Page 19 of My Cruel Billionaire

I noticed that Michael was still staring at me, as he had almost the entire time since he’d come into the room. I’m sure it was intended to be a power move, a method of intimidation on a subtle level.

But I didn't feel intimidated. All I could think about was that was the way he used to look at me before, during, and after we had sex. A tingle passed in my lower belly and spread to the rest of my body. It certainly was distracting to have him looking at me like that.

“Well,” Trent said, shuffling papers around in front of him. “I’m just going to cut to the chase. With the exception of the esteemed Mr. Joestar, the three of us have far, far more experience at handling mergers of this level. No offense.”

Why do people always say no offense after they’ve said something really offensive?

“I agree with Trent,” Blake said stiffly. “We should definitely take the lead on this project. It just makes good, logical sense.”

“We need to be practical, and not worried about ruffling feathers,” Chad added. “This is business, after all, and not a knitting circle.”

I glanced over at Michael. He continued to stare at me, seemingly ignoring the members of his team as they nattered on about how wonderful and terrific they were at their respective jobs.

“Experience is always valuable,” I said, standing up and addressing the three members of Michael’s team. “But let’s not overstate the obvious. My team has far, far more academic credentials than yours does. Therefore, I’m not sure that either team should take the ‘lead,’ as it were. Instead, this should be a cooperative partnership.”

Chad scowled, and looked over at Michael as if expecting him to intervene. Michael didn’t seem to notice Chad, or if he did he gave no sign. He just continued to watch me with those damn bedroom eyes of his.

“I’m sure that you have a valid point,” Trent said, arching his brows and trying to sound diplomatic. Mostly failing, but at least he was putting in the effort. I can’t say the same for the other two members of Michael’s team. “But I really think we should take the lead. I mean, the new company is going to be called NonPoint. Therefore, the NonPoint team—that would be the three of us—should take the lead on this matter.”

I gave him a long look, and then broke into a chuckle.

“Ah, what’s in a name? Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet?”

“Well,” Joestar said, joining me in my mirth, “canola plants used to be called stinkweed, and I don’t see anyone wanting their French fries coming out of stinkweed oil. But I think you’re forgetting something.”

“What’s that?” Chad asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

“What Mr. Joestar is getting at,” I said, meeting Chad’s gaze spark for spark, "is that while the new company will be called NonPoint, the current iteration of that company has a much lower market share than Leisure Unlimited. If we were going to take into account the old companies’ performance, then we would probably take the lead on this. However, I suggest a more equitable split of duties between our two teams.”

Chad had a look in his eyes like he’d just found the holy grail. He faced me with an eager light in his eyes.

“Ah, but did you know that NonPoint has a sales force three times as large as Leisure Unlimited? Our brand is better poised to take the big steps into a much larger world.”

I pursed my lips as I constructed my rebuttal in my head.

“That’s certainly true. However, being as the market share of NonPoint is so much smaller than Leisure Unlimited, it’s easy to see why a larger sales force would be necessary.”

Chad winced, while Trent and Blake exchanged glances. I had, sort of, insulted their company by insinuating that they were trying to play catch-up with us.

“You raise a good point,” Trent said, trying to sound more reasonable. I couldn't help but notice a glint of fear in his eyes. Fear isn’t respect, but it can sometimes lead to it if the fear comes from a place where the object of said fear is believed to be competent. “However, NonPoint has been a more established brand. It’s been around for over sixty years, whereas Leisure Unlimited has been around for what, fourteen? Fifteen years?”

“And in that fifteen years Leisure Unlimited has carved its share of the market from Nonpoint and other brands.” I shrugged. “We’re going around in circles here. The fact remains that a merger is supposed to be a cooperative enterprise. So all I’m saying is let’s cooperate.”

Michael shifted his stance and snorted. “What does a glorified secretary know about mergers of this magnitude, anyway?”

His words hit me like a slap. I got that burning tingle when the fight or flight response is triggered. Silence descended on the boardroom while members of both teams waited to see how I would respond.

Michael stood there, his eyes boring into me. I couldn’t believe he would say such a toxic thing. If I told Evan he’d said something like that, the deal might just fall apart then and there. However, I really didn’t want to be the catalyst for a merger this massive to go to hell. I wanted to find a way to salvage it.

If only flashes of memory weren’t distracting me so much. I remembered when times were good with Michael. Not just in the bedroom… or the boardroom, for that matter, either. I remembered him being very attentive and thoughtful, almost sweet on some occasions.

None of that was going to do me any good if he was going to just torpedo my credibility by calling me a glorified secretary.

I decided that I had to take a firm stand against him. Michael was a man who saw himself as the epitome of alpha maleness. He was going to bluster and bully his way until he hit a brick wall. It was up to me to be that brick wall.

I stood up and forced myself to remain calm. With a ton of effort, I was able to keep myself from shaking. I put all of my oomph into my voice, so it wouldn’t waver when I spoke.

“This ‘glorified secretary’ is acting as the proxy, the vassal, and the representative of Evan Jones. One of the richest, most powerful men in the world, as well as a highly regarded philanthropist.”

---