Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
He chews slowly as he considers it, his muscular jaw working.
“If that doesn’t work, we’ll go direct. Put out a joint statement about adapting our product for conservation work and get the sea otter trip into the press release,” Shepherd says with a stoic coolness I can’t imagine feeling. “We’ll be clear it’s a work excursion without denying the claims head-on. In fact, we should do that even if Meghan does retract,” he adds.
My blood pressure rises. I’m speechless.
“You mean there’s still a chance at adapting—well, anything? Like moving forward with the tracking drones?”
He gives me another dry, heart-stopping smile. Reserved yet amused.
“I meant what I said, Destiny. It was a perfect presentation.”
“But it isn’t up to you. The board...” I trail off.
“Consider them convinced. I was open and honest, and I told them if they wanted to can me from being CEO, be my guest. I also made it clear there was real merit in your idea, and raising the company’s global profile is a certainty if we give it a chance. What reason would they have for letting some he-said, she-said bullshit stand in the way of progress?”
Wow. Is that a hint of smugness in his voice?
I’m still too flabbergasted to speak.
“You can guess which way they came down,” he continues. “Mrs. Medlin texted me two hours ago with their decision. With so many companies fixated on their public reputation for sustainability and mitigating environmental damage, it’s too brilliant to ignore. You handed them a golden ticket, woman.”
I flop back in my chair, raking a hand over my face.
Shepherd clears his throat. “Are you okay?”
“Holy shit. Yeah.” I crack one eye open and stare. “You’re being completely serious, right? Like this isn’t some horrible story just to make me feel better?”
“I may be a hardass sometimes, but I’m not that cruel. I also noted there was still plenty of indirect profit to be made by investing in reputation management—a lesson I know all too well, personally. How many consumers try to make ethical shopping choices today? It’s a tidal wave and it’s growing. Perfectly logical, though I’d like to think my personal touch dragged them over to our position.” He gives me that secret smile again I’m not sure I understand. “A bit cynical, perhaps, but it worked. That’s the important part.”
The messiest smile takes over my face.
My chest goes light as my heart stalls.
I have to check to make sure I’m still bound by gravity.
Without thinking, I reach over, drag his hand across the table, and sink my teeth into his finger.
He jerks his hand back like it’s on fire.
“What the hell was that?”
“What does it look like? I had to make sure I’m not dreaming. This is too flipping good to be true.”
“So you bite me when you’re supposed to pinch yourself?” he growls.
I shrug, feeling my cheeks overheat until I break into another smile too bright for my face.
This is really happening.
Shepherd went to bat for my product line.
He believes in my work.
He believes in me.
And it’s definitely not helping to quell the crazy butterfly swarm that’s taken me over from head to toe.
I need to divert right now before I do way more than bite him.
So I wipe the smile off my face, rubbing Mol’s head as she struts over and lays it in my lap, hoping for a few scraps, I’m sure.
“What happens if the rumor mill keeps spinning?” I ask. “If there are more of those pictures, X-rated ones...”
“They won’t dare.” His voice is so firm and unyielding. I half believe it from his tone alone. “I’m certain it’s someone from inside the company. Miss Cho is on the case. She told me Mrs. Garcia found a few anomalies with one of our prototypes. Turns out, it wasn’t ours at all, but a crudely modified consumer drone you can buy online.”
“Wait, what? Someone stole your drone and replaced it?”
He nods sharply.
“Wait. Not Carol, right? She’d never.”
“It’s unlikely, however, since she was the last person to access the lab before the crime, we have to look at her.”
I’m almost dizzy at the implication. I can’t bring myself to imagine the office mom could be so underhanded, so cruel.
There must be a better explanation.
I blink at him. “I guess that’s logical, but why? Where’s the motive? You think someone inside the company wants to—what, ruin you?”
And how did they know where we were going? They couldn’t have followed us off my Insta pictures and stories when I only started posting them when we were well up the coast.
That’s the part that makes no sense.
Was it in Shepherd’s work diary or something?
Go look at otters with Destiny Lancaster.
“I think they breached our lab and had another one of my stealth drones trailing us. The units still struggle to penetrate dense tree cover, and the infrared mode isn’t fine-tuned yet. So, the world can get fucked until we get to the bottom of this. Everything we did stays between us.”