Satan’s Valentine

Chapter 1

Damian

“Keep your head in the game, son. You’ve got a good thing going over there, but it can all go up in flames with one bad move,” my father says through the phone.

It’s a talk I’ve heard a thousand times before.

Stay focused. Don’t let people get too close.

Don’t fall in love with a money-grabbing wench who will betray you with your business partner, conceal your assets, and still demand more in the worlds messiest divorce.

Okay, that last one is more implied than spoken.

But the message is the same every time, not that he has to continue to reiterate it.

Through the thirty-one years of my life, I have never given him any indication that the whole relationship / marriage (and subsequent divorce) thing was ever on my radar.

My media and advertising business is my life.

CreativEdge has grown from one solo employee in an apartment to the thriving metropolitan company with nearly one hundred employees and rising that it is today.

“Stay focused, Damian. I’m proud of you,” my father finishes.

“Thanks, Dad. Hey, I have to go. I have a call with Cardinal West.”

“The outdoors company? Are you prepared for the call? You don’t want to look unprofessional. It’ll kill the deal right on the spot.”

“Yes, I’m prepared,” I say, not holding back the snap in my voice.

I’ve been doing this for years. This isn’t my first rodeo.

Cardinal West Outdoors is a rapidly growing outdoor equipment and gear company based right here in Boston, Massachusetts.

They generally advertise by word of mouth and a few television slots, but they recently put out a bid to solicit a new firm to handle their account and branding.

I want to be that firm… and I really don’t want Walter Burke to win it. “I’ll talk to you later, Dad.”

“An important man is a busy man,” he says.

I disconnect the call without waiting for his goodbye and gather my paperwork. Technically, my client call is in twenty minutes, but I need to spend that time reviewing the Cardinal West Outdoors portfolio that my research team put together.

Leon Vitale is the owner of the largest private adventure and outdoor supply company in the greater Boston area.

I’ve been trying to get on their calendar for weeks, and I finally have a call scheduled to pitch CreativEdge as their advertising solution to staying ahead of the curve and their competition.

The clock hits 2:00 p.m., and I join the call with my facts loaded and my pitch perfected.

I push my heels into the rug beneath my desk, propelling my chair backward.

He isn’t sure if we’re the right fit?

I stalk to the office door, pulling it open with more force than necessary.

Of course he isn’t sure. I would be hesitant to put my trust in a firm that doesn’t have the most basic information about my company right, too.

I stroll into the research and contracts department. My gait and demeanor are relaxed, but my face must be screaming my thunderous rage to the room. Everyone immediately stops chatting as their gazes swing from me to their supervisor, Daniel.

“Why is no one working?” I demand.

The clacking sounds of various keyboards all start up at once.

I drop the manila folder in my hand onto Daniel’s keyboard. He looks at it, then back up to me, dumbstruck. The incompetence is off the charts.

“Who did the research on Cardinal West Outdoors?” I demand.

Everyone stops typing again. I eye each one of them from the corner of my eye, without moving my head.

The clacking sounds start up again.

No one volunteers that information or comes forward as the researcher on this project.

“My office, now,” I tell Daniel, taking the manilla folder with me as I turn on my heels and head for the door. “And bring with you whoever did that research.”

They wait until they think I’m gone before the murmuring begins.

I can’t hear what they’re saying, but I don’t care either.

They can bitch and moan all they want. They’re not the ones with millions of dollars in contracts on the line—contracts that keep this business afloat and them in a job.

Contracts that don’t come to fruition when CreativEdge comes out looking like fools.

In my office, I take a seat in the leather chair behind my desk. Daniel comes in behind me, closing the door.

“Just you?” I ask, my brow raised skeptically.

Daniel takes one of the seats in front of me. “Yes, sir.”

“Are you sure about that?” We both know what’s going to happen here.

Ultimately, as the supervisor, he is responsible for his team.

And I doubt that he was the one doing the research on this client.

He could easily save himself here, giving up whoever it was that butchered Cardinal West Outdoors’s portfolio, but he isn’t.

I respect that about him, almost enough to give me pause.

Almost. But someone’s head is going to roll for this, and if he wants to fall on that sword, that’s on him.

Daniel takes in a visible breath, steeling himself. “Yes, sir,” he says again.

“When was Cardinal West Outdoors established?” I ask. It’s an easy question. Hell, it’s on their logo.

Daniel looks aside. I can see the wheels spinning in his head as he tries to recall anything about this company.

“I’m not sure,” he admits.

I nod.

“What do they sell?”

“Outdoor activities supplies,” he replies quickly.

“Can you be more specific?”

“Um, fishing gear and tents… and stuff.”

I nod again.

“Bug spray, coolers,” I add for his benefit.

Daniel nods enthusiastically. His face falls, and he lowers his head as I glower back at him.

“And their ever-growing activity guides? Was that in your research? The service offerings that expand their business into new markets. Did you include that in your research? What about the fact that Leon Vitale is not the sole owner of Cardinal West Outdoors? Do you think that would have been good information to have… that he co-owns that business with his lovely wife, Pam? Where was that in your research?” My voice is getting louder, and I have to take a moment to compose myself.

Daniel swallows roughly, keeping his eyes averted.

“This is a half-assed Google search worth of information, at best,” I say, sliding the manila envelope back to him.

“And after the disaster of a call I was just on, looking like CreativEdge couldn’t be bothered to do even the slightest bit of due diligence, I doubt we’ll get the opportunity to sign them again. ”

“I understand, sir,” Daniel says.

“I’m sure you do,” I say, and I mean it. Daniel isn’t a bad guy, but he runs his department far too lax if they are putting together client portfolios that look like this. “But this is shameful work.”

I wait until he looks up at me, his sad eyes expecting what’s to come.

“Are you sure you want to take the fall for this research disaster?” I’m giving him another out, hoping he’ll take it, both because I like Daniel—as much as I like any of my employees—but also because whoever did do this piss-poor job will still be on staff until I find out who it really was.

He nods, a soft “Yeah” coming out with his breath.

Damn. But that’s his call.

“This work is completely unacceptable, Daniel. I’m going to have to let you go. I’ll have your last check cut for you by end of day tomorrow. I need your key card.”

He threads the plastic magnetic card off his belt loop and drops in onto the desk.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Edgerton.”

Me, too.

I escort Daniel out of my office, stopping at our HR manager’s office. I give her the news that Daniel has been let go and to have him escorted out of the building before heading back to my office.

The gossip train has already started. The soft murmurs as employees ask Daniel what happened. I stop in my doorway and turn around. Five heads scatter to the wind.

I follow the last of them into the researchers’ office space. The building it set up as a hybrid of individual rooms and communal workspaces. Each department is in their own office, but within those offices, there are personal desks and long shared tables; some offices even have couches.

“Where is Devin?” I ask, my gaze scanning the room, clocking each employee—and the one that’s missing.

“I’m here. I’m here.” He squeezes by me and takes a seat in the front of the room, his head down, eyes averted.

“Effective immediately, Daniel is no longer with CreativEdge,” I snap, jumping in with no preamble whatsoever.

Anyone who hadn’t heard through the gossip train in the last five minutes knows now.

“I have never, in my entire career, seen such disgraceful work as I did with Cardinal West. Who was responsible for that mess?”

Not a single one of them is looking me in the eye. I can see some of them flicking their gaze around the room, but no one is fessing up to this shitshow. I lay into them for fifteen full minutes, making my expectations and disappointment with this team abundantly clear.

“If anything, and I mean anything, like this comes across my desk again, I will not hesitate to clean house in this entire department. Do your job, or find a new one. Do I make myself clear?”

A quiet chorus of “Yes, sir’s” go around the room.

“Get a list of all the adventure and outdoor supply companies in New England. Pull together their marketing and branding portfolios, ideal clientele, messaging platforms, ad spend. I want to know everything there is to know about their business models,” I demand.

I see a few head nods, even though none of them have yet dared to look me in the eye. If I stay here any longer, my stress level is going to explode. This day has turned to shit, and I despise that feeling. My business means too much to me to deal with incompetence like this.

I turn to leave, and my eyes land on a woman I have never seen before. She’s standing by the doorway of the accounting office across the hall, alarm etched into her face. Her very pretty face, not that it matters. The important thing is…

“Who are you?” My question comes out gruffer than I intended, but I have no issue with that.

The office has gotten a lot bigger over the years, more and more new faces—especially as the ones who can’t hack working for me go on to more appropriately fitting positions where they can get away with putting in a quarter of their effort—but I know every employee in this place…

and I would recognize her if I’d ever seen her before.

“Mr. Edgerton. Sorry, this is Brielle Collins. She’s the new staff accountant that you approved.

This is her first day.” Rui Hernandez rushes in, stepping in front of Brielle.

He’s the senior accountant at CreativEdge.

I forgot that his new hire was supposed to be starting today.

Usually, I like to introduce myself during their orientation and HR training.

Something a little more formal than listening to me chew out an entire department right across from her.

Oh well, better she knows now what she’s getting into.

“Welcome to the team, Brielle.” My gaze holds a challenge for her.

She doesn’t look away, instead reaching out her hand with a tentative smile. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Edgerton.”

My cheek twitches the smallest amount in an almost smirk. I highly doubt that’s true, especially at this particular time, but I shake her offered hand. A zap of electricity shoots up my arm, my blood still charged from my earlier anger.

Rui quickly guides her away from the door, murmuring his goodbyes.

I watch them for a second, catching the moment when Brielle turns her head, looking back at me, before I go.