Since the awful board meeting, Erin had only turned her phone on once, briefly. That had only been in order to call Hank and find out what time he wanted her and Jay to come over. Other than that, she didn't want to speak to anyone, not until she had discussed everything with her dad and they had come up with some kind of plan. There had been messages and voicemails from friends wishing her well and offering any kind of help. They would have to wait.
"Ready?" Jay asked her when he himself was ready to leave the house. It was time to head over to Hank's place.
"As I'll ever be," Erin said. She wasn't looking forward to what was almost certain to be an awkward conversation, or to seeing Mandy. But she had promised to give the woman a break, at least for the time being. There were also questions for her dad that she wanted answers to. How many other women were there with NDAs? And what was the plan to get the Voight family out from under the mound of shit he had created? Those were the main ones. Whether or not he would be able to provide answers remained to be seen.
"How are you feeling about it now? You know, about what I said yesterday?"
Jay's wording was clunky, as was sometimes the case, but Erin knew what he meant. He was really asking had she determined herself to resist anyone other than herself or Hank being in charge of WWE. The answer to that was yes. As the initial shock had worn off, Erin had decided that nobody was taking control of the business who wasn't named Voight. The problem she had was the lack of a plan to make sure that actually was the case. Her dad would probably be able to come up with one, she thought.
"I'm feeling like if dad can't stay on, then somehow I need to take the top job. But I don't know how we'll make that happen," she replied.
"Let's go see what he has to say about it. But, Erin, you're making the right decision," Jay said, giving her a supportive squeeze on the shoulder.
"Thanks, honey. This would all be a lot harder without you."
Jay shrugged. "Not sure I'm much help. I wish I knew more about the corporate stuff you have to deal with."
"You're a lot of help. Trust me." Erin gave him a peck on the lips.
They left the house and Erin drove them over to Hank's place in her Ford GT. As she pulled up out front of the house, Erin sensed some nervousness in Jay. He still wasn't totally comfortable around her dad. Today, though, there were bigger fish to fry, so she put it out of her mind.
Jay hung back a little when they walked up to the front door, letting Erin ring the bell. She readied herself for the possibility of Mandy opening the door. Being civil to the woman wasn't going to come easy, but she had given her word to Jay. That was something she took seriously, so she would have to make the effort.
When the door opened a few moments later, it was Mandy who stood there, looking stupidly attractive even with the dumb lip fillers. Erin felt jealous, although Jay had repeatedly told her she was way hotter. He would say that though. Mandy had black gym pants and a simple grey t-shirt on, yet she somehow managed to make the outfit look stylish. She seemed tired and downcast though. Last night had been a tough one in this house, as it had at Eagle's Nest.
"Hello, Erin," Mandy said apprehensively. "Hi, Jay."
"Mandy. How's my dad doing?" Erin asked as they were shown in.
"About how you would expect," Mandy said with a sigh. "It has hit him hard. Let's go through to the living room."
"How are you holding up?" Jay asked her as they walked together.
"Hank! Erin and Jay are here!" Mandy shouted before answering the question. Apparently Hank was upstairs. "I barely slept, honestly."
Erin led the way into the living room and went over to one of the couches. The room was quite cool, yet her dad hadn't lit a fire yet. That was unlike him. He loved having a real fire going in his favourite room, where he would sit in front of the huge fireplace.
"I get that," Jay said sympathetically to Mandy as he sat down next to Erin. Mandy sat opposite on the other couch.
"You're standing by him then?" Erin asked Mandy. She had half expected her to have walked out already. But then again, that wouldn't be the right play for a gold digger.
Mandy replied with more vehemence than she had shown in the past. "As hard as it obviously is for you to believe, I love your dad. Yes, I'm standing by him. I'll always be standing by him. And you're here in my home talking to me like a piece of dirt, again. It's like this every time you come here. I've had about enough." She choked up as she finished, clearly upset.
Erin couldn't help feeling bad. She did not like upsetting people. Also, she could see Jay glaring at her out of the corner of her eye. He clearly believed Mandy was on the level regarding her relationship with Hank. Could it really be legit? Erin found it hard to believe, but maybe it was. Maybe love could blossom between two people with a massive age difference. Maybe it wasn't about the money. Mandy wasn't faking being upset, Erin could tell that for sure. She took a deep breath and made the herculean effort to convince herself that she needed to apologise.
"Alright, sorry, Mandy. That was probably out of line."
Saying nothing, Mandy let the moment slide. Just then, Hank walked in. He too looked tired, but he also looked happy to see Erin.
"Erin. Come here," he said, wanting a hug. That alone was out of character for him.
She got up and went to him, embracing him tightly. "Dad. How are you holding up?"
"I'm doing okay," he said, which she understood was likely a lie.
Next, Jay stepped forward to greet Hank.
"Jay. Good to see you," Hank said. The two men shook hands, which made Erin happy. But she saw more humbleness in her dad than she was used to – another sign that yesterday's events had kicked the crap out of him.
"Hank," Jay said pleasantly. "I'm sorry about all this. As I've told Erin, I don't really understand this stuff. But if I can help somehow though, let me know."
"Thanks. I'm going to tell you both about what I see as the only way forward. Let's talk about it. Would you like anything to drink?"
"I'll make coffee," Mandy decided, getting up. The housekeeper had been told not to come to work, Erin realised. Mandy asked everyone's preferences, and Erin made the effort to respond politely. As hard as it was, she was going to try and give the woman a fairer shake. Unless or until she stepped out of line anyway.
Once Mandy had left the room, Hank didn't start talking business. Instead, he fixed Erin with a steely look. "I need you to back off Mandy, Erin. She was dreading you coming here today. It's not like you to behave nastily to someone, but you do it often with her. She doesn't deserve it."
"Have I really been that bad?" Erin asked, now feeling ashamed.
"Yes," Hank said frankly. "Some initial mistrust was understandable. But we've been together for more than six months now and we're very happy. We're together, and that's not going to change. It would make both me and Mandy very happy if you could get along. Maybe that's not going to happen, but what is going to happen is you treating her with basic human decency. I insist on it."
Erin sighed. Having heard similar speeches from Jay and now from her dad, she had to pay heed to the message. Mandy wasn't the one who was the problem. It was her.
"Dad, I actually just apologised to her," she revealed. "Jay spoke to me about it last night, too. I hear you both, so I'll pull my head in. You have my word. But I'll still be keeping an eye on you, dad. And on her."
Hank managed a little smile. "I'd expect nothing less. Thank you, Erin. When she comes back with the drinks, we'll talk business."
There was some half-hearted small talk for a few minutes until Mandy returned with four cups of coffee on a tray. She handed them out, remembering who had asked for what.
"Thank you," Hank said to her before jumping right into the hot topic at hand. "Okay, Erin, this is how I see the situation. There are more NDAs. Now that they've launched an investigation, the board are going to find them."
"Oh, dad," Erin groaned, feeling that sinking sensation in her stomach again. This really was it. He was done for. It was a matter of time. She couldn't imagine what he had been thinking, using company money like that. But now wasn't the time to lay into him about it.
"I'm sorry, Erin," Hank said quietly, but with feeling. It almost made her tear up.
"What do we do? I mean, what do you think we should do?"
"What we're absolutely not going to do is have anyone who isn't a Voight in charge of our damn company," Hank said, recovering his familiar determination.
"Fuckin' A," Jay said, slapping his leg in approval. "Sorry," he added as everyone looked at him.
"Safe to say Jay agrees," Hank said with a hint of amusement. He looked at Erin. "How about you?"
"Of course," Erin said without hesitation. "But, again, what do you think we should do?"
Hank sipped some of his coffee. "Here's how I see it. I'm going to have to step down as chairman. The board will make sure of it, and once you see the results of the investigation you'll have to vote for that too if you're doing your job properly. But what the board can't change is that I own eighty-five per-cent of the company. That stock belongs to me, I can do what I want with it, and I don't need board approval. I'm going to sign sixty per-cent over to you. That'll give you enough voting power to entitle you to be chairwoman, and to run the company as you see fit. The board would have no grounds to block you. However, due to your lack of experience, I do suggest you join forces with another member of the board. I'm thinking of you as chairwoman and co-CEO, along with another co-CEO. Which board member you wanted to approach would be up to you."
Erin gulped. She could feel her heart pounding. If what her dad was proposing went through, she would instantly become a billionaire the moment those stocks were transferred. That was frightening more than exciting. As far Hank's question was concerned, there was only one name that stood out among the board members. "I'd go with Lucy Thorne as my first option. She's very good, she's a similar age to me, and she's someone I actually like. After the board meeting yesterday, she was the only person who bothered to ask me if I was okay. That kindness meant a lot to me."
"Thorne is a good bet," Hank said. "Call her, have her come out to Eagle's Nest and tell her in confidence what's going down. There's a lot more detail we need to talk about, but what do you think of the basics of the idea?"
Erin felt herself sweating, even in the cool room. This was the biggest moment of her life. If she agreed to the plan, she was going to take on a hell of a lot of responsibility. Luckily, she was strong person and she had a very supportive partner in Jay. She backed herself to be able to do the top job. But there were other questions on her mind.
"I'll do it, dad. Thank you for your trust and confidence. I wouldn't have been able to stand someone other than you or I running the company. But if you're bowing out and signing over most of your WWE stock to me, what are you going to do? You're not a sit out by the pool all day kind of guy."
"I talked about this with Mandy last night, and we're thinking we might go into business together, opening some more gyms and spas."
"And what do you think about dad signing those stocks over to me?" Erin asked Mandy
"It was my idea," Mandy said, leaving Erin absolutely dumbfounded. That instantly proved that she wasn't with Hank for the money, or she would have given him the exact opposite advice. Now Erin felt really guilty about her behaviour over the past six months.
"You're a strong person, Erin. There's a lot of your dad in you," Mandy was saying. "I don't doubt for a moment that you can take WWE on and run it well. Also, lessening stress is a good idea for Hank. So, I'm all for this plan."
"Thank you," Erin said seriously. At some point, she was going to have to find a time and a place to properly apologise. But there were more important things at hand. Concrete plans had to be made for her to become chairwoman of WWE.
A/N: There is a basic plan in place for Erin to take over WWE. Do you think she can pull it off?