CHAPTER FOUR
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Grayson Carrington stood up on his athletically-built, six-feet frame ready to blast his staff of assistants that stood before him.
“How many more are you going to present to me?” he asked angrily as he picked up a thick file and slammed it back down on his desk.
“Sixteen cost overruns already and we haven’t made it halfway through?
I’m fourteen million dollars in the hole already and you’re telling me there’s more to come?
What do you think I’m made of? Money? How did this happen? !”
Three senior VPs stood in front of his desk, but nobody wanted to answer his questions. They all looked to Dena, who wasn’t even a VP, for help.
Dena Allen, his thirty-year-old chief-of-staff, held her clipboard tightly to her chest and didn’t want to be the one either.
But she knew not one of those overpaid executives were going to do it.
“When we acquired Ridgeland, the projections were off from the beginning,” she said to the boss.
“We were supposed to buy for twenty and be in for five additional at the most. What wasn’t projected was the backend construction that wasn’t included in the original deal.
That’s where all of the cost overruns are coming from. ”
“Can we sue the bastards?” Grayson looked at his executives to answer this question as the phone began ringing.
They were in his home office, but it was a major operational hub since he worked from home quite often.
Most of them, most days, arrived at his home early in the morning and didn’t make it out until late at night.
They were beginning to call his home office Carrington Capital East, since he lived east of their headquarters.
“I spoke with Legal,” one of the executives cleared his throat and said, “and they said yes, we can sue, but the chances of success are only about thirty-three percent.”
“Why that low?” Grayson asked. “And why isn’t anyone answering that gotdamn phone?” he blared out.
“Mrs. Javits was supposed to be answering it herself,” Dena responded, “but I’m assuming a problem has arisen that she’s busy taking care of.”
“Then you answer it, Dena,” one of the executives ordered. “What’s wrong with your hands?”
Dena tightened her jaw. They always wanted her to do their dirty work when they were on the hotseat with the boss, but they never had her back. “Yes sir,” she said and went over to the conference table and answered the blaring phone.
“This is bad, Grayson,” said the most senior of the executives. “We all realize just how bad this is. But we’re working day and night to correct the problem.”
Grayson frowned. “Correct it how? Am I going to get my fourteen million dollars back? Am I going to get out of the hole your asses just put me in?”
“Well . . . no sir, but we’re trying to make the best out of a horrific situation.”
But that wasn’t good enough for Grayson. “Who signed off on the Ridgeland deal?”
When he said those words all three executives froze because they knew today it would be the one that signed off on the deal that was on the grill, but tomorrow it would be one of them.
Grayson looked at all three of them angrily.
They were supposed to be an extension of him.
Given the reach of his corporation, he had no choice but to give them the power to sign off on major purchases and projects.
But they dropped the ball this badly? He was dead on his feet from another all-night working session.
He had his suit coat off, but his dress shirt was half-in and half-out of his dress trousers, his tie had been loosened so much that it was almost untied, his thick brown hair was a tousled mess, and the pair of reading glasses and expensive pens that sat in his shirt pocket had the pocket overloaded and drooped down.
With his face in need of a shave, he could easily be mistaken for a homeless man rather than the richest man in Baltimore, second only to his father.
But they still didn’t answer him. “Who signed off on this outrageous deal? Answer me dammit!”
They all were still too hesitant to respond. But then Dena, who had just gotten off of the phone and was already pissed with them, walked up. And this time, she wasn’t holding back. “Travis signed off on the deal sir,” she said without hesitation.
Travis Holden, who many viewed as second in line to be the head of Carrington Capital someday, felt betrayed.
He wanted to turn everybody’s gaze onto Dena and give her a piece of his mind, but the boss was staring at him.
“We all signed off on it sir,” he finally said, “but I was the final signature, yes sir.”
Grayson was surprised. Travis didn’t usually make mistakes.
But it was a mistake that cost him fourteen million dollars already and the full amount hadn’t yet been calculated.
“You’re fired,” he said to Travis. They all worked at the pleasure of the CEO.
The only person with more authority than Grayson was his father, who was the Chairman of the Board.
But all personnel decisions went through Grayson’s office. “Effective immediately,” he added.
The shock that shook that room was palpable. So much so that nobody heard the phone blaring again. Travis was the golden child. If Grayson fired him, he would easily fire them. Even Dena wanted to come to his defense. But none of them did.
They all had their own high-level jobs to protect and families to feed. And they all knew that once a Carrington made up his mind there was no changing it.
Grayson plopped down in his chair and was thinking about how in the world he could recoup some of his money. But then he looked up. Travis, still stunned, was still there. “What you didn’t hear me?” Grayson asked him. “Your ass fired. Get out of my office.”
“But sir, it was an innocent mistake sir,” Travis said.
“An innocent mistake doesn’t cost me fourteen million dollars. That’s incompetence. That’s I don’t give a damn. That’s it’s not my money so let’s roll the dice and play with it.” Grayson’s look turned hard. “Get the fuck out of my face and get out now!”
Nobody could argue with a word Grayson had just said. Including Travis Holden. He got careless in his assessments and it cost the boss a fortune. And that was why he walked on out. But he slammed the door behind him.
Which angered Grayson. “And why isn’t anybody answering that damn phone again?” He took his anger out on that phone.
“Paige is on maternity leave,” Dena said as she hurried to the conference table. “And I don’t know why Lois isn’t answering it.”
“Then hire somebody!” Grayson demanded. “Why hasn’t anybody been hired yet? What are you waiting for?”
“Miss Javits--”
“Stop bringing Lois into this. She can’t be expected to run my household and field phone calls too. Hire somebody until that child returns from maternity leave for goodness sakes. And I mean somebody had better be on the job before this day is over!”
“Yes sir. I’ll get right on it, sir.”
“That damn phone is going to be the death of me before any of you get a shot at it!”
“Yes sir,” Dena said again as she grabbed the phone and finally stopped the screeching. “Carrington Capital. This is Dena,” she said as if it was a relief just to have a moment of silence again.