Page 143 of Priceless

Even Everett looked shaken. “What the fuck is going on?”

“A lot more than I expected or hoped, unfortunately. Honestly, it’s a good thing that the launch went poorly. If it hadn’t, we might not have found this in time, and wouldn’t have been able to pull it back.”

None of us spoke. She had the floor.

“The factories producing the Extasis toys were given the appropriate schematics. Everything they needed as normal. But the materials weren’t the same. Everything was swapped out for cheaper options before production even started.”

“What?” Micah’s voice was deadly. Design was his corner, and he took pride in it, including choosing materials specifically for both luxury and endurance. With clothing as well as our toys. “How the fuck did that happen?”

Raina sighed and sat back in her chair. “I’ll give you all three guesses, but if you need more than one, you don’t deserve your offices.”

“Joseph?” Everett ground out.

“One and the same. He was fucking careful though. Really careful. Going to the trouble of printing out all the designs and making notes by hand before going to the team and asking them to make those changes on the way to production.” She held out a hand. “Don’t worry, they won’t tip him off. I made sure everyone I spoke to signed an NDA that would eviscerate their lives before I left the room. But as long as they talked, I let them keep their jobs.”

“We might not be able to keep that promise,” I said. From a public relations perspective, at least one head needed to roll. Maybe several. Joseph’s, certainly, but if they had knowingly helped them?—

“They had no reason to question the Chairman of the Board. He was using your names and saying you’d approved the changes. Among all the other proof, is sworn and signed statements from everyone I spoke to. As far as I can tell, no one was intentionally trying to sabotage anything. They were simply misled. More than one of them was horrified, because they’ve seen what’s happening. Your employees care about their work as much as you do.”

Her faint smile made me feel better. When we started Zenith, the one thing we vowed never to do was compromise. Not on what we needed, not on cost, not on having a healthy work environment.

“But Extasis isn’t the only problem. He’s starting to do it with the other lines as well. Swapping out our more expensive fabrics with ones that are less expensive. Taking a cashmere, for example, and swapping in a blend that would appear the same to most consumers but would cost half the price.”

I pulled out my phone and started typing. “I haven’t seen any reviews like that. Where are we getting hit?”

This time, when Raina smiled, it was vicious. “That’s because he hasn’t managed to do it yet. He’s only starting. Want to know how?”

Everett growled. Truly growled. Rage poured off him like a physical thing. He planted his hands on his desk and rose out of his chair. “If it’s Frank fucking McCabe?—”

“Ding ding ding, we have a winner.” Raina let the sarcasm drip.

Part of our deal with Frank involved utilizing McCabe fabrics as one of our larger suppliers. We’d already been using them in a much smaller capacity. Bringing them in to cover most of our fabric needs would infuse his company with money, which would keep it alive. But this?

“Why?” Micah asked. “I don’t see the plan in this.”

Everett settled his elbows on the desk. “Let me take a guess, Raina, and you tell me if I’m right.”

She smirked and crossed her arms. “Go for it.”

“The shareholders were annoyed by the last few quarters having even profits instead of growing profits, so they went to Joseph to see what the ‘problem’ was, and did some threatening.”

“Correct.”

Everett shook his head. We’d known about the even profits, but it hardly mattered. They were good profits. Incredible ones. Only fools thought profits could go up infinitely. Now that Firefly clothing was under our umbrella, we’d get a bump.

“And instead of coming to us with those threats, he decided he’d try to make more profit for the company by cheapening the materials. He didn’t come to us because he knew that we would say no without a second thought.”

“Yes.”

His brow furrowed. “But I’ll confess, I don’t understand forcing the marriage. Were the other board members involved?”

“Not that I can tell, but you can thank your man for that. He sent me half of this after we spoke on the phone.”

“Our man?” I asked.

Raina raised an eyebrow. “The hacker.”

“For fuck’s sake.” Micah scrubbed a hand over his face. “Why wouldn’t he tell us that?”

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