“Right now, I’m not sure I know any of you. This is Charlene Kittredge we’re talking about. Have you seen her at parties? She is not in any way what Lawson Steel needs as a spokesperson,” Seth snapped.
Gareth laughed. “She sure can speak. For hours and hours.”
Seth growled out, “Then bring her to Tabiq and let her run your damn company. Leave Lawson Steel the hell alone. She could ruin our reputation.”
“Or improve it,” Dylan said. “Seth, you need to cut her some slack. Give her a shot before you tell us what she is capable of.”
“I take it your wife asked you to hire her?” Seth accused.
Dylan snarled. “Sofia doesn’t talk to me about business, good or bad. If you haven’t noticed, she’s preoccupied with our daughter. And for the record, don’t ever drag her into any conversation unless you have something nice to say.”
Seth knew Dylan was overprotective of his new family. But Dylan and the others should be just as concerned about the company. Looking around the table, there was only one person whom he felt might be on his side in this matter. “Sal, you’re very quiet. Being head of security, I’d like to hear what you have to say about Charlene. If I recall properly, you spent a lot of time avoiding her at Gareth’s wedding.”
Gareth cocked a brow. “Funny. I wouldn’t have thought you’d have noticed, since you were the one conversing with her the entire time.”
Charles interjected. “I don’t care who talked to Charlene and who didn’t. The facts are that I hired her as our PR person.”
“And when the hell did we decide we needed one?” Seth asked, his tone riddled with anger. This was the first time he’d actually questioned his brother’s ability as CEO.
“There was no need for a vote. With my being married to the owner of our competition, I thought it was best we have someone…impartial,” Charles declared.
Dylan added, “Although I enjoy watching Seth’s blood pressure rise, I have to side with him on this. Of all the people you could’ve hired, why her?”
Charles asked, “I thought she was Sofia’s best friend?”
“She is. Which really adds another question. Why am I only learning of this at our board meeting?” Dylan said, looking puzzled. “Did Sofia ask you to hire Charlene?”
Charles shook his head. “This was strictly a business decision. Her resume had been submitted in through the proper channels just like any other candidate. I found her to be the best fit for our organization.”
Seth laughed. “Talking someone’s ear off isn’t a skill, or at least not one that we need here.”
“If you recall Seth, it isn’t what she says, as much as how she is able to captivate an audience.”
Yeah. Feels like you’re in prison and no way out.
“Who is she reporting to? I mean you can’t give someone like Charlene free reign,” Seth declared.
“Since you seem to have voiced the most concerns, I suggest you take on that roll,” Charles stated. “Not that I believe it is needed, but is there anyone else who’d like that task instead of Seth?” Charles looked around the room and when no one volunteered he added, “Don’t worry Seth. If she doesn’t work out, then I’ll fire her.”
There was a problem with that. Charlene was like family to Sofia. Firing her wasn’t as simple as Charles made it out to be. Hell, he’ll probably have me do that too. This is what Seth gets for opening his mouth. Usually he just sat back and let the others do the bickering. It wasn’t that he didn’t have an opinion, it was just that he knew flying under the radar meant he learned more and never had to get his hands dirty. Not so lucky this time. But Seth excelled at something besides the details. He was great at getting his brothers to step up. “I don’t have the time to play babysitter,” he replied.
“You’re always busy,” Jordan said, not even looking up from his cell phone.
“Then you agree, that I’m not the person for this,” Seth stated.
“No. I agree that you’re busy,” Jordan corrected.
“Since you don’t want to supervise Charlene, how about staying late and helping me with the audit from a few of our plants.” It was something that they were required to do at the end of each year, but Seth was anal when it came to numbers matching exactly. If you didn’t keep your eyes open at all times, then you had no right to flip out later when you find someone had been embezzling. If he had his way, this would be handled each month. Seth trusted no one, outside of his brothers, completely.
“Hell no! I have a date tonight,” Jordan said getting up from the table. “Actually, it’s an early dinner. So I vote for this meeting to adjourn.”
“Jordan, you need to take this seriously,” Seth snarled.
Gareth chuckled. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to not being the one screwing off.” He got up and added, “But I agree with Jordan. It’s getting late and I have better things to do.”
Nothing was resolved and his brothers were leaving the conference room. Dylan was the last one out the door, but stopped and turned back to Seth and said, “If you really need some help with the audit, I can come back after Liliana is in bed.”
It wasn’t exactly the help Seth was looking for, but he appreciated the offer. “Not tonight, but I’ll take you up on that soon.”
Once again, he picked up the copy of Charlene’s resume. If he didn’t know who she was, he might have agreed with Charles and hired her. But she was going to bring nothing but trouble to Lawson Steel.
I don’t know how the hell I’m going to pull it off. But I’m not going to let Miss Chatterbox be what takes Lawson Steel down.