"You'd do that for me dad?"
He looked into my eyes, "Of course I will, I can see what this means to you and how much you're suffering. You're my baby girl and no one is more important to me than you. Money certainly isn't."
I risked a little smile, "It might not be as bad as you think anyway dad, I mean if John doesn't show up Thursday night for Smackdown he's in breach of contract and you know what that means..."
We had recently moved Smackdown to Thursday nights and it was now also broadcast live. It meant a lot more work for everyone but we had TNA to compete with now, we had to do something to try and increase our ratings. All I needed was for Cena to no show on Thursday and things would be perfect.
My dad clearly hadn't considered that yet, "You're right, we would owe him nothing."
Paul sat back down on the end of the couch, "What about the ratings though... and the kids. We all know the kids love Cena, that's why we've had to push him so hard."
I sat across his lap and put my arms around his neck, "Sure it will be a loss to start with but we can always change someone else's character. You know, give them the brightly coloured t-shirts and wristbands and caps and all that crap. Soon enough people will buy into it, they always do."
There was silence. Someone say something. I felt my heart pounding in chest, my dad was going to go for it or not, either way I was about to find out. Please!
My dad sighed, "So we're in agreement on this? Paul?" What a relief that was!
Paul nodded, "It's your decision Vince and you're the one who has to get it past the board but yes I agree. Get him out."
My dad took a deep breath, "Right, here's what we're going to do. Tomorrow I'm going to call a board meeting and I'm going to tell them it was my idea to force Cena out of the company like this due to his unprofessional behaviour, refusal to work with creative decisions and most importantly inappropriate actions towards some female employees, including my daughter. I'm confident they will swallow that. I'll tell them I had you go down there and do it in case they refused to agree with what I'd done and at least if you had done it we could still turn it into an angle somehow. Stephanie you're going to meet with Jack Swagger and you're going to fix things with him."
I stood up, "Wait a minute dad..."
He put his hand up to stop me, "If we're doing this we're doing it how I saw so just listen and do as I say. You'll call Swagger and meet him tomorrow. I don't care what you say to him just calm him down and get him back on board. Tell him we'll speak Thursday afternoon and decide what's going to happen with regards to how we storyline this mess."
I wasn't keen on that idea but what the hell, I couldn't get away with this without taking shit from someone. I could deal with Jack Swagger, no problem.
My dad continued, "Paul you're going to speak to the creative guys and start them on ideas on how we go forwards from here. Tell them if anything leaks out about this I'll fire whoever is responsible and make sure their lives aren't worth living. Questions?"
I shook my head as Paul said, "No."
My dad hugged me, "Why don't you go back to the hotel sweetheart? You've had a hard night, go get in the limo and head back there and get some sleep okay?" Thanks dad, I need to get out of here. I have a call to make.
I returned his hug and give him a light kiss on the cheek, "I will dad, I feel like crap."
He stroked my hair, "We won't be long behind you, we're going to have to answer questions from the locker room before we can leave though. There will be plenty of guys who aren't happy with this. Also I need that son of a bitch Chioda in here."
I pulled away from him, "No dad, don't blame him. I forced him into it, it's on me not him." I'm not a monster. I wasn't going to see someone innocent get hurt, only the bastard who deserved it.
Paul kissed me softly on the lips, "Go to the hotel honey, I'll be there soon."
I walked out and closed the door behind me. I couldn't help smiling to myself. This could hardly be going any better, so far.