Heidi blinked. “I haven’t even finished explaining.”
“No. Absolutely not. The answer is no.” I held up my hands. “One commercial was more than enough.”
“Dane, if you’d just listen to the projections.”
“I don’t need to see projections to know this is a terrible idea.” I could feel my temper rising. “We agreed to one commercial. One controlled appearance. We did not agree to turn Ina’s life into a reality show.”
“It’s not a reality show, it’s marketing.”
“No.”
Heidi’s expression shifted from enthusiastic to frustrated. “I’m going to get Lucas. He can explain this better than I can.”
She left the room before I could stop her, leaving me standing there with her marketing team, who were all suddenly very interested in their laptops and phones.
Two minutes later, she returned with Lucas in tow. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. That told me he wasn’t fond of the idea either. At least I had one ally.
“Explain to Dane why this extended commercial is a good idea,” Heidi said.
Lucas nodded. “The public interest in you is at an all-time high. Since the photos started circulating, you’ve been trending on three different social media platforms. The original commercial hasn’t even aired yet and people are already talking about it because they’ve connected the dots. The mystery woman from the photos is probably the woman from the commercial we’ve been teasing.”
“So the plan is working.”
“The plan is workingtoo well.” Lucas leaned against the conference table. “Heidi thinks we should capitalize on it. Strikewhile the iron’s hot. Give people more of what they want before Valentine’s Day.”
“And what about what Ina wants?” I asked, looking at Heidi. “Have you asked her if she’s okay with this? With having her face plastered all over another commercial? With giving up more of her privacy?”
The silence in the room was deafening.
“I’ll take that as a no,” I said quietly.
“We were going to approach her after we got your approval,” Heidi said.
“My approval? You don’t have my approval. You don’t have anything close to my approval.” I could hear my voice getting harder, colder. “This has gone far enough. We did the commercial. We’re doing the public dates. That’s what we agreed to. Anything beyond that is crossing a line.”
“Dane, if you’d just look at the numbers.”
“I don’t care about the numbers! Ina is myassistant. She agreed to help with a marketing campaign, not to have her entire life turned into content. If people figure out who she is, her life will never be the same. And for what? So we can squeeze out a few more percentage points of engagement? I pay all of you very well to figure out how to get good numbers without dragging other people down. Innocent people.”
Heidi’s Botox barely allowed for a frown, but the fact I could see a crease in her forehead told me she was really pissed. “This is a business, Dane. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices.”
“Not her. We’re not sacrificing her for this.” I left the conference room before I said something I’d regret.
Lucas followed me into the hallway. “Dane, wait.”
“No.” I kept walking toward my office.
“She’ll probably say yes,” Lucas said, jogging slightly to keep up. “Ina’s a team player. She’ll want to help if she thinks it’s good for the company.”
That stopped me in my tracks.
I turned to face him. He took a small step back at whatever he saw in my expression.
“That’s exactly the problem,” I said. “She’ll say yes because she thinks it’s her job to say yes. Because she wants to help. Because she’s too nice to tell Heidi to back off. And I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Why not?”
“What?”
