Evidence

Sadie Bautista

Chapter 14: Facing the Boss

Randy sighed as he made his way toward Vince's office at the top of WWE headquarters the WWE Championship slung over his shoulder as he made his way toward the door leading into Vince's enormous workspace. Nodding at his secretary outside, she waved him in with a concerned look on her face and Randy stepped in to see the office empty.

"Okay then," he muttered, taking a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of the expensive mahogany desk that belonged to the Chairman.

"Mr. Orton, I'm glad to see you made it," Shane McMahon strutted into the office, his father trailing behind him with a scowl.

"Yeah," Randy sighed, watching Shane take the seat beside him and Vince take up the large desk chair across from him.

"You requested this meeting, Mr. Orton," Vince started, "and I know it's in regards to the lawsuit I'm filing against your girlfriend, Cassandra."

Randy nodded, clenching his jaw and waiting for Vince to continue.

"I'm afraid I cannot let you interfere with that, Mr. Orton and if you do so I have the grounds to press charges on you as well," Vince threatened, leaning forward on the desk as Randy glared at him.

"I don't want to argue with you, Vince, but I want to offer an ultimatum," Randy stated slowly, waiting for Vince's reaction.

The older man's brow furrowed and he leaned forward, resting his arms on the desk. Shane cleared his throat an tapped his pen against the legal pad he's dug out of his briefcase as Randy pieced together the right words to say.

"Well?" Vince growled impatiently.

"Instead of forcing Cassie into a contract I think you should just leave Jericho to me. It's not Cassie's fault she was pushed into retaliating to the physical threats forced upon her by Chris and Melina. It was mine. Cass is just trying to get her life straight and whatever Chris is trying to do is just pushing her to the brink. If you want to sue someone, sue me because she can't afford whatever you're about to toss at her."

An amused smile spread across Shane's face and Vince shook his head. Shane chuckled lightly, jotting something down on the legal pad as Vince adjusted his tie.

"That's cute, Randy, really," Shane cleared his throat again. "No matter how much you want to keep Cassandra from what's coming to her, you have no power over what we're planning for her. You'll get Jericho all right, but we have a great storyline set up if Cassandra changes her mind about the contract."

Growling deep in his throat, Randy shook his head in frustration, "She doesn't have time to train, Shane, I don't want her in the ring. She's a school teacher for Christ's sake."

"Relax, Orton, we had no intention of putting her in the ring," Vince held his hand up as Randy began to seethe.

Clenching his jaw, Randy shook his head, "I can't make the decision for her but I'll have her contact you after we talk about it. She really shouldn't be involved in this. You're just giving Melina and Chris an open invitation to abuse her without the threat of pressing charges."

"That's all we can offer, Orton," Vince shrugged. "Either she takes the contract or she gets sued for everything she's got. There's nothing in between. If you even try to help her your contract will be terminated and that's that."

Gnashing his teeth Randy nodded, shoving his chair away. He adjusted his championship roughly on his shoulder, still glaring as Shane and Vince watched with raised eyebrows before he stomped from the office, slamming doors and growling until he got to the elevators to take him away from WWE headquarters. As he made his way out of the building his cell phone began to buzz in his pocket. Pulling out his new phone he smiled at the sight of Cassie's name on the screen.

"Hi, babe."

"How'd it go?" she asked, her voice shaky.

Sighing, Randy hunched his shoulders as he approached his car. He pulled out his keys and unlocked it as Cassie heaved a sigh of her own, understanding his silence.

"He didn't budge did he?" she finally muttered as Randy climbed into his car, placing his belt in the backseat in it's protective case.

"I'm sorry, Cass, I tried."

"No, no, it's fine, don't worry about it, I'll figure this out," Cass tried to sound reassuring even though her heart had decided to lodge itself in her throat. She tried to swallow past the lump and pressed her hand to her forehead to try and figure out the situation.

"Cass, it's not fine, you can't do this to yourself, what about your teaching career?" Randy demanded, gripping the steering wheel as he headed to his hotel for the night.

"Can we please talk about this later? I'm so tired of being stressed out. Can we please change the subject?"

Chewing the inside of his cheek, Randy sighed, "Fine, what's on your mind?"

"Oh crap, hold on there's someone on the other line," Cass cursed before he heard the click of her switching lines.

Rolling his eyes, Randy put the phone on speaker and placed it on the dashboard so he could focus on his driving. The switched on the radio and turned the volume down, wondering how he could somehow divert Jericho and Melina's anger back at him to get them to withdraw their complaints. Before he could come up with anything the line clicked and Cassie's voice distracted him from the red light a few blocks from the hotel.

"Randy," she whispered, her voice thick.

"Cass, what happened? Are you all right?" he grabbed the phone and turned speaker off, resting it against his shoulder.

She sniffed before replying, "Rand, the Board just called. They want me to meet with them in private to hear my full story before they decide whether to terminate me or not. Apparently they've received notes form my students asking them to bring me back. I think I might keep my job."

"Cass, that' great!"

"But what am I going to do about Chris?"

Pulling into the hotel parking lot, Randy frowned at the sight of Melina waiting by the front doors, a smug look on her face as she scanned the parking lot with dark eyes. Groaning when their eyes met he pulled into a spot and sat there. "Cass, think it over and call me back, I have to get going."

Surprised, Cassie stuttered, "Wh- okay, I guess I'll talk to you later then."

"Yeah."

"Randy?" she stammered, hoping he was still listening to her.

"Yes, Cass?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Cass," he sounded relieved, making her smile. "I'll call you back as soon as I'm free, okay? I have a screaming Diva to contend with as we speak," he muttered just as Melina slammed her fist against the passenger side window.

"Good luck, babe," Cassie sighed before they both hung up, Randy grabbing his belt from the back seat, slowly preparing to deal with Melina while Cassie began packing her things to head back home to her still unsolved school dilemma.

---

"What do you want, Melina," Randy sighed as he pushed his car door open and shouldered his title.

"I just got a call from Vince," she growled, following closely behind Randy as he made his way across the parking lot.

"Wonderful, and I care why?" he sighed as he approached the elevators in the lobby and pressed the 'up' button.

"He said you tried to get Cassandra out of this," she persisted, following him into the elevator.

"Yeah, I did because she shouldn't be apart of this anyway. Your problem is with me, not with Cassandra."

"No, that bitch deserves everything we're going to put her through and you can't stop us, Randal,' she warned fiercely.

Pulling his key card out of his pocket, Randy sighed and ignored her, making his way down the hallway as soon as the elevator let him off on his floor. Melina followed close behind him as he unlocked his room and pushed the door open. Glaring down at her he felt tempted to slam the door in her face and laugh but his better judgment allowed him to refrain and lean against the door frame while Melina batted her eyelashes at him.

"Randy, I can't let you get in the way of what needs to be done."

"Lina, really, you need to reevaluate the situation," Randy sighed. "You have to understand that Cassandra is in a really tight situation already with out you and Chris breathing down her neck for such a petty reason. She has nothing to do with the WWE and wants no part of it. And I'm going to make sure it stays that way."

Gaping, it took Melina a moment to realize Randy was closing the door on her. She threw her fist out, catching the door before it could slam in her face and glared at Randy.

"She's going to get what's coming ot her, Randy. You can't protect her forever."

"Well then until that time comes, I'm going to do everything within my power to keep her safe," Randy snarled, shoving her away from his door and slamming it for the final time.