Page 59 of Left of the Slash
And just like that, we’re under way. Here we go.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” says Joel, although the tone in his voice says otherwise. “This is Mr. Richard Saul. He's the CFO here at East-World.”
Richard is a slender man in a red tie, with a face carrying less wrinkles than Joel, but still holding plenty. His blue eyes are piercing yet lifeless, and his shoulders are slumped as he presses his thin lips together to nod at us across the wooden table.
The three of us take our seats in a line next to each other, while the two of them sit in power positions side by side—straight backs and stiff necks, with their fingers clasped together in front of them on the table, ready to tell us “no” the minute our pitch ends.
“We appreciate you taking the time to meet with us, Mr. Epson,” Olivia begins, but she is immediately cut off by a raised hand used as a stop sign.
“Just call me Joel, please,” Mr. Epson says. “And I appreciate you making the drive over to us, but I have to be honest with you Miss Lucero—”
“Just Olivia, please,” she jumps in, giving Joel the same energy he gave her.
I smirk a little, because I know Olivia has prepared for this meeting, planning to show these two that she is a boss in her own right and that she is to be taken seriously. But how much did she prepare to have her back up against the wall from the very beginning? Did she plan on meeting men who are simply waiting to say no?
Joel pauses, clears his throat, then begins again. “Right. Fine. I have to be honest with you,Olivia, we were just as shocked as anyone to hear what happened to Diego, but we were never interested in switching firms. I'd like to be transparent and tell you that we merely took this meeting out of courtesy to Diego Lucero and his memory. You have our well-wishes and our deepest condolences, but to be completely honest with you, Diego’s firm isn’t big enough to handle an account like ours.”
Eden eagerly jots down notes as Olivia answers quickly. “Well, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Obsidian is my company now, and as much as I can appreciate your attempt at shooting me down quickly, I think you're going to want to listen to our offer before you make a final decision.”
Richard rolls his eyes while Joel sighs, and my skin prickles.
“Why is that, Olivia?” Joel asks. “From what we understand, you don’t have any experience at this level. We appreciate and respect Diego’s wish to appoint you as his replacement, but we’re happy where we are, and it’s hard to have confidence in someone you don’t know personally, and who doesn't seem qualified on paper for this position. No offense. Most importantly, though, we’re just happy with our current cybersecurity firm.”
Olivia grins, and my question about her preparation is answered. It’s clear she expected the beginning of the meeting to go this way, and I can see her gearing up to deliver what she thinks will be the big blow. I bite my bottom lip, hoping that I'm wrong about these two.
“I understand that you have a long history with Palo Alto Networks,” Olivia says. “However, I think you'd be even happier paying six percent less than Palo Alto’s price, and five percent less in insurance. Add in the fact that we have better coverage and stronger firewalls, and our deal is much sweeter than what they can offer you.”
“With all due respect,” Richard Saul speaks up for the first time, his body tight with impatience. “Obsidian Securities has undergone extensive attacks and had a number of breaches over the last quarter. You are in no position to speak about better coverage or stronger firewalls. Truth be told, you only speak of better insurance coverage because you know that you've had clients getting hacked, and you want to assure us that if we’re hacked too, you can ensure our data recovery, but that’s not a selling point. As far as I'm concerned, it simply reinforces the fact that we need to stay where we are. Palo Alto Networks hasn't had the breaches that you have, so how can you possibly speak negatively about them?”
“Oh, I don't mean to speak negatively about them,” Olivia says, her confidence quickly evaporating as she scrambles to recover. “I apologize for the misunderstanding. I know how strong your relationship with Palo Alto is, and I didn't mean to step on any toes—”
“Look,” Joel interrupts with his stop sign hand again. “Don't stress yourself over it, Olivia. We respect your father and wish you all the best in trying to keep his business afloat. But, we’re just not interested.”
“If you would just give me a second to go into further detail—Olivia tries to say, but Joel cuts her off again, making my blood boil.
“Olivia,please,” he snips. “We’ve said that we’re not interested. Thank you all for coming, but this meeting is over.”
Eden and I look over at Olivia, and it’s obvious that she has lost it. Tears fill her eyes as she realizes she has no more cards left to play, and she's about to lose to the house. I see the pain filling her face like a pitcher about to overflow, and even with everything that went down yesterday, seeing her in pain sends fire raging through my veins. I know how much this meant to her, and I know how dark Obsidian’s future is without this deal.No matter how murky our situation is, I can't let this happen. Not to Obsidian. Not to Olivia.
“Okay,” Olivia says as her eyes drop down to the table. “Thank you for your ti—”
“Youareinterested,” I jump in before she can finish.
All eyes turn to me and my heartbeat revs like the engine in a race car.
“Excuse me?” Richard says. “Did you say something?”
I take a deep breath, knowing that what I'm about to do could get me fired, arrested, and blacklisted from every cybersecurity company on the east coast. It could cost me everything, but I don't fucking care. I've listened to enough, and now I'm off the deep end. I know I was supposed to just sit back and observe Olivia’s attempt at this pitch, but she needs me now, and I can tell from the fiery gaze in her eyes that she's going to be pissed about this, but I don't fucking care.
“I said youareinterested,” I repeat. “In both doing business with us, and in leaving Palo Alto Networks.”
I feel Olivia’s eyes burning holes in the side of my face, but I ignore it and focus on the rich men sitting across from us. They forget Olivia too, and while that fact pisses me off, I’ll be sure to make them regret it and apologize before I'm done.
“Umm … Mr. … King, is it?” Joel asks as condescendingly as he can. I'm offended, but I don't act on it. I'm smarter, and I simply nod. “Right. Well, Mr. King, I can appreciate a hard-nosed approach, but I didn't misspeak. We’re not interested in either of those things.”
“Yes, you are,” I say. “And if all of you would just indulge me for a few minutes, I can do more than just tell you. I’ll show you. Give me one second. I’ll be right back.”
Olivia gasps. “Be right back? Quinn, what the hell are you doing?”
