Page 32 of Devilish Bully
“Sure.” I take one final look at Kendall and follow her down the hall and into my family’s dining room.
For some reason, the rest of the board members are already waiting by the windows.
“If this is your way of trying to have a business meeting,” I say, “It’ll need to wait until Monday.”
“Actually it can’t wait,” Penelope says. “We have to send off the pre-final IPO work on Monday.”
“Well, good thing everything is already sealed and ready to go.”
“We were hoping we could make one final change to the CEO listing.” She pauses. “Would you mind resigning? We have a statement ready to go and it’s highly polished and positive.”
“Excuse me?” I cross my arms. “You want me to step down as part of the IPO package?”
“We think that we could use someone who’s a little more established and Wall Street–savvy to helm the ship from here on out.” She smiles. “That’s all.”
“Please tell me this is a fucking joke…”
“You’ll still be the CEO in name,” she says. “It’ll be similar to how your mother and father retain their titles.”
“I’m still waiting for the punchline.”
“If we’re going to tell the world that we’re ready to be in business with the sharks, we need to bring in someone who isn’tin the family, so this will look more like a Fortune 500 company, and less like something from a family’s legacy.”
“Itismy family’s legacy.”
“Yes, well…” She looks over at the board members who are nodding their heads, and the floor drops out from under me. My chest tightens, heat claws up my neck, and the roar of my pulse nearly drowns her out as I realize I’ve been hosting my own execution. For once, my father’s sermon about “family values” being a shield instead of a weakness rings true—and I hate that he might’ve been right.
“Who the hell are you thinking about bringing on to replace me?” I ask—as if my dismissal is even an option. “How exactly are you going to put together their sign-on offer and bonus package without me being involved?”
“We’ve been hoping you would be involved.”
Been hoping… Past tense…
I keep my face stoic. I’ve never been blindsided quite like this, and I’m regretting ever inviting them anywhere near my family this weekend.
“Let’s start over.” She holds up her hands in a slight surrender. “Look, Lucian?—”
“We’re no longer on a first name basis…”
“Fine, Mr. Pearson,” she says. “You brought us on years ago to help you guide this company to ultimate success and this is the best way to get to that destination. It’s not personal, and?—”
“It’s more than fucking personal.”
Kendall’s voice cuts through the room like a blade. She strides in, eyes blazing.
“Miss Clarke, with all due respect…”
“Don’t use big words like that when you don’t know what they mean.” She moves closer, planting herself between me and Penelope like she belongs there. Then she glances between us, daring her to lie.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Mr. Pearson,” Penelope says, shaking her head, “can you kindly ask Miss Kendall to return outside until we finish this private conversation?”
“She can stay.”
“I could never figure out where the additional board fees were going, or why it varied so much from month to month, but…the numbers are more than clear now. It was you—all of you—socking away Mr. Pearson’s company money to hire a new CEO and put together a bonus package behind his back.”
Her words aren’t a question, and her accusation sucks all the air from the room.
