Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
“No, Aunt Linda…”
She puts her hand up and closes her eyes like she doesn’t want to hear it. “You were there with me since day one. You built this empire with me too.”
“But you’re the one who put up all the money you got from Uncle David’s life insurance,” I say. “You’re the one who took all the risk.”
“I’ve already made up my mind about this,” she says in a firm tone. When Aunt Linda gets something in her mind, it’s impossible to shake out. “You’ll be able to do whatever you want. The world will be your oyster after this very lucrative sale.”
I never cared about the money. I mean, it’s nice to not have to worry about money, but that’s never why I was doing this. Eating pasta in Italy and bird watching in Costa Rica sounds fun for a week or two, but what else am I going to do for the next sixty years? Count my money alone in my house? No, thank you.
I adore this company. I love our employees, who are like a big family, the culture, our mission. I love helping women feel beautiful like Aunt Linda helped make me feel with her life-saving products.
The lifestyle and making a difference is what I really love. What I really need. I don’t know what I’m going to do without it.
The money has always just been a bonus. A byproduct of the important work we’re doing.
It’s always been about more…
But with The Hammerhead Group, money reigns supreme.
It’s all about corporate profits with that huge conglomerate.
And with this Brandon Raven guy. I don’t know him, but I know him. These sharks in suits are all the same.
They buy something amazing like this company and then bleed it dry.
They destroy the values that made it so incredible.
And they take every employee who actually cares—like me—and dump us out on our asses.
Chapter Two
Kyra
“What’s his name?” Aisha asks as she types away on her laptop. “Brandon Crow?”
“Brandon Raven,” I say, dropping my head into my hands.
I just finished my meeting with Linda and we’re googling him in my office.
“Is he a professional baseball player?” she asks. “Pitcher for the Oakland A’s?”
“No,” I say as I rub my temples. “Try typing in The Hammerhead Group. Or evil corporate overlord sent to ruin our lives.”
“Oh, here. Got him. Wow! I mean… Wow!”
“Why are you wow’ing? Does he look evil? Does he wear a monocle and a top hat? Does he smoke a cigarette on one of those long cigarette holders and scowl at little children?”
“Look for yourself,” she says as she spins the laptop around.
I swallow hard when I see a screen full of photos of Brandon Raven’s ravishing face. He’s definitely not cartoonishly evil-looking, but that’s how the real villains get you. They lure you in with their gorgeous brown eyes, their dark wavy hair, and their dazzling smile, and then when you let your guard down, they snatch your beloved company that you spent a decade busting your ass to make, and they crush it in their evil corrupt fingers. I’m not going to fall for that.
“Get it away from me,” I say, pushing her laptop back around. “I can’t even look at him.”
“He’s hot,” Aisha says, having no problem staring at the screen. “I volunteer to let him share my desk. I’m even willing to sit on his lap if there aren’t any extra chairs lying around.”
I slowly push her laptop closed while glaring at her. She’s already been corrupted by the enemy. This is going to be harder than I thought.
She tries to open her laptop again, but I give her a stern look. “That laptop is company property,” I tell her. “I forbid you to open it.”
“Fine,” she says with a chuckle as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. “I got this from my mom for Christmas, so you can shove your orders up your ass.”
She pulls up a photo of Brandon Raven at some charity ball. He’s standing on a red carpet in a black tuxedo. “You’re seriously telling me that he’s not hot?”
“Maybe in a corporate robot kind of way,” I say, scrunching my nose up in disgust.
Aisha laughs as she shakes her head and stares at the screen. “You’re crazy. This man is a ten. And look… No girl on his arm.”
“Probably because he’s insufferable.”
She chuckles as she starts reading out his bio. “He’s twenty-nine and already runs a multi-billion dollar conglomerate.”
Okay, that’s a little impressive, I’ll give him that.
“He took over the company when his father died.”
I roll my eyes. I take that back. It’s not impressive at all. Just another case of rich guy nepotism.
“Mr. Raven,” Aisha reads, “has doubled the company’s growth by aggressively acquiring companies in the beauty industry.”
He’s like a virus, invading my wonderful industry, and Aunt Linda just opened the door and let him in. She let down all of her defenses and is allowing this guy to devour us whole.