Page 361 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

Grace starts tittering.

Reeves looks over at her and clears his throat. “WhileJacque—”

Grace’s cackling loudly now, and it looks like this Hail Mary is going straight out of bounds.

“I amsosorry,” she says. She’s still covering her mouth, but she hasn’t quite managed to stop laughing. “It’s just the contrast,” she says. “I didn’t know that was his—please continue.”

Whether this is some off-the-cuff new strategy or not, Reeves is starting to get flustered and nobody else seems to want to jump in. Finally, Verne says, “You can drag us through this if ya want, Zach, but it ain’t gonna matter.”

“Actually,” I say, “it does.”

I look over to Jacque, still the inappropriately-named, gangly white boy he’s always been. He sighs loudly. I just hope he’s remembered the remarks he wrote beforehand. He does not improvise well.

“I know a lot of you are surprised to see me tonight,” he says, his voice flat. “As you know, I am not known for knowing everything.”

And he’s off-script. I discreetly nudge him with my elbow.

“Right,” he says.

I was hoping the nudge would get him back on track, but instead, he reaches into the back pocket of his baggy slacks and pulls out a piece of paper with handwriting on it. He starts reading directly from it. “As you know, I am not known for having all the answers any more than any of you. However, when this business was started, there were a few key principles that set us apart. One of those, as you well know, was the principal that if we couldn’t afford to take care of our people, we had no right being in business. It’s no secret you’re planning to move the company to …” he trails off and lifts his thick glasses. “Oh,” he says, “China, but this goes against the very foundation of who and what Stingray is, was and should be.”

Reeves says, “Mr. Snodgrass, if you wanted—”

Grace snorts with laughter, saying, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“If you wanted to take control of the company,” Reeves says, “why is it you didn’t come forward before now?”

“Right,” Jacque says, and moves his index finger in a straight line down the page. “Ah, here it is,” he says.

At this point, I’m not even sure I want Jacque as CEO.

“I was concerned that any movement on my part to step in to replace Nikolai while he was chief executive officer would undermine his position. I hope you all know I support his work to keep the company here,” he says.

Geraldine says, “I think we’re all avoiding the elephant in the room. I don’t mean to be cruel, Jacque, but as one of your many duties as CEO, you would be a very public face of the company.”

“That’s the whole point, don’t you get it?” Grace asks. “He’s going to be the public head of your company, so when you announce Stingray’s staying here, your whole public image gets an overhaul. He’s stepping in to protect the employees of the company. Tell me, how does that play in the press?” she asks. “I’m sure between the ten of you, we can work out the minor issues. The fact is, by his very presence at the helm, Stingray recovers all the trust you’ve lost fighting among each other these last months.” Grace takes a sip of her drink. “Also, he’s got robot Pomeranians, and they areadorable.”

I forgot to tell Yako to give Grace grape juice instead of wine.

“She has a point,” I say. “In fact, I’d say it’s the only thing that makes sense. If you move the company, it might go under, it might not, but you’re also forgetting that it’s in the bylaws, and you haven’t replaced me as CEO to be able to overturn it.”

“Nominate me CEO,” Verne says.

“No,” Reeves objects, “you’d run the company into the ground!”

“Oh, like you’d do any better?” Verne shoots back.

“I’d do a lot better than you,” Reeves says.

Mason starts in with, “I’m the vice-president. Doesn’t it only make sense I should be CEO?”

Then Geraldine says, “I’ve been doing your work since they dropped you in a chair and put a suit on you.”

They go back and forth, undercutting each other with every breath and basically proving to me, if not to themselves, that none of them can take the position. Even if one of the members were to get it, the other seven would always be there plotting.

After a few minutes, I nudge Jacque and tell him, “Step in. Quiet the room. Show them you’re a leader.”

Jacque nods and says, “Hey, everybody?” Nobody looks up, so he says, “Hey guys, let’s all be quiet now.”

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