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I suspiciously eye him. “And what if I don’t?”
He smiles widely now. I’m afraid he’s going to tell me that I’ll have to stop trying to be CEO, that I’ll have to give up. I’m not sure I can.
“Then, you go on a date with me.”
I relax. I can handle that. “Deal.”
“Good. I’ll send you my notes for the meeting.”
“Thanks,” I say before turning to leave. But before I do, I have one more question for him, one that’s been gnawing at me. “Why haven’t you fired Tony yet?”
He looks up at me, like I’m crazy.
“We both know he is terrible at his job. So, why haven’t you fired him?”
“Because I respect his loyalty. That man would take a bullet for this company. I know I’m going to have to work harder to do things, like create graphs that he should be doing, but that’s okay. He cares, and he is a hard worker. He would never jump ship to a competitor’s company. We need more people like that around here.”
His words shock me. I thought Killian was ruthless. I thought he would have fired Tony the second my father died since the decision was now up to him. I was wrong. It makes me wonder what else I’m wrong about when it comes to Killian. Too bad I don’t have time to find out.
I need to spend the next twenty-four hours doing everything to prepare for tomorrow. I need to impress the other executives. I need to prove to my grandfather that I can do this. I need to prove to myself that this is what I want. It might be my only chance.
I move my hand to rub my eyes, but I stop myself. If I rub my eyes, I will ruin my mascara. I yawn instead, the exhaustion getting to me. It will be worth it though when I see Killian’s smug face turn into one of his classic frowns when I win. I have no doubt that I will. I’ve been up all night, going over everything Killian sent me along with seeing if there is any more data that I need to prove my recommendation.
I was surprised actually when I got the email from Killian. He sent me everything he had on the project, including his personal notes and email exchanges between him and my father. Those were hard to read, but I read them anyway. He also sent me hours and hours of material. I don’t know why he would do that if he wanted me to fail. Maybe he wants me to succeed.
“Ready?” Killian says as he pokes his head into my father’s office.
“Yes,” I say.
I gather my things and follow Killian. I do my best to stand tall and confident even though everything inside is trembling. I follow Killian until we get to the conference room where the meeting is going to be held.
“You’ll do great,” he says, winking at me, before he holds the door open for me.
I walk in, but I have no idea what he is doing. Is he trying to give me fake confidence? Is he trying to distract me? I have no idea. I push the thoughts from my head and instead walk into the room with an intense expression on my face. I try to pretend I’m Killian walking into the room. He wouldn’t be smiling and happy. He would be glaring at everyone, forcing them to do what he said with just one look.
I can’t keep the expression up long though as I walk in. I’m a little in shock at the number of people in this room. There is close to thirty, and the room isn’t even filled yet. I was expecting to present to an intimate small team of ten people, maximum. Instead, I’m going to be presenting to what feels like the entire company.
Killian puts his hand at the small of my back, guiding me to the front of the long table in the center of the room that has at least ten chairs around it. Those are probably for the most important people. On either side of the table, there are three rows of chairs holding at least thirty more people, and they are all staring at me.
“Killian, why didn’t you tell me there was going to be so many people at this meeting? Who are they?” I hiss between clenched teeth.
He smiles brightly. “I didn’t want you to be nervous, but no need to worry. You’ll do great. You are completely prepared. The main table here is the execs, which is where you will need to focus most of your attention when you talk. The rest are their assistants and staff who will be in charge of helping to implement the expansion. They might have a few questions for you because they are more familiar with what the day-to-day operations will look like.”
I stare, wide-eyed, until we get to the end of the table where we each take a seat. I realize now why he’s being so nice to me. It’s not because he wants me to do well. It’s because he has fed me to the wolves, and I’m about to get slaughtered.
I’ve never given a speech in front of this many people. The only thing I have done in front of this many people is model, and all that involved was looking pretty while walking down a catwalk without falling. It was nothing compared with this.
Killian leans over to me. “You wanted a chance. I’m giving you a chance. This is what it’s really like to run the company.”
He grabs my hand and gives it a quick squeeze before he stands. It does nothing to reassure me. Instead, I feel my palm growing sweaty from where he just touched it.
“I’m Killian Browne, VP of Operations. Today, I’m supposed to present the plans for the expansion of the Felton Grand. I’m not going to do that.” He pauses while people uncomfortably shuffle in their seats at his statement. “Instead, I’m going to let the person who ran the data explain. I would like to introduce you to Kinsley Felton.”
I stop bouncing my foot under the table and stand. The room has fallen silent now that they know Robert’s daughter is the one who will be speaking. I smile weakly around the room as I make my way to where Killian is standing. He winks at me before taking a seat.
“Hi. I’m Kinsley.” I can feel my heart beating out of my chest with every word that I’m saying. “Today, I would like to show you my thoughts on the expansion and what the data shows.” I walk to the computer that is already set up with my slides. I press the button for them to turn to the first screen.
I realize I’ve been staring at the ground the whole time, so I look up. I feel what feels like hundreds of eyes on me, but to my surprise, they are all smiling. A few of them are trying to check out what’s underneath my pencil skirt and pink shirt, but for the most part, I’m getting friendly faces in return. I can do this.
