Everyone held their breath.
“I don’t like teal,” he said querulously. “The little charts shouldn’t be in teal.”
“The platform, of course, can be white-labeled into whatever palette matches the client’s branding,” Kelly said smoothly.
“Hmm,” the vampire said, drumming his fingers. “But why does anyone care about retention anyway?”
“Most companies will spend, on average, a fifth of any given employee’s salary to replace that employee,” Brad said.
“Why?”
Morgan tried as hard as she could to keep her face blank as the vampire continued to ask asinine questions. She couldn’t believe it. Was this a game he was playing? She didn’t think so. He really was a complete airhead.
The woman next to him murmured something into his ear.
“What about the consumer market?” Vesper asked in a less animated tone than he’d used to demand teal. “Isn’t there greater potential for salability?”
“Scalability,” the woman murmured. She wasn’t an assistant, Morgan realized. She was a handler.
Brad shot a glance at Luke, who immediately knocked over his glass of mineral water all over the expensive table. There was a flurry of activity, trying to rescue various electronics. When they looked back at the screen, Brad hadclicked to a new slide that included a vague timeline with a rollout to consumer audiences. There were no dates or specifics on the slide, but that didn’t stop Brad from making promises. Kelly’s eyes widened slightly, but she covered it quickly. Morgan let out a slow breath. There was one move the GreenField demons could never have made.
Brad and Kelly weren’t stupid. They could tell who in the room needed to be impressed and who merely needed to be flattered. Morgan watched as they deftly changed their approach to match. Kelly was just as good; less inspirational than Brad, but more convincing.
Morgan felt every inch the fraud she was.
“Hmm. I shall have to consider,” Vesper finally declared, rising. The rest rose as well. Brad shot Kelly a quick glance and she tried to fall back to speak to the handler, but Vesper took her arm in a gesture full of oily gallantry. Kelly caught Morgan’s eye and Morgan swallowed. She knew what she was supposed to do, in theory. Take the temperature of the real decision maker, or at least get her contact info. Or even just a name. Whether she could pull that off, Morgan wasn’t sure.
Luke was gathering up the laptop and its various cords. Morgan stood, unsure of how to get the woman’s attention. Fortunately, though, her quarry stayed behind as Vesper escorted Brad and Kelly out of the room.
“Renata Aguilar-Ortiz,” she said, extending a hand to Luke. “That was a smooth transition, within certain definitions ofsmooth.”
“Excuse me?” Luke said, swallowing.
“The slide switch. Your CEO clearly knows what you’re doing, but I’m guessing the sales head doesn’t?” Renata’s eyes flicked at Morgan and then dismissed her.
“I’m sorry?” Luke tried again.
“You can’t seriously work Deal magic in front of me and expect it to go unnoticed,” Renata said dryly.
Weirdly, that made Morgan relax slightly.
“The product is bullshit,” Renata continued. “But you’ve got a Deal with him? Which House?”
“Berith,” Luke said, setting down the laptop.
She smiled a bit. “We can do business with Berith. You’re part of the package?”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Luke said, eyes narrowed.
“If we invest, you’re going to ensure this company succeeds?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Then it doesn’t really matter that your product is bullshit. Although you’re going to need to rein him in a little,” she continued. “Pardon, I’m sure you know how to do your job.”
“You make the decisions around here, don’t you?” Morgan said.
“Someone has to,” Renata rolled her eyes. “You can see what his Highness is like.”
