Page 19 of Forty, Flirty & Fired

I roll my eyes. Trust Nonna to turn corporate espionage into a cooking metaphor.

But maybe she's right. Maybe I need to let this simmer a bit longer before deciding if it's worth serving.

After all, revenge, like the best recipes, needs time to develop its flavors.

And Alexander Drake... well, he's turning out to be a more complex dish than I expected.

Only time—and my next blog post—will tell.

But first, I need sleep. And maybe a cold shower.

Because those forearms?

Lucia wasn't wrong about those at all.

7

THE ART OF CORPORATE WAR

ALEX

There are exactly three things I hate in this world: cold coffee, board meetings before 8 AM, and watching Mackenzie Gallo completely derail my acquisition plans while looking incredibly sexy while doing it.

"With all due respect, Mr. Drake," she says, which in corporate speak means 'prepare to be disrespected,' "buying TechVibe right now would be like trying to perform heart surgery with a sledgehammer."

The conference room falls silent. Even Gerald, who's been trying to push this acquisition through for months, stops mid-sip of his five-dollar coffee.

Mackenzie stands at the head of the conference table, command center of our morning meeting, wearing a deep purple suit that shouldn't work as well as it does. Her curls are trying to escape their professional updo, and there's a spot of what looks like espresso on her sleeve.

She's been here since dawn. I know because I watched her march past my office at 5:30 AM, muttering about 'corporate testosterone poisoning' and 'male ego-driven acquisitions.'

"The numbers support this acquisition," Gerald argues, because apparently, he's feeling brave this morning. "TechVibe's market position?—"

"The numbers support whatever narrative you want them to," Mackenzie cuts in, pulling up another slide. "But have you looked at their employee satisfaction scores? Their turnover rates? Their Glassdoor reviews?"

I lean back, watching her work. It's like witnessing a master chef filleting a particularly expensive fish – precise, brutal, and somehow elegant.

"Their latest product launch was six months behind schedule," she continues, "their senior developers are jumping ship faster than rats from the Titanic, and their CEO just bought his third yacht. But sure, let's talk about market position."

"Ms. Gallo," Barbara Cho interjects, "this acquisition represents a significant opportunity?—"

"To repeat the same mistakes we made with Innovatech?" Mackenzie’s eyes find mine across the table. "How's that working out for us?"

Damn her for being right. Again.

"Perhaps," I say, drawing everyone's attention, "we should consider Ms. Gallo's concerns before proceeding."

Gerald's face turns an interesting shade of purple. "Alexander, the board has already?—"

"The board," I cut in, "hired Ms. Gallo for exactly this kind of analysis. Unless you'd prefer another viral blog post about toxic acquisition strategies?"

The room temperature drops about ten degrees. Our friend @MizzByteMyAlgos has been suspiciously quiet lately, but their last post about predatory tech acquisitions is still making waves.

"Speaking of which," Barbara says, "has security made any progress identifying the leak?"

I watch Mackenzie, but her poker face is flawless. "The investigation is ongoing."

"Well, it needs to conclude," Gerald snaps. "This blogger is becoming a serious problem. Their posts about our corporate culture?—"

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