The Beauty and the CEO

Dixon spoke first. Well, rather shoved a thick, legal-sized binder toward the center of the table. “This has been the data for the last twelve weeks of our e-commerce with your Creative Design Director in place.”

A twitch threatened at the back of Will’s jawline. “Alright?”

“Your golden choice failed to bring in tweaks, changes,” said Dixon, referring to Titus once again. Nothing had improved after bringing Titus on board. The fans Will thought would follow Titus failed to support the hire. “As a matter of fact, our online sales have been cut in half and we’ve been steadily losing our subsidiaries left and right.”

“What is this supposed to mean?” Marcus asked. “If these smaller companies are buying back their titles, we’re still making money.”

“For the love of God, you guys,” Thea hissed, “we’re getting off this sinking ship. It’s time you all faced the truth.”

“What truth?” Dana scoffed “That you guys are a bunch of lazy, entitled brats who don’t know a thing about hard work?”

Thea’s purple sculpted nails scraped against the glass and she rolled her eyes and fluttered what Will had come to know were wispy, catlike false lashes. “Said the prima donna model who used the company plane to get lobster from Maine.” Thea paused for a moment, long enough for everyone to hear the audible sound of Dana closing her mouth. “Yeah, I saw the books. You’re not modeling anymore, so there’s no reason for the flight other than your sister’s Key West lobsters not being good enough for you.”

“Hey,” Eva drawled with a scowl.

“You don’t have the votes to shut Ravens down,” Donovan declared with his intimidating, booming voice.

Cora squeaked, her face turning bright red. She turned to look away but a tear fell down her face. Will knew at that moment it was over for Ravens Cosmetics. His heart fell. His shoulders slumped and a knot formed in his throat. He’d failed.

“Why are we bothering with conversation?” Charles asked. His gloating smirk was enough to make Will want to leap over the table and punch it off his face. “We’re demanding a vote right now.”

“How can you do this to Grandma?” Naomi asked. Her voice cracked with a hint of crying. Her twin reached over and patted her back. Will and his brothers clenched their fists.

Joyce spoke up. “It’s plain and simple,” she began. “Tell us how much it would take to buy you guys out.”

With a quick calculation in his head, Will already knew they couldn’t come up with the funds to buy them out at what he expected to be their inflated going rate. But Brandon surprised him the most with his response.

“We’re done having our name attached to the sinking ship,” said Brandon. “You think we want to stay if for some strange reason you guys pull a rabbit out of your hats and turn this around?”

“And if we even thought about selling the company to you guys,” said Mari, another anti-cousin, “how do you think you’ll look in the eyes of Grandma Naomi? We want to present it to her as if we made a group decision.”

“That’s not our concern,” Donovan said. “We’re the ones here on a daily basis.”

“We’re not selling to you,” said Oscar. “We’re dissolving the company. We have the votes.”

The only thing Will could do was close his eyes and pray for a miracle. They needed to be saved. Grandma’s birthday was next week. Was the family truly going to sit in the same room and tell her they’d dissolved the company? Her child? Her baby? How was he supposed to look his grandmother in the eyes and tell her he failed? The news was sure to kill her.

Will couldn’t breathe. The air around him became stagnant. All he wanted to do was jump across the table and break one of their faces. If he moved to do so, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop.

Before anyone had a chance to speak their minds, the conference door opened. Zoe entered. Confused, but still a gentleman, Will rose to his feet. All the men did. The receptionist from the front desk stormed breathlessly after Zoe.

“I’m so sorry for barging in like this,” Zoe said.