Francesca beamed down at them and leaned forward slightly towards one man to pat him on the head as if he were a dog and said to all those sitting on the floor at large, "Good boys. At least you can be trained. You get to keep your jobs for a little while longer. Now run along home and play dead, until tomorrow when I'll have you rollover for me so you can show me your tricks."
Red-faced and ashamed those who'd sat on the floor got up and filed out of the room as quickly as they could. What those individuals had just lost wasn't worth the few extra paychecks that they would receive.
Francesca turned to me and gave me an affirmative nod in indication for me to proceed.
I stepped forward and sorting through the file dossiers in my arms I distributed the corresponding folders to their prospective owners. There were shocked gasps and horror strickened faces in the wake of my disbursement of the folders that contained embarrassing blackmail material unique to every individual in the room.
I had sympathy for those receiving this further shock to their shaken careers. I'd had no part of the search to come up with the dirt on these people. Francesca had other people for that.
Everyone with their file folders tightly shut now stared in expectant dread at Francesca, who looked like the cat who'd swallowed the canary.
"All of you have significant holdings of stock in Panolic International." Francesca said. She then laid a sheet of paper on the table beside her and dropped a pen to go with it.
She smiled wickedly at those still gathered in the room and said, "Find your names on this sheet next to your stock options and sign them over to me. You leave this company with nothing or……." She paused for effect as she addressed the room at large, "or I release what each of you holds in your hands and make your past misdeeds a matter of public knowledge. Good luck getting another job in this city or any other."
It was brutal. There was no other way to go about describing it.
One by one the executives lined up to sign away their stocks in the company to Francesca. Some lost tens of thousands, while others lost millions, but in commonality they all lost something for their show of pride.
Five individuals walked out the door without signing the paper of which both Francesca's former husband and the chairman of the board were among.
Francesca spitefully glared after the five men who had refused to play her game.