Margot managed keep her face in check.

-'I didn't see that one coming,' she said calmly.

She sighed and looked around and I noticed she spotted Lena.

-'Lena, I need you to activate the media breach protocol authorisation code LoveStar.'

-'Are you sure?'

-'Midnight!'

Lena went white and grabbed her phone from her purse.

Again Margot sighed, straightened her face and then we entered the talkshow set. There was a live audience and the host was already busy getting the crowd in the right mood. He shook hands with Margot, Shelley and me. He spoke to us in Dutch and I couldn't follow. Margot instructed me to sit to her left and Shelley would be to on her right side. Her sisters were on the the front row of the audience. They were wearing the same clothes as Margot did, demonstrating being triplets. I was intimidated, but Margot was all smiles. Technicians were setting up microphones on us and I grabbed Margot's hand for a bit.

-'Thank you,' I whispered in her ear.

She smiled at me, but the smile never made it to her eyes. She was tense too. Another technician came to me and spoke softly.

-'Miss Star we have arranged an interpreter for you, please put this in your ear. The interpreter will do a immediate translation of all that is said during the show.'

I put the earpiece in and I could clearly hear a voice asking if I could do a thumbs up if I could hear her properly. I did the thumbs up gesture and the interpreter thanked me. Several other guests were at the table. I vaguely recognised one as a popular you-tuber doing vlogs on internet security and another as André a popular singer of Dutch pop songs who would be performing during the show. The others I really didn't know.

The host joined us at the head of the table and then we were on air to do a teaser for that day's show. He enthusiastically started introducing the guests and I was happily surprised to notice I could follow the content easily through the interpreter. The woman had a pleasant voice and clearly some experience doing this. Margot was introduced as the new CFO of our bank with the teasing topic, will her friends be her downfall after only one week in het new role? Margot grinned and kissed my hand making sure the camera caught the gesture. The whole teaser was done live and was over in some 30 seconds. When off camera I turned to Margot.

-'Is your position at risk?'

She looked at me thoughtfully and shook her head convincing me there was no problem.

-'Not if we play this right. We could be causing a big sensation tonight, do justice to the banks diversity goals and get your former boy friend arrested for publishing these fakes of you.'

-'Will you be throwing Shelley under the bus?'

-'No way. You have made me see I love her more than I realised. Trust me this will work. Just be open when Paul asks about you. The host will translate your words for the audience and the viewers. Ready for this?'

I nodded because the interpreter told me we were back on air.

At first the discussion went on about the new album the folk singer released and whether or not some of his songs were sexist. Of course he didn't agree with the critics and he seemed to very funny playing the audience very well. He was making quite a few rude jokes and I didn't manage well to keep my slowly boiling anger hidden, especially when he started to make fun of LGBT-people. He was putting them off as confused people. I couldn't help but respond.

-'André do you realise you have just insulted over half of the other table guests.'

André looked confused at my interruption and I realised he didn't understand English. The host laughed, stated I made a valid point and translated my words for the singer. The guy looked at me and I knew he considered making another of him snide remarks, but glancing at Margot and Shelley he let go.

-'I have no intention to insult you. I just like to make people laugh.'

-'Regardless of your intentions, don't make fun of peoples gender or sexuality on public television if they cannot defend themselves'

André looked at me with eyes that betrayed he had no clue what he had done wrong. Margot decided to step into the discussion.

-'This kind of jokes is actually one of the reasons our bank has its diversity program. On the one hand we see people getting hurt by jokes that were regarded normal about 10 years ago and on the other hand there is the general population that doesn't know that for example there is a huge difference between transvestites and transgenders. There is a lot of education to be done.'

-'It is good to see you are all ready to discuss the upcoming topic. We will come to this after the break,' the host interrupted, but first André will sing his new song. André, the floor is yours.'

André got up and I noticed his hand trembled when he grabbed the microphone. His song was not as bad as I had expected. He had a nice voice and it was clear he had used some jazz standard as the basis for his song.

During the commercial break André approached us and made an apology. He hadn't meant it that seriously and confided he himself was gay. He was just used to hiding and making fun of people like himself to make sure his fans wouldn't be disappointed. We shook hands and I complimented him on his song. His face really lit up from my compliment. André received a warning from an assistant the show would resume in 30 seconds. André nodded and told us he had to leave to perform somewhere else.

I heard a voice doing some countdown and then we were of for the second part of the show. Our host explained André had to leave and that his place at the table would be taken over by the reporter that was about to publish an exposé on Margot and the reason Margot had been willing to be at the table that night. He looked at Margot with a smirk on his face. The reporter entered and was greeted with some enthusiastic applause. I saw Margot swallow and Shelley sit up straight. I concluded that reporter Peter had a strong reputation. The host was clearly aiming at damaging Margot and the bank. His tone had become a bit on the sarcastic side while he was summarising the accusations Peter was making in his article. Peter took over.

-'Before the break I heard madame the CFO Buitendijks trying to prepare for spinning my findings away in such a way that it would fit in the diversity show of that club of money sharks she is CFO of, while she is actually paying for the service of a prostitute.'

Margot just looked at him with disapproval.

Peter was framing Margot and Shelley big time and Margot just sat there. She seemed to wait for an opportunity to respond in a decent way, but it was clear the plans had been made against Margot and Shelley. I even suspected Marc had helped set this up. I knew she must have felt betrayed but it didn't show. This was a quality I admired in her, but is also knew I should have expected her to be able to deal with high pressure situations like this. Working as the CFO of one of the larger banks in europe proves you can handle some stress. In the mean time I felt my anger rise and decided to interrupt Peter to defend Margot and Shelley. But what to say?

Just when I wanted to speak Margot took my hand and whispered in my ear.

-'Wait little one, we will let the pigs roll in the mud somewhat longer. If we react now we will end up in a yes no discussion we cannot win. He doesn't know shit. When I get my turn Peter will be apologising and taking back his words within ten minutes. I came prepared.'

I nodded and focussed back on the smearing in progress. Peter was explaining how he had slowly worked on uncovering the true Margot Buitendijks and her dubious machinations to get to the top. He was really pleased with himself, but I started to notice he had not many facts covering his story. I realised we would be able to deliver a factual debunking of his slander. Finally it seemed the host and Peter were satisfied with throwing dirt at us, although there was nothing directly aimed at me. The host looked at Margot with a smug grin and asked if Margot cared to respond. Margot looked at him with her most friendly smile. The audience was dead silent expecting some fireworks about to happen.

-'Sure I will respond dear Rick. Such a mud throwing contest deserves an answer. I was comparing both of you to my girlfriend with pigs rolling in the mud just now.'

The audience oohed in surprise and the host looked at her in shock.

-'That is pretty rude,' Rick the host said with some disdain.

Margot's voice was clear, but I could discern quite a lot of anger in there.

-'I am just being sincere, something you haven't been because of your need to push up your dwindling viewer ratings and numbers.'

Someone laughed out loud.

-'This has nothing to do with those,' Rick said defensively looking around to see who had laughed.

-'Sure, let's not go there. I leave that to your network.'

Another oooh from the audience confirmed Margot was warming them up for her case, but Margot raised her hands to silence them.

-'Back to Peter, dear people. I have been aware of Peter working on a story on me for over a year. Of course this has been a topic in the discussions around me taking my current position. But since the ECB and the board after investigating the accusations you were about to make at that time, are convinced there is nothing wrong with my behaviour in the past and currently, I would appreciate to be given some time to present my position. Let's start with investigative reporter Peter. I hope you remember you received several e-mails from the bank and myself inviting you to discuss the topic and offering my support on truth finding.'

-'I didn't need your help to do independent journalism and writing this story.'

-'You obviously ignored a basic principle of journalism to not hear me, being the party under investigation and offer me a means to defend myself. Instead you sent the bank an e-mail this morning asking us to confirm some facts you had dug up. Again I invited you for a meeting on short notice in the hope we could prevent you from putting yourself to shame by slandering my name. When you didn't react and we received an invite for this show we added up the numbers. Peter, I have a question for you, are you willing to admit to the fact that you are about to publish this book independently on your own costs because your usual publisher and three others have rejected it?'

-'That was not the reason,' Peter said in an angry voice, 'and I demand to know where you got that information.'

-'That is a fair point, let's not add liar to your accusations. Gentlemen allow me to get my personal ipad from my assistant.'

Margot got up and went to find Lena, meanwhile remaining in the lead in the table discussion. A camera followed her to right outside the set where Lena stood with the ipad ready.

-'So to answer the questions on the evidence I am able to show the rejection letters the publishers sent to Peter, requesting him to provide them with more substantial proof for the accusations. Thanks Lena. I cannot disclose everything I have found, without violating client confidentiality. Anyway when the board figured out how this show would go, we have sent all evidence I had wanted to share with Peter to the late night show of the public network. They have confirmed they are very willing to have me as their guest tonight so when we are done here, I will join them.'

Rick looked confused and somehow he didn't manage to take back control of the show. Margot got back at the table. She handed Peter the ipad with what I assumed to be the rejection letters on screen. It was clear to see, he didn't like what he saw, but it seemed he decided to go in full war mode.

-'It is nice to see you have these publishers on a financial leash so that they provide you with personal letters addressed to me, however trying to damage me will not help you a bit.'

-'Oh relax Peter, I have no intention damaging you. You are doing great yourself. But let's look at the accusations you have made. I will file a complaint of slander against you for stating I am using the paid services of a prostitute. Said prostitute is sitting here next to me. Shelley and I have been friends for over 20 years.'

I knew the story she would be telling was the one Shelley suggested. They were taking turns telling the story like they did previous Saturday night in the restaurant. Margot in specific was referencing the evidence she had collected while preparing for this show. They were convincing everybody except Peter, who kept up his cynical smile. When Margot and Shelley were done, Rick had a friendly smile towards them. He turned to Peter and asked for a reaction.

-'I have seldom heard such a well-rehearsed load off bullshit,' was all he was willing to answer.

Margot looked at Peter with pity in her eyes.

-'Dear Peter, I am sorry to see that your time as an organised crime reporter has impacted your ability to acknowledge making errors. Please remember I have not committed any crimes and am not a suspect in any investigation.'

-'But in my eyes all top bankers are not better than thieves.'

-'I regard that as a closing statement to end this topic. We are going to a commercial break,' Rick announced.

-'We are leaving,' Margot stated as soon as the break started: 'We have another talk show table to visit tonight.'

The three of us got up immediately and Margot collected her ipad from Peter's hands. Rick got up and was all over us to make his apologies. Margot shook his hand and said.

-'Rick, this was a rather terrible experience. I am sure it will be hard for your team to invite other bank executives in the future. You guys have betrayed our limited trust and you may expect to feel the consequences soon. Good luck with the remainders of your show.'

With that she approached Peter and offered her hand. He ignored the hand and said;

-'I am so looking forward to see your face when my book hits the bestsellers list.'

-'Hmm interesting,' Margot replied; 'I honestly think that will not happen. Still we will see each other in court soon, where I will ask the judge to make you add a chapter I will provide where I will prove you did a lousy job. Otherwise I will ask a fine of 150 euro per sold copy of the book for doing damage to my reputation.'

-'You will not win that case.'

-'Maybe not, but just going to court might stop you, because the bank didn't grant you the credit to go to court, but to publish the book. We can just reclaim the credit due to a breach of contract, please look at clause 13 of the agreement.'

Peter's face almost got purple now and he started shouting at Margot.

-'Don't try to fuck with me you bitch.'

-'Oh please stop it. If you were the last man on earth even then I would not.'

A pretty young female technician tapped me on the shoulder and broke my focus on the terrible behaviour of the journalist.

-'Miss Star, we need the earpiece.'

-'Yeah sure. Thanks for the service.'

I tried to remove the piece, but she stopped me.

-'Let me do it, these are rather delicate.'

I nodded and let the pretty girl remove the piece from my ear. I noticed how carefully she was removing it, almost as if she was caressing my ear.

-'You two make a beautiful couple,' she whispered kissing my ear.

Surprised I tried to look her in the face to confront her, but she already was walking off the set, to a staff zone.

Minutes later we were in a taxi bus on our way to the nearby studio of the public network, where we would make our next appearance. The sisters were both hugging Margot and congratulating her on humiliating Peter and I noticed Shelley felt as left out as me. Margot started pushing her sisters away.

-'Please Yvonne, Nicole I need to talk to my girls here.'

The two sisters backed of a bit and gave Margot some space to talk to us.

-'That could have been worse,' Shelley sighed.

-Pfff yes,' I responded; 'They could have unexpectedly confronted us with this journalist Peter.'

Margot laughed out loud.

-'This was by far the nastiest tv moment I have ever experienced. It was as if Rick had been rimmed by Peter and was returning the favour on live television.'

Shelley burst out laughing.

-'This is by far the most uncharacteristic thing I ever heard you say. So rude. You are still angry are you?'

-'You can tell? Such buttholes.'

She shifted her attention to me.

-'How are you little one? Could you follow what happened?'

-'The interpreter was brilliant, but what a mess. Will you be suing them?'

-'No need, I think this show will cease to exist soon. Then Rick will lose all his conference presentation gigs. He will have start presenting quiz shows just to earn enough money to support his mortgage.'

-'Will you be able to do that to him?'

-'His show is going down the drain fast and he will be gone soon. The commercial television station will not have much patience anymore.'

-'Ladies we have arrived,' the driver announced.

We were guided inside by a friendly assistant towards another studio with a similar setup, a table, an audience and two hosts instead of one. The show was already in progress and it seemed politics were discussed.

-'The minister of finance is here,' said Margot pointing at a smart looking guy; 'I really didn't anticipate meeting him today.'

The assistant looked at Margot.

-'Don't worry miss Buitendijks, the minister is here to defend the decision to allow you to take your current position. There will be no hostility here. You can join at the table after the current topic. Bert will introduce you all. Only the minister will remain there, all others will make place for the five of you.'