Chapter 44
"Come in!"
Taking a deep breath, Macaria mentally counted to three and pushed open the door to the Authority's office, stopping at the sight of none other than the owner himself, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, standing in front of her. "Oh…is this a bad time? I can come back later…"
Vince turned at the sound of the feminine voice and pulled his gaze away from his daughter to smile at the honey blonde. "No, you're right on time. Macaria, right?" He extended his hand to her. "I know no introductions need to be made, but I'm Vince McMahon."
"I know who you are, sir," Macaria replied amusedly, shaking his hand and showed the proper respect he deserved. "Stephanie wanted to see me, but I can come back if this is a bad time…"
"Please, call me Vince. No need for formalities here. And no, you are not going anywhere. We have some business to discuss with you." Vince guided her over to the nearby chair. "Have a seat and we'll get started."
Stephanie did NOT look happy about any of this and kept her head lowered, acting like a child that'd been scolded. She'd gotten her backside chewed verbally for the past hour by her returning father. Nobody expected Vince to be back for WrestleMania, but the old man had surprised them by showing up. This was HIS baby, after all, the house he built from the ground up.
Macaria felt nervous being in front of a powerful man like Vince McMahon, but maintained her composure…barely.
"Now Macaria, I understand you've been working with us for the past 3 months, is that right?"
"Y-Yes, Vince."
Vince smiled at the stammer. "Don't be scared or intimidated. We're just having a talk, okay? You're not being fired or anything like that." He assured her, reaching over to pat her hand in a purely platonic way. "I had Stephanie call you in here to ask you a few questions and I want you to answer me honestly. It'll be easy and then you can go back to work."
Macaria would never, ever lie to Vince McMahon and swallowed hard, preparing herself mentally for the barrage of questions headed her way. "Okay."
"Good, excellent!" He boomed, clapping his hands together and turned narrowed eyes to his daughter. "Stephanie, go get ready for your segment tonight with Hunter. I'll be talking to both of you shortly."
"Yes, Dad." Stephanie mumbled, scurrying out of the office like her backside just caught fire.
"Vince, with all due respect, what is this about?" Macaria asked once they were alone, feeling even more nervous and could see the smile vanish from the older man's face.
"That's what I'm trying to find out, Macaria. That's why I'm going to ask you some questions regarding my daughter and son-in-law's behavior lately around the company. I need you to be honest with me because we're doing an investigation on them." Vince informed her, getting down to business and sat in the chair behind the desk Stephanie recently occupied. "Now, first things first, I understand when you were hired into my company, Stephanie gave you an ultimatum. True or false?"
Macaria was baffled, feeling her heart beating faster in her chest and clasped her hands tightly in front of her. "True."
"Will you tell me about it?"
Her cheeks flooded red as Macaria lowered her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I was intimate with Dean Ambrose. It happened shortly after I started freelancing for the WWE with my then boss, Aya Landsbury. Stephanie told me I couldn't be with him because she wanted to make sure I was serious about this job and she stipulated I couldn't be with him for 6 months. That's my probation period."
"I see." Vince's jaw tightened, disappointment flooding his face and he heaved out a sigh. "She wouldn't sign you to a contract unless you stopped seeing Dean, right?"
"Yes, sir." Macaria smiled sheepishly at her slip-up. "Sorry, Vince."
He smiled back at her, waving it off. "All right, well Macaria, I regret to inform you my daughter lied to you. The WWE only has a 30 day probation period with all new employees. I don't know why she made it for 6 months, which is five times longer than any other normal employee, but your probation period has been long over. You've had insurance, benefits, all of it that you signed up for when she signed your contract. I understand you had an altercation with Seth Rollins. A few of them, in fact. Will you tell me about them?"
Jade eyes widened to the size of saucers upon hearing that. Her probation period was only 30 days?! She had stayed away from Dean for the past 3 months for NO REASON? "Before we get into that, Vince, I have a question. Is it…legal to stipulate who can and can't be together in the company? I mean, I understand there are risks when dating in the company, but it's also rather common and Stephanie said you didn't like it. Is that true?"
"At first, I didn't because this is a business and business must always come first. But then I saw how miserable my employees were, my friends, my on-road family, and I changed my mind."
Linda, his wife, had a great deal to do with that as well. People deserved to be happy and if they wanted to date within the company, it was their right. As long as all drama and crap were left at the door for work, there were no problems.
"And yes, it is illegal to be coerced into signing any type of document under duress. Your personal life is just that – yours. You can be with whoever you want and do whatever you want, within reason, outside of the company. I just ask that any problems you have with your spouse be checked at the door when it's time to work." Vince voiced his thoughts, tapping a pen on the table and couldn't believe the audacity of his daughter to pull a stunt like this.
"So…if I told you that me and Dean are back together again, it's okay? I can be with him freely without consequences? Because I was prepared to quit if that was why Stephanie called me in here." Macaria would not give up her happiness for a job, knowing she could get a freelance photography position anywhere in Vegas. She just wouldn't be able to travel with Dean on the road often.
"Like I said, it's your personal life and we have no business interfering with it. My daughter and son-in-law have huge egos and they are about to be stomped out. I know everything that's happened with the 'Authority'," Vince paused to do a quote gesture with his fingers and continued. "The Authority was supposed to be a storyline only, but they decided to take it a lot farther than that. I know what they did to Nyla Miller too." That really pissed him off because Nyla was like family to the WWE and had been loyal for over 10 years. "But I'm a little fuzzy on the details when it comes to you and Seth Rollins."
Touching her face, Macaria remembered the day she'd been backhanded by the Architect of the Authority and only fined for his crime against her. "He hit me once. It was during a photo shoot I was doing with him. He was being very unprofessional and pursuing me because I couldn't be with Dean Ambrose. I told him I wanted nothing to do with him and…he snapped and hit me. Stephanie claims she fined him $50,000 dollars, but I was on the verge of quitting because, in my opinion, he should've been suspended or fired."
Vince agreed, folding his arms in front of his chest and had to take another deep breath to keep his temper in check. "We have a zero tolerance policy here when it comes to violence, drugs, sexual assault, all of it." Seth Rollins had been violent and sexually assaulted a longtime employee in the WWE. "You are right. He should've been fired and I plan on rectifying that after tonight." Randy Orton deserved to get retribution for what Seth put him through with the Authority over the past few months and Vince wouldn't destroy that match on the card.
"R-Really?!" Macaria gaped when Vince nodded and felt tears sting her eyes, knowing Nyla would be over the moon with that news. "Thank you, Vince. That…thank you." She didn't know what else to say or how to react, relief coursing through every part of her body.
"No, thank YOU for not quitting, Macaria. For coming here and being truthful and forthcoming with me. I promise you, things are going to be run correctly around here from now on." Vince would not be taking another extended vacation for a very long time. "All the blackmail and everything Stephanie and Hunter had on the Superstars will be destroyed. Stephanie told me about the pictures you have of Seth Rollins and your former boss, do you still have them?"
"No, she stipulated I was to get rid of it prior to signing with WWE and I did."
Vince didn't like hearing that, but he also didn't blame her and could tell Macaria was a woman of her word. Strong, steadfast and brave, just like Nyla. "I want you to keep this between us. Everything we've talked about in this meeting goes nowhere, not even Ambrose. Do you understand?" If word got out before he was ready, chaos would ensue and Vince didn't need the added aggravation.
"I won't say a word, Vince. You have my word." Macaria could keep that secret and take it to the grave if she had to.
"By the end of the night, everything will come to light and wrongs will be righted." Vince promised, standing and extended his hand, waiting for her to rise to her feet. "You are an exceptional talent and I hope you stick around for a long time. Your pictures are truly the best work I've seen in a very long time, Macaria."
She blushed at his compliment, cheeks turning crimson and shook his hand again. "Thank you. Was there anything else you needed from me?"
"No, you've told me everything I needed to know. You had the missing pieces of this puzzle. Now get back to work and no slacking." He ordered with a grin, squeezing her shoulder and set her out of HIS office, straightening his suit jacket.
Just as Macaria walked out, Nyla and Roman walked up, both looking uneasy and nervous. "Oh no, they fired you, didn't they?" Nyla asked quietly, blinking when Macaria shook her head and couldn't wipe the smile from her face. "Why are you smiling?"
"Because of me." Vince answered from the now open doorway, watching Nyla's amber eyes shoot open and chuckled, extending his arms to her.
Nyla didn't hesitate, immediately wrapping her arms around Vince and hugged him tightly, feeling him kiss the top of her head. "I'm so glad you're back." She muttered against his suit, not caring who saw her and the amount of relief flooding her body forced tears to surface.
"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot today," Vince grunted, rubbing her back and pulled out of the hug a few minutes later, seeing the light was back in her watery amber eyes. "Come inside and we'll talk." He nodded at Roman knowingly, who followed them into the office, closing the door behind them.
Macaria knew Vince would be telling Nyla about Seth's firing and wondered if he would also release his own daughter and son-in-law for everything they'd done. Probably not. Seth Rollins would be the collateral damage. Macaria wanted to go see Dean, to kiss him breathless and be in his arms, but now wasn't the time to do it. She had work to do and he was currently preparing for the Ladder match for the Intercontinental championship. The last thing she wanted to do was destroy his concentration, so she would see him later on after his match, which was opening the actual show. First, they were having a 2-hour pre-show for promotion and there would also be matches on it, so it wouldn't be all talking with no action. Backstage interviews would happen too.
"Nyla, from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of my family and myself, I'm so sorry for everything that happened to you." Vince started off this meeting with a long overdue apology to his longest and most loyal lead scriptwriter. "I had no idea what was going on and I should've known better than to leave things in the hands of Stephanie and Hunter."
Tears slid down her cheeks as Nyla sat in the same chair Macaria previously occupied, feeling Roman's hands on her shoulders. "I'm not going to say it's okay because it's not. I know you needed time off and you were burned out, Vince. I don't fault you for any of this. Your daughter and Hunter got it in their heads they ran the show now and forced me to write ridiculous, shitty storylines and scripts for any Superstar and Diva they didn't deem worthy. They threatened my family, my daughter…" Her voice cracked at the mention of Neela. "I-I had to protect her…"
Vince knew all about Neela and had been the one to encourage and convince Nyla not to quit when she found out she was pregnant. It was back when he was against coworkers dating within the company, but it wasn't against the rules either. He hadn't been upset, just a little disappointed Nyla and Randy hadn't thought things through. He was one of the only people within the company to know about her pregnancy and who Neela's father was.
"I know, and I don't blame you for what's happened either. And that's why I called you in here. I want to tell you what I plan on doing about Seth Rollins and…Roman, I called you in here with her because this is going to affect you too." Vince could see the apprehension on the big man's face and held his hand up with a smile. "I assure you, everything is going to be as it should when the night ends. My daughter and son-in-law thought they would send Seth down for your match to cash in his briefcase to become the new champion. They were going to screw you over tonight and it's not happening. Roman, you WILL be walking out the new WWE World Heavyweight champion."
"What about Seth?"
"After his match with Randy, he will be fired on the spot and escorted out of the stadium." Vince smiled viciously, seeing Nyla's jaw drop while Roman just nodded in understanding.
"And he WON'T be wished well on his future endeavors."
One by one, every Superstar and Diva the Authority had screwed with walked in and out of Vince's office, each with smiles on their faces. It was 3 long years of pure hell with the Authority in charge, but they were finally getting rid of them. Nyla couldn't wipe the smile off her face, walking down the hallway with Roman and knew they had to part ways to do their respective jobs. She had a lot of work today for Vince and not much time to do it, specifically on the Ladder match and Roman's match.
