The Girlboss PR Nightmare

Our head of marketing loved playing the feminist card. When a veteran actress cheated on her husband, she declared, "Why is society so harsh on women? If men can cheat, why can't women?" When a former child star assaulted someone and went to jail, she proclaimed, "I will extend the same grace to female convicts that the world extends to male convicts." Later, when a scandalous starlet tried to manufacture a showmance with our top male idol on a reality show, I stepped in, contacted her agency, and had her shelved. Our marketing director sided with the starlet and blasted my actions online: "I will never participate in the witch hunt of another woman." "A capable woman handles men; an insecure woman bullies other women. This company has no room for internalized misogyny. Pack your bags and get the hell out!" My coworkers urged me to back down. "She's dating the CEO! You can always find another job, but if you cross the boss's future wife, you're done for!" I hit the roof and immediately dialed my younger brother—the acting CEO. "Are you breaking up with her or not? If you don't, you're fired too!" Maya went to pick up Lexi from prison. She even took a company car to do it. The second I heard the news, I ordered the fleet manager to track the car’s GPS and intercept her, but we were five minutes too late. I called Maya directly. The moment she picked up, her voice was loud and excited over a wall of background chatter. Before I could say a word, she went on the offensive. "Serena, it's business hours. Don't you have work to do? Why are you calling me?" Suppressing my anger, I asked, "Did you really just pick Lexi up from prison? Do you have any idea why she was locked up in the first place? She assaulted an innocent bystander! Brands terminated all their contracts because of that, and this company lost millions!" "I don't care how close you two are in private. You cannot use a company car to welcome an ex-con back into the world! If paparazzi snap photos of that car, people will say our agency harbors violent criminals!" Lexi was once our most promising child star. The agency had poured endless resources into her career. No one expected that rising fame would completely ruin her attitude. One afternoon, she was blowing cigarette smoke into an elderly man’s face on the sidewalk. When the man's young granddaughter politely asked her to stop, Lexi turned around and beat the little girl up. The incident made national headlines. Lexi was arrested, her endorsement deals evaporated, and the firm took a massive financial hit. I assumed Maya had simply forgotten the severity of the scandal and would back off once reminded. Instead, she laughed. "Yeah, I'm sheltering an ex-con. So what?" I stood there, stunned. Maya continued, "Lexi and I were never close in private, but I admire an unapologetic woman who doesn't play by society's rules." "Countless male celebrities commit crimes, and their fans still baby them. Lexi was just having a smoke, so why is everyone trying to ruin her life? The company has no spine, and you have no conscience. None of you even showed up at the prison gates to support her." "Well, I am a woman, and I will extend the same grace to female convicts that the world extends to male convicts." Her righteous arrogance gave me a pounding headache. "Did you hit your head this morning? Are you seriously comparing those two things? If you're mad that male celebrities get away with crimes, go hold them accountable! Lexi is a woman, but so was the little girl she beat bloody!" "How are you any different from those delusional fan girls who defend abusive men? Do you even remember you work for this company, Maya?" "Where are you right now? Get back to the office immediately and stay away from Lexi." Maya’s tone turned ice-cold. "Who gave you the right to boss me around? Serena, I'm the Head of Marketing. You're just an outside consultant. Since when do I answer to you?" "If you ask me, the company needs to put employees like you through sensitivity training. My department has zero tolerance for pick-me girls who hate their own gender. That little girl should be thanking me—I'm planting the seed of female empowerment in her head from a young age." Before I could respond, a loud pop echoed through the phone. "Bang!" Confetti poppers exploded, followed by Maya’s shrill cheer: "Welcome back, queen! Defend a woman's right to smoke!" My vision went black with rage. Hands shaking, I immediately dialed the executive office.Rachel reached over and pushed my phone down. "What are you doing? You're not going to report her, are you?" "Of course I am! She's the marketing director. Celebrating in public with a dropped, convicted felon is going to be all over TMZ within the hour!" Rachel was a senior talent agent. She knew the industry inside and out, so she had to understand the gravity of the situation. Yet she just sighed. "Let it go, Serena. You can't afford to touch her." I stared at her, waiting for an explanation. Rachel leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Don't you know? She's basically the CEO's wife." I instinctively shot back, "That's impossible!" I was a woman. How on earth could I have a wife? Did the state secretly legalize same-sex marriage behind my back, and Maya stole my identity to get a marriage license? The coworkers who had overheard our argument gathered around us. "She's right, Serena. You're an outside consultant, so you probably haven't heard the gossip. It's an open secret around here." "Everyone knows that whenever the CEO is out of town, Maya runs the place. He might have hired you for big money, but at the end of the day, an advisor doesn't mean more to him than his own girlfriend." "Seriously, stop fighting it. It’s just one actress. If worst comes to worst, we'll throw more money at PR. Remember when Maya used the official corporate account to defend that A-list actress who got caught cheating? She didn't face any consequences for that either, did she?" "We're all just hourly workers here. Why take it so personally?" ... The more they spoke, the angrier I became. But the pieces finally clicked. "The CEO's wife." They were talking about my deadbeat little brother, the acting CEO! And as for that cheating actress scandal? It wasn't that my brother decided not to punish Maya. "I" was the one who gave her a pass! When that scandal broke in the middle of the night, Maya had logged into our company’s verified Twitter without permission and tagged the cheating actress with a string of unhinged posts. Her statements included, but were not limited to: "Why is the world so harsh on women? If men can cheat, why can't women?" "I'll say it right now: girls help girls." "You can never support a woman too much." I had been woken up by an emergency call at three in the morning. I scrambled to direct the PR team to release statements framing the situation as an amicable split where the couple had secretly separated three years prior, rebranding the actress as an emotionally detached, modern boss-babe who prioritized her career over romance. I barely managed to salvage the agency’s reputation. Afterward, Maya had the nerve to call me a traitor to my gender. The only reason I hadn't fired her through the executive office back then was because the PR spin accidentally worked. The actress landed a spot on a reality talk show dissecting toxic relationships, making the company a decent profit and mitigating our losses. I never imagined my leniency would make her completely delusional, convincing her that she had bulletproof armor in this building. Even the staff believed it. If I didn't fire her today, she was going to run this entire firm into the ground. My phone chimed. It was an internal approval request from Maya. She wanted the company to re-sign Lexi, the newly released felon, along with a hefty commission bonus for herself. Every intermediate department head had rubber-stamped it in seconds. The only signature left was the executive office. Without hesitation, I tapped "Reject". Zachary was currently sitting front-row at Paris Fashion Week. While he was away, every single executive-level decision was routed directly to my phone. When Maya couldn't reach Zachary, she sped all the way back to the office. Notifications pinged on my screen one after another—speed camera violations registered to the company van. A second later, Maya kicked my office door wide open. She marched up to me, jabbing a manicured acrylic nail straight at my forehead. "You ran to tell on me, didn't you?! Serena, how can you be so utterly shameless?!"I leaned back, dodging her claw-like nails, and sneered. "Do I look like I need to tell on you? Do you have any idea how much money that ex-child star cost this firm? The moment executive management saw her name, there was zero chance of approval. You wanted a bonus? You'd better prepare your checkbook for the fines instead." "You—!" Maya froze, suddenly realizing something. "Wait. How did you see my application? You're not even in the approval chain!" I smiled coldly. "Use that brain of yours and figure it out. And by the way, go pay off those speeding tickets you racked up in the company van. If your personal joyride disrupts business operations, guess how much you're getting docked?" I turned and walked away, leaving Maya trembling with rage while several coworkers rushed to comfort her. "Don't listen to her, Maya. The executive secretary probably told her when she went to snitch." "Don't let her get to you. She’s an outside consultant hired by the CEO, so she might have some connections... maybe her family knows his family or something." "Maya, shouldn't you call Mr. Miller? What if she's some childhood acquaintance trying to seduce him behind your back?" I had pulled an all-nighter before dealing with Maya's circus all morning. Exhausted, I canceled my plans for the family lunch and asked our housekeeper to bring me some food. When the family’s Maybach pulled up to the front entrance of the office building, the smug grin on Maya’s face was impossible to hide. A sharp-eyed coworker gasped. "Maya! Is that car here for you?" Maya blushed, playing coy. "Oh, stop. My boyfriend is in Europe right now, but that is his family's car. I guess... his parents sent someone to look after me while Zach is away." She practically sashayed over to the car, pulling open the door. When she saw our housekeeper holding an insulated lunch tote, she beamed. "Thank you so much, Martha. You didn't have to." Martha blinked, stepped right past her, and carried the tote straight into my office. I watched the whole exchange through the glass blinds. As soon as Martha set the bags down, I asked, "You know Maya?" Martha set out the dishes and explained, "She's Master Zachary's girlfriend. She's visited the estate a few times. You've been overseas handling the parent company's IPO, Miss Serena, so it makes sense you haven't crossed paths." "What do you think of her?" "She behaves politely enough around your parents, but..." "But what?" Martha lowered her voice, glancing toward the door. "Whenever the master and madam mentioned you at dinner, she didn't say much out loud, but behind closed doors, she kept interrogating Master Zachary about the family trust, company shares, and inheritance splits. She kept saying it wasn't fair that Zach only had this one subsidiary. I overheard it all." "She has an agenda, Miss. Fortunately, Master Zachary always laughed it off and kept his mouth shut. If she ever found out that the vast majority of the Miller family assets were legally transferred to your name, she'd probably throw a violent fit." I chuckled to myself. At least Zachary had enough pride not to admit to his girlfriend that he was merely a placeholder on an allowance. Martha began dishing out the food. "Miss, don't just eat the greens, have some roast beef. Look at you, you've lost weight. You've been back in the country running this place for weeks, and you've barely visited home. Did someone here upset you? Was it Master Zachary's girlfriend? Should I tell Madam?" She gently tied my hair back so I could eat comfortably. "Bang!" The office door flew open again, nearly knocking my fork out of my hand. "Unbelievable, Serena!" Maya barged in, pointing her phone camera directly at my face. "You took advantage of the fact that Zach's parents were out dining to have your maid mother take the Miller family car here just so you could put on an act?!" She sneered behind her screen. "You almost had me fooled! If I hadn't just called Mr. Miller myself, I might have actually believed you had real leverage!" "Just wait until Zachary gets back. I'm going to make sure he sees your true colors!"Martha and I stared at her as if she were a circus clown. "What exactly did Mr. Miller tell you?" I asked evenly. Maya lifted her chin proudly. "None of your business! But Mr. Miller made it very clear: Zachary has full authority over this company. So pack your things, because you're getting fired!" I rolled my eyes. My father was a retired playboy who cared about nothing except golf and luxury yachts. Every ounce of capital and influence I possessed had been built alongside my mother. Maya probably gave my dad some vague, sob-story version of events, and my dad simply brushed her off without asking a single follow-up question. Out of sheer pity, I offered, "Maybe you should try calling Zachary's mother instead?" Maya sneered, convinced I was bluffing. "Save the attitude! I already exposed your pathetic little lie. In a few days, you'll be kicked to the curb!" "Serena, I'm going to make sure you're blacklisted from the entire entertainment industry!" I narrowed my eyes. Blacklist me? Did she want the entire company to dissolve tomorrow? Without a word, I pulled out my phone and dialed Zachary. Outside my glass office, a crowd of employees had gathered, craning their necks to watch the drama unfold. Unbelievably, my idiot brother didn't pick up. Furious, I hammered out a text message: [If you don't land back in this country by tomorrow morning, don't bother ever coming back.] The slight tension in Maya's face instantly dissolved into smug triumph. "You really thought Zachary was going to back you up? Between an ordinary employee and his future wife, who do you think he's going to choose? Give it up." She waved her phone in front of my face. "I don't need executive approval anyway. I took initiative and used the company’s verified account to announce that we're re-signing Lexi. I'm going to make her an overnight sensation, just like that A-list star I handled before! When Zachary lands, he won't be mad—he'll praise me for my decisive vision." "Only a pro-woman agency can thrive in today's market. Under my leadership, this company is going to soar. Our female talents will be marketed as fierce girlbosses, and our male talents will be marketed as submissive, whipped golden retrievers. It's ten times smarter than whatever outdated strategy you have." With that, she pulled up the trending topics on Twitter. I glanced at the screen, and my blood boiled. Brandon, our top male idol, was trending alongside an obscure female rookie from an indie reality show. The internet was going wild over their viral clips, calling them the ultimate pairing: an aggressive, flirty seductress versus a shy, blushing boy. The problem? That girl was notorious in overseas prep-school circles. She didn't just sleep around—she actively teamed up with her old-money boyfriends to run extortion and honey-trap scams! A few lesser-known domestic influencers had already been taken to the cleaners by her. If those receipts surfaced, Brandon's career would be incinerated, and our agency would go down in flames with him. I immediately ordered the PR team to drop an official statement distancing Brandon from the romance rumors, booked him for solo live interviews, and pushed an innocent, career-focused bachelor narrative to protect him. Then, I called Director Davis, the head of the rookie's agency. That was when I found out Maya had secretly commissioned a collaborative music video, intending to push the narrative that the two were star-crossed soulmates. I canceled the entire project on the spot. Maya had no idea what I was doing until the cancellation notice hit her inbox. "Serena! Are you deliberately sabotaging me?!" she shrieked. I glared at her coldly. "This isn't about you. That girl is toxic baggage. If we don't cut ties right now, Brandon is finished." Right on cue, my phone pinged with a massive dossier PDF detailing the rookie's scams. Maya skimmed through the pages. Her expression didn't waver in the slightest; instead, she let out a derisive snort. "That's it? Serena, didn't you study abroad? I thought you were supposed to be worldly!" "If Brandon's career collapses over this, it just means his star power was too weak to handle her shine!" "Women are born with an abundance of love. What's wrong with having a few boyfriends? Even if she dated them at the same time, so what?" "None of the so-called victims have spoken out, so why are you losing your mind? If you're a self-hating woman who prioritizes men, just say that! Don't hide behind the company's name!" "I'm not waiting for Zachary to get back. You are fired, effective immediately! Furthermore, this agency will be suing you for breach of contract and damages!" I closed my eyes and took a long, steady breath. "Are you absolutely sure about that?" Maya tapped her screen and submitted an emergency HR termination request. Less than sixty seconds later, every employee's phone buzzed with an automated internal memo. [After careful review and executive consideration, marketing department employee Maya Brooks has been terminated, effective immediately.] At the exact same moment, my phone rang. It was Zachary. When I answered, his voice was small, cautious, and sickeningly sweet. "S-Sis...?" "I was doing such a good job running the company... How did your darling little brother offend you this time?"