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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Logan sat slightlyaskew in the large leather chair in Fletcher’s office, which Fletcher had let him use for a few hours to hold the Dufort Liquor virtual board meeting. He rubbed the day-old scruff on his chin slowly, giving off the impression he wasn’t perturbed at all by what he was listening to.
But he was.
Correction, he was fucking furious.
Yet he continued to listen because it was always good to let your enemy play all his cards before you struck.
And clearly, he was late to the game.
Which was unlike him.
Aside from Laura’s phone call a few days ago, Logan hadn’t seen this coming.
“It’s time to diversify; otherwise, we’re going to be left behind. Data shows our competitors have added an average of over seventy-five new products in the past twelve months,” Doug, one of his board members, shared. “Dufort Liquor? Seventeen. It’s just not acceptable.”
Is that right, Doug, you asshole?
“We can’t speed up our product development, Doug. Unless we expand the team, and even then, it’s too great a risk to our bottom line,” Roger, another board member and lawyer, said.
Correct.
“Then we’ll keep losing market share,” Doug replied. “We need fresh ideas and a strategy to counter this loss so we can put the company back on a growth trajectory.
“Let me guess, Doug. You’re the man to do it?” Rosa said, raising a brow.
“I have the experience. You saw what I did in my last company.” He shrugged. “It’s nothing personal, Logan. As you tell your team, we have to pivot when things aren’t working.”
Wow, the guy was a complete narcissist.
Logan picked up a pen and began to tap it on the desk in front of him, slowly lifting his brows.
All unimpressed and bored.
This was serious, but he could have done without the meeting falling on a long weekend. Especially one where he was having a particularly nice time.
A sexy time.
Their board meetings always fell on a Monday, and despite it being Labor Day weekend, finding a new time in their busy executive calendars had been impossible. They’d all agreed to do a short one-hour via video conference.
So far, it wasn’t going that well.
Unless you were Doug.
Logan could see the expressions of his board, and they were unimpressed. Some looked a little anxious, and some, he thought, looked in agreement.
That was more concerning than Doug challenging him. Especially since everything he was saying was bullshit.
Well, Doug was right about one thing. Theyhadlost market share in the past twelve months. But it wasn’t because of product development, and their bottom line wasn’t hurting.
One reason Logan had for being eager to ensure this meeting went ahead was a nagging feeling he’d had about Doug.
Doug had recently been let go from his CEO role after a merger, and it had been common knowledge he was looking for a new position. Clearly, he wasn’t having much luck and had some insane reason to believe Logan was going to be easy to nudge out of his role.
Clearly, Doug was fucking wrong.
