“Right this way.” The receptionist led them into a wide hall with pearl-gray carpeting. Photographs of buildings The Lloyds Development had worked on dotted the walls on each side. “Coffee or tea?”
“Coffee,” Ethan said. “Coffee for you too, Kerri?”
“Sure. Black, please.”
The receptionist opened a frosted glass door at the end of the hall. “Here you are.”
Kerri and Ethan walked into the boardroom. Floor-to-ceiling windows gave the room an airy look despite the imposingly large cherry table in the center. High-backed black leather chairs surrounded the table, a nameplate set before each one.
There was a murmur of hellos as Ethan and Kerri settled in their seats. Kerri sat at Ethan’s right hand, slightly back from the table, as they’d decided previously. She’d reviewed the numbers again to make sure she was ready for any questions the board might have. She was an outsider here—she wasn’t a Lloyd, didn’t work for The Lloyds Development, and didn’t have a seat on the board—and the board would hate her for bringing Ethan’s wrath upon them. She centered herself, feeling no pity for anyone in the room. If they’d done their jobs well, none of this would be happening. Incompetence and laziness were mortal sins, as far as she was concerned.
Ethan started the meeting without preamble. He didn’t believe in wasting time and he was a busy man, now in charge of two big companies.
Kerri studied the other attendees. Gavin Lloyd sat in the back. There was a striking similarity in the way his and Ethan’s brows and eyes were shaped. Unlike Ethan, Gavin was dark, perhaps having inherited that Italian grandmother’s coloring. He wasn’t as wide or muscular as Ethan, though he still cut an impressive figure. His face remained expressionless as Ethan went over the issues with the company. She might have thought he didn’t care at all if it weren’t for the small tick in his jaw.
“Hold on a minute.” Simon Caldwell raised a well-manicured hand. “Nobody can go through our numbers that fast. You sure there’s no mistake?”
“With all due respect, Simon, you’re the CFO. You should already be sure there’s no mistake. Why aren’t you familiar enough with the figures to say for certain? In any case, I didn’t have to go through anything. Kerri here ran the figures.”
Everyone looked at her. She returned their gazes dispassionately. She’d been the center of attention before, and in situations far less comfortable than this.
“Kerri found everything?” Simon said in a booming voice. His gaze raked over her, then dismissed her as inconsequential. “Who is this? Your secretary?”
“No.” Ethan’s tone gained a nasty edge. “But frankly, her identity isn’t relevant. Her knowledge is. And what she knows is that you haven’t been doing your job.”
An ugly shade of red blotched Simon’s pale flesh, clashing with his sandy brown hair. He planted his big hands on the table and rose to his full height—an impressive six-foot five. With his arms extended he looked even more imposing, like an angry polar bear.
“I know you and Jacob don’t get along, but using her to discredit him and his team is unacceptable. I never thought you’d stoop this low.” He took aim at Kerri. “Who can go through five years’ worth of records in a few weeks? Your ambition and drive are admirable, but I doubt you have the qualification or expertise to—”
“Simon, enough!” Ethan barked. “You—”
Kerri put a hand on his arm. Though she appreci
ated the gesture, she didn’t need to hide behind him. “Mr. Caldwell, I can cite several major missteps in the last five years that mark you and your team as either grossly negligent, incompetent, or both.”
“I’m not—”
“Please.” She maintained a neutral tone. She pulled out several copies of the memo she’d written the night before and passed them around.
“Don’t try to dismiss me, young lady. I was managing a company before you were born.”
“Is that company still solvent?” she asked pleasantly. “Now, this memo lists all the managerial issues I’ve discovered. Note that each item is significant.”
He took his copy, crushed it into a ball and tossed it at her. “I don’t know what your role is here, but it doesn’t give you the right to treat me—”
“You’re right. It does not,” she agreed coldly. “But your incompetence and refusal to acknowledge these issues give me the right to point them out to everyone on the board. Don’t think you can intimidate me with your size and the volume of your voice. If you can’t be civil and constructive, I’m sure we can have you removed from the room. I’m sure none of us” —she looked around the table— “have the patience or time to listen to unproductive shouting.”
*
Ethan watched Kerri, her face calm and cool as she faced Simon down. Pride surged inside him, and for a moment he couldn’t even draw a breath. She was magnificent.
If he could, he’d have carried her away and ravished her, watched her shatter in his arms.
Kerri went through her points. Too much cash tied up in unfinished projects, and they were all what she deemed executive ego-driven since the projections were unrealistically optimistic. TLD’s debt load was two point three times the industry average, and the interest rate a percentage higher than it should’ve been. Senior executive compensation was twice the industry average, and the headquarters was mortgaged to the hilt. It didn’t take long before the board realized that Simon was part of the problem. Ethan’s mouth twisted cynically at how quickly the members gathered against Simon—though not Jacob or Catherine, probably out of deference to Ethan. Gavin said nothing, watching Kerri in an assessing manner. He was sharp. He probably hadn’t missed the way she’d put her hand on Ethan’s arm and had guessed their true relationship.
Ethan shifted in his seat, then said, “Now you see why a change of executive team is necessary.” He pinned Simon with a hard gaze. “TLD’s lawyers will contact all those affected.”
“Who’s going to be in charge?” Gavin asked, his voice cool and to the point.