Her stomach continued to churn. Was the room spinning? Shit. She ate breakfast, right? Probably not enough, since she had no idea she would be working out as much as she did. Why did this meeting have to be before lunch? Alicia put her hand on her stomach. When Abby asked her if she was all right, Alicia waved her assistant off and followed her wife into the conferenceroom.I can feel her and Dee having their own conference… about me.
A fleeting thought entered her mind.Shit. Shit! Why now?Alicia tore her hand off her stomach and took her spot at the front of the long table.
“Do I look okay?” she asked Danica.
She hooked an arm around Alicia’s. “You are stunningly professional. I like what you did with your hair.”
All she did was clip it up into a no-frills bun. Even so, the weight of her hair pulled against her scalp.Did I do it too tightly?Actually, she hadn’t done it. Abby did it for her the moment she walked through the office door with an uninspired ponytail. Fine for a day around the office, but not so much for facing a team of shareholders who would rather see Russell Moreau in power than the next generation of meddling kids.
Alicia may have only been in the company a couple of weeks, but they were an enlightening couple of weeks.
She looked around the room, recognizing only about half of the dozen or so attendees. They were all old. They were all male. She almost said they were all white, but two Japanese shareholders walked in five minutes late, citing traffic from the airport.Still old and male, though.Alicia didn’t stand a chance. They dressed the same way Russell did, and carried that same sneer beneath their upper lips. Some of them gave Alicia glances that were more curious than accusatory, but none of them inspired confidence.
Her chest continued to tighten.No, body, we are not having a panic attack right now.She had gone from having one panic attack a year to once a week. What next? Once a day?
The bulk of the meeting, which Alicia was allowed to watch while sitting down, was going over the profits and losses from the previous reporting period. Good that they were leading with that. It was more profit than loss, with a lot of good news froma project Danica started shortly before meeting Alicia. On the other hand, one of Russell’s pet projects had cost the company twenty-five million dollars. Money that came straight out of investors’ pockets.
Russell played this off with some jokes and an invitation for everyone to go golfing with him after the meeting.
His daughter rounded out the meeting with a presentation for her next big project. She motioned to Alicia to join her at the head of the table. Abby and the Clayborn siblings hurried to put together the visuals before sitting back down in their respective corners.
Alicia couldn’t help but notice that Sarah Clayborn scooted away from her brother.
“Gentlemen.”Sheesh, even I would be swayed by her confidence.Alicia surveyed the table in the hopes that nobody was glaring back at her. Oh. Half of them were. “Today, I am excited to present a special project that my wife and I will be leading in the coming months.”
Russell’s chair squeaked. The man’s glower announced to the table that he knew nothing about this. From what Danica said, her father often let her do whatever she wanted – in moderation, of course – with the company. Danica had proven herself time and again to have a head for the business side of things. People were now seriously speculating whether she had a head for the personal, though.
Knowing that she did this with her wife, whom nobody knew? That was a different issue. Luckily, Alicia and her wife had rehearsed these enough times that she could recite her side of things as easily as she could recite,“Hello, welcome to This Establishment. How many?”
“Starting over the next few months, we will be taking Moreau Industries in a brand-new direction.” Danica clicked something in her hand. The projector showing the company’s logo on ascreen changed to a picture of the restaurant she took her wife to on their first date. Every time Alicia saw it, she smiled. “For years, we have dabbled in the hospitality industry without ever fully committing. My wife and I intend to change that. First, we will be gathering every relevant property under one brand: Colbert Hospitality Holdings, in honor of my wife’s family.”
Yeah, they shouldn’t have led with that. Most of the room tensed in their seats or outright frowned. Who were these Colberts, again? What did they have to do with hospitality? What did the Moreaus have to do with hospitality? Since when did Danica care about anything more than the few restaurants and nightclubs she owned? Weren’t they personal endeavors?
“Alicia?”
She cleared her throat.Treat them like the most honored guests at the lounge, girl. Good thing she had years to perfect her fake smile and speak clearly even when she felt like shit. And, boy, did she feel like shit. Her heart was racing so quickly and so many butterflies collided in her stomach that she was on the verge of…
“Greetings, everyone!” No, no, too perky. What the fuck? “I know having me on board is a bit of a shock, but I want to assure everyone that I’m working closely with my wife and have spent most of my life in the hospitality industry.” Did she sound desperate enough yet? “I’m excited to get started on this project. To start with, we’ll be focusing on high-end ethnic eateries and… night…”
Her brain was blank. Metal courted her taste buds.
“Alicia?” Danica touched her elbow. “Are you all right?”
No. She was not all right.
She wasn’t all right at all.
“Alicia!” Danica lunged to catch her on her way down to the floor, but it was too little, too late. Alicia hit the floor with sucha thud that it was safe to say the last thing she felt was a bruise instantly forming on her thigh.
Other than that? She was blissfully so out of it that even her wife’s shouts for an ambulance didn’t faze her.
“Alicia?” Danica patted her cheek. She came to, sitting against the wall in the conference room. The only other person in there was Dee. “Come on, precious. Come back to me.”
She slowly opened her eyes. “Danica?”
“Thank God.” She kissed the spot where her hand had been moments before. “What happened? Are you all right? An ambulance is coming. They’re sending up first-aid right now.”
“I don’t need an ambulance. Just a panic attack.”
