AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I have never met the CEO ofthe Caldwell Consortium, Travis Caldwell. He acquired my company with the help of his drones, never once making an appearance. The only thing I know about the man is that he comes from old money. His family is from Texas and they made their money from oil. Aside from that, I couldn’t find anything else. He keeps a pretty low profile.
We don’t wait long. Moments later the door opens and in walks possibly the most gorgeous man I have ever seen.
The first thing I notice about him is how striking his blue eyes are, and how well they contrast with his gorgeous salt and pepper hair, which has more pepper than salt. He istall, broad shouldered and wearing what I can tell is a bespoke black suit.
He walks further into the room. Jasmine and I stand to greet him. He smiles and I am almost blinded by his beautiful teeth.
He walks to the head of the conference table, shakes both our hands and says, “Good morning, ladies.”
Jasmine and I both mumble our responses unintelligibly.
“I’m so happy to be coming on board here. I think we’re going to make a great team,” he says. I can hear the hint of a southern accent on his deep baritone. It’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t cyber-stalked him before this meeting.
I swallow hard before I say, “I do too.”
He rubs his hands together. “Good. Well, I am really busy today so let’s just get to business.”
“Great!” Jasmine says a little too loudly.
“So, I’m really impressed with you’ve been able to achieve here atDeLisle, but I think it’s time we go bigger.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Bigger?”
“Yes, bigger. I would like for us to ramp up production, perhaps switch into ready-to-wear. You know, get a slice of that big pie and do so while keeping costs low.”
I can already feel my head starting to spin. I clear my throat. “Mr. Caldwell, you do realize thatDeLisleis a high fashion brand, don’t you?”
“Please, call me Travis, and yes, I’m aware.”
“Well, one of the basic tenants of high fashion and luxury is exclusivity. That is our brand. You can’t exactly expect us to pivot from couture to ready-to-wear. That’s insane.”
He sits back in his chair and smirks at me. “What I think is insane is spending tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours in manpower, making one dress for a Hollywood starlet to wear on some red carpet one time and then return to us. We need to move product to turn a profit.”
“We have been turning a profit,” I say.
“It’s cute that you think the money you’ve been generating is a profit.” I’m about to respond when he cuts me off. “Like I said, I’m very busy today. You know what I want, find a way to get it done.”
He climbs to his feet, buttons his jacket, and struts out of the room.
My jaw is on the floor.
“It seems he’s all business?” Jasmine says. While I struggle for words, she continues, “I’ll schedule another meeting for when he is less busy. Perhaps then we can try to come to some sort of a compromise.”
I can’t believe he just did that.
If he thinks he’s going to turn my company into some cheap sweatshop, then he has another thing coming. This is a hill that I would literally die on.
2
TRAVIS
Ilean back in my chair at the consortium’s offices in Midtown. I close my eyes and hold my scotch on the rocks to my temple in an attempt to dull the migraine that has been chasing me since morning.
I have spent the day running around and putting out fires. It’s not different from any other day, but for some reason it’s taking a greater toll on me than usual.
I take a sip of my smoky drink. It warms me from the inside out leaving a faint fruity aftertaste on my tongue.
I pull my phone out of my pocket. It’s 8 o’clock in the evening, so I know Clark, my Head of Acquisitions, should be home from work.
